Poster Florence Price
Florence Beatrice Smith Price
University of Arkansas
Performance Today®

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Composer Florence Price was also an excellent organist. In the 1930s, she played organ for silent films and radio shows in Chicago—and she wrote for the organ as well. We'll hear a Passacaglia and Fugue for organ by Florence Price on today's show.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Peter Tchaikovsky, arr. Walter Wollenweber: Nocturne
Sol Gabetta, cello | Munich Radio Orchestra | Ari Rasilainen, conductor
Album: Sol Gabetta plays Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saens and Ginastera
RCA 675951

Margi Griebling-Haigh: Rhapsody for Violin and Piano
Peter Otto, violin | Randall Fusco, piano
Cleveland Composers Guild, Drinko Recital Hall, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH

Alexander Zemlinsky: The Mermaid: Movement 1
The Orchestra Now | Leon Botstein, conductor
Bard College and The Orchestra Now, Sosnoff Theatre at The Fisher Center for The Performing Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

Florence Price: Passacaglia & Fugue
Alan Morrison, organ
Spivey Hall, Clayton State University, Morrow, GA

Hour 2

Ernest Bloch: At Sea
Lara Downes, piano
Album: America Again
Dorian 92207

Bedrich Smetana: Vltava (The Moldau)
Texas Festival Orchestra | Michelle Merrill, conductor
Round Top Music Festival, Festival Concert Hall, Round Top, TX

Harry T. Burleigh: From the Southland: Movements 1, 2, 5, 6
Lara Downes, piano
Brevard Music Center, Parker Concert Hall, Brevard, NC

Richard Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Numberg Suite, Wwv 96
National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic | David Neely, conductor
National Orchestral Institute + Festival, Elsie and Marvin Dekelboum Concert Hall, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, College Park, MD

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Latest Performance Today® Episodes

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Latest Performance Today® Episodes

PT Weekend: Meet Victor Ni

PT Weekend: Meet Victor Ni

We're pleased to introduce you to clarinetist Victor Ni, our next 2025 PT Young Artists in Residence. On today's program, Victor joins Fred Child for music and conversation in our Saint Paul studio. Plus, Bruce Adolphe joins us for this week’s Piano Puzzler.

1:59:00
Augustin Hadelich and the St Louis Symphony

Augustin Hadelich and the St Louis Symphony

Once troubled by pre-concert jitters so intense that he needed a push to get on stage, violinist Augustin Hadelich has discovered a new sense of calm. Breathing exercises have transformed his performance experience, making the stage feel like home. On today's program, Agustin Hadelich and the St. Louis Symphony play music by Samuel Barber.

1:59:00
Julio Medaglia

Julio Medaglia

Composer Julio Medaglia was born in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1938. He studied conducting in Germany for ten years before returning to Brazil to conduct and compose. For 30 years, he hosted a daily radio show in São Paulo that sounded similar to PT, combining concert highlights and contemporary music. On today's show, we'll hear the Imani Winds play Julio Medaglia's 'Belle Epoque en Sud-America,’ including a really fun movement named "Crazy Baby Clarinette!"

1:59:00
Young Artist in Residence: Victor Ni

Young Artist in Residence: Victor Ni

Clarinetist Victor Ni is the next of our 2025 cohort of PT Young Artists in Residence. Victor recently joined Fred Child in our St. Paul studio. You can hear Victor’s music and the entire interview here.

42:34
Victor Ni

Victor Ni

We're pleased to introduce you to clarinetist Victor Ni, our next 2025 PT Young Artists in Residence. On today's program, Victor joins Fred Child for music and conversation in our Saint Paul studio.

1:59:00
Bringing fractals to life

Bringing fractals to life

Composer Jessie Montgomery found inspiration in nature's infinitely repeating patterns: fractals. Her fascination with these natural wonders led her to write a captivating new piece that brings fractals to life through sound. On today's show, we'll hear "Rounds" by Jessie Montgomery, a musical exploration of nature's boundless beauty.

1:59:00
The Poiesis Quartet

The Poiesis Quartet

The Poiesis Quartet was founded in the fall of 2022 at Oberlin Conservatory. Its name comes from an ancient Greek word meaning “to make"—specifically, to create something that has never been made before. One of the quartet's violinists is our former Young Artist in Residence, Sarah Ma. On today's program, we'll take you to a concert in San Antonio to hear what Ma and their quartet have been up to lately.

1:59:00
PT Weekend: A Finnish connection

PT Weekend: A Finnish connection

Finnish violinist and conductor Pekka Kuusisto shares a connection with the music and character of his fellow countryman, Jean Sibelius. On today’s program, Kuusisto and the German Symphony Orchestra perform two seldom-heard gems by Sibelius at a concert in Berlin.

1:59:00
Marin Alsop's debut with the Berlin Philharmonic

Marin Alsop's debut with the Berlin Philharmonic

When Marin Alsop was a kid, her parents taught her she could achieve anything she set her heart to; no one was going to stop her. She's now the Music Director of the National Orchestral Institute and Festival and guest conducts orchestras worldwide. On today's program, we'll hear Marin Alsop make her conducting debut with the Berlin Philharmonic at a concert in Germany.

1:59:00
Missy Mazzoli's Sinfonia for Orbiting Spheres

Missy Mazzoli's Sinfonia for Orbiting Spheres

The hurdy-gurdy has strings like a violin, a keyboard, and a hand crank that produces a wheezing drone. Composer Missy Mazzoli was fascinated by this sound and wanted to make a whole orchestra sound like a big hurdy-gurdy.  Tune in for the Sinfonia for Orbiting Spheres by Missy Mazzoli on today’s episode.

1:59:00
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About Performance Today®

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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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