Jade Simmons
On Tuesday's Performance Today, innovative pianist Jade Simmons joins Fred in the studio to discuss what it means to stay fiery as a musician.
Fred Child
MPR
Performance Today®
with host Fred Child
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Friend of Fred: Jade Simmons
Pianist Jade Simmons, curator and "musical force of nature," co-hosts a special hour of Performance Today with Fred Child.
Tears of Sakura
The Great East Japan Earthquake took place on March 11, 2011. Composer and conductor Yannick Paget, who lives in Japan, expressed his grief for those lost and his hopes for recovery through his composition "Tears of Sakura."
Avi Avital
When he was five years old, Avi Avital's mother asked him which musical instrument he would like to play. The Avital family had an upstairs neighbor who practiced the mandolin; Avi didn't hesitate for a moment in choosing the same instrument. 30 years later, he's on top of the classical mandolin world. We'll hear Avi Avital in concert on Monday's Performance Today.
C.P.E. Bach's birthday
In honor of his 300th birthday, we'll celebrate the life and remarkably inventive music of composer Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach on this weekend's Performance Today.
C.P.E. Bach's birthday
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was born 300 years ago this week. On Friday's Performance Today we'll celebrate his life and his remarkably inventive music.
Music inspired by laughter
Composer Leos Janacek had a bad case of writer's block. One day, he heard the family maid suddenly burst into laughter; she had been reading a newspaper cartoon about a fox and her friends. On Thursday's Performance Today we'll hear music inspired by this laughter from the next room: the orchestral suite from Janacek's opera 'The Cunning Little Vixen'.
Gershwin's Cuban souvenir
In 1932, George Gershwin took a vacation to Havana, Cuba. He came home with a set of bongos, a set of maracas, and inspiration for a new composition. On Wednesday's Performance Today we'll hear Gershwin's Cuban Overture, his souvenir from two "hysterical" weeks in Cuba.
The Goldberg Variations, Reinvented
Are three heads better than one? Bach wrote his Goldberg variations for a single pianist to play, but a trio of string players have worked out a clever reinvention. On Tuesday's Performance Today we'll hear that music from a concert in Angel Fire, New Mexico.
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