Performance Today®

with host Valerie Kahler

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.

All Episodes

Cuarteto Latinoamericano

Cuarteto Latinoamericano

Cuarteto Latinoamericano is a string quartet based in Mexico; it specializes in Latin American music. On Tuesday's Performance Today, we'll hear from a concert they gave recently in Palm Beach, Florida, where they played a string quartet by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos.

The sounds of Hollywood

The sounds of Hollywood

When you hear dramatic strings in a movie soundtrack, you can thank Erich Korngold. In the 1930s, he helped create the template for the Hollywood movie score. On Monday's Performance Today you may recognize the same epic sound in Korngold's Violin Concerto, which we'll hear from a concert in Los Angeles.

A gift from Brahms

A gift from Brahms

Violinist Joseph Joachim believed that there were only four great violin concertos written by German composers -- and one of them was written just for him, by his friend Johannes Brahms. On this weekend's Performance Today, we'll hear violinist James Ehnes play that Brahms Concerto in concert with the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra.

Chinese folk songs for string quartet

Chinese folk songs for string quartet

Violinist Yi-Wen Jiang has always loved Western classical music and traditional music from his native China. A few years ago he decided to combine elements of the two, and made some lively arrangements of Chinese folk songs for string quartet. On Friday's Performance Today, we'll hear the Shanghai Quartet play those arrangements in concert in Rockport, Massachusetts.

Martha Argerich

Martha Argerich

Pianist Martha Argerich has a devoted following; fans who will literally follow her from one concert to another. On Thursday's Performance Today, we'll take you to a concert in Switzerland to hear her perform Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2.

Brahms' great violin concerto

Brahms' great violin concerto

Violinist Joseph Joachim believed that there were only four great violin concertos written by German composers -- and one of them was written just for him, by his friend Johannes Brahms. On Wednesday's Performance Today, we'll hear violinist James Ehnes play that Brahms Concerto in concert with the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra.

A European tour

A European tour

On Tuesday's Performance Today, join us for great music from all around the world, including concert highlights from Switzerland, Poland, and Denmark.

Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements

Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements

A month after he became a U.S. citizen, composer Igor Stravinsky wrote his Symphony in Three Movements. The New York Philharmonic premiered the piece in 1946; on Monday's Performance Today, we'll hear a much more recent performance by that same ensemble.

Inside Mendelssohn's creative process

Inside Mendelssohn's creative process

Conductor Riccardo Chailly has a Mendelssohn discovery; a hand-written sketch of Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony, which had gone unnoticed for almost 20 years. On this weekend's Performance Today, Riccardo Chailly will take us inside Mendelssohn's creative process.

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