Poster Fred Child
Fred Child
MPR

Performance Today®

with host Fred Child

All Episodes

Emily Pinkerton

Emily Pinkerton

When Emily Pinkerton plays a particular Civil War tune on the banjo, she says it's hard to stop; the melody bubbles and flows like a rippling river. On this episode of Performance Today, we'll hear a movement from "Rounder Songs" by Emily Pinkerton, featuring a lush arrangement for banjo and chamber ensemble.

Reviving the music of Leonora Duarte

Reviving the music of Leonora Duarte

Recently, Elizabeth Weinfield and her friends in the early music group Sonnambula stumbled across music by a long-forgotten composer. The works were written in the mid 1600s by a Flemish woman named Leonora Duarte. On this episode of Performance Today, hear Sonnambula perform 6 of Leonora Duarte's short Sinfonias.

New York Out Loud: Subway Music

New York Out Loud: Subway Music

As part of our special week-long series, New York Out Loud, PT host Fred Child heads underground to explore the history and importance of Subway music to the city.

Szymon Laks

Szymon Laks

Szymon Laks was a prisoner at Auschwitz, and leader of the prison orchestra. He says music did not offer comfort or peace, that music became a kind of torture, but he played on because his very life depended on it. The story and the music of Szymon Laks, on this edition of Performance Today.

Emily Pinkerton

Emily Pinkerton

When Emily Pinkerton plays a particular Civil War tune on the banjo, she says it's hard to stop; the melody bubbles and flows like a rippling river. On this episode of Performance Today, we'll hear a movement from "Rounder Songs" by Emily Pinkerton, featuring a lush arrangement for banjo and chamber ensemble.

Rachmaninoff's final work

Rachmaninoff's final work

It's a bit chilling, but in the last piece that Sergei Rachmaninoff wrote, he quotes the Dies Irae ("Day of Wrath") from the ancient Mass for the Dead. Join us for the story behind the music, and hear Rachmaninoff's astonishing final work, on this edition of Performance Today.

Danse Macabre

Danse Macabre

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.

Anastasia Kobekina

Anastasia Kobekina

On this weekend's Performance Today, we'll hear Anastasia Kobekina play Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations - a theme with a set of elegant and virtuosic variations for cello and orchestra. Plus, Bruce Adolphe joins us for this week's Piano Puzzler.

Scott Terrell and the Aspen Philharmonic

Scott Terrell and the Aspen Philharmonic

Conductor Scott Terrell says he's a proud product of a public school music program. His international conducting career began on the podium of his high school orchestra. On this edition of Performance Today, Scott Terrell leads the Aspen Philharmonic in music by Sergei Prokofiev.

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