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.
'tenThing' is a ten-piece brass ensemble from Norway. Led by world-renowned trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth, tenThing are rapidly establishing themselves on the international scene. On Thursday's Performance Today, tenThing visit the PT studios for a chat, along with performances of works by Mozart, Grieg, and Bernstein.
In 2006, Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov wrote a cello concerto for Yo-Yo Ma. A few years ago, we aired a much-loved performance of the piece (a PT listener favorite) but a recording of the concerto wasn't commercially available until 2016. On Wednesday's Performance Today, hear the widely anticipated recording of Osvaldo Golijov's "Azul", performed by cellist Yo-Yo Ma and chamber ensemble The Knights.
Pianist Emanuel Ax has won seven Grammy Awards, an Avery Fisher Prize, and he's soloed with the New York Philharmonic more than a hundred times. On Tuesday's Performance Today, Emanuel Ax gives a thrilling performance of Beethoven's last piano concerto, the Emperor Concerto.
On Monday's Performance Today, conductor Louis Langree conducts the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra with pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk playing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. And then... Gavrylyuk gives a dazzling souped-up encore of a piece by Mozart.
When Gustav Mahler wrote his Sixth Symphony, his instrumentation called for hammer blows... and percussionists around the world have had to get creative. On Saturday's Performance Today, hear the New York Philharmonic perform the emotional final movement of Mahler's Symphony No. 6.
When Gustav Mahler wrote his Sixth Symphony, his instrumentation called for hammer blows... and percussionists around the world have had to get creative. On Friday's Performance Today, take a seat as the New York Philharmonic performs the fourth movement of Mahler's Symphony No. 6, hammer and all.
What is sacred? What is worth living and dying for? According to Don Juan, the ubiquitous answer is...love. On Thursday's Performance Today, take a seat at the Walt Disney Concert Hall for an Los Angeles Philharmonic performance of "Don Juan" by Richard Strauss.
In May 2010, Tennessee was hit with terrible floods. The home of the Nashville Symphony suffered nearly $40 million in damages. Despite losses, the Nashville Symphony became a symbol of recovery, and the concert hall was brought back to life in less than 8 months. On Wednesday's Performance Today, take a seat and hear the Nashville Symphony perform music by Sibelius, from a concert at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
Pianist Dizhou Zhao is winner of numerous competition prizes, and is also a winner of Astral Artist's 2012 National Auditions. On Tuesday's Performance Today, hear Dizhou Zhao play "Sonatina" by Liqing Yang... it's a beautiful work by one of the great Chinese composers of the 20th century
