Performance Today®

Fred Child has been out for the last week, and he wanted to take a moment to update listeners on the reason for his absence; an important new development in his life.

The combination of harp and guitar isn't exactly traditional. But that doesn't discourage harpist Yolanda Kondonassis and guitarist Jason Vieaux, who love the way their instruments sound together. On Thursday's Performance Today, this unique duo will us in the studio for music and conversation.

Pianist Lydia Artymiw says that playing well with other musicians takes more than practice. On Wednesday's Performance Today, Artymiw and the Miami String Quartet join us in the studio for a more in depth conversation, plus a performance of music by Ernst von Dohnanyi.

Three members of the Danish String Quartet first met as teens in a summer music camp. They grew up, went to music conservatory, and acquired a Norwegian cellist. On Tuesday's Performance Today, we'll hear them perform a lively medley of traditional Danish folk music in the PT studio.

Edward Elgar composed almost nothing during the First World War. He said: "I cannot do any real work with this awful shadow hanging over us." But, after four years of mechanized death on a scale the world had never seen, he began writing this Cello Concerto. On Monday's Performance Today, we'll hear it from a concert in Bergen, Norway.

Each week on our Piano Puzzler, composer Bruce Adolphe re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer. We then get one of our listeners on the phone to try to guess the tune and the composer whose style Bruce is imitating. Play along with our Piano Puzzler, on this weekend's Performance Today.

Alexander Scriabin was a musical metaphysician; he genuinely wanted his music to change the world. On Friday's Performance Today, we'll go to Warsaw for a rare performance of Scriabin's Piano Concerto. See if your world is changed; even if only by extending your musical horizons a bit.

When Johannes Brahms sent the manuscript of his Symphony No. 2 to his publisher, he included a note that said: "I have never written anything so sad." As it turned out, Brahms was joking. On Thursday's Performance Today, we'll hear selections of his upbeat second symphony from a concert in Bergen, Norway.

Each week on our Piano Puzzler, composer Bruce Adolphe re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer. We then get one of our listeners on the phone to try to guess the tune and the composer whose style Bruce is imitating. Play along with our Piano Puzzler, on Wednesday's Performance Today.