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 a recent concert in Vienna, pianist Yefim Bronfman was set to perform Bartok's Piano Concert No. 3. There was only one problem; he'd just gotten a bad cut on his finger. A consummate professional, he insisted on going through with the performance, despite the pain and inevitable bloodshed. On Wednesday's PT, we'll hear Bronfman give a much less bloody performance of that same piece.
He is thoughtful and precise, with a smart sense of humor, which makes him perfect for music by Mozart. Pianist Richard Goode teams up with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for a concert performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 27, on Tuesday's Performance Today.
Picture Death playing his malevolent fiddle in the graveyard on Halloween night. The skeletons rise and do their annual clattering dance until the sun comes up next morning. Get into the spirit with Danse Macabre, by Camille Saint-Saens on Monday's Performance Today.
With two trumpets and two trombones, The Westerlies defy musical typecasting. A little bit classical, a little bit jazz, and little bit folk music...and a lot of talent. Join us in the studio for music and conversation with The Westerlies on Saturday's Performance Today.
The trombone players in the Buffalo Philharmonic asked composer Eric Ewazen if he would write something especially for them. Ewazen loved the idea and came up with his Triple Concerto for Three Trombones and Orchestra. On Friday's Performance Today, we'll go to Buffalo to hear it in concert.
From a young age, Sam Shepherd has rejected the idea of neat, tidy musical categories. He studied classical piano growing up, but felt confined by what he calls the "dots on a page." It wasn't until he heard a performer really making a classical piece his own, breaking out of strictly classical feel, that he was hooked. Now, Shepherd writes music under the alias "Floating Points."
Violinist Joshua Bell says that composer Camille Saint-Saens is terribly underrated, and feels that his Violin Concerto No. 3 is beautiful, logical, virtuosic, and a perfect fit for the violin. Hear Joshua Bell play Saint-Saens's Violin Concerto No. 3 at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, on Thursday's Performance Today.
The concert was an experiment - a new composition was played, and the audience was supposed to guess who wrote it. When the music ended, Maurice Ravel's friend leaned over said: "What idiot could have written such a piece?" Well, that "idiot" would be Ravel, and the music is eternal. Ravel's 'Valses nobles et sentimentales', on Wednesday's Performance Today.
With two trumpets and two trombones, The Westerlies defy musical typecasting. A little bit classical, a little bit jazz, and little bit folk music...and a lot of talent. Join us in the studio for music and conversation with The Westerlies on Tuesday's Performance Today.
