Poster Fred Child
Fred Child
MPR

Performance Today®

with host Fred Child

All Episodes

Ingrid Fliter

Ingrid Fliter

When pianist Ingrid Fliter plays a specific concerto, she imagines the characters of an opera coming together for a celebratory feast over the course of the piece.  On today's show, hear Ingrid Fliter play Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major with Thomas Sondergard conducting the Minnesota Orchestra.

Florent Schmitt: Légende

Florent Schmitt: Légende

Today we’ll hear a piece of music by a composer that just doesn't get played often enough. It's a piece that French composer Florent Schmitt wrote in 1918. Conductor JoAnn Falletta leads the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in a performance of Légende by Florent Schmitt. We’ll also hear a fascinating new concerto for saxophone quartet and wind ensemble by Roger Briggs.

PT Weekend: Wang Jie

PT Weekend: Wang Jie

As an avid rock climber, Composer Wang wrote a new piece inspired by a 12th-century poem about a mountain...and an adventurous climb in Colorado. Join us today to hear the story and the music: Flying on the Scaly Backs of Our Mountains by Wang Jie.

La Jota Aragonesa

La Jota Aragonesa

The jota is a rhythmic Spanish dance that often features the clacking sound of castanets. Today we’ll hear a jota by José White Lafitte (1836-1919), with violinist Samuel Nebyu playing the tune and percussion at the same time.

A hornless horn trio

A hornless horn trio

The Horn Trio by Johannes Brahms is a gorgeous piece for French horn, violin, and piano. Brahms said that, in a pinch, a cello could play the horn part, so let’s go to a concert in New York City to hear Brahms's Horn Trio…with cello instead.

Wang Jie

Wang Jie

As an avid rock climber, Composer Wang wrote a new piece inspired by a 12th-century poem about a mountain...and an adventurous climb in Colorado. Join us today to hear the story and the music: Flying on the Scaly Backs of Our Mountains by Wang Jie.

Jason Vieaux

Jason Vieaux

Twenty years ago, classical guitarist Jason Vieaux was one of our Young Artists in Residence. At the time, he'd never met his hero, guitarist Pat Metheny. Now they're friends. On today's show, Jason Vieaux plays a new piece written for him by his hero and friend: Four Paths of Light by Pat Metheny.

Debussy's portrait of the sea

Debussy's portrait of the sea

It's a portrait painted with music, an incredibly colorful and inventive picture of the sea: La Mer by Claude Debussy. On today's episode, we'll hear a chamber orchestra performance of La Mer at a concert presented by ROCO in Houston, Texas.

PT Weekend: Michael Kurth

PT Weekend: Michael Kurth

Composer Michael Kurth's sense of humor shines in nearly everything he does. Join us today to hear a thoughtful, playful piece of 21st-century music by Kurth: the Sonata for English Horn and Piano.