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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

Tuesday

All Things Considered

A Digital Companion for Concert Fans

Orchestras are looking for ways to attract new and younger audiences to the concert hall. One solution may be "CoCo" -- the Concert Companion. It's a handheld digital device that displays program notes that are synched with the music. NPR's Fred Child reports on tests of the device at this summer's Aspen Music Festival.

A Digital Companion for Concert Fans

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Monday

Wednesday

Tuesday

Performance Today

Zankel Hall Opening

Last Friday, Carnegie Hall opened a brand new concert hall, dug out of bedrock beneath the main auditorium. It's called Zankel Hall, and it promises to alter the landscape of music making in a major American cultural capital. Fred Child is on location in Carnegie Hall for today's program to bring you music from the opening concert on Friday evening, as well as music from the first chamber music concert in Zankel Hall, which takes place Monday night. To help us put the opening of Carnegie's new performance space into perspective, author and critic Terry Teachout joins Fred.

Zankel Hall Opening

Audio will be available later today.

Wednesday

Friday

Performance Today

La Jolla SummerFest 2003 -- Tea for Two

Performance Today host Fred Child has spent all week at La Jolla Summerfest, the annual summer music festival in La Jolla, California, hard by the Pacific coast. We wrap up our week at Summerfest, as Fred is joined on stage by four young string players -- violinists Adele Anthony and Michael Shih, violist Ori Kam, and cellist Kristina Cooper. The four players get together in twos and threes all hour for string duos and trios. We start with a duo for violin and viola. It's the "Passacaglia," by Handel (1685-1759), arranged by Johan Halvorsen (1864-1935).

La Jolla SummerFest 2003 -- Tea for Two

Audio will be available later today.

Wednesday

Tuesday

Performance Today

East Meets West at La Jolla, Part 2

We're back with Fred Child, on stage at La Jolla SummerFest. Pipa player Wu Man is back, too. She joins violinist Cho-Liang Lin, cellist Felix Fan, flutist Marisela Sager and percussionist Steven Schick to play a concert suite from a brand new opera by Philip Glass (b. 1837) -- "The Sound of a Voice." We also hear a piece for cello, percussion and piano called "Spiral," by Chinese composer Chinary Ung (b. 1942). And cellist Felix Fan and percussionist Steven Schick close the hour with "Farewell," from Tan Dun's (b. 1957) music for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

East Meets West at La Jolla, Part 2

Audio will be available later today.

Performance Today

East Meets West at La Jolla, Part 1

We're spending the hour with Performance Today host Fred Child. He's on stage at La Jolla (HOY-uh) SummerFest with festival director and violinist Cho-Liang Lin, who, along with pianist Aleck Karis, plays the opening movement of Debussy's Violin Sonata. Aleck Karis goes solo in Claude Debussy's (1862-1918) "The Moon that Shines on the Temple." And Fred introduces us to Wu Man, who plays an ancient Chinese instrument called the Pipa. Wu Man plays a tune called "Little Bright Moon."

East Meets West at La Jolla, Part 1

Audio will be available later today.

Friday