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.
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
In 2004, the executor of an estate in Switzerland found a dusty old book of hand-written music... music that he recognized! It was the score that Sergei Rachmaninoff had used to conduct the premiere of his Symphony No. 2 in 1908. On Tuesday's Performance Today, take a seat with us at Jones Hall in Houston, and hear the Houston Symphony perform Symphony No. 2, by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
For 27 years, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach wrote relatively conservative music for the court of King Frederick the Great. Then, in 1768, the composer was permitted to break out of the box. He moved to Hamburg, and his music began to sound strikingly modern. On Saturday's Performance Today, hear C.P.E. Bach's Sinfonia in C major, from a concert in Athens, Georgia.
21st century composer Thierry Escaich uses traditional melodies as a starting point, then moves them to unexpected territory. On Friday's Performance Today, hear the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra perform the world premiere of "Psalmos, Concerto for Orchestra" by Thierry Escaich.
In 1915, Manuel de Falla wrote music based on an old Spanish legend. It's a classic boy-meets-girl story... except the girl is haunted by her dead husband. On Thursday's Performance Today, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet plays Falla's El Amor Brujo ("Love, the Sorcerer").
Pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin loves playing a particular piano sonata by Franz Schubert. He says, "It's one of my greatest friends... I can't do without it." On Wednesday's Performance Today, hear Marc-Andre Hamelin play Schubert's Piano Sonata in B-Flat Major from a concert in Fort Worth, Texas.
