Poster Zhou Tian
Composer Zhou Tian
Kevin Birch
Performance Today®

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers

Composer Zhou Tian was inspired by a Chinese proverb, that it takes "a thousand years of good prayers to bring about a good relationship." He wrote music that unfolds into a clear and harmonious song — and it's less than ten centuries long. On this episode of Performance Today, hear A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Zhou Tian, from a recent concert in Melbourne, Australia.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Margaret Bonds: Three Dream Portraits - I. Minstrel Man, II. Dream
Bonnie Pomfret, soprano / Laura Gordy, piano
Album: De Toda la Eternidad
ACA

Antonin Dvorak: Symphony No. 8, Op. 88, B. 163: Mvts 1-2
Texas Festival Orchestra; Linus Lerner, conductor
Round Top Festival Institute, Festival Concert Hall, Round Top, TX

Zoltan Kodaly: Dances of Marosszek
ROCO; Me-Ann Chen, conductor
ROCO, Cynthia Wood Mitchell Pavilion, Woodlands, TX

Margaret Bonds: Troubled Water
Joel Fan, piano
Album: West of the Sun: Music of the Americas
Reference Recordings RR-119

Hour 2

Georg Philipp Telemann: Paris Quartet No. 6: Movement 6 Modere
Trio Sonnerie / Wilbert Hazelzet, flute
Album: Telemann: The Six Paris Quartets
Virgin 91450

Yuko Uebayashi: Au-dela du Temps for two flutes and piano: Mvts 1 & 4
Alice Dade, flute / Julie Thornton, flute / Susan Grace, piano
Colorado College Summer Music Festival, Packard Performance Hall, Colorado Springs, CO

Deborah Cheetham: Long time living here
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; Benjamin Northey, conductor
Hamer Arts Center, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Zhou Tian: A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; Benjamin Northey, conductor
Hamer Arts Center, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Georg Philipp Telemann: Suite in G Major, Don Quixote
Chloe Fedor, violin
Ravenna Lipchik, violin
Stephen Goist, viola
Keiran Campbell, cello
Paul Macres, bass
Joshua Stauffer, theorbo
Elliot Figg, harpsichord
Lakes Area Music Festival, Tornstrom Auditorium, Brainerd, MN

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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.

Performance Today® features live concert recordings that can’t be heard anywhere else, highlights from new album releases, and in-studio performances and interviews. Performance Today® is based at the APM studios in St. Paul, Minnesota, but is frequently on the road, with special programs broadcast from festivals and public radio stations around the country. Also, each Wednesday, composer Bruce Adolphe joins host Fred Child for a classical musical game and listener favorite: the Piano Puzzler.

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