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.
"Tales of Hemingway" by Michael Daugherty won THREE Grammys this year. It's a dramatic musical tour through the life and literature of Ernest Hemingway, ending with a bullfight scene from "The Sun Also Rises." On Friday's Performance Today, travel back into Hemingway's Lost Generation as the Nashville Symphony plays "Tales of Hemingway" by Michael Daugherty.
Mexican quintet Tembembe Ensamble Continuo thrives in the territory where classical and folk overlap. Their music is a rich blend of Spanish classical and Mexican folk. On Thursday's Performance Today, join us for music and conversation with Tembembe Ensamble Continuo.
Fifteen-year-old Ray Ushikubo has been playing both the piano and violin for nearly 10 years. Since his first solo orchestral debut at the age of 10, he has performed with world-renowned artists and orchestras, including pianist Lang Lang, and the Los Angeleles Chamber Orchestra. We'll introduce Ray Ushikubo, our PT Young Artist in Residence, on Wednesday's Performance Today.
Listen to in-studio interviews with pianist and violinist Ray Ushikubo and host Fred Child as well as exclusive musical performances.
According to conductor JoAnn Falletta, many orchestras only explore the tip of the musical iceberg, leaving a vast amount of repertoire quietly boxed away. On Tuesday's Performance Today, Falletta joins Fred in the studio to co-host a special hour of PT, and to discuss her thoughts on musical repertoire, conducting, and more.
Pianist Garrick Ohlsson feels that Chopin's music is more about visceral feeling than intellectual understanding, though Chopin's intellect was penetrating and brilliant. On Monday's Performance Today, we'll hear Ohlsson perform a Chopin Ballade from a concert at The Cliburn, in Fort Worth, TX.
Every week Bruce Adolphe re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer. We get a listener on the phone, and they try to name the hidden tune and the composer whose style Bruce is mimicking. On Saturday's PT, we have TWO listeners on the line... and they're celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary!
When composer Leos Janacek was 70 years old, he wrote a wind sextet recalling his youth as a choirboy at St. Thomas Abbey in the Czech city of Brno. The monastery also happens to be where Gregor Mendel studied some very important pea plants... and the principals of genetic inheritance. On Friday's PT, we hear Janacek's musical recollection, Mladi (Youth), in a concert at Festival Hall in Round Top, Texas.
In a recent concert in Vienna, pianist Yefim Bronfman was set to perform a Bartok piano concerto. There was a bit of a problem, what could be a significant problem for a pianist... he'd just gotten a bad cut on his finger. A polished professional, Bronfman insisted on going through with the performance, despite the pain and continued bleeding. On Thursday's Performance Today, we'll hear Bronfman give a less sticky performance of Bela Bartok's Piano Concerto No. 3, with the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor Valery Gergiev.
