Poster Fred Child
Fred Child
MPR

Performance Today®

with host Fred Child

All Episodes

Janine Jansen

Janine Jansen

It's one of the great showpieces for violin, played by one of the finest violin soloists of our time. On Wednesday's Performance Today, we'll hear violinist Janine Jansen and the Oslo Philharmonic give an extraordinary performance of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D major.

Twin stars

Twin stars

Christina and Michelle Naughton are identical twins. They began taking piano lessons when they were 4 years old, and one could say they took it pretty seriously...they now tour the world as duo piano partners. On Tuesday's Performance Today, we'll hear Christina and Michelle Naughton perform Poulenc's Concerto for Two Pianos, in a performance from the Grand Teton Music Festival.

Cymbeline

Cymbeline

David Bruce wrote Cymbeline in 2013 for mandolin virtuoso Avi Avital, and it's a PT listener favorite. On Monday's Performance Today, hear Avi Avital and the Dover Quartet play Cymbeline at a concert in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Nick Canellakis guest hosts.

Rachel Barton Pine

Rachel Barton Pine

Rachel Barton Pine is much more than a fine violinist. She has some concerns about the future of classical music in American society, and she's doing something about it. On this weekend's Performance Today, Rachel Barton Pine joins us in the studio and tells us about the next big phase of her career.

Violinist, educator, philanthropist...

Violinist, educator, philanthropist...

Rachel Barton Pine is much more than a fine violinist. She has some concerns about the future of classical music in American society, and she's doing something about it. On Friday's Performance Today, Rachel Barton Pine joins us in the studio and tells us about the next big phase of her career.

Rachel Barton Pine performs in the studio

Rachel Barton Pine performs in the studio

Rachel Barton Pine is so much more than a violin soloist. This October, she is seeing the start of the next phase of her enormous, 15-year project that adds to her brand publisher, researcher, advocate and educator.

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Osvaldo Golijov

Osvaldo Golijov

A few years ago, composer Osvaldo Golijov was in Israel and witnessed the effects of a wave of violence. A few weeks later, he found himself viewing images of our blue planet at a planetarium show in New York City. On Thursday's Performance Today, hear music inspired by contrasting perspectives: Tenebrae, by Osvaldo Golijov.

Love and rackets

Love and rackets

When Claude Debussy wrote music for the ballet "Jeux," he was picturing a game of tennis between two women and one young man. In tennis, "love" means nothing; in Debussy's music, love is everything. On Wednesday's Performance Today, we'll hear romance and seduction on the courts, from a concert by the New York Philharmonic.

Charlie Albright plays 'the fun stuff'

Charlie Albright plays 'the fun stuff'

Pianist Charlie Albright likes to make room for what he calls "the fun stuff." He dabbles in jazz and performs on-the-spot improvisations at most of his concerts. On Tuesday's Performance Today, hear Charlie Albright have some fun performing Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," from a concert with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.