Poster Fred Child
Fred Child
MPR

Performance Today®

with host Fred Child

All Episodes

Lawn culture, outside the Aspen tent

Lawn culture, outside the Aspen tent

The big venue at the Aspen Music Festival is a Teflon-coated fiberglass tent, hardy enough to withstand Rocky Mountain winters. We'll hear a couple of summer 2009 concerts under the Benedict Music Tent: violinist Adele Anthony and pianist Inon Barnatan (EE-nohn BARN-a-tun) play the Violin Sonata by Cesar Franck. And Andrey Boreyko leads the Aspen Chamber Symphony in Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8, the "Unfinished" Symphony. We'll also talk with some of the locals who like to sit outside the tent, and listen to concerts under the Rocky Mountain sky.

Our weekly Piano Puzzler

Our weekly Piano Puzzler

It could be "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in the style of Claude Debussy. Or "Somewhere over the Rainbow" in the style of Beethoven. Every week, composer Bruce Adolphe takes a familiar tune and re-writes it in the style of a classical composer. See if you can guess the hidden tune, and the composer whose style Bruce is imitating.

Our week at Aspen continues

Our week at Aspen continues

Our week of highlights from the Aspen Music Festival and School continues with Music Director David Zinman talking about the mysterious art of conducting. (Zinman compares conducting to being a traffic cop and to riding a horse, and adds that you must be the "conscience of the orchestra," and in the end, the conductor must "BE the music.") Zinman talks the talk, and walks the walk - we'll hear him conduct the Aspen Festival Orchestra in Dvorak's rollicking Carnival Overture. And the Takacs Quartet plays Robert Schumann's A-Major Quartet.

Our week at Aspen begins

Our week at Aspen begins

There are so many venues to choose from in Aspen: the big white tent, the cozy underground concert hall, the historic opera house, the top of the mountain. We'll sample music from nearly all the Aspen venues as we begin a week-long celebration of the Aspen Music Festival and School. We'll hear from the 2009 opening concert by pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin, an all-star performance of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, featuring violinist Gil Shaham and conductor Nicholas McGegan. And we'll take the gondola to the top of Aspen Mountain to hear from an outdoor concert under the Rocky Mountain sky featuring a student brass quintet.

Mountain Music

Mountain Music

While he was composing it, the working title for one of Aaron Copland's most beloved works was simply, "Ballet for Martha." Martha was Martha Graham, and just before it premiered, the ballet got its name, "Appalachian Spring." We'll hear music from "Appalachian Spring" on today's show, courtesy of the Marlboro Music School and Festival in the southern hills of Vermont.

Beethoven's Archduke

Beethoven's Archduke

It's not easy to be co-leaders, but pianists Richard Goode and Mitsuko Uchida find a way to make it work at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont. This hour we'll get to experience the results the beautiful colaborations at Marlboro as Mitsuko Uchida gets together with violinist Soovin Kim and cellist David Soyer in Beethoven's Archduke Trio.

Elgar in London Town

Elgar in London Town

We'll go to London's Royal Albert Hall to hear a perfect piece for the BBC Proms. Edward Elgar's celebration of an ideal London--without care, without want, and without restrictions--the Cockaigne Overture. Charles Mackerras leads the BBC Philharmonic.

Mountain Music

Mountain Music

While he was composing it, the working title for one of Aaron Copland's most beloved works was simply, "Ballet for Martha." Martha was Martha Graham, and just before it premiered, the ballet got its name, "Appalachian Spring." We'll hear music from "Appalachian Spring" on today's show, courtesy of the Marlboro Music School and Festival in the southern hills of Vermont.

Bach with 'Zing'

Bach with 'Zing'

Conductor John Eliot Gardiner says there's one Bach motet that has a special "zing.""Sing to the Lord a New Song," or in German: "Singet dem Herrn," with a "zzz" sound in the word "Singet." Gardiner talks about the visceral fun for singers of that "zzz," which creates an almost percussive effect in the music. And we'll hear Gardiner conduct his Monteverdi Choir in concert two weeks ago at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Bach's motet "Singet dem Herrn," from the 2009 BBC Proms.

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