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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.

Stories By

Fred Child

Friday May 27, 2005

Performance Today

Letters from Listeners

May 27, 2005 • Host Fred Child takes a look at some e-mails from listeners, who wrote to remark on Performance Today's recent week of musical connections between folk music and classical music.

Letters from Listeners

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Thursday May 26, 2005

Performance Today

Van Cliburn Piano Competition

May 26, 2005 • The Twelfth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition is well underway in Fort Worth, Tex. NPR's Fred Child talks with Wayne Lee Gay of the Fort Worth Star Telegram about the pianists who made it past the preliminary round. And we hear from two of them: Korean pianist Joyce Yang plays the last three movements from Bach's French Overture in B minor. Then Chinese pianist Sa Chen plays the Transcendental Etude No. 5 by Franz Liszt.

Van Cliburn Piano Competition

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Tuesday May 24, 2005

Performance Today

Van Cliburn Piano Competition

May 24, 2005 • The 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition just got started last Friday in Fort Worth, Tex. NPR's Fred Child talks with Wayne Lee Gay, the music critic of the Fort Worth Star Telegram, about the event. We'll be hearing music in the coming two weeks from the various rounds of the competition, starting with the preliminary round. Last Friday, 25-year-old Korean pianist Soyeon Lee played the Piano Sonata No. 54 by Haydn.

Van Cliburn Piano Competition

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Thursday May 19, 2005

Performance Today

Glinka

May 19, 2005 • Mikhail Glinka is considered the "Father of Russian Music," because he used folk music in his orchestral compositions. NPR's Fred Child chats with Nikolai Kachanov, director of the Russian Chamber Chorus of New York, about how Glinka used familiar Russian folk songs in his tone poem, Kamarinskaya. Donald Barra conducts the San Diego Chamber Orchestra.

Glinka

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Performance Today

Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Live at NPR

May 19, 2005 • Dmitri Hvorostovsky is one of the hottest names in the singing business these days. He's in the NPR studios with NPR's Fred Child to sing and talk about Russian art songs.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Live at NPR

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Monday May 16, 2005

Performance Today

Tadeu Coelho

May 16, 2005 • Then we hear from Brazilian flutist Tadeu Coelho, who talks with host Fred Child about some inherent rhythmic features of Brazilian music. The flute professor at the North Carolina School of the Arts also plays two pieces: Tico-Tico, by Zequinha de Abreu, followed by Carinhoso, by a composer named Pixinguinha.

Tadeu Coelho

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Performance Today

Yo-Yo Ma's 'Obrigado Brasil'

May 16, 2005 • To close our hour of Brazilian connections, we turn to cellist Yo-Yo Ma and his tour of Brazilian folk and traditional music. Ma and friends joined Fred Child for a special performance of pieces from his Brazilian recording Obrigado Brasil. We're hearing from Yo-Yo Ma and clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera, along with five Brazilian musicians -- Sergio and Odair Assad, guitars; Nilson Matta, bass; Cyro Baptista, percussion; and singer Rosa Passos, who also plays percussion.

Yo-Yo Ma's 'Obrigado Brasil'

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Performance Today

Luiz de Moura Castro

May 16, 2005 • Pianist Luiz de Moura Castro is a native of Rio de Janeiro. He teaches piano at the Hart School of Music in Hartford, Connecticut. He talks with host Fred Child about cross-currents between folk music and concert music in Brazilian music. And we hear him in concert with three short pieces by a prominent Brazilian composer, Heitor Villa-Lobos. The three pieces come from Carnaval das Criancas -- O Genete do Pierrozinho, A Manha da Pierrete and O Chicote do Diabinho.

Luiz de Moura Castro

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Wednesday May 11, 2005

Music News

Turtle Island Quartet: Bending Musical Lines

May 11, 2005 • The Turtle Island String Quartet consists of classically trained musicians who turned to jazz. The quartet has bended the lines between classical, jazz, blues and world music for two decades.

Turtle Island Quartet: Bending Musical Lines

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Transcript

Friday May 6, 2005

Performance Today

Brahms

May 6, 2005 • Brahms authority Styra Avins stops by to shed some light on what inspired Brahms to write his first Serenade. NPR's Fred Child speaks with Avins about Brahms, his music, and his friendship with Clara Schumann. Then we hear three movements of the Serenade played by the Stuttgart Radio Symphony, and conductor Peter Ruzicka. And we finish with a special Mother's Day tribute.

Brahms

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Thursday May 5, 2005

Performance Today

CPE Bach

May 5, 2005 • Host Fred Child finds CPE Bach's music wildly inventive. Hear for yourself, from a concert in Helsinki, Finland, where Ton Koopman directs the Finnish Radio Symphony. He leads a performance of a Symphony in D by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.

CPE Bach

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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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