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American Public Media’s Performance Today® is America’s most popular classical music radio program and a winner of the 2014 Gabriel Award for artistic achievement. The show is broadcast on hundreds of public radio stations across the country, including at 1 p.m. central weekdays on Minnesota Public Radio. More information about our stations can be found at 

Performance Today® features live concert recordings that can’t be heard anywhere else, highlights from new album releases, and in-studio performances and interviews. Performance Today® is based at the APM studios in St. Paul, Minnesota, but is frequently on the road, with special programs broadcast from festivals and public radio stations around the country. Also, each Wednesday, composer Bruce Adolphe joins host Fred Child for a classical musical game and listener favorite: the Piano Puzzler.

Shows

Since 2000, Fred Child has been the host of Performance Today, the most-listened-to classical music radio show in America. He also is the commentator and announcer for Live From Lincoln Center, the only live performing arts series on television. He also hosts musical events on stages around the country, working with major orchestras and festivals, and connecting with audiences coast to coast.


Host

Fred Child

Kathryn Slusher is the senior producer of Performance Today, where she leads programming and production for the show. In her spare time, she enjoys the vibrant Twin Cities music and theater scene, and loves to read, hike and spend time with her family.


Senior Producer

Kathryn Slusher

As a Producer for Performance Today, Meghann chooses music to broadcast on the show, writes web articles and scripts, facilitates, conducts and edits interviews, creates video content and manages PT’s social media pages. She created Performance Today’s Black History Spotlight Series and the My Name is Series to highlight Black classical musicians. Meghann is also the producer for the PT Young Artist in Residence Series. In her free time, she is a mom, a part-time actress and fashion lover.

Meghann also created and hosted “Wondrous Strange”, a national radio program about uncommon musical instruments, she is the official underwriting voice for ‘The New York Times’ The Daily, and she can occasionally be heard guest-hosting Performance Today.


Producer

Meghann Oglesby

As an Associate Producer for Performance Today, Kathleen Bradbury writes scripts and assists with external communications. In her spare time, she likes to read fiction, lift heavy weights at the gym, and frolic about in nature. But above all else, Kathleen loves to sing Broadway showtunes--much to the delight of her wife, her infant son, and her rescue dog.


Kathleen Bradbury

Jon Gohman is an associate producer for Performance Today. He is responsible for various behind-the-scenes functions, including liaising with artists and creating materials for national distribution. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, playing the guitar, and thinking about Langrange points.


Associate Producer

Jon Gohman

Craig Thorson is the Technical Director for Performance Today. In addition to mastering the live music recordings that are programmed for each daily program, he records guest performances and interviews. Craig enjoys skiing, tennis, and bicycling, and boating.


Technical Director

Craig Thorson

Jeanne Barron is the technical producer of Performance Today.


Technical Producer

YourClassical MPR

Jeanne Barron

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Performance Today

Danish composer Carl Nielsen wrote his Symphony No. 5 in the early 1920s. It's a musical illustration of the eternal battle between darkness and light. On Monday's Performance Today, we'll hear Nielsen's Fifth Symphony from a recent concert in Ireland.


Performance Today®

By Georg Lindstrom. Restored by Adam Cuerden, via Wikimedia Commons

Carl Nielsen: Symphony No. 5

Two women, six men... together, they're VOCES8, a British vocal ensemble that performs a wide range of genres. On this episode of Performance Today, VOCES8 joins us in our studio to sing early classical, classic jazz, and everything in-between.


Andy Staples

VOCES8

Two women, six men... together, they're VOCES8, a British vocal ensemble that performs a wide range of genres. On Friday's Performance Today, VOCES8 joins us to sing early classical, classic jazz, and everything in-between.


photo: Andy Staples, courtesy of artist

VOCES8 vocal ensemble

Composer Maurice Greene and George Frederic Handel had a relatively pleasant relationship... until Greene got a job that Handel had wanted. On Thursday's Performance Today, music by Maurice Greene, frenemy of George Frederic Handel.


Painting by Francis Hayman, National Portrait Gallery, London

Composer Maurice Greene

Bassoonist Garrett McQueen is the host of "Afternoon Concert" on 91.9 FM WUOT in Knoxville, and has performed in orchestras and ensembles across the country. On Wednesday's Performance Today, Garrett McQueen guest-hosts PT with concert highlights from his stomping grounds, the American Southeast.


Courtesy of the artist

Garrett McQueen

Johannes Brahms told Anton Bruckner that he just didn't understand his symphonies... and Bruckner replied: "I have the exact same problem with yours." On Tuesday's Performance Today, we'll hear the New York Philharmonic play music by the often misunderstood Bruckner - the gorgeous slow movement from his Symphony No. 8.


public domain - wikimedia commons

Bruckner: Symphony No. 8

In 1829, composer Felix Mendelssohn went on a walking tour of Scotland. He sent a musical sketch in a letter back to his family, and those notes turned out to be the beginnings of his "Scottish Symphony." Join us for Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 3, on Monday's Performance Today.


Wikimedia Commons

Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3, "Scottish"

Nathalie Joachim is at the vanguard of a new approach to the classical tradition. She combines a wide range of musical styles and sounds... classical, soul, hip-hop... really, anything goes. On this weekend's Performance Today, join us for music and conversation with flutist and composer Nathalie Joachim.


Courtesy of artist

Nathalie Joachim

Chiquinha Gonzago established a career for herself as a professional musician in nineteenth century Brazil at a time when it was widely considered scandalous to do so.
