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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 

Performance Today® features live concert recordings that can’t be heard anywhere else, highlights from new album releases, and in-studio performances and interviews. Performance Today® is based at the APM studios in St. Paul, Minnesota, but is frequently on the road, with special programs broadcast from festivals and public radio stations around the country. Also, each Wednesday, composer Bruce Adolphe joins host Fred Child for a classical musical game and listener favorite: the Piano Puzzler.

Shows

Since 2000, Fred Child has been the host of Performance Today, the most-listened-to classical music radio show in America. He also is the commentator and announcer for Live From Lincoln Center, the only live performing arts series on television. He also hosts musical events on stages around the country, working with major orchestras and festivals, and connecting with audiences coast to coast.


Host

Fred Child

Kathryn Slusher is the senior producer of Performance Today, where she leads programming and production for the show. In her spare time, she enjoys the vibrant Twin Cities music and theater scene, and loves to read, hike and spend time with her family.


Senior Producer

Kathryn Slusher

As a Producer for Performance Today, Meghann chooses music to broadcast on the show, writes web articles and scripts, facilitates, conducts and edits interviews, creates video content and manages PT’s social media pages. She created Performance Today’s Black History Spotlight Series and the My Name is Series to highlight Black classical musicians. Meghann is also the producer for the PT Young Artist in Residence Series. In her free time, she is a mom, a part-time actress and fashion lover.

Meghann also created and hosted “Wondrous Strange”, a national radio program about uncommon musical instruments, she is the official underwriting voice for ‘The New York Times’ The Daily, and she can occasionally be heard guest-hosting Performance Today.


Producer

Meghann Oglesby

As an Associate Producer for Performance Today, Kathleen Bradbury writes scripts and assists with external communications. In her spare time, she likes to read fiction, lift heavy weights at the gym, and frolic about in nature. But above all else, Kathleen loves to sing Broadway showtunes--much to the delight of her wife, her infant son, and her rescue dog.


Kathleen Bradbury

Jon Gohman is an associate producer for Performance Today. He is responsible for various behind-the-scenes functions, including liaising with artists and creating materials for national distribution. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, playing the guitar, and thinking about Langrange points.


Associate Producer

Jon Gohman

Craig Thorson is the Technical Director for Performance Today. In addition to mastering the live music recordings that are programmed for each daily program, he records guest performances and interviews. Craig enjoys skiing, tennis, and bicycling, and boating.


Technical Director

Craig Thorson

Jeanne Barron is the technical producer of Performance Today.


Technical Producer

YourClassical MPR

Jeanne Barron

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Performance Today

On Friday's Performance Today our PT Young Artists in Residence, the Kenari Quartet, will join Fred in the studio for an athletic performance of a new piece by composer David Maslanka.


Performance Today®

Sue Rissberger Photography

New music for saxophone

Our current PT Young Artists in Residence have made a keyboard concerto by Bach work for saxophone quartet. How did they approach that rather daunting task? On Thursday's Performance Today, the Kenari Quartet will join Fred in the studio to discuss making all kinds of music work for saxophones.


Britannica.com

Bach on saxophone

The saxophone is sometimes seen as an outlier in the classical music world. And, the four young saxophonists who make up the Kenari Quartet like it that way -- theirs is an instrument that can't be typecast. On Wednesday's Performance Today, The Kenari Quartet will join Fred in the studio as our newest Young Artists in Residence.


Wikimedia Commons

A classical outlier

David Maslanka: Recitation Book Movement 5: Fanfare/Variations on Durch Adams Fall

Johann Sebastian Bach: Italian Concerto BWV 971

Corey Dundee: Shifting Gears

David Biedenbender: you've been talking in your sleep

Kenari Quartet Interview Part 3

Kenari Quartet Interview Part 1

Kenari Quartet Interview Part 2

Listen to in-studio interviews with host Fred Child and exclusive musical performances by the Kenari Quartet.


Young Artists in Residence

Courtesy of the artists

Young Artists in Residence: The Kenari Quartet

Every day, PT takes you to concert halls near and far; showcasing the creativity and vitality of today's classical music scene. On Tuesday's Performance Today, we'll hear world-class performances from recent concerts in Texas, Florida, Arizona, and Colorado. Plus, we'll take a side trip to Norway to hear a special trumpet concerto.


http://www.tinethinghelseth.com

Concert highlights from near and far

Sergei Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2 begins with this angular calm; then comes the beautiful pointillism of the second movement. And it finishes with a dynamic, energetic finale. On Monday's Performance Today, we'll hear James Ehnes play this piece in concert with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.


KassKara

Ehnes plays Prokofiev

On this weekend's Performance Today, the Young People's Chorus of New York City will join Fred in the PT studio. We'll hear about their remarkable history and mission, and we'll experience their great sound as they sing music by Stephen Foster and Robert Schumann.


The Young People's Chorus of New York City

APM photo/Tesfa Wondemagegnehu

Czech composer Bedrich Smetana wrote his autobiography in the form of a string quartet. And recently, composer Gabriela Lena Frank took a look at her own Peruvian heritage in a set of dance pieces. On Friday's Performance Today, we'll hear these two musical memoirs - compositions that explore personal identity.


www.wikipedia.org

Musical memoirs

On Thursday's Performance Today, cellist Alisa Weilerstein joins the Aspen Chamber Symphony in concert to play a cello concerto by Joseph Haydn. Plus, we'll head to Seattle to hear guitarist Ana Vidovic give a moving performance of solo guitar music from Paraguay.


All Episodes