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 his later years, Giaochino Rossini scribbled notes on his old manuscripts. On one piece, he wrote, "Six terrible sonatas composed by me at a most youthful age..." On Wednesday's Performance Today, hear one of Rossini's "terrible" sonatas, which ISN'T terrible... composed when he was just 12 years old.
Czech composer Bedrich Smetana married his childhood sweetheart; they had four beautiful daughters together... but over the course of two years, three daughters and Smetana's wife all died from illness. On Tuesday's Performance Today, hear dramatic music inspired by Smetana's tragic loss.
The ANCIA Saxophone Quartet is dedicated to the creation and performance of new works for saxophone quartet. On Monday's Performance Today, tune in to hear ANCIA perform from "Quatuor de Saxophone" by French composer Ida Gotkovsky.
On Saturday's Performance Today, we celebrate female composers, musicians and conductors. Hear a brand new 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.
On Friday's Performance Today, we celebrate female composers, musicians and conductors. Hear a brand new 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.
Musical technique is a means by which personal interpretations can be heard. According to pianist Andre Watts, technique allows you to create at will what you hear in your inner ear. On Thursday's Performance Today, we'll hear what's going on in Watts's inner ear when he plays Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in concert in Houston.
When Jean Sibelius was 24, he auditioned for the Vienna Philharmonic as a violinist... and was turned down. 13 years later, Sibelius wrote his Violin Concerto, a piece that challenges even the greatest violinists. On Wednesday's Performance Today, hear the Buffalo Philharmonic with violinist Michael Ludwig perform the Concerto for Violin by Jean Sibelius.
In the 1930's, artistic expression in the Soviet Union could be a very risky proposition. On Tuesday's Performance Today, tune in for a story about the danger of art, with evocative music by composer and survivor Dmitri Shostakovich.
For many Americans, it's a once in a lifetime chance to see an extraordinary celestial event. On Monday's Performance Today, we'll celebrate the total eclipse with music inspired by the moon and sun.
