Performance Today®

On Friday's Performance Today, we'll hear music designed to intimidate us. Our current Young Artist in Residence, Jenny Chen, joins Fred in the studio with scary music by Franz Liszt.

When Jenny Chen moved from Taiwan to Philadelphia, she was ten years old; her new piano teacher was ninety. That was eleven years ago, and to this day, they're still friends. On Thursday's Performance Today, Jenny Chen tells us more about that special relationship, and she'll play music by Franz Liszt.

Jenny Chen's mother taught her to play piano without watching her fingers; she would cover Jenny's hands with a music score, and then ask her to play the notes. Sure enough, young Jenny grew up to be an excellent pianist -- and our new Young Artist in Residence. On Wednesday's Performance Today, she'll discuss her musical upbringing and perform music by Bach.

Listen to in-studio interviews with host Fred Child and exclusive musical performances by pianist Jenny Chen.

Conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt believed in the supremacy of the composer's voice. "A composer must be remembered, but a performer must be forgotten," Harnoncourt once said. But how could we not celebrate one of the most distinguished figures who brought that voice to life? On Tuesday's Performance Today, we'll honor the conductor who died over the weekend.

For decades, orchestras have used specific Parisian taxi horns in George Gershwin's An American in Paris. But new scholarship says those are the wrong notes! On Monday's Performance Today, we'll ponder taxi horn intonation and enjoy a great performance of this piece by the New York Philharmonic.

When he was 5 years old, Conrad Tao began taking piano lessons with a gentleman named Emilio del Rosario. Rosario had a profound influence on Tao's musical life and now, almost 20 years later, Conrad Tao has written a piece in honor of his former teacher. On this weekend's Performance Today, we'll hear that piece: "A walk (for Emilio)."

When he was 5 years old, Conrad Tao began taking piano lessons with a gentleman named Emilio del Rosario. Rosario had a profound influence on Tao's musical life and now, almost 20 years later, Conrad Tao has written a piece in honor of his former teacher. On Friday's Performance Today, we'll hear that piece: "A walk (for Emilio)."

If you saw Mickey Mouse in "Fantasia," you might remember the moral of the story: don't try to do too much. French composer Paul Dukas followed that advice. He wrote one opera, one ballet, one symphony, and one famous tone poem - The Sorcerer's Apprentice. On Thursday's Performance Today, we'll hear that piece from a concert in Buffalo, New York.