Even though she's only 9 years old, Elizabeth Aoki was one of the standouts at the 2012 Aspen Music Festival and School. You can hear this extraordinary young violinist as she gives her first-ever interview and plays part of a Wieniawski concerto, a piece that's challenging for soloists of any age.
Irish pianist John O'Conor is on the piano faculty at the Aspen Music Festival and School. And he's a big champion of the music of fellow Irishman John Field. O'Conor shares the story of John Field, and plays nocturnes by Field and Alexander Scriabin.
As a young man, composer John Harbison was passionate about both jazz and classical music. At the time, he felt he had to choose between the two, and picked classical. Times have changed, and nowadays he's comfortable combining the two in his music. Hear Fred Child's onstage interview with John Harbison at the 2012 Aspen Festival, along with Harbison's performance of his own music.
Robert Spano is Music Director at the Aspen Music Festival and School. He and violinist Robert McDuffie teamed up for a beautiful Brahms adagio as part of a very special event at Aspen, billed as an Evening with Performance Today and Fred Child. Music and conversation with McDuffie and Spano, including tales of McDuffie's teenage pranks when he was a student at Aspen.
In 2010, Russian pianist Yulianna Avdeeva took the music world by storm when she won the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. She's been incredibly busy ever since, playing concerts and recitals all over the world. One of her recent stops was to the PT studios. In her interview with host Fred Child, she talks about her love of Chopin, of travel, and one of the secrets to her success in Warsaw (try not to focus on the judges).
It's a rare treat to have British pianist Imogen Cooper in the Performance Today studio this Friday. She's world-renowned as a Franz Schubert expert, but this time Cooper joins host Fred Child to talk about one of Schubert's heros: Ludwig van Beethoven. Tune in to Friday's PT to hear Cooper play Beethoven and to spend a delightful half hour with a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
Two years ago, the Parker Quartet was just out of school, just learning the ropes of their professional careers and just named PT's first Young Artists in Residence. Since then, they've earned praise for their concerts all over the world and won a Grammy Award. Recently they joined Fred Child in the studio for a little reunion of music and conversation.
The members of the Bergen Woodwind Quintet aren't just chamber music colleagues. They also play together as the principal winds of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. All that togetherness makes for a heightened sense of musical ESP, and some spectacular music-making. The BWQ joined host Fred Child in the PT studio for two days of lively conversation and works by Giuseppe Cambini and Jim Parker.
Fred Child recently interviewed Aaron Dworkin, the founder and president of the Sphinx Organization, about the value of diversity in art. He's written a new memoir titled Uncommon Rhythm about his experience as a violinist of mixed race and as a leader in developing young classical musicians.
