Performance Today

Performance Today was created by National Public Radio (NPR), and went on the air in 1987. The program was founded by NPR vice president for cultural programming Dean Boal, who gave Performance Today its name, and who, along with NPR colleagues Doug Bennet, Jane Couch, Ellen Boal, and retired Baldwin Piano Company president Lucien Wulsin, secured the series' initial funding. NPR produced and distributed the program from Washington, D.C. until 2007. For most of its first two years, under executive producer Wesley Horner, and hosts Kathryn Loomans and Liane Hansen, it combined classical music with numerous and wide-ranging arts features. In 1989, the focus shifted exclusively to classical music. Martin Goldsmith then hosted for nearly ten years; he left in October 1999.{{cite press release | title=NPR's Martin Goldsmith to Step Down as Performance Today Host | url=https://www.npr.org/about/press/990920.goldsmith.html | publisher=National Public Radio | date=20 Sep 1999 | access-date=2007-08-10}} During Goldsmith's tenure as host the show grew from 40 stations to 230, with weekly listeners reaching 1.5 million. The show won a Peabody Award in 1998.[http://www.peabodyawards.com/award-profile/performance-today 58th Annual Peabody Awards], May 1999.

Fred Child has been the program's host since October 2000. In January 2007, American Public Media took over as the program's producer and distributor and moved the production to Saint Paul, Minnesota.{{cite news | author=Vivien Schweitzer; Matthew Westphal | title=NPR Performance Today Host Fred Child to Follow Program to American Public Media | url=http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/5563.html | work=Playbill Arts | date=10 Nov 2006 | access-date=2007-08-10}} In 2007, the show was awarded the Karl Haas Prize for Music Education by Fine Arts Radio International.[http://www2.mssu.edu/kxms/KarlHaasPrize_2007.htm 2007 Karl Haas Prize] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425120322/http://www2.mssu.edu/kxms/KarlHaasPrize_2007.htm |date=2012-04-25 }} And in 2014, Performance Today won a Gabriel Award for artistic achievement.{{Cite web|url=http://catholicacademy.org/page/2014-gabriel-award-winners|title=2014 Gabriel Award Winners|website=catholicacademy.org|access-date=2016-03-23}}

The Piano Puzzler, featuring host Fred Child and composer/pianist Bruce Adolphe, is a weekly feature on the show. It first premiered in spring 2002. Originally called the "Keyboard Conundrum," it was renamed the "Piano Puzzler" the next week.[https://www.yourclassical.org/episode/2013/12/14/the-piano-puzzler The Piano Puzzler] Every week, Bruce re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer; a listener then calls in to the show and listens to Bruce play the Puzzler of the week. The listener then tries to do two things: name the hidden tune, and name the composer whose style Bruce is mimicking. The Piano Puzzler is also available as a podcast.{{cite web|url=http://www.yourclassical.org/programs/performance-today/topic/piano-puzzler|title=YourClassical from American Public Media|website=www.yourclassical.org|access-date=16 July 2018}} Three volumes of sheet music featuring Piano Puzzlers have been released.[https://pianopuzzlers.com/faq/ FAQ - Bruce Adolphe's Piano Puzzlers]

Because of the retirement of Fred Child as host of Performance Today and his "instrumental role" in the segment, it was decided that the Piano Puzzler will also no longer be produced after October 2025.[https://www.apmdistribution.org/s/Performance-Today-Messaging-and-FAQs.pdf Performance Today Transition: Key Messages and FAQs]

Music is Music is a Performance Today podcast featuring composers and musicians steeped in the classical tradition, but determined to carve out a home for new music in the 21st century. Each new episode features artists talking about their craft and a sample of their work. Current episodes include conversations with Julia Holter, the Spektral Quartet, Third Coast Percussion, and members of Wilco, Stereolab, and Helado Negro.{{Cite web|url=http://www.yourclassical.org/programs/performance-today|title=Performance Today - Music is Music|website=www.yourclassical.org|access-date=2016-03-23}}{{cite web|url=http://feeds.feedburner.com/PerformanceTodayMusicisMusic|title=Music is Music|website=feeds.feedburner.com|access-date=16 July 2018}}

Each year, Performance Today invites musicians from top American conservatories to visit the PT studios for a week-long residency. They join host Fred Child in the APM studio to play music, discuss their backgrounds, their ambitions, and what it means to be a musician.{{Cite web|url=http://www.yourclassical.org/programs/performance-today/topic/young-artists-in-residence|title=Performance Today - Young Artists|website=www.yourclassical.org|access-date=2016-03-23}}

Previous young artists have represented a variety of music schools including the New England Conservatory, the Curtis Institute of Music, the Jacobs School at the Indiana University, the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, and The Colburn School. Former Performance Today young artists include pianists Orli Shaham, Jeremy Denk, and Jonathan Biss, guitarist Jason Vieaux, and violinist Colin Jacobsen among many others.

Since 2019 Performance Today has chosen a Classical Woman of the Year based on a poll of listeners. The awardees so far have been:

• Valerie Coleman, 2019, a founder of the Imani Wind Quintet and active composer
• JoAnn Faletta, 2020, conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic orchestra
• Marin Alsop, 2021, a major pioneer for women conductors and until recently conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
• Lara Downes, 2022, a pianist and a force in the popularization of black American classical music
• Gabriela Montero, 2023, a pianist known for her improvisations
• Deborah Borda, 2024, a music executive (former President and CEO of the New York Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Philharmonic)
• Jessie Montgomery, 2025, a violinist, composer, chamber musician, and music educator

• Fred Child
• American Public Media

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• [http://www.yourclassical.org/programs/performance-today Performance Today] Official site

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Category:Peabody Award–winning radio programs

Category:American classical music radio programs

Category:American Public Media programs

Category:1987 radio programme debuts