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 APM Distribution.
In 1825, Ludwig van Beethoven got terribly sick. For a month, all he could do was lie miserably in bed. He began to think that he may not survive the illness. Beethoven recovered, and, so grateful for the gift of life, he expressed his gratitude in music. Hear the Pacifica Quartet play Beethoven's heartfelt "thank-you", his String Quartet No. 15, on Tuesday's Performance Today.
Drew Petersen is the 2017 winner of the American Pianists Award. He is currently pursuing his Masters in Music degree at Juilliard with Robert McDonald, and is a recipient of the prestigious Kovner Fellowship. On Monday's Performance Today, Petersen joins host Fred Child for music and conversation in the Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser Studio in St. Paul, MN.
Drew Petersen, winner of the 2017 American Pianists Award, joins host Fred Child in the PT performance studio. He plays two fiendishly difficult pieces of music, and discusses his education and the musical process of constructing a fugue.
The Vera Quartet are currently Graduate Quartet-in-Residence at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, studying with the Pacifica Quartet. They're also our latest PT Young Artists in Residence. Get to know them on Saturday's Performance Today, and hear them perform Beethoven's String Quartet No. 9 at the Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser Studio in St. Paul, MN.
"Tales of Hemingway" by Michael Daugherty won THREE Grammys this year. It's a musical tour through the life and literature of Ernest Hemingway, ending with a bullfight scene from "The Sun Also Rises." On Friday's Performance Today, travel back into Hemingway's Lost Generation as the Nashville Symphony plays "Tales of Hemingway" by Michael Daugherty.
At the age of 70, composer Leos Janacek wrote a sextet recalling his youth as a choirboy at St. Thomas Abbey in the Czech city of Brno. On Thursday's Performance Today, hear Mladi (Youth) by Leos Janacek, from a concert in Round Top, Texas. In addition, we'll continue our conversation with the Vera Quartet, our PT Young Artist in Residence, including a performance of Beethoven's String Quartet No. 9.
The Vera Quartet is currently Graduate Quartet-in-Residence at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, studying with the Pacifica Quartet. They're also our latest PT Young Artist(s) in Residence. On Wednesday's Performance Today, we'll introduce you to the Vera Quartet, and hear them perform Ravel's String Quartet in F Major.
Join host Fred Child for in-studio interviews with the Vera Quartet, as well as exclusive musical performances.
In 1830, French composer Hector Berlioz finished writing an innovative program symphony, his Symphonie Fantastique. It's an autobiographical work, the story of a young artist and his insatiable love for the perfect woman. On Tuesday's Performance Today, Andres Orozco-Estrada conducts the Houston Symphony in a performance of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique.
