Poster Fred Child
Fred Child
MPR

Performance Today®

with host Fred Child

All Episodes

These pieces are hard on the hands

These pieces are hard on the hands

Pianist Stephen Kovacevich will describe the pain involved in Beethoven's First Piano Concerto before playing it with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. And Boris Berezovsky tackles two of Leopold Godowsky's extremely demanding Chopin transcriptions in Suffolk, England.

Music from minnesota

Music from minnesota

Conductor Nicholas McGegan will take you on a colorful guided tour of Haydn's 92nd Symphony before leading the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in a performance of the work in St. Paul. Then we'll travel south to Northfield, where the male chorus, Cantus, will sing Thomas Tallis'"Lamentations of Jeremiah."

Two bach masterpieces

Two bach masterpieces

We'll mark the 323rd anniversary of the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach with performances of two of his greatest works. In Richmond, Virginia, Jos van Veldhoven leads the Netherlands Bach Society in the Kyrie and Credo from the Mass in B Minor. Then Sir John Eliot Gardiner talks about the man behind the music before conducting the Monteverdi Choir, London Oratory Junior Choir and English Baroque Soloists in excerpts from a work written for Good Friday, the "St. Matthew Passion."

Der Rosenkavalier in los angeles

Der Rosenkavalier in los angeles

Alan Gilbert is the next music director of the New York Philharmonic. But we'll catch up with him on the opposite coast, as he leads the L.A. Philharmonic in a suite from Richard Strauss' opera, "Der Rosenkavalier," a work that lilts with waltzes reminiscent of another Strauss.

Gabriel faure's requiem

Gabriel faure's requiem

Faure was an organist who played plenty of funerals. So, when he set out to compose a requiem, he wanted to do something different, create a work more concerned with comfort than grief. We'll have excerpts from a concert performance in Bellingham, Washington, by Michael Palmer and the Bellingham Festival Orchestra and Chorus.

Music from minnesota

Music from minnesota

Conductor Nicholas McGegan will take you on a colorful guided tour of Haydn's 92nd Symphony before leading the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in a performance of the work in St. Paul. Then we'll travel south to Northfield, where the male chorus, Cantus, will sing Thomas Tallis'"Lamentations of Jeremiah."

Music for st. patrick's day

Music for st. patrick's day

Among our offerings today are a Vivaldi/Celtic combination, flutist James Galway playing music of Hamilton Harty, and a bit of "Danny Boy" from the U.S. Marine Band. And Barry Douglas is both soloist and conductor for a performance of Beethoven's Second Piano Concerto with Camerata Ireland.

Brahms and Tchaikovsky from Philadelphia

Brahms and Tchaikovsky from Philadelphia

We'll have a couple of performances from the lively Philly classical scene on the show today. First, pianist Ignat Solzhenitsyn plays a Brahms Scherzo at a Curtis Institute alumni recital. Then, the East Coast Chamber Orchestra performs Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings.

Brahms and Tchaikovsky from Philadelphia

Brahms and Tchaikovsky from Philadelphia

We'll have a couple of performances from the lively Philly classical scene on the show today. First, pianist Ignat Solzhenitsyn plays a Brahms Scherzo at a Curtis Institute alumni recital. Then, the East Coast Chamber Orchestra performs Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings.