Poster Fred Child
Fred Child
MPR

Performance Today®

with host Fred Child

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Musical cryptograms

Musical cryptograms

Dmitri Shostakovich hid some musical cryptograms in the 3rd movement of his Symphony No. 10, but it remained a secret until the 1990's. On Friday's Performance Today, hear Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10 and we'll decipher his code.

Grieg's iconic piano concerto

Grieg's iconic piano concerto

In 1868, Edvard Grieg traveled to the Norwegian countryside where he spent some of his down time writing what's become one of the most iconic piano concertos of all time. On Thursday's Performance Today, Pianist Javier Perianes plays Grieg's "Piano Concerto in A Minor" with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.

John Harbison looks back

John Harbison looks back

In the 1940s, Composer John Harbison grew up in a musical family in New Jersey. The Harbisons would gather around the piano and sing together. John Harbison had those memories in mind when he wrote a set of pieces called "Songs America Loves to Sing." We'll hear it from a concert in Athens, Georgia, on Wednesday's Performance Today.

Portraits of Josephine

Portraits of Josephine

On Tuesday's Performance Today, hear a composition by Valerie Coleman named "Portraits of Josephine"... inspired by the life and times of one of the most famous entertainers of the 20th Century: Josephine Baker.

Liza Stepanova

Liza Stepanova

When pianist Liza Stepanova was a girl, she loved going to art museums where she felt creatively inspired. These days, she often plays music with connections to visual art. On Monday's Performance Today, Liza Stepanova plays music by Debussy, inspired by Japanese artwork.

David Bruce: Cymbeline

David Bruce: Cymbeline

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

Cymbeline

Cymbeline

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

Ravel's Mother Goose Suite

Ravel's Mother Goose Suite

Hey diddle diddle, a section of fiddles; the horn jumped over the moon. The audience cheered to hear such sport, and the flute ran away with the tune. On Thursday's Performance Today, Louis Langree conducts the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in a performance of the Mother Goose Suite by Maurice Ravel.

Richard Strauss's Don Juan

Richard Strauss's Don Juan

The story of Don Juan taps a deep territory in the human psyche: love, betrayal, excess, and death. On Wednesday's Performance Today, we'll hear Richard Strauss's explosive tone poem Don Juan, performed by the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic.

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