Farewell, Beaux Arts

American Public Media’Äôs Performance Today Presents an Exclusive Podcast of the Legendary Piano Trio’Äôs Final American Concert

(St. Paul, Minn.) August 27, 2008’ÄîCapping a 53-year career, one of the world’Äôs best-loved chamber ensembles, the renowned Beaux Arts Trio, played its final American concert on Thursday, August 21. American Public Media’Äôs Performance Today is offering an exclusive podcast of this historic concert. Beginning on Wednesday, August 27, the concert at Massachusetts’Äô Tanglewood Music Festival will be available in its entirety, in two segments, by visiting www.performancetoday.org.

Led for more than half a century by pianist Menahem Pressler, the legendary Beaux Arts Trio will disband after a series of European concerts in September. With the concert at Tanglewood, the ensemble returned to its place of origin’Äîit played its first concerts there in 1955. The occasion also marked a return to repertoire it made American audiences familiar with over the decades: Franz Schubert’Äôs magisterial opus 99 and opus 100 piano trios. The group’Äôs three encores will also be included in the podcast.

Fred Child, host of Performance Today, served as host for an exclusive live Webcast of the August 21 concert, and he’Äôll provide commentary, features and interviews with the members of the trio: pianist Menahem Pressler, violinist Daniel Hope and cellist Antonio Meneses.

’ÄúTheir playing was searching and soulful, enough to make any evening memorable,’Äù said Child. ’ÄúBut what really touched me was the depth of gratitude I felt surrounding the concert that night. How do you thank an ensemble for fifty-three years of moving performances? And how does an ensemble thank fans for as many years of rapt listening and support? The trio and the audience wanted nothing more than to express warm and heartfelt thanks...and both did.’Äù

In addition to the podcast, the Schubert performances will also be broadcast on Performance Today on Wednesday, August 27 and Thursday, August 28. The show is available through streaming audio at www.performancetoday.org for seven days after the initial broadcast.

American Public Media’Äôs Performance Today is broadcast on 245 public radio stations across the country and is heard by more than one million listeners each week. Performance Today features live concerts by famous artists in concert halls around the globe and from the American Public Media studios as well as interviews, news and features. Listeners to Performance Today, on any given day, may hear from performances in the great concert halls of New York, Prague, London, Berlin and Paris.

To find out where and when Performance Today is broadcast in your area, please visit www.performancetoday.org.

American Public Media is the largest owner and operator of public radio stations, also producing top programs reaching more than 15 million listeners weekly. A complete list of stations, programs and additional services for the American Public Media national network can be obtained at www.americanpublicmedia.org.