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

The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra

The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra

Conductor Daniel Barenboim created the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra to create a forum where young musicians from all over the Middle East could come together to make music. On Monday's Performance Today, we'll hear Barenboim lead the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in concert at the BBC Proms in London.

A musical puzzle

A musical puzzle

Every week on our Piano Puzzler, composer Bruce Adolphe re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer. Play along on this weekend's Performance Today to see if you can guess the tune and the composer whose style Bruce is mimicking.

A musical aviary

A musical aviary

On Friday's Performance Today, we're exploring music inspired by bird song. First, we'll head to this summer's BBC Proms in London to hear Maurice Ravel's imitation of a sad blackbird. Then, we'll hear the sounds of doves, hens, nightingales and cuckoos from a concert in Los Angeles.

The 2015 Van Cliburn Junior Piano Competition

The 2015 Van Cliburn Junior Piano Competition

The first ever Van Cliburn Junior Piano Competition took place this summer. On Thursday's Performance Today, we'll hear 16-year-old Russian pianist Arsenii Mun give a medal-winning performance during the final round of the competition.

Match wits with Bruce Adolphe

Match wits with Bruce Adolphe

Every week on our Piano Puzzler, composer Bruce Adolphe re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer. Play along on Wednesday's Performance Today to see if you can guess the tune and the composer whose style Bruce is mimicking.

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 Tuesday's Performance Today, we'll hear violinist James Ehnes play that Brahms Concerto in concert with the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra.

Orchestra and kettle drums

Orchestra and kettle drums

What do you get when you have an orchestra and two solo timpanists playing nine kettle drums? It's either madness...or it's a piece by Philip Glass. Then again, could it be both? On Monday's Performance Today, we'll go to a concert in Montreal to decide.

The 2015 Grand Teton Music Festival

The 2015 Grand Teton Music Festival

On this weekend's Performance Today, we'll have highlights from the 2015 Grand Teton Music Festival. Among them, the festival's Music Director, Donald Runnicles, joins Fred Child for an on stage chat before teaming up with cellist Joel Noyes to play music by Robert Schumann.

The final stop on the PT Summer Road Trip

The final stop on the PT Summer Road Trip

All summer long we have featured great music inspired by distinctive American places. On Friday's Performance Today, our summer road trip reaches its final stop. We'll hear a new piece by Timothy Mahr called "by blue lake, listening, dreaming" -- music that describes a very special setting in Michigan's Manistee National Forest.

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