Poster Fred Child
Fred Child
MPR

Performance Today®

with host Fred Child

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Charles Gounod

Charles Gounod

When Charles Gounod was a young composer, he walked away from music and entered a monastery | but he fell in love with the ancient sacred music he heard there, and that inspired him to go back to composing. Hear music by Charles Gounod, his Petite Symphonie, on this edition of Performance Today.

Copper Street Brass

Copper Street Brass

Tim Bradley recently arranged a piece by Clara Schumann for his group, the Copper Street Brass. Join us today to hear the Copper Street Brass play Bradley's arrangement of Soirees Musicales from a concert in St Paul, Minnesota.

Hannah Kendall: The Spark Catchers

Hannah Kendall: The Spark Catchers

In 2017, Composer Hannah Kendall wrote a piece inspired by a poem about women who worked in match factories in the 1800s. The piece, aptly titled The Spark Catchers, is full of kinetic energy and driving rhythms. On today's show, we'll hear The Spark Catchers played by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at a recent concert in Sweden.

Fei Xie plays Mozart's Bassoon Concerto

Fei Xie plays Mozart's Bassoon Concerto

Fei Xie is the Principal Bassoon for the Minnesota Orchestra. Before that, he was the principal bassoonist of the Baltimore Symphony. When he won that role with the Baltimore Symphony in 2012, Xie became the first Chinese-born bassoonist to hold a principal position in a major American orchestra. We'll hear Fei Xie play a Mozart bassoon concerto with the Minnesota Orchestra on today's show.

PT Weekend: The Piano Puzzler

PT Weekend: The Piano Puzzler

Every week, composer Bruce Adolphe joins us for a musical game, our Piano Puzzler. Bruce re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a great composer. We get one of our listeners on the phone who tries to guess the hidden tune and the composer whose style Bruce is imitating. Play along with the PT Piano Puzzler on this episode of Performance Today.

Where poetry meets music

Where poetry meets music

In the early 1800s, Lord Byron wrote an epic poem imagining a melancholy young man traveling in the Alps: Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. French composer Hector Berlioz was deeply inspired by that poem and wrote Harold in Italy. We'll explore the place where poetry meets music on this episode of Performance Today.

Jessica Meyer: Source of Joy

Jessica Meyer: Source of Joy

Jessica Meyer is a violist, composer, and educator. She says she only began to identify as a composer after she started playing her viola through a loop pedal, a tool that enables a solo musician to create layer upon layer of sound and texture. On today's show, hear Jessica Meyer play her piece Source of Joy, from a concert in Charleston, South Carolina.

Bruce Adolphe and the Piano Puzzler

Bruce Adolphe and the Piano Puzzler

Every week, composer Bruce Adolphe joins us for a musical game, our Piano Puzzler. Bruce re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a great composer. We get one of our listeners on the phone who tries to guess the hidden tune and the composer whose style Bruce is imitating. Play along with the PT Piano Puzzler on this episode of Performance Today.

Anthony McGill and Gloria Chien

Anthony McGill and Gloria Chien

A recent composition by Jessie Montgomery is the emotional center of a new album by clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Gloria Chien. Join us to hear McGill and Chien perform Peace by Jessie Montgomery from the album Here With You.

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