Performance Today®

Listen to in-studio interviews with host Fred Child and exclusive musical performances by flutist Aaron Perdue and pianist Christopher McKiggan.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born January 27th, 1756. On Tuesday's Performance Today, we'll take you to Mozart Week, a big annual party in Mozart's hometown of Salzburg.

Pianist Fazil Say played with the French National Orchestra in Paris this season. On Monday's Performance Today, we'll hear two highlights from Paris: a crowd-pleasing piano concerto by Camille Saint-Saens, and a stunning encore composed - and played - by Fazil Say.

It's like a game for composers: take a simple tune, then come up with as many twists on that tune as possible. It's called theme and variations, and composers have been having fun with it for centuries. On this weekend's Performance Today, we'll have fun with variations by Rachmaninoff, Bach, Bernstein, and Haydn.

Ivan Fischer believes that a conductor should never behave like a dictator; music-making should be a joyous activity. On Friday's Performance Today, we'll hear Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra give a joyous performance of music by Dvorak.

When Chad Lawson began creating his modern interpretations of Frederic Chopin's music, he considered how some might respond to his rather audacious project. But he didn't let that stop him! On Thursday's Performance Today, Chad Lawson joins us with his gentle versions of piano works by Chopin.

Chad Lawson's latest release, The Chopin Variations, features Lawson's unique arrangements of music by Chopin, the poet of the piano.

It's like a game for composers: take a simple tune, then come up with as many twists on that tune as possible. It's called theme and variations, and composers have been having fun with it for centuries. On Wednesday's Performance Today, we'll have fun with variations by Rachmaninoff, Bach, Bernstein, and Haydn.

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.