Poster Fred Child
Fred Child
MPR

Performance Today®

with host Fred Child

All Episodes

Dvorak's Bagatelles

Dvorak's Bagatelles

Antonin Dvorak wrote his marvelous Bagatelles as a gift for a dear friend. He never meant them for public performance. Lucky for us, they escaped to the wider world. We'll hear Dvorak's Bagatelles from a concert in Seattle. Plus, concert highlights from the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on the next Performance Today, from APM.

Koussevitzky's double bass concerto

Koussevitzky's double bass concerto

Serge Koussevitzky was famous as a 20th century conductor, but he was also a composer... and a virtuoso on the double bass. On this this weekend's Performance Today, hear Koussevitzky's double bass Concerto, with Robin Kesselman on double bass, in concert with the Houston Symphony.

The curious art of conducting

The curious art of conducting

Leonard Slatkin says conducting gives him a sense of great power and, at the same time, a feeling of helplessness. On Friday's Performance Today, Slatkin talks to us about the curious art of conducting. Plus, we'll hear him lead a performance of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 4, from a concert in Warsaw, Poland.

Music by a young Mahler

Music by a young Mahler

Gustav Mahler destroyed nearly all the music he'd written as a teenager. But one piano quartet survives... written when he was just 15 years-old. On Thursday's Performance Today, hear Mahler's youthful Piano Quartet in A minor, from a concert at the Music@Menlo festival.

Koussevitzky's double bass concerto

Koussevitzky's double bass concerto

Serge Koussevitzky was famous as a 20th century conductor, but he was also a composer... and a virtuoso on the double bass. On Wednesday's Performance Today, hear Koussevitzky's double bass Concerto, with Robin Kesselman on double bass, in concert with the Houston Symphony.

Andras Schiff

Andras Schiff

The way you start your day says a lot about you. For pianist Andras Schiff, it's almost always the same; he spends an hour or so playing music preludes and fugues by Johann Sebastian Bach. On Tuesday's Performance Today, hear Andras Schiff play Prelude and Fugue No. 24 from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2.

Schubert's demanding Wanderer Fantasy

Schubert's demanding Wanderer Fantasy

Franz Schubert wrote a fantasy so demanding and difficult that he himself was unable to play it. Never fear... we'll hear from a pianist who can! On Monday's Performance Today, Juho Pohjonen gives a virtuoso performance of the Wanderer Fantasy in concert at the Music@Menlo Festival.

Maria Ioudenitch

Maria Ioudenitch

Meet our current PT Young Artist in Residence: violinist Maria Ioudenitch. On this weekend's Performance Today, Maria joins Fred Child in the Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser studio in St. Paul, Minnesota. Get to know Maria Ioudenitch and hear her perform music by Tchaikovsky, Clara Schumann, Sarasate, and more.

Alexander Scriabin's quest

Alexander Scriabin's quest

Alexander Scriabin was not so much a composer as a musical metaphysician. He tried to create music with the power to change the world. Did he succeed? On Friday's Performance Today, we head to Warsaw for a rare performance of the Piano Concerto by the young Scriabin. Nick Canellakis guest-hosts.