Poster Fred Child
Fred Child
MPR

Performance Today®

with host Fred Child

All Episodes

Heimbach Power Plant

Heimbach Power Plant

Performance Today takes you to wherever great music is happening - even if it's happening in a hydro-electric power plant. On Tuesday's PT, we'll take you to the Heimbach Power Plant in Germany to hear a Mozart Divertimento. Plus, we'll go to Munich to hear Martin Spangenberg play Copland's Clarinet Concerto.

The legacy of Martin Luther King

The legacy of Martin Luther King

On Monday's Performance Today, we'll celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King with Joseph Schwantner's New Morning for the World, an orchestral piece that features a narrator reading words by Dr. King. Composer Joseph Schwantner will tell us how baseball star Willie Stargell became the first narrator of this now iconic piece.

Joseph Schwantner on honoring Dr. King

Joseph Schwantner on honoring Dr. King

On our Martin Luther King Day show, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Joseph Schwantner discusses New Morning For The World: 'Daybreak Of Freedom,' his tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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Pianist Jonathan Biss

Pianist Jonathan Biss

Pianist Jonathan Biss loves playing for a concert audience. But playing by himself in a quiet, antiseptic studio while making a CD? Not so much. On this weekend's Performance Today, Jonathan Biss joins us to discuss the joys and travails of his 9-year Beethoven project.

Pianist Jonathan Biss

Pianist Jonathan Biss

Pianist Jonathan Biss loves playing for a concert audience. But playing by himself in a quiet, antiseptic studio while making a CD? Not so much. On Friday's Performance Today, Jonathan Biss joins us to discuss the joys and travails of his 9-year Beethoven project.

Erich Korngold

Erich Korngold

He was one of the most amazing child prodigies in history. Mahler and Strauss and Puccini were all huge fans. We're not talking about Mozart; we're talking about 20th century composer Erich Korngold. On Thursday's Performance Today, we'll hear his Piano Quintet from a concert in Charleston, South Carolina.

Tchaikovsky's homage to Mozart

Tchaikovsky's homage to Mozart

Tchaikovsky wrote his Variations on a Rococo Theme in homage to his favorite composer, Mozart. On Wednesday's Performance Today, we'll hear American cellist Joshua Roman perform this blistering set of variations in concert with the Bellingham Festival Orchestra.

Leon Fleisher

Leon Fleisher

In 1964, pianist Leon Fleisher's right hand simply stopped working. He went from being one of the world's great pianists, to being a man with a tragic tale. Thankfully, his story has a happy ending; through the use of Botox, he eventually regained the use his right hand. On Tuesday's Performance Today, we will hear the now 86 year-old pianist playing music by Debussy in concert this season.

Mozart Week

Mozart Week

Mozart Week is a big celebration that takes place every January in Mozart's hometown of Salzburg, Austria. On Monday's Performance Today, we'll travel to the festival to hear the Vienna Philharmonic play Mozart's Haffner Serenade.

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