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.
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.
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.
Listen to in-studio interviews with host Fred Child and exclusive musical performances by 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
On Wednesday'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.
