American Public Media’s Performance Today® is America’s most popular classical music radio program and a winner of the 2014 Gabriel Award for artistic achievement. The show is broadcast on hundreds of public radio stations across the country, including at 1 p.m. central weekdays on Minnesota Public Radio. More information about our stations can be found at APM Distribution.
Pianist Charlie Albright likes to make room for what he calls "the fun stuff." He dabbles in jazz and performs on-the-spot improvisations at most of his concerts. On Tuesday's Performance Today, hear Charlie Albright have some fun performing Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," from a concert with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
Carl Maria von Weber wrote an entire movement of his Clarinet Quintet in ONE day...but then his creativity dried up. It took von Weber four years to finish the rest of it. Find out what finally gave him the kick in the pants to finish, on Monday's Performance Today.
If you're ready to step into a different world, follow us through medieval gates into a storybook world created by composer Anton Bruckner. On this weekend's Performance Today, Marek Janowski conducts the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in a concert performance of Bruckner's Symphony No. 4.
At the age of 70, Leos Janacek wrote a wind sextet recalling his youth as a choirboy at St. Thomas Abbey in the Czech city of Brno....the same abbey where Gregor Mendel famously experimented with the hereditary traits of pea plants. On Friday's Performance Today, we hear Janacek's musical recollection, Mladi (Youth), from a concert in Round Top, Texas.
Is it a tree? Is it a silk cloth? Is it a whip? It's music inspired by a famous parable about perspective. On Thursday's Performance Today, we'll take you to a concert in Portland, Oregon, to hear "Aspects of an Elephant" by American composer Kenji Bunch.
In 1948, American composer William Grant Still was inspired by some poems about the natural beauty of the American South. On Wednesday's Performance Today, take a break with us and hear Houston's River Oaks Chamber Orchestra play "Wood Notes," William Grant Still's work of quiet musical contemplation.
Jeremy Cohen, of Quartet San Francisco, says that one of their most popular pieces is a Michael Jackson medley. On Tuesday's Performance Today, Quartet San Francisco performs the medley at a concert in Edgartown, Massachusetts - on Martha's Vineyard.
If you're ready to step into a different world, follow us through medieval gates into a storybook world created by composer Anton Bruckner. On Monday's Performance Today, Marek Janowski conducts the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in concert peformance of Bruckner's Symphony No. 4.
At 37 years old, composer Angelica Negron is well into adulthood. But her memories of childhood are a vital part of her grown-up creations. She's fascinated by childhood not for its simplicity, but for the complexity. On the weekend edition of Performance Today, we'll hear one of Negron's latest compositions that's tinged with nostalgia both sweet and a little tart.
