Performance Today®

Every December, an unusual pilgrimage takes place. Thousands of people flock to the small prairie town of Northfield, Minnesota. They're going to hear the annual St. Olaf College Christmas Festival. It's not so much a concert as it is a worship service in music. Even though the school is small, the program has a following across the country, including national broadcasts on public radio and TV. We'll hear highlights from the 2012 St. Olaf Christmas Festival, which took place just last weekend in Northfield.

Ballet can be a wonderful medium for drama and story-telling. It can also be a pure, unbridled celebration of the human body, about grace and speed and athleticism. We've got both sides covered in today's show. Sergei Prokofiev set Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" to music, focusing on the conflict and tragedy of the story. And Alberto Ginastera's ballet "Estancia" is a high-energy tribute to the cowboys of his native Argentina. We'll hear highlights from both ballets, from concerts in Germany and Brazil.

Richard Strauss reached back to the Middle Ages to find a thoroughly modern character, the class clown. Till Eulenspiegel was a legendary German folk-hero who thumbed his nose at just about everybody. His antics got him in trouble with the authorities, and eventually earned him a one-way trip to the gallows. Thomas Dausgaard and the Danish National Symphony play Strauss' rollicking tone poem, "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks," in concert in Till's home country of Germany.

We all have our little morning rituals. Sometimes it's just habit. But when it's intentional, the way you start your day says a lot about you. For Pianist Andras Schiff, it's almost always the same. He spends an hour or so playing preludes and fugues from J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. Schiff never tires of it. He says, "As long as I live and I am lucky to be in good health, I want to continue to explore the mysteries of this music." This weekend, we'll feature music and conversation with Andras Schiff and PT host Fred Child, on Bach's vast and mysterious Well-Tempered Clavier.

Was he the most talented unknown composer of the 20th century? Some called him the Canadian Mozart. Andre Mathieu was an astonishing prodigy as a composer and pianist. He played his own compositions at Carnegie Hall when he was 11. He beat the young Leonard Bernstein in a composition competition when he was 13. But he was also deeply troubled. He withdrew from public life before his 20s, and died, already forgotten, at age 39 in 1968. We'll hear the Tucson Symphony in concert, playing a set of Ballet Scenes by Andre Mathieu. Plus, we'll wrap up our series with pianist Andras Schiff on Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier.

The ancient Greeks were onto something when they assigned the god Apollo to two very important functions. One of his jobs was to carry the sun across the sky each day in his chariot. The other was to be the patron of music. The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra is better known as Apollo's Fire. They're with host Fred Child in the PT studios today, bringing light and music by Bach and Vivaldi. Plus, Day 3 of music and conversation with pianist Andras Schiff on Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier.

The Cleveland baroque orchestra Apollo's Fire joins PT host Fred Child in the studio for conversation and music by Bach and Vivaldi.

Violinist Rachel Podger was once told by her teacher that Baroque violin playing was only for those who can't play real violin. She didn't think much of that opinion. So she smiled and nodded at her teacher, and sneaked out and took Baroque violin lessons on the side. Podger has since become one of the great early music interpreters, and performs with London's Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in today's show. Podger is both soloist and conductor in a Haydn violin concerto. Plus, Day 2 of music and conversation with pianist Andras Schiff on Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier.

We all have our little morning rituals. Sometimes it's just habit. But when it's intentional, the way you start your day says a lot about you. For Pianist Andras Schiff, it's almost always the same. He spends an hour or so playing preludes and fugues from J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. Schiff never tires of it. He says, "As long as I live and I am lucky to be in good health, I want to continue to explore the mysteries of this music." Today marks the start of a four-day series of music and conversation with Andras Schiff and PT host Fred Child, on Bach's vast and mysterious Well-Tempered Clavier.