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.
Every year, Performance Today partners with top music conservatories around the country to invite remarkable young musicians to perform in our studios. Our first Young Artists in Residence group for the season is the Dover Quartet from the Curtis Institute of Music. They'll talk about chamber music with Fred Child and perform Beethoven's "Razumovsky" Quartet on Wednesday's Performance Today, from APM.
During a performance of Bolero, the snare drummer repeats the same pattern 169 times alongside elegant melodies and a sixteen minute crescendo in the orchestra. On Tuesday's Performance Today, The China Philharmonic performs Maurice Ravel's orchestral showpiece in San Diego, California. Plus, conductor Cynthia Johnston Turner talks about technology in music with Google Glass.
Listen to Professor Cynthia Johnston Turner discuss her experiments with classical music performance using the latest in wearable technology, Google Glass.
Peter Tchaikovsky had poured time and effort into his new symphony in B minor, but couldn't decide on a subtitle. It was his brother, Modest, who suggested "Pathetique," referring to deep emotional anguish. The name stuck, but Tchaikovsky passed away just days after the premier. On Monday's Performance Today, the New York Philharmonic performs that iconic 6th Symphony from Lincoln Center in New York.
Concert pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin plays a rarely-heard gem by Franz Liszt, "The Blessing of God in Solitude," on stage at the Rockport Chamber Music Festival. Plus, composer Bruce Adolphe joins Fred Child for your weekly dose of Piano Puzzler.
In 1933, Alan Hovhaness was an idealistic composer at the start of his career. He was also fascinated with the new science of rocketry and space exploration. He followed new developments and discoveries for fifty years before finally composing a symphony he called "Star Dawn," inspired by the concepts around space flight. Hear a fascinating performance in concert on Friday's Performance Today, from APM.
When Anton Webern was given a class assignment by his music theory teacher to compose music for string quartet, he turned that task into a heartfelt expression of musical love. On Thursday's Performance Today, we'll hear the Jupiter Quartet perform that very homework assignment. Also, pianist Lang Lang joins forces with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic to perform Tchaikovsky's powerful First Piano Concerto at Walt Disney Hall.
Composer Paul Dukas didn't have Mickey Mouse in mind when he wrote Sorcerer's Apprentice, but the piece has since been inextricably linked with Walt Disney's 1940 cartoon Fantasia. We'll hear a recent concert performance from the Concertgebouw, in Amsterdam. Plus, composer Bruce Adolphe joins Fred Child for this week's Piano Puzzler.
Not your father's plastic recorder. Listen to the interview and the mellifluous sounds of four wooden recorders playing in harmony.
