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.
Tippet Rise is an art center located on a working ranch near Fishtail, Montana. The center incorporates musical performance venues along with large-scale art installations. It's a peaceful and inspiring destination. On today's show, we'll hear music performed next to one of the massive sculptures under the big Montana sky at Tippet Rise.
Composer Richard Danielpour recently wrote a piece in honor of those affected by the pandemic. On today's show, pianist Simone Dinnerstein plays from Richard Danielpour’s ‘An American Mosaic’.
Death himself saunters into a graveyard at midnight and plays his fiddle. The clattering bones of dancing skeletons accompany his diabolical tune until the morning rooster scares them all away. On today's show, we'll hear a supernatural take on the Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens.
Carolina Eyck started playing the theremin when she was seven. Her first audience...was a collection of stuffed animals at her home in Berlin. Now she's considered one of the finest players of the theremin in the world. On today's show, hear Carolina Eyck and the Apollo Chamber Players perform Bohuslav Martinu's Fantasia for theremin, oboe, string quartet and piano.
When Richard White was a young boy, he was homeless, living on the streets of Baltimore. At the age of four, he was adopted, and discovered the joy of making music in middle school. He went on to become the first African-American to earn a Doctorate of music in tuba performance, and is Principal Tuba in two American orchestras. On today's episode, hear the inspiring story and music of Dr. Richard White.
British composer Grace-Evangeline Mason wrote a piece that she wanted to "transport...listener(s) somewhere intimate and yet, surreal." On today's show, hear the world-premiere of that piece: The Imagined Forest, by Grace-Evangeline Mason.
British composer Grace-Evangeline Mason wrote a piece that she wanted to "transport...listener(s) somewhere intimate and yet, surreal." On today's show, hear the world-premiere of that piece: The Imagined Forest, by Grace-Evangeline Mason.
Composer David Kirkland Garner is fascinated by a wide range of American roots music, and the legacies of the people who made it happen. On today's episode, we'll hear a piece he wrote honoring the blues legend Mississippi John Hurt. It's a dance called MELT, by David Kirkland Garner, from a concert presented by the Atlanta Chamber Players.
When Alondra de la Parra was growing up in Mexico, she played piano, but she had terrible stage fright. As a conductor, she draws on the seemingly simple advice of a respected mentor: “Be strong”. On today's show, Alondra de la Parra leads the WDR Radio Orchestra in a live concert performance of "Variaciones concertantes" by Alberto Ginastera.
