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.
Peter Tchaikovsky wrote one of his most brilliant pieces, his Violin Concerto, while reeling from a failed marriage. And to add insult to injury, the violinist for whom he wrote it said it was "impossible to play." On Monday's Performance Today, violinist Joshua Bell proves just how possible it is at a concert in Houston.
Israeli-American composer Ofer Ben-Amots combines Jewish folk music with contemporary textures. This past summer, he joined Fred onstage at the Grand Teton Music Festival. On this weekend's Performance Today we'll hear highlights from that conversation, plus a stirring performance of his Odessa Trio.
On Friday's Performance Today we'll hear highlights from the Aspen and Ojai Music Festivals, including a symphony by Brahms, a Strauss waltz, and a string quartet by Janacek.
On Thursday's Performance Today we'll hear Fred Child jumping off a mountain, plus other highlights from this year's Aspen Music Festival.
On Wednesday's Performance Today we'll hear an elegant performance of a Bach Concerto, a playful performance of a sonata by Mozart, and rustic, folk-inspired music by a composer from Central Asia as we take a look back at highlights from this year's Savannah Music Festival.
Israeli-American composer Ofer Ben-Amots combines Jewish folk music with contemporary textures. This past summer, he joined Fred onstage at the Grand Teton Music Festival. On Tuesday's Performance Today we'll hear highlights from that conversation, plus a stirring performance of his Odessa Trio.
When he was young, Felix Mendelssohn had a crush on a girl named Delphine; they played piano together every morning. Once, Mendelssohn was stuck writing a new piece and Delphine helped out. We don't which part, but we know she helped with his first piano concerto. The story of Felix and Delphine and a concert from Dallas, on Monday's Performance Today.
This past summer at the Aspen Music Festival, American cellist Alisa Weilerstein gave an emotional performance of Bach's Solo Cello Suite No. 3. That's on the way on this weekend's Performance Today, plus Bruce Adolphe has this week's Piano Puzzler.
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 Friday'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.
