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Fred Child Fred Child is the host of America's most-listened-to classical music radio program, NPR's Performance Today. The program reaches 1.5 million listeners on 250 stations around the country. The program features classical music in concert around the nation and the world, in concert from the NPR studios, and classical music news, interviews, and issues.
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Fred Child

Friday

Live in Studio 4A: Gil and Orli Shaham

Orli and Gil Shaham have not performed together in public as often as one might suspect. Apparently, their parents discouraged them from doing so. As Orli Shaham explains to NPR's Fred Child, she was "just ready to come out of the sandbox" when Gil was already started on a career. So, instead of tagging along with her big brother, she has become a renowned and respected concert pianist in her own right.

Live in Studio 4A: Gil and Orli Shaham

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Thursday

Friday

Performance Today

The Children of Willesden Lane

We note Mother's Day as writer and pianist Mona Golabek joins Fred Child in the studio to talk about her new book, The Children of Willesden Lane. It traces her family's passion for music back three generations. The story begins in the shadow of the Holocaust, as her grandmother sends her mother away from Austria, with a command to always keep music close to her heart. We also hear Mona Golbek play some of the music that was most important to her mother, including Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) and Edvard Grieg (1843-1907).

The Children of Willesden Lane

Audio will be available later today.

Monday

Friday

Thursday

Wednesday

Tuesday

Monday

Tuesday

Performance Today

Pulitzer for Adams

Composer John Adams was announced yesterday as the 2003 winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Music, for his piece "On the Transmigration of Souls." The music was Adams' response to the events of September 11, 2001. It was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, and premiered by the orchestra, along with conductor Lorin Maazel, the New York Choral Artists, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus in September, 2002. Fred Child talked with John Adams before the premiere of "On the Transmigration of Souls." We listen to some of that conversation, as well as some of the music from that first performance.

Pulitzer for Adams

Audio will be available later today.

Monday

Performance Today

Simon Rattles Beethoven

One of the world's most important orchestras has just come out with a series of recordings of all nine symphonies by Beethoven. The orchestra is the Vienna Philharmonic, and the conductor is Simon Rattle. Today begins a journey through all nine symhonies on Performance Today. We'll hear one each day this week and next, with the ninth symphony spread over two days. And conductor Simon Rattle joins Fred Child to talk about each symphony. Today we hear Beethoven's Symphony No. 1.

Simon Rattles Beethoven

Audio will be available later today.

Saturday

Music

War Music

Last week, we looked at some music inspired or affected by war. This week, Fred Child of NPR's Performance Today brings us a few more examples: "L'Homme Arme," "Laqad fatanatni farandjiyya," "La Guerre," "Fanfare for the Common Man," "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima," and an impromptu work played by Vedran Smilovic.

War Music

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Monday

Performance Today

Happy Birthday, Byron

In the big picture of pianists in the twentieth century, Byron Janis is a monumental figure. Today is his birthday — he's 75 — and we've got a few historic performances that trace his career. We also spent some time with Byron Janis recently in his New York apartment. Fred Child talked with him about one highlight of his last 60 years of piano playing, which came when he discovered the autograph manuscripts of two Chopin waltzes. We hear a little of his 1999 recording of one of them, the Waltz Brilliante, Op. 18.

Happy Birthday, Byron

Audio will be available later today.