Friday April 29, 2005

Performance Today

Letters from Listeners

April 29, 2005 • Host Fred Child opens up the Performance Today mail bag to read some recent epistles from listeners.

Letters from Listeners

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Thursday April 28, 2005

Performance Today

Konstantin Lifschitz, Live at NPR

April 28, 2005 • Pianist Konstantin Lifschitz is regarded as one of the top young pianists today. Born in Ukraine, Lifschitz has made a few recordings and some recent U.S. concert appearances. Lifschitz chats with NPR's Fred Child and plays Chopin's Waltz, Op. 69, No. 1 and Liszt's Paganini Etude No. 6 in the NPR's Studio 4A.

Konstantin Lifschitz, Live at NPR

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Friday April 22, 2005

Performance Today

The Appalachia Waltz Trio, Live at NPR

April 22, 2005 • Fiddler Mark O'Connor, violist Carol Cook, and cellist Natalie Haas make up the Appalachia Waltz Trio. The trio joins NPR's Fred Child in Studio 4A to talk about the fiddling roots of American music, and to play some old-time songs from their new CD, Crossing Bridges.

The Appalachia Waltz Trio, Live at NPR

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Friday April 15, 2005

Performance Today

Luigi Boccherini

April 15, 2005 • Cellist Janos Starker is nothing if not an elder statesman of the music world. His career is in its seventh decade. NPR's Fred Child talks with him about his accomplishments and the generations of young cellists he's mentored. And we hear Starker as part of an ensemble in concert at the 92nd Street Y in New York. He's on stage with violinists Jaime Laredo and William Preucil, violist Steven Tenenbom and cellist Sharon Robinson to play the String Quintet, Op. 37, No. 7 by Luigi Boccherini.

Luigi Boccherini

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Thursday April 7, 2005

Performance Today

Mendelssohn

April 7, 2005 • Niall Carroll from Limerick's Lyric FM joins NPR's Fred Child in an hour of music from Ireland. First we hear a pair of young up-and-coming Irish players. Pianist Finghin Collins and violinist Catherine Leonard play Mendelssohn's Concerto for Violin, Piano, and Orchestra. Nicholas McGegan conducts the Irish Chamber Orchestra.

Mendelssohn

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Tuesday April 5, 2005

Performance Today

2005 Pulitzer Prize-Winner Steven Stucky

April 5, 2005 • On Monday, the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in music was awarded to composer Steven Stucky for his Second Concerto for Orchestra. NPR's Fred Child spoke with Stucky by phone just two hours after he found out he had won the prize. We hear Stucky's remarks, as well as the closing movement of the prize-winning music performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic with conductor Esa Pekka Salonen.

2005 Pulitzer Prize-Winner Steven Stucky

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The 2005 Pulitzer Prize Winners

Steven Stucky Wins Pulitzer Prize for Music

April 5, 2005 • Steven Stucky, a Cornell professor, composer and conductor, has won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for music. His award-winning composition, the Second Concerto for Orchestra, premiered March 12, 2004.

Steven Stucky Wins Pulitzer Prize for Music

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Monday April 4, 2005

Pope John Paul II: A Tribute

A Musical Tribute to Pope John Paul II

April 4, 2005 • Pope John Paul II was a great believer in the spiritual power of music. NPR's Fred Child talks with conductor Gilbert Levine, musical advisor to the Pope, about the some of the music the Pontiff used to convey his thoughts about God and humanity.

A Musical Tribute to Pope John Paul II

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Thursday March 24, 2005

In Performance

Tragicomedia, Musical Masters of Baroque

March 24, 2005 • The musicians of the ensemble Tragicomedia — Erin Headley, Paul O'Dette, Stephen Stubbs and Alexander Weimann — are considered to be four of the world's leading Baroque instrumentalists. They join NPR's Fred Child for a performance of 17th-century music in Studio 4A.

Tragicomedia, Musical Masters of Baroque

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Performance Today

Jean Sibelius

March 24, 2005 • Finnish conductor Osmo Vanska returns to talk with NPR's Fred Child about the music Jean Sibelius wrote for the great Finnish national folk epic, the Lemminkainen Legends. And then we hear Vanska leading the Dallas Symphony in a concert performance of the third of the four Legends, Lemminkainen in Tuonela.

Jean Sibelius

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Performance Today

Tragicomedia, Live at NPR

March 24, 2005 • An ensemble called Tragicomedia joins NPR's Fred Child in the Studio 4A for 17th-century songs of love and longing.

Tragicomedia, Live at NPR

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Tuesday March 22, 2005

Performance Today

The Shanghai Quartet

March 22, 2005 • The Shanghai Quartet is a busy ensemble these days. On top of their rigorous schedule of teaching and performing, they found time to participate in the latest Woody Allen movie, Melinda and Melinda. NPR's Fred Child talks with the Quartet about that project, and in the NPR studios, the quartet plays some of the music they performed in the movie.

The Shanghai Quartet

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In Performance

The Shanghai Quartet, from Cinema to Studio

March 22, 2005 • In the Woody Allen film Melinda and Melinda, the Shanghai Quartet briefly plays the Pizzicato Movement of Bartok's Fourth Quartet. For a full performance, they join Fred Child in NPR's Studio 4A.

The Shanghai Quartet, from Cinema to Studio

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Sunday March 20, 2005

Performance Today

Smetana

March 20, 2005 • Jonathan Nott leads the Bamberg Symphony in Wallenstein's Camp, by Bedrich Smetana. We're in concert in Prague.

Smetana

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Performance Today

Debussy and Bartok

March 20, 2005 • A prominent Hungarian string quartet stops by the NPR studios. NPR's Fred Child talks with the Keller Quartet, and we hear them play Claude Debussy's String Quartet, as well as a handful of violin duos by Bela Bartok.

Debussy and Bartok

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