Former Performance Today young artists include pianists Orli Shaham, Jeremy Denk, and Jonathan Biss, guitarist Jason Vieaux, and violinist Colin Jacobsen among many others.

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.

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.

Current episodes include conversations with Julia Holter, the Spektral Quartet, Third Coast Percussion, and members of Wilco, Stereolab, and Helado Negro.

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.

Former Performance Today young artists include pianists Orli Shaham, Jeremy Denk, and Jonathan Biss, guitarist Jason Vieaux, and violinist Colin Jacobsen among many others.