Fred Child
Narrator
Fred Child is the host of American Public Media's Performance Today, the most listened-to classical music radio show in America.
He is also the commentator and announcer for Live from Lincoln Center. He appears at classical music festivals and events around the country, from PT's annual residency at the Aspen Music Festival and School, to special events at the Savannah Music festival, Marlboro Music, the Spoleto Festival USA, and Summerfest La Jolla. Beyond the world of classical music, he hosted NPR's innovative Creators@Carnegie, a program of wide-ranging performers in concert, including Brian Wilson, David Byrne, Dawn Upshaw, Youssou N'Dour, Caetano Veloso, and Emmylou Harris. Before going to NPR, he was Music Director and Director of Cultural Programming at WNYC, host of a live daily performance and interview program on WNYC, and for 10 years, a host at Oregon Public Broadcasting. In recent years, he has hosted a series of unique live national concert broadcasts, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic from Walt Disney Hall, Last Night of the Proms from the Royal Albert Hall in London, New Year's concerts by the New York Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood, “Spring for Music” concerts from Carnegie Hall, and the “Americana” series for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. His music reviews have appeared on NPR's All Things Considered, and his music reports have appeared on NPR's Morning Edition and Weekend Edition.
In recent years, Fred has hosted a series of unique live national concert broadcasts, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic from Walt Disney Hall, the Last Night of the Proms from the Royal Albert Hall in London, New Year's concerts by the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony at their summer home of Tanglewood, the ground-breaking "Spring for Music" concerts from Carnegie Hall, and the "Americana" series for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales from Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff.
Fred's music reviews have appeared on NPR's All Things Considered, and his music reports have appeared on NPR's Morning Edition and Weekend Edition. He's been a contributor to Billboardmagazine, and a concert host and commentator for BBC Radio 3.
While growing up in Portland, Ore., Fred studied classical piano. He also dabbles in guitar, percussion and bagpipes. His percussion band opened for the Grateful Dead at the Oakland Coliseum. He has narrated works at the Aspen Festival, with the Virginia Symphony, with the U.S. Marine Band and at the Round Top Festival-Institute. His rare musical performances in public include percussion with guitarist Sharon Isbin, and piano four-hands duets with Andre-Michel Schub. He appears as an actor in a video commissioned for the Partita for Solo Violin by Philip Glass.
Fred loves baseball (throws right, bats left) and soccer (he's a fan of North London's Tottenham Hotspur), and is an avid hiker, climber, skier, cyclist, and a licensed private pilot and certified scuba diver.