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 Alessio Bax was nine years old, he wanted to play the organ. One problem: his legs weren't long enough for his feet to reach the pedals. Bax took piano lessons instead, impatiently waiting for the day when he could switch to the organ. Wouldn't you know it, that day never came. Bax fell in love with the piano. He joins us in the Performance Today studios to play music by Bach and Brahms on Tuesday's Performance Today.
Conductor Valery Gergiev hopped into a cab, and when the driver asked where he was going, Gergiev said, "It doesn't matter - I'm in demand everywhere." Gergiev leads major orchestras around the world and takes almost no breaks in his schedule. On Monday's Performance Today, we'll hear the hardest working man in show biz conduct the Mariinsky Orchestra.
Peter Tchaikovsky wrote one of his most brilliant pieces, his Violin Concerto, while reeling from a failed marriage. And to add insult to injury, the violinist for whom he wrote it said it was "impossible to play." On Monday's Performance Today, violinist Joshua Bell proves just how possible it is at a concert in Houston.
Israeli-American composer Ofer Ben-Amots combines Jewish folk music with contemporary textures. This past summer, he joined Fred onstage at the Grand Teton Music Festival. On this weekend's Performance Today we'll hear highlights from that conversation, plus a stirring performance of his Odessa Trio.
On Friday's Performance Today we'll hear highlights from the Aspen and Ojai Music Festivals, including a symphony by Brahms, a Strauss waltz, and a string quartet by Janacek.
On Thursday's Performance Today we'll hear Fred Child jumping off a mountain, plus other highlights from this year's Aspen Music Festival.
On Wednesday's Performance Today we'll hear an elegant performance of a Bach Concerto, a playful performance of a sonata by Mozart, and rustic, folk-inspired music by a composer from Central Asia as we take a look back at highlights from this year's Savannah Music Festival.
Israeli-American composer Ofer Ben-Amots combines Jewish folk music with contemporary textures. This past summer, he joined Fred onstage at the Grand Teton Music Festival. On Tuesday's Performance Today we'll hear highlights from that conversation, plus a stirring performance of his Odessa Trio.
When he was young, Felix Mendelssohn had a crush on a girl named Delphine; they played piano together every morning. Once, Mendelssohn was stuck writing a new piece and Delphine helped out. We don't which part, but we know she helped with his first piano concerto. The story of Felix and Delphine and a concert from Dallas, on Monday's Performance Today.
