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.
Pianist and composer Mary Lou Williams got her start in the jazz world in 1917, at the age of 7, playing at parties around her neighborhood in Pittsburgh. In a field dominated by men, she quickly became a star. At age 13, she played with Duke Ellington, and later was the first woman hired by Benny Goodman. On Tuesday's Performance Today, the Ancia Saxophone Quartet plays selections from Zodiac Suite, by Mary Lou Williams.
On Monday's Performance Today, Nikolai Lugansky plays music that deeply inspired an admirer of Sergei Rachmaninoff. The admirer's calling card was a humble bouquet of lilacs, anonymously left in all of his dressing rooms for nearly 10 years. The winter can be long, so close your eyes and listen... musical lilacs will bloom.
In 1928, Maurice Ravel spent some time hanging out with George Gershwin in Harlem jazz clubs. The sounds Ravel heard in Harlem made their way into some of his subsequent compositions. On Saturday's Performance Today, pianist Inon Barnatan joins the New York Philharmonic to play Ravel's jazz-influenced Piano Concerto in G Major.
Composer and organist Rued Langgaard felt at odds with his Danish contemporaries... and he didn't keep it a secret. He was a prolific composer, but his work wasn't truly recognized until after his death. Hear more about Rued Langgaard's life and music on Friday's Performance Today.
At the age of 34, Richard Strauss wrote a symphony in celebration of a hero. That hero was... Richard Strauss. He said "I don't see why I should not compose a symphony about myself; I find myself as interesting as Napoleon." The Orchestre of Paris plays "Ein Heldenleben - A Hero's Life" by Richard Strauss on the Thursday's Performance Today.
In 1928, Maurice Ravel spent some time hanging out with George Gershwin in Harlem jazz clubs. The sounds Ravel heard in Harlem made their way into some of his subsequent compositions. On Wednesday's Performance Today, pianist Inon Barnatan joins the New York Philharmonic to play Ravel's jazz-influenced Piano Concerto in G Major.
Franz Schubert celebrated his 21st birthday as he was writing his Symphony No. 6. On Tuesday's Performance Today, join us for a concert from Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, with Gustavo Dudamel conducting the LA Philharmonic in the Symphony No. 6, by the young Franz Schubert.
Dvorak wrote his Cello Concerto for a good friend, a cellist named Hans Wihan. Wihan tried to make a few changes... he said he was "improving" Dvorak's piece. Similar alterations have been made to well-known works, some without the composer's knowledge at all. Dvorak refused to allow this to happen. On Monday's Performance Today, hear Antonin Dvorak's Cello Concerto as he wrote it, in a concert from Heidelberg, Germany.
Molly Yeh grew up surrounded by music... she went to the Juilliard School to pursue a musical career, but then found her calling as a food writer and cookbook author. Meet Molly Yeh at her farm on the high prairie, and find out what she'd make if Mozart were to come over for dinner.
