Performance Today®

Harpist Mallory McHenry is Performance Today's current Young Artist in Residence. Mallory recently joined Fred Child for conversation and music at our studio in Saint Paul. You can hear it all here!

The great pianist Clara Schumann truly loved music by her husband, Robert Schumann. In 1853, she took one of Robert's songs and composed a set of seven variations. On this episode of Performance Today, hear the surprise birthday gift that Clara Schumann wrote for her husband's 43rd birthday.

Hannah Lash knew from a very young age that she wanted to be a composer, but she hadn't yet learned how to read or write music. So, Hannah developed her own system for writing music using triangles, squiggles, and X's; a mishmash of symbols that only meant music to her. On this episode of Performance Today, hear pianist Jeremy Denk and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra premiere "In Pursuit of Flying," by American composer Hannah Lash.

Tippet Rise is an art center located on a working ranch near Fishtail, Montana, about a 2-3 hour drive from Yellowstone National Park. The center incorporates musical performance venues along with large-scale art installations. It's a peaceful and inspiring destination. On this episode of Performance Today, we'll hear pianist George Li in a concert at the Olivier Music Barn at Tippet Rise.

Pianist Martha Argerich and violinist Gidon Kremer are both classical music superstars They've been playing together for decades, and they still enjoy playing together - partially because they continue to surprise each other. On this episode of Performance Today, we'll hear Argerich and Kremer surprising each other in concert in Berlin.

During the First World War, Maurice Ravel composed a work and dedicated each movement to a fallen friend or colleague. At first, Ravel was criticized because the music has a bright, reflective quality; his response was "The dead are sad enough, in their eternal silence." On this episode of Performance Today, we'll hear Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin, from a concert Nashville.

An important discipline in the classical tradition is to be "true" to the notes written by the composer. That said, it's simply stunning when classical musicians can improvise. On this episode of Performance Today, pianist Gabriela Montero improvises an encore, from a concert in Houston. With guest-host Elena See.

The art form that we call "classical music" may have European roots, but it now embraces cultures around the world. On this episode of Performance Today, hear the Spokane String Quartet play music by two young composers from Oklahoma's Chickasaw Arts Academy.

Composer Laurence Sherr has dedicated his career to sharing the musical history of the Holocaust. in 2014, Sherr wrote a piece that borrowed melodies from several Jewish resistance songs. On this episode of Performance Today, hear "Myr zaynen do!" (We are here!) by Laurence Sherr.