Aspen Music Festival and School 2019 Summer Season Schedule:
A Recital by the Pacifica Quartet | 6/27 | 7:00 pm | Known for their virtuosity, exuberant performance style, and often daring repertory choices, the Pacifica Quartet has been called “nothing short of phenomenal” by The Telegraph. They return to Harris Concert Hall for the Second String Quartet by Shostakovich, inspired by klezmer, or Jewish village wedding music and Beethoven’s radiant String Quartet in C major, Opus 59, No. 3, which will take you on a musical journey full of both contrasts and cohesion. Also on the program is Pulitzer Prize-winning African-American composer George Walker’s Lyric for Strings. Hear one of the world’s most dynamic string quartets in a program that is both contemplative and exhilarating. Program: WALKER: Lyric for Strings SHOSTAKOVICH: String Quartet No. 2 in A major, op. 68 --- BEETHOVEN: String Quartet in C major, op. 59, no. 3, “Razumovsky” |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $60 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Opera Scenes Master Class | 6/29 | 10:00 am | The Aspen Opera Center artist-faculty, representing top teachers and performers from the world's best opera companies and conservatories, teach the promising young singers of the AOC in beloved opera scenes. See the rising stars of the opera world—and enjoy AOC director Ed Berkeley's brilliant and witty coaching. | Wheeler Opera House | 320 E Hyman Ave, Aspen, CO 81611 | $40 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Chamber Music | 6/29 | 4:30 pm | AMFS artist-faculty, representing the best teachers and players from the country's top orchestras, opera companies, and conservatories, enjoy a chance to come together each summer to play chamber music. Always a joyful and creative ninety minutes of exquisite music-making. Artists and programs will be announced by April 1. | Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $45 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Special Event: Gregory Porter Tribute to Nat "King" Cole, with Special Guests | 6/29 | 8:00 pm | Two-time Best Jazz Vocal Grammy Winner, Gregory Porter presents his loving tribute to the legendary Nat “King” Cole. His “Nat King Cole & Me” album was a Grammy Nominee for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album) backed by his band, with orchestral accompaniment by students from the Aspen Music Festival and School, and, special guest jazz vocalists, Roberta Gambarini and Charenee Wade. Program features iconic songs from the Great American Songbook long associated with Nat. Make it a sensational evening and join us for an on-site pre-concert party and dinner with open bar and gourmet buffet—with premier seating, for $375. | Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $375, $90, $60 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Aspen Festival Orchestra | 6/30 | 4:00 pm | Aspen alumna Joyce Yang returns, bringing her superwoman technique and scintillating musical imagination to Gershwin’s jazzy Concerto in F. When she performed the piece with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra last year, the audience went wild. She’s one of a rare breed who experience synesthesia, causing her to see colors or patterns when she listens to or plays music. As Australia’s Daily Telegraph noted, “She has [the] colors of the rainbow in her piano.” Also on the program is Rachmaninoff’s final Symphony. This inventive piece is full of gorgeous melodies and juxtaposes delicate beauty with towering grandeur. | Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $85 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Chamber Music | 7/1 | 6:00 pm | AMFS artist-faculty, representing the best teachers and players from the country's top orchestras, opera companies, and conservatories, enjoy a chance to come together each summer to play chamber music. Always a joyful and creative ninety minutes of exquisite music-making. Artists and programs will be announced by April 1. | Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $45 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
A Recital by Conrad Tao piano | 7/2 | 7:30 pm | The passion, intellect, and charisma of Aspen alumnus Conrad Tao will be showcased in this program of shifting musical moods. The Piano Sonata No. 17 from Beethoven’s middle period alternates between storm and calm, as it bridges conventions of the Classical era and the emerging Romantic style that would eventually overtake them. Opening the evening is Jason Eckhardt’s Echoes’ White Veil, inspired by a prose poem by W.S. Merwin, dealing with echoes and silences. Closing the program is Schumann's eight-movement suite Kreisleriana. Program: JASON ECKARDT: Echoes’ White Veil BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, op. 31, no. 2, “Tempest” --- SCHUMANN: Kreisleriana, op. 16 |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $65 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra | 7/3 | 6:00 pm | This exuberant program, with big emotions and bold accents, is anchored by Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. A psychological journey, the work opens with a stunning brass fanfare, closes with a euphoric final movement, and travels the breadth of human experience in between. Tchaikovsky’s life was full of emotional crises, and his Fourth Symphony was written during an especially trying time when he was involved with two women—one of them his patroness Nadezhda von Meck. Their fourteen-year “affair” was carried on strictly through letters; the two shared a common revulsion for physical relations with the opposite sex. He dedicated this work to von Meck and in a “private” program for her, he describes the opening fanfare as “Fate, the fatal power which hinders one in the pursuit of happiness.” The energetic finale restates the “fate” theme and ends with the words, “Rejoice in the happiness of others and you can still live.” American composer Gabriela Lena Frank’s The Keeper and the Dove was warmly received in Aspen in 2018. She returns with her colorful and expressive Three Latin American Dances. The first, “Jungle Jaunt,” she describes as “an unabashed tribute” to the urban jungle evoked in Bernstein’s West Side Story. The melancholy “Highland Harawi” follows with its echoes of the bamboo Andean flute. The work concludes with the brassy “Mestizo Waltz,” a pun on Lizst’s famous Mephisto Waltzes. |
Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $25 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
A Recital by Joyce Yang piano | 7/3 | 8:30 pm | “Her attention to detail and clarity is as impressive as her agility, balance and velocity,” raved the Washington Post. Aspen alumna Joyce Yang will bring all that and more to a recital that culminates in Liszt’s Piano Sonata in B minor, one of the peaks of the entire piano repertoire. Also on the program, Mozart’s Piano Quartet in G minor, a work full of delicious melodies and invention, and the first major composition for that combination of instruments. Australian composer Carl Vine’s Preludes were commissioned to honor the memory of Anne Landa, a devoted supporter of the arts who especially encouraged young pianists. Program: MOZART: Piano Quartet in G minor, K. 478 CARL VINE: Anne Landa Preludes --- SCHUMANN: Three Romances, op. 94 LISZT: Piano Sonata in B minor, LW A179 |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $60 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Fourth of July Concert | 7/4 | 4:00 pm | The annual free Fourth of July celebration brings the AMFS band to the Tent stage with stirring patriotic favorites. A beloved tradition. | Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | free | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Aspen Chamber Symphony | 7/5 | 6:00 pm | Two charismatic young virtuosi and an effervescent conductor bring passion and energy to this wide-ranging program. Nicholas McGegan and violinist Simone Porter delighted their Aspen audience last summer during an evening of Baroque in Harris Concert Hall. They return as a pair to the Benedict Music Tent for Prokofiev’s lyrical First Violin Concerto. Tamás Pálfalvi, one of the most visionary and innovative trumpet players in the world, makes his Aspen debut as one of the soloists in Vivaldi’s sparkling Concerto for Two Trumpets. Also on the program, Holst pulls out all the stops as a brilliant orchestrator in his tribute to Walt Whitman’s ideals of beauty and Schubert's enchanting Fifth Symphony. | Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $82 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Opera Scenes Master Class | 7/6 | 10:00 am | The Aspen Opera Center artist-faculty, representing top teachers and performers from the world's best opera companies and conservatories, teach the promising young singers of the AOC in beloved opera scenes. See the rising stars of the opera world—and enjoy AOC director Ed Berkeley's brilliant and witty coaching. | Wheeler Opera House | 320 E Hyman Ave, Aspen, CO 81611 | $40 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Chamber Music | 7/6 | 4:30 pm | AMFS artist-faculty, representing the best teachers and players from the country's top orchestras, opera companies, and conservatories, enjoy a chance to come together each summer to play chamber music. Always a joyful and creative ninety minutes of exquisite music-making. Artists and programs will be announced by April 1. | Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $45 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
A Recital by Paul Huang violin, David Finckel cello, and Wu Han piano | 7/6 | 8:00 pm | Cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han bring a sense of almost telepathic communication, along with total commitment, spontaneity, and a palpable delight to every performance that thrills audiences. These exceptional artists will be joined by violinist Paul Huang for a recital including Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 8. Program: BEETHOVEN: Violin Sonata No. 8 in G major, op. 30, no. 3 SAINT-SAËNS: Piano Trio No. 1 in F major, op. 18 --- TCHAIKOVSKY: Piano Trio in A minor, op. 50 |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $65 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Aspen Festival Orchestra | 7/7 | 4:00 pm | Join alumnus and conductor Joshua Weilerstein for a program featuring two musical powerhouses—one a performer and one a creator. The late novelist Philip Roth had this to say about Yefim Bronfman: “Then Bronfman appears. Bronfman the brontosaur! Mr. Fortissimo! Enter Bronfman to play at such a pace and with such bravado as to knock my morbidity clear out of the ring.” The Chicago Sun Times notes, “He can roar, but he also can whisper. He can conjure a multitude of dynamics, shifting quickly from one extreme to another.” Brahms’s stormy and passionate First Piano Concerto is an ideal vehicle for Bronfman’s gifts, and a work with an adventurousness this astounding pianist deeply admires. Sibelius, another superb orchestrator, is showcased on this program. His Fifth Symphony was inspired by swans in flight, and begins with a simple four-note horn theme which develops organically, culminating in an exhilarating rush of energy. The finale is one of the most majestic and triumphant in the entire symphonic repertoire. As Sibelius himself wrote, “God opens his door for a moment, and his orchestra is playing the Fifth Symphony.” |
Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $90 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Chamber Music | 7/8 | 6:00 pm | AMFS artist-faculty, representing the best teachers and players from the country's top orchestras, opera companies, and conservatories, enjoy a chance to come together each summer to play chamber music. Always a joyful and creative ninety minutes of exquisite music-making. Artists and programs will be announced by April 1. | Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $45 | ||
A Recital by Kristóf Baráto violin and Anton Nel piano | 7/9 | 7:30 pm | Acclaimed for the “poetry and eloquence” of his playing by Seen and Heard International and his “rich-toned musicianship…matched by technical excellence” by Classical Source, Hungarian violinist Kristóf Baráti makes his Aspen debut. This gorgeous program opens with the one of the most engaging and tuneful of Bach’s solo violin sonatas. It continues with the radiantly lyrical Brahms Second Violin Sonata, composed during a summer sojourn in Switzerland. Brahms was completely taken by his surroundings, saying they were "so full of melodies that one has to be careful not to step on any.” Following intermission, Baráti turns to Tchaikovky’s Souvenir of a Beloved Place whose first movement was also written in Switzerland. He’ll end with violin pyrotechnics, Ysaÿe’s “Ballade” Sonata and Ravel’s Tzigane, both dazzling showpieces full of double stops, lightening-like runs, and gypsy rhythms. Program: J. S. BACH: Sonata No. 1 for Unaccompanied Violin in G minor, BWV 1001 BRAHMS: Violin Sonata No. 2 in A major, op. 100 --- TCHAIKOVSKY: Souvenir d'un lieu cher (Souvenir of a Beloved Place), op. 42 YSAŸE: Sonata for Unaccompanied Violin in D minor, op. 27, no. 3, “Ballade” RAVEL: Tzigane |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $55 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra | 7/10 | 6:00 pm | One of the most beloved symphonies ever composed takes a journey through the sounds and landscapes of America’s heartland. Showcasing the season theme, “Being American,” Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony is subtitled, “From the New World.” Full of pulsating rhythms, sweeping melodies, and incorporating African American spirituals and Native American tunes, this monumental piece also intermingles lively Czech folk songs which reflect Dvořák’s longing for his homeland. Bask in the sunshine of one of Mozart’s most intimate and expressive piano concertos performed by this summer’s piano competition winner. This is the mature Mozart at the top of his game, conveying warmth, tenderness, and good cheer. The absence of trumpets and timpani and his soulful writing for the clarinet—a fairly new instrument at the time—give the work a dark mellowness. The poignant minor key of the Adagio is followed by a playful finale. Opening the program is Copland’s infectious musical postcard, El salón México. Copland named the piece for a charming Mexico City nightclub he visited in 1932 with fellow composer Carlos Chavez. It became an instant success both in Mexico and north of the border. |
Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $25 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Special Event: Brandenburg Recital I | 7/10 | 8:30 pm | Virtuosic, invigorating, and overflowing with rich melodies, rhythms, and counterpoint, Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos are as fresh and exciting as when they were written over 300 years ago. During a period of job insecurity, Bach composed them as a kind of musical job application for the Margrave of Brandenburg (then a territory in the kingdom of Prussia). Like many job seekers today, Bach never found out what the Margrave did with his “resume.” These brilliant pinnacles of the Baroque were finally published in 1850 in commemoration of the centenary of Bach’s death, and only then began gaining in popularity. Bach had a thing for sixes; in addition to the six Brandenburgs, he composed six cello suites and six keyboard partitas. He even wrote a poem about smoking a pipe that consisted of six stanzas. This first of two recitals of the complete Brandenburg Concertos begins with the First Concerto, the only one in four movements. It showcases the principal violinist, two horns, and three oboes and has a swaggering first movement, a profoundly expressive slow movement, a rollicking third movement, and a surprise minuet for the last movement. The Third Concerto is the most compact and perhaps the most viscerally exciting of the set. Between the two breathless outer movements, Bach simply places two chords, inviting the performers to improvise or insert a slow movement of their choice. The Fourth Concerto is the only Brandenburg with the same instrumentation in all of its movements. It’s full of grace and buoyancy, and features sublime writing for recorders. Discover or rediscover these supreme masterpieces in the intimate acoustics of Harris Concert Hall! Also don't miss Brandenburg Recital II on July 11. Program: J. S. BACH: Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F major, BWV 1046 J. S. BACH: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048 --- J. S. BACH: Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major, BWV 1049 J. S. BACH: Concerto for Three Violins in D major, BWV 1064 |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $85, $50 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Sondheim's A Little Night Music | 7/11 | 7:00 pm | Winner of four Tony Awards, this beloved Sondheim classic about love, regret, and desire unfolds amidst a tangled web of affairs during a weekend in the countryside. Both hilarious and heartbreaking, this dramatic celebration of love showcases timeless melodies, a harmonically advanced score—and Sondheim's enduring genius. Other performances of A Little Night Music on July 13 and July 15. | Wheeler Opera House | 320 E Hyman Ave, Aspen, CO 81611 | $75, $50, $25 obstructed | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Special Event: Brandenburg Recital II | 7/11 | 8:00 pm | Virtuosic, invigorating, and overflowing with rich melodies, rhythms, and counterpoint, Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos are as fresh and exciting as when they were written over 300 years ago. During a period of job insecurity, Bach composed them as a kind of musical job application for the Margrave of Brandenburg (then a territory in the kingdom of Prussia). Like many job seekers today, Bach never found out what the Margrave did with his “resume.” These brilliant pinnacles of the Baroque were finally published in 1850 in commemoration of the centenary of Bach’s death, and only then began gaining in popularity. Bach had a thing for sixes; in addition to the six Brandenburgs, he composed six cello suites and six keyboard partitas. He even wrote a poem about smoking a pipe that consisted of six stanzas. This second of two recitals of the complete Brandenburg Concertos opens with the innovative and appealing Fifth Concerto, the closest to a solo concerto of the set. The flashy harpsichord part was designed to show off an instrument Bach had just brought back to Leipzig from Berlin. Solo flute and violin interweave with the keyboard until it takes off with a startling epic cadenza. One critic a few decades ago criticized the performer for inserting a “tasteless, self-indulgent” cadenza into Bach’s balanced proportions. Oops. The “performer” was no less than Bach himself who left us a complete record of his improvisatory prowess. The viola was Bach’s favorite orchestral instrument, and it takes center stage in the darkly hued Sixth Concerto with its irresistibly catchy final movement. The macho and propulsive Second Concerto with its brilliant and demanding solo trumpet part tops off the evening. Discover or rediscover these supreme masterpieces in the intimate acoustics of Harris Concert Hall! Also don't miss Brandenburg Recital I on July 10. Program: J. S. BACH: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050 J. S. BACH: Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B-flat major, BWV 1051 --- J. S. BACH: Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major, BWV 1047 VIVALDI: Concerto for Four Violins in B minor, RV 580, op. 3, no. 10 |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $85, $50 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Aspen Chamber Symphony | 7/12 | 6:00 pm | Don’t miss one of the greatest violinists of our time in this program of masterworks. “When it comes to giving loving attention to canonical works…and transmitting that love to his listeners, Joshua Bell is unparalleled,” declared the Washington Post. With a career spanning more than thirty years as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, conductor, and director, Aspen alumnus Bell returns to Aspen for Polish composer Henryk Wieniawski’s most lyrical and popular work, the Second Violin Concerto. As a virtuoso violinist himself, Wieniawski knew how to write dazzling, showy passages; here he also delivers dramatic intensity, an exquisitely songlike slow movement, and a rousing gypsy finale. The program opens with Prayer of St. Gregory by American composer Alan Hovhaness, a five-minute piece for trumpet and strings which creates an atmosphere of mystical calm. The concert concludes with Schumann’s First Symphony, composed in a manic burst of energy over only four days in 1842. Schumann’s friend Mendelssohn conducted the first performance of the work. Schumann may not have been entirely happy with the result, since he advised a later conductor to “try to infuse some longing for spring into the playing of your orchestra; this is what I felt when I wrote it.” |
Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $90 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Opera Scenes Master Class | 7/13 | 10:00 am | The Aspen Opera Center artist-faculty, representing top teachers and performers from the world's best opera companies and conservatories, teach the promising young singers of the AOC in beloved opera scenes. See the rising stars of the opera world—and enjoy AOC director Ed Berkeley's brilliant and witty coaching. | Wheeler Opera House | 320 E Hyman Ave, Aspen, CO 81611 | $40 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Chamber Music | 7/13 | 4:30 pm | AMFS artist-faculty, representing the best teachers and players from the country's top orchestras, opera companies, and conservatories, enjoy a chance to come together each summer to play chamber music. Always a joyful and creative ninety minutes of exquisite music-making. Artists and programs will be announced by April 1. | Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $45 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Sondheim's A Little Night Music | 7/13 | 7:00 pm | Winner of four Tony Awards, this beloved Sondheim classic about love, regret, and desire unfolds amidst a tangled web of affairs during a weekend in the countryside. Both hilarious and heartbreaking, this dramatic celebration of love showcases timeless melodies, a harmonically advanced score—and Sondheim's enduring genius. Other performances of A Little Night Music on July 11 and July 15. | Wheeler Opera House | 320 E Hyman Ave, Aspen, CO 81611 | $75, $50, $25 obstructed | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
A Recital by George Li piano | 7/13 | 8:00 pm | Discover the artistry of George Li, a Silver Medalist at the Tchaikovsky Competition when he was only 15. Now 24, his “staggering technical prowess, a sense of command and depth of expression” (Washington Post) have put him in great demand on concert and recital stages around the world. Li has a particular affinity for Beethoven. As a child in Boston, piano was simply a hobby. Then at age 11, he had an epiphany while playing Beethoven’s First Concerto. “All of a sudden, in the middle of the performance I felt different,” he recalls. “I was kind of transported in some other reality. And I felt all these emotions within the piece and within myself. After that moment I wanted to do this for the rest of my life.” This recital features works from Beethoven’s middle period. Composed in 1806, 32 Variations on an Original Theme in C minor is a technically demanding piece full of melancholy and turbulence. Each variation offers a different challenge, almost like a set of etudes. Two years earlier, Beethoven wrote another set of variations originally intended to be the slow movement of his famous “Waldstein” sonata. He let the piece stand on its own and included a much shorter movement in the sonata, which was dedicated to his friend and patron Count Waldstein. The sonata dates from the same year as Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony. It was part of a creative explosion which followed Beethoven’s crisis of 1802, when he realized his deafness was permanent and incurable. The program’s second half features two Schumann works in which the composer uses pitch names as letters. Program: BEETHOVEN: 32 Variations on an Original Theme in C minor, WoO 80 BEETHOVEN: Andante in F major, WoO 57, “Andante favori” BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major, op. 53, “Waldstein” --- SCHUMANN: Abegg Variations, op. 1 SCHUMANN: Carnaval, scènes mignonnes sur quatre notes, op. 9 |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $55 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Aspen Festival Orchestra | 7/14 | 4:00 pm | One of the most beloved violin concertos in the repertoire is played by a brilliant new young talent. Bartó:k and Copland’s masterful miniatures further delight on this fun, summery program. Although it has long been an indispensable part of the repertoire, Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto got off to a rocky start. The work was written on the heels of Tchaikovsky’s brief, disastrous marriage and a suicide attempt. What followed was a brilliant burst of creativity. “My heart is full. It thirsts to pour itself out in music,” he wrote. Unfortunately, what poured out was rejected by the great violinist Leopold Auer, to whom it was dedicated. He refused to play it, and when it was finally performed—horribly—two years later, the critic Eduard Hanslick called it music “whose stink one can hear.” Today it is hard to believe that the work’s overwhelming lyricism, hauntingly beautiful slow movement, and brilliant pyrotechnical finale ever evoked such a response. Esther Yoo—Aspen alumna, the youngest prize winner of the Sibelius Violin Competition, and the first ever Artist in Residence with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra—is acclaimed for her “dark, aristocratic tone” (Gramophone Magazine) and “balanced grace” (The Herald). Two works by American composers bookend this varied program. Selections from Gunther Schuller’s Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee also reflect his love of jazz. After Copland wrote the ballet Billy the Kid, a young, unknown choreographer named Agnes DeMille asked him to compose a second Western ballet which she described as “Taming of the Shrew with cowboys.” The result was the audience charmer, Rodeo, which always delights! |
Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $85 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Chamber Music | 7/15 | 6:00 pm | AMFS artist-faculty, representing the best teachers and players from the country's top orchestras, opera companies, and conservatories, enjoy a chance to come together each summer to play chamber music. Always a joyful and creative ninety minutes of exquisite music-making. Artists and programs will be announced by April 1. | Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $45 | ||
Sondheim's A Little Night Music | 7/15 | 7:00 pm | Winner of four Tony Awards, this beloved Sondheim classic about love, regret, and desire unfolds amidst a tangled web of affairs during a weekend in the countryside. Both hilarious and heartbreaking, this dramatic celebration of love showcases timeless melodies, a harmonically advanced score—and Sondheim's enduring genius. Other performances of A Little Night Music on July 11 and July 13. | Wheeler Opera House | 320 E Hyman Ave, Aspen, CO 81611 | $75, $50, $25 obstructed | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
A Recital by Stephen Hough piano | 7/16 | 7:30 pm | As noted by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “Stephen Hough is simply one of the finest pianists of the age.” He has both a “sparkling virtuosity and the nonchalance to suggest it was all nothing really” (Financial Times). This daring program opens with a transcription of Bach’s iconic Chaconne from his second solo violin partita. As with the original string version, Busoni’s requires not only a pair of expert hands, but also an artistry that can synthesize the architecture, power, and poetic interiority of the piece. Hough is regarded as a true polymath and Renaissance man, with a large body of musical compositions and writings which include a recent novel. His Fourth Piano Sonata, “Vida Breve” was premiered last November in Atlanta. Seen and Heard International praised the “bustle and urgency” of Hough’s 2018 Oxford performance of Chopin’s famous “Funeral March” Sonata, noting that “the passionate, lyrical, and even more delicate, contrasting sections cut persuasively and touchingly through the surrounding tumult...[The Funeral March] was beautifully poised and spun with Mozartian simplicity.” Also on the program are works of Busoni and Liszt, two uncannily gifted pianists whose compositions have daunted generations of performers. Program: J. S. BACH/BUSONI: Chaconne from Partita No. 2 for Unaccompanied Violin in D minor, BWV 1004 BUSONI: Berceuse, K. 252 CHOPIN: Piano Sonata in B-flat minor, op. 35 --- STEPHEN HOUGH: Piano Sonata No. 4 (Vida Breve) LISZT: Funérailles from Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, LW A158 LISZT: Mephisto Waltz No. 4, LW A337 LISZT: Mephisto Waltz No. 1, “The Dance in the Village Inn”, LW A189 |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $60 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra | 7/17 | 6:00 pm | Brahms’s heroically triumphant First Symphony anchors this inspiring concert. Opening with pounding timpani, the work covers a vast emotional landscape, ranging from fury to yearning, from calm sweetness to victorious ecstasy. It took fourteen years for Brahms to complete the work. Opening the program is American composer Stephen Hartke’s Da pacem, a serene and reflective piece grappling with modern America. The first movement is built on plainchant, a form of medieval church song. The Scherzo is a prayer for peace which, in Hartke’s words, features a “cheerful little tune being played in the orchestra while the cello is completely ignoring it.” The third movement is based on the protest song, “Ain’t you got a right to the tree of life?” While he was composing the Concerto, Hartke learned of the massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, turning what had begun as an abstract musical elegy into a very real one. |
Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $25 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
A Recital by the American Brass Quintet | 7/17 | 8:30 pm | Program to be announced. | Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $55 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
A Recital by Renaud Capuçon violin | 7/18 | 8:00 pm | “A dizzying freedom and vitality of playing … no less an interpreter who listens to others. A musician uninhibited, at the top of his art,” raved Le Temps after a March 2018 performance by French violinist Renaud Capuçon. Hear this international sensation in his Aspen debut as he performs a delectable program of Romantic gems all written within the years 1886–88. Dvořák composed Four Romantic Pieces for a chemistry student and amateur violinist who lived nearby. He had composed his Terzetto for the fellow, but when it proved too challenging, he decided to offer him something easier. The result was these exquisite and expressive short works which range in mood from serene to impassioned. Brahms composed his radiantly lyrical Second Violin Sonata during a summer sojourn in Switzerland. He was swept away by his surroundings, saying they were “so full of melodies that one has to be careful not to step on any.” The piece beams with sunshine and reflects the relaxation of a happy and refreshing vacation. Strauss was only in his early twenties when he wrote his only Violin Sonata. He met and fell in love with the soprano Pauline de Ahna during the sonata’s composition, which may account for the work’s optimism, energy, and anticipation. She later became his wife. The first movement is melodious and songlike, the second notable for its improvisatory charm, and the finale ardent and propulsive. Those familiar with Strauss’s songs and operas that came later in his life will notice intimations of what’s to come in the sweeping lyrical lines of this beautiful piece. Program: DVOŘÁK: Four Romantic Pieces, op. 75 BRAHMS: Violin Sonata No. 2 in A major, op. 100 --- R. STRAUSS: Violin Sonata in E-flat major, op. 18 |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $55 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Aspen Chamber Symphony | 7/19 | 6:00 pm | The boundless high spirits and vitality of Beethoven’s Second Symphony’s belie the difficulties that the composer was experiencing at the time of its composition. His increasing deafness led him to leave Vienna for rural Heiligenstadt as prescribed by his doctor, and to suicidal thinking. The Symphony was full of innovations for its time, including an expansive, dramatic opening followed by an aggressively sunny Allegro, as if Beethoven were determined to shake off dark thoughts. The symphony continues with a tranquil, lovely slow movement followed by a stately minuet. The finale explodes with energy and a relentless, thrilling momentum. Also on the program is Swiss composer Frank Martin’s 1945 Petite symphonie concertante, which gives a nod to Bach with its unusual use of the harpsichord. This performance features an illustrious lineup of top-flight soloists. Three Places in New England by Charles Ives depicts a monument in Boston Commons, a child’s dream during a Fourth of July picnic in which two bands play simultaneously in different keys and rhythms, and a Sunday morning walk along the Housatonic River that the composer took with his wife. A musical piece of Americana! |
Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $82 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Opera Scenes Master Class | 7/20 | 10:00 am | The Aspen Opera Center artist-faculty, representing top teachers and performers from the world's best opera companies and conservatories, teach the promising young singers of the AOC in beloved opera scenes. See the rising stars of the opera world—and enjoy AOC director Ed Berkeley's brilliant and witty coaching. | Wheeler Opera House | 320 E Hyman Ave, Aspen, CO 81611 | $40 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Chamber Music | 7/20 | 4:30 pm | AMFS artist-faculty, representing the best teachers and players from the country's top orchestras, opera companies, and conservatories, enjoy a chance to come together each summer to play chamber music. Always a joyful and creative ninety minutes of exquisite music-making. Artists and programs will be announced by April 1. | Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $45 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
A Recital by Arie Vardi piano | 7/20 | 8:00 pm | This delightful recital opens with the beautifully plaintive F minor solo concerto. The first and last movements were recycled from earlier works, and the slow movement borrows from a flute concerto by Bach’s friend Telemann. Of all Bach's harpsichord concertos, the sunny C major for two harpsichords is probably the only one that was originally composed for the instrument, but not with the orchestral parts, which may have been added by someone else. Borrowing from himself, Bach fashioned the Concerto for Three Harpsichords from one for three violins. The Concerto for Four Harpsichords, a transcription of a showy four violin concerto by Vivaldi, is the only one not adapted from Bach’s own material. Arie Vardi, legendary artist-faculty member of the AMFS, and winner of the Chopin Competition in Israel and the 2017 Israel Prize, will be joined by talented AMFS students. |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $60 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Aspen Festival Orchestra | 7/21 | 4:00 pm | Seong-Jin Cho rose to fame after winning first prize at the Chopin International Competition in 2015. His Chicago debut last October set off major buzz and his performance was “as thrilling a display of sheer powerhouse keyboard bravura as one is ever likely to encounter” (Chicago Classical Review). Hear him take on Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto, the result of a successful course of hypnotherapy after the composer’s long composition dry spell. Also on the program is Elgar’s Enigma Variations, which he “dedicated to my friends pictured within.” Boulder composer Conor Brown’s How to Relax with Origami consists of eight vignettes charmingly organized around the principles of Japanese paper art. | Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $85 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Chamber Music | 7/22 | 6:00 pm | AMFS artist-faculty, representing the best teachers and players from the country's top orchestras, opera companies, and conservatories, enjoy a chance to come together each summer to play chamber music. Always a joyful and creative ninety minutes of exquisite music-making. Artists and programs will be announced by April 1. | Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $45 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Special Event: A Recital by Sarah Chang violin | 7/23 | 7:30 pm | Noted by Artsfile for her “searing virtuosity” and “theatrical, expressive impulse,” Aspen alumna Sarah Chang returns to play jewels of the violin repertoire. Dvořák's Romance in F minor is a tranquil and poignant piece that opens with a yearning melody on which the soloist elaborates. A more dramatic second theme leads to some passionate outbursts before the nostalgic mood returns. Bartók’s Romanian Dances are one of his most engaging and popular works. The six dances vary in mood and tempo, from hauntingly soulful to wildly exuberant. One of the favorite encore pieces of the violin repertoire is Ravel’s Tzigane. This dazzling work, which runs the soloist through a gauntlet of challenges, closes with a brilliant and flashy perpetual motion finale. Program to include: DVOŘÁK: Romance for Violin and Orchestra in F minor, op. 11, B. 39 BARTÓK/MAX MUELLER: Romanian Folk Dances, BB 76 RAVEL: Tzigane |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $85, $50 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra | 7/24 | 6:00 pm | One of Brahms’s most heartfelt and passionate works, Concerto for Violin and Cello in A minor, is played by a pair of charismatic young soloists—brilliant and captivating Aspen alumnus William Hagen and Romanian cellist Andrei Ioniţă. Also on the program are selections from Prokofiev’s soaring score for the ballet Romeo and Juliet. |
Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $25 | ||
A Recital by the American String Quartet | 7/24 | 8:30 pm | Exemplifying the season theme “Being American,” the American String Quartet plays Dvořák’s “American” String Quartet. Celebrated for his “exceptional sensitivity and stylistic discrimination” by the Los Angeles Times, Anton Nel joins the American Quartet for the Franck Piano Quintet. Also on the program is a new work by Canadian composer Vivian Fung. She combines idiosyncratic textures and styles into large-scale works, reflecting her multicultural background, and has been called “one of today’s most eclectic composers” by National Public Radio. Hear one of the premiere string quartets of our time as they celebrate their 45th anniversary! Program: DVOŘÁK: String Quartet in F major, B. 179, op. 96, “American” VIVIAN FUNG: New Work --- FRANCK: Piano Quintet in F minor |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $65 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
A Recital by Sergey Khachatryan violin, Alisa Weilerstein cello, Inon Barnatan piano, and Colin Currie percussion | 7/25 | 8:00 pm | Four world-class soloists join forces for an evening of musical alchemy. Armenian violinist Sergey Khachatryan was the youngest winner ever at the International Jean Sibelius Competition in 2000, and went on to claim First Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels in 2005. Joining him are cellist Alisa Weilerstein and pianist Inon Barnatan, two musical supernovas with a long history of collaboration. Colin Currie, called “the world’s finest and most daring percussionist” by The Spectator is also featured. Beethoven’s “Ghost” Trio got its nickname after Beethoven’s death when his former pupil Carl Czerny remarked that the amazing slow movement made him think of the first appearance of the ghost in Hamlet. Rolf Wallin takes the titles from stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez for his eleven solo marimba pieces Realismos magicos. The intensely atmospheric sound world of Schoenberg’s tone poem Verklärte Nacht depicts a miraculous transformation. Shostakovich’s surrealistic last symphony, heard here in an arrangement for piano trio and percussion, was a major influence on David Lynch’s film Blue Velvet. Program: BEETHOVEN: Piano Trio in D major, op. 70, no. 1, “Ghost” ROLF WALLIN: Realismos Mágicos SCHOENBERG/STEUERMANN: Verklärte Nacht, op. 4 --- SHOSTAKOVICH/VIKTOR DEREVIANKO: Symphony No. 15 in A major, op. 141 |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $65 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Aspen Chamber Symphony | 7/26 | 6:00 pm | “Eye-opening” and “earth-shaking” was how the press described Inon Barnatan’s performance of Barber’s Piano Concerto with the Cincinnati Symphony last spring. Now you can hear the highly acclaimed pianist in this staggeringly challenging work, which has also been called the best piano concerto ever written by an American. The arc of the piece travels from a passionate first movement to a beautifully song-like second movement, and lands with an explosive, driven, and sometimes jazzy finale. Jazz also infuses Bernstein’s West Side Story Symphonic Dances premiered one year before Barber’s 1962 Piano Concerto. These brilliantly orchestrated and rhythmically infectious dances relate to key scenes in Bernstein’s popular 1957 Broadway musical retelling of Romeo and Juliet. You’ll hear “Somewhere” and “Maria,” two favorites from the show. Opening the program is another dance-inspired showpiece, Danzón No. 2 by Mexican composer Arturo Márquez. Inspired by a Cuban dance that migrated to Vera Cruz, this work put Márquez on the musical map for all time. It is frequently performed in concert halls, was recorded by Gustavo Dudamel, and even plays a key role in an episode of the Amazon television series, Mozart in the Jungle. |
Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $82 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Opera Scenes Master Class | 7/27 | 10:00 am | The Aspen Opera Center artist-faculty, representing top teachers and performers from the world's best opera companies and conservatories, teach the promising young singers of the AOC in beloved opera scenes. See the rising stars of the opera world—and enjoy AOC director Ed Berkeley's brilliant and witty coaching. | Wheeler Opera House | 320 E Hyman Ave, Aspen, CO 81611 | $40 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Chamber Music | 7/27 | 4:30 pm | AMFS artist-faculty, representing the best teachers and players from the country's top orchestras, opera companies, and conservatories, enjoy a chance to come together each summer to play chamber music. Always a joyful and creative ninety minutes of exquisite music-making. Artists and programs will be announced by April 1. | Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $45 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
A Recital by James Ehnes violin and Andrew Armstrong piano | 7/27 | 8:00 pm | Last summer, James Ehnes and Andrew Armstrong embarked on the first of three Aspen recitals exploring all of the Beethoven violin sonatas. Seen and Heard International praised the duo for their “technical precision, keen musical insight … and gold-standard persuasiveness.” This second program opens with the first of three sonatas Beethoven composed in the key of A major. The fun-loving first movement is followed by a more serious lyrical second movement in A minor, but the high spirits return in the witty finale. The popular “Spring” Sonata draws its nickname from its mood of gentle radiance and birdcall motifs. Boston Classical Review praised the duo’s 2018 performance of the piece, noting Ehnes’s “sweeping musical gestures” in the opening “as Armstrong supported him with a feathery bed of sound. The Scherzo bounded like a village dance, and the Trio spun ever forward. In the finale, [they] unleashed powerful accents and elsewhere, settled into a congenial flow.” Beethoven's Seventh Violin Sonata opens in mysterious darkness, continues with a celestial hymn-like slow movement, takes a playful break with a rollicking scherzo, and returns to the emotional strife in a tense and driven finale. Hear these superb artists bring both charm and depth to Beethoven masterworks! Program: BEETHOVEN: Violin Sonata No. 2 in A major, op. 12, no. 2 BEETHOVEN: Violin Sonata No. 5 in F major, op. 24, “Spring” --- BEETHOVEN: Violin Sonata No. 7 in C minor, op. 30, no. 2 |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $65 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Aspen Festival Orchestra | 7/28 | 4:00 pm | Following last summer’s tour de force recital of all six Bach cello suites, Alisa Weilerstein tackles Barber’s poetic, passionate, but rarely heard Second Cello Concerto. Barber was still a corporal in the army when legendary conductor Serge Koussevitzky arranged for him to be discharged so he could compose this work for the conductor’s 20th anniversary season with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The second half of the concert features Mahler’s Seventh Symphony, a brilliant, moody masterpiece, that breaks in the final movement into one of the most jubilant, life-affirming finales of the whole repertoire. Arnold Schoenberg was converted to Mahler by the work, declaring, “As for which movement I liked best: All of them!” |
Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $85 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Chamber Music | 7/29 | 6:00 pm | AMFS artist-faculty, representing the best teachers and players from the country's top orchestras, opera companies, and conservatories, enjoy a chance to come together each summer to play chamber music. Always a joyful and creative ninety minutes of exquisite music-making. Artists and programs will be announced by April 1. | Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $45 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Special Event: Master Class with Renée Fleming soprano | 7/30 | 1:00 pm | Brilliant opera star Renée Fleming teaches a special event master class to students of the Aspen Opera Center. | Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $40 | ||
Missy Mazzoli's Proving Up | 7/30 | 7:30 pm | Recently premiered and highly acclaimed, this chamber opera is set on the 1860's frontier where families struggle in pursuit of their American Dream. Drenched in passion, hope, and heartbreak, it achingly explores the "sincere values . . . and extraordinary costs" of this hardscrabble life. Concert performance. | Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $40 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra | 7/31 | 6:00 pm | Beginning with an austere soundscape that evokes the Finnish winter, Sibelius’s lushly romantic First Symphony is a stunningly orchestrated work overflows with soaring, opulent melodies. Jeffrey Kahane has a deep affinity for Mozart, understanding that “a vast majority of [his] works…are really extensions of his works for the theater.” This was especially true of the three concertos written during the winter of 1785-86 while Mozart was working on The Marriage of Figaro. The first movement features a heroic, ceremonial character full of imaginative details and wind solos. The second movement was applauded so enthusiastically by the first Viennese audience that Mozart played it again! The finale contrasts a hunting motif with a courtly minuet, and showcases more exquisite writing for winds. |
Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $25 | ||
A Recital by Daniil Trifonov | 7/31 | 8:30 pm | Trifonov wowed last summer’s Aspen audiences with a performance of his own piano concerto and a mesmerizing recital. Now 28, he returns with an array of daredevil twentieth-century works. From Berg’s fascinating opus 1 sonata rooted in traditional classical form, to the harmonic piquancy of Prokofiev, and from Bartók’s Out of Doors with its Romanian and Hungarian folk influences to Copland’s first certifiable masterpiece, the program’s first half will have you riveted. After intermission, the lullaby movement from Messiaen’s Vingt Regards sur l'enfant-Jesus begins serenely and builds to virtuosic cadenza and explosive climax. The diverse soundscapes of Stockhausen, John Adams, John Corigliano, and Thomas Ades complete this adventurous recital. Program: BERG: Piano Sonata, op. 1 PROKOFIEV: Sarcasms, op. 17 BARTÓK: Out of Doors, BB 89 COPLAND: Piano Variations MESSIAEN: from Vingt regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus --- LIGETI: from Musica ricercata STOCKHAUSEN: Klavierstücke No. 4, no. 9 JOHN ADAMS: China Gates JOHN CORIGLIANO: Fantasia on an Ostinato THOMAS ADÈS: Traced Overheard |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $75 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Special Event: A Recital by the Emerson String Quartet and Renée Fleming soprano | 8/1 | 8:00 pm | One of the world’s premiere string quartets, the Emerson String Quartet, teams up with opera megastar Renée Fleming for Penelope, a new work by Andre Previn, with text by Tom Stoppard. The “opera of sorts” was premiered earlier this summer to kick off Previn’s 90th birthday celebration. Celebrating the season theme of “Being American,” the Emerson will play Barber’s String Quartet No. 1. Its slow movement—the perfectly crafted and powerfully moving Adagio for Strings—is one of the most beloved of all American compositions. Barber himself called it a “knockout.” You’ll hear another luminous slow movement in the evening’s opening work, Haydn’s Quartet No. 2, Opus 71. The composer’s fame after his success in London called for richer sonorities for large public performances in Vienna. This piece beautifully fit the bill. |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $85, $50 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Aspen Chamber Symphony | 8/2 | 6:00 pm | Multiple Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano and Aspen alumna Isabel Leonard has been acclaimed by New York Classical Review as a “true treasure.” She brings her foray into French repertoire to Aspen with this performance of Ravel’s sensuous song cycle. All three songs are tranquil and reflective. “Asie” evokes the exoticism of Arabia, India, and China. In the shorter “La flûte enchantée,” a slave girl hears her lover play the flute outside her window. “L’indifférent” depicts a boy who is oblivious to an admirer’s desire. Armenian violinist Sergey Khachatryan returns after his triumphant Aspen debut last summer with Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, a performance that was notable for its fresh approach and sensitive phrasing. Program: CHABRIER: España, rhapsody KHATCHATURIAN: Violin Concerto --- RAVEL: Shéhérazade BIZET: Carmen Suite |
Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $82 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Opera Scenes Master Class | 8/3 | 10:00 am | The Aspen Opera Center artist-faculty, representing top teachers and performers from the world's best opera companies and conservatories, teach the promising young singers of the AOC in beloved opera scenes. See the rising stars of the opera world—and enjoy AOC director Ed Berkeley's brilliant and witty coaching. | Wheeler Opera House | 320 E Hyman Ave, Aspen, CO 81611 | $40 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Chamber Music | 8/3 | 4:30 pm | AMFS artist-faculty, representing the best teachers and players from the country's top orchestras, opera companies, and conservatories, enjoy a chance to come together each summer to play chamber music. Always a joyful and creative ninety minutes of exquisite music-making. Artists and programs will be announced by April 1. | Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $45 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
A Recital by the Escher String Quartet | 8/3 | 8:00 pm | Mentored by the legendary Emerson Quartet and now in their fourteenth season, the Escher Quartet takes its name from the Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher. Boston Classical Review has praised their playing for its “polished technique, intensity, direction, and dimension.” The last quartets of Mozart and Schubert bookend the program, which also showcases a new work by Andrew Norman, called “the leading American composer of his generation” by the Los Angeles Times. Program: MOZART: String Quartet in F major, K. 590 ANDREW NORMAN: New Work for String Quartet --- SCHUBERT: String Quartet in G major, D. 887, op. posth. 161 |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $55 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Aspen Festival Orchestra | 8/4 | 4:00 pm | The dreamy lyricism of Rachmaninoff combines with the angular brilliance of The Rite of Spring in this supremely satisfying program. Hearing Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring in the fresh open-air surroundings of the Benedict Music Tent is an experience not to be missed. This iconic work, with its groundbreaking rhythmic complexities and often savage depiction of pagan rites, has maintained its visceral impact and continues to fascinate, provoke, and increase the blood pressure of audiences more than 100 years after its legendary debut. Russian pianist Nikolai Lugansky has exploded recently on the classical scene and was acclaimed by the U.K.’s Independent for his “quintessentially Russian sound with a boldly singing tone and a wonderful array of colors.” His name has been inextricably linked with the music of Rachmaninoff, whose Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini was such an overwhelming hit with audiences that it disconcerted the composer. “It somehow looks suspicious that the Rhapsody has had such an immediate success with everybody,” said Rachmaninoff after the work’s 1934 Baltimore premiere. Also on the program is Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Aereality, which she describes as “vast sound-textures combined—and contrasted—with various forms of lyrical material,” was called “a highlight of last season’s New York Philharmonic programming” by The New York Times. |
Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $90 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
A Recital by Nikolai Lugansky piano | 8/6 | 7:30 pm | Poetic. Passionate. Powerful. These words only begin to describe the artistry of Russian pianist Nikolai Lugansky. He is in demand the world over and has been celebrated for his ability “to enchant the ear… with a deep feeling for the music” (Financial Times). Cesar Franck was an organist, and composed the Prelude, fugue, and variation for the organ. Dedicated to Saint-Saëns, it begins with a pastoral prelude reminiscent of a shepherd’s piping and then moves into a Bach-like fugue. Lugansky received raves from All Music Review for his” delicate touch and warm tone” on a recent Debussy recording, qualities he’ll bring to Deux arabesques and selections from Images. Also on the program, Scriabin’s Third Sonata, full of ravishing melodies throughout its bold emotional and harmonic journey. Program: FRANCK/BAUER: Prélude, fugue, et variation, M. 30 DEBUSSY: Deux arabesques DEBUSSY: Images, series 2 --- FRANCK: Prélude, choral, et fugue, M. 21 SKRYABIN: Piano Sonata No. 3 in F-sharp minor, op. 23 |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $65 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra | 8/7 | 6:00 pm | When violinist Nicola Benedetti played Wynton Marsalis’s Violin Concerto, the Chicago Tribune raved, writing, “there’s no question that Marsalis has created a work of lustrous appeal, its inherent accessibility and vivid colors suggesting that it could well become a repertory piece.” Come judge for yourself. What began as a challenge for Copland to please Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Serge Koussevitzky, who commissioned the Third Symphony, ended up as a post-war testament “reflect[ing] the euphoric spirit of the country at the time.” Copland based the last movement on his Fanfare for the Common Man. Copland’s title came from a 1942 political speech which hailed the coming of the “Century of the Common Man.” Rarely in twentieth-century music do we hear a piece so unabashedly heroic and optimistic, without a shred of cynicism. As Leonard Bernstein said of it, “[Copland’s] symphony has become an American monument, like the Washington Monument or the Lincoln Memorial.” Celebrate American music with AMFS Music Director Robert Spano and the extraordinary Nicola Benedetti! |
Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $25 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Special Event: A Recital by Augustin Hadelich violin and Orion Weiss piano | 8/7 | 8:30 pm | Named 2018 Instrumentalist of the Year by Musical America, Augustin Hadelich is known for his phenomenal technique, deeply felt interpretations, and exquisite tone. He’ll be joined by Avery Fisher Career Grant winner whom the Washington Post described as having “virtuosity to spare” in this gorgeous evening of Romantic works. The varied program opens with Beethoven’s Fourth Violin Sonata, one of only two in a minor key. The two outer movements are driving and dramatic, and the playful second movement is an innovative slow movement/scherzo hybrid. Debussy composed his only Violin Sonata near the end of his life. There’s a deep sense of melancholy here, but also sweetness, vigor, light-heartedness, and nostalgia. Ysaÿe’s challenging one movement “Ballade” sonata was dedicated to the Romanian composer and violinist Georges Enescu. Part of the tribute is a wild and passionate finale that borrows from Romanian folk music. Brahms’s glorious Second Violin Sonata reveals his softer and more contemplative side. Clara Schumann was most impressed by it and said, “I wish the last movement could accompany me in my journey from here to the next world.” After a short detour to Debussy’s L'isle joyeuse played by Mr. Weiss, have fun on a wild and whimsical drive with Road Movies by John Adams, which requires the piano to let loose and "swing." Program: BEETHOVEN: Violin Sonata No. 4 in A minor, op. 23 DEBUSSY: Violin Sonata YSAŸE: Sonata for Unaccompanied Violin in D minor, op. 27, no. 3, “Ballade” --- BRAHMS: Violin Sonata No. 2 in A major, op. 100 DEBUSSY: L’isle joyeuse JOHN ADAMS: Road Movies |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $85, $50 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
A Recital by Simone Dinnerstein piano | 8/8 | 8:00 pm | “When things heat up, the room seems ready to burst into flames,” raved the Washington Post following Simone Dinnerstein’s “spellbinding” recital last winter at the Kennedy Center. “Her “intoxicatingly rich, velvety sound always retains agility and translucence.” Now you can hear this magical program, which synthesizes in a seamless arc the elegance of the French Baroque in two works by Couperin, the hypnotic effects of Glass’s Mad Rush, the contrasting moods of Schumann’s Arabesque, Satie’s mysterious Gnosienne No,3, and finally Schumann’s dramatic and challenging Kreisleriana. The work's title was inspired by the writer E.T.A. Hoffmann’s fictional character Johannes Kreisler, a musician who, like Schumann himself, was subject to pathological mood swings. Be entranced by the elegance, grace, and originality of this highly distinctive artist! COUPERIN: Les Barricades Mystérieuses from Second livre de pièces de clavecin SCHUMANN: Arabesque in C major, op. 18 PHILIP GLASS: Mad Rush --- COUPERIN: Le tic-toc-choc, ou Les maillotins from Troisiéme livre de piéces de clavecin 18 ordre SATIE: Gnossienne No. 3 SCHUMANN: Kreisleriana, op. 16 |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $65 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Aspen Chamber Symphony | 8/9 | 6:00 pm | As a child prodigy, she was called “one in a million” by conductor Zubin Mehta. As a psychology student, she wrote a master’s thesis on pain. As an activist, she won the Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum at Davos and spoke before the United Nations. As a performer, she is indomitable, playing dozens of concerts a year. The one and only Midori returns to Aspen to perform Schumann’s only Violin Concerto. This warmly noble score was hidden away for decades and only rediscovered through clues obtained at a séance! Mozart’s last three symphonies are marvels of musical imagination and invention. Although performed less often than Symphony Nos. 40 or 41 (“Jupiter”), Symphony No. 39 is no less a masterwork. From its grand introduction to the propulsive and witty finale, this effervescent work will enchant you. Also on the program are brilliant artist-faculty members Elaine Douvas and Nancy Allen, who will play arrangements of Schubert songs. Program to include: SCHUMANN: Violin Concerto in D minor MARTIN: Three Dances for Oboe, Harp, and Strings MOZART: Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major, K. 543 |
Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $90 | ||
Opera Scenes Master Class | 8/10 | 10:00 am | The Aspen Opera Center artist-faculty, representing top teachers and performers from the world's best opera companies and conservatories, teach the promising young singers of the AOC in beloved opera scenes. See the rising stars of the opera world—and enjoy AOC director Ed Berkeley's brilliant and witty coaching. | Wheeler Opera House | 320 E Hyman Ave, Aspen, CO 81611 | $40 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Chamber Music | 8/10 | 4:30 pm | AMFS artist-faculty, representing the best teachers and players from the country's top orchestras, opera companies, and conservatories, enjoy a chance to come together each summer to play chamber music. Always a joyful and creative ninety minutes of exquisite music-making. Artists and programs will be announced by April 1. | Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $45 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
A Recital by Sharon Isbin guitar and Isabel Leonard mezzo-soprano | 8/10 | 8:00 pm | Sharon Isbin and Isabel Leonard gave their first joint recital in 2014 in Aspen, and since then have been frequent collaborators, working closely together to explore repertoire that fully utilizes the strengths of both guitar and voice. Isbin explained why Leonard, who grew up speaking Spanish, is ideally suited for this repertoire: “It needed for someone like Isabel, with a spectacular voice, to come along…and it is rare to find someone who has the gift of opera and recital work, and the kind of voice that can be adapted to both. So by pairing guitar with voice, it creates an intimacy for the listening audience that is quite rarified.” GARCÍA LORCA/SHARON ISBIN: from Canciones españolas antiguas TÁRREGA : Capricho árabe GARCÍA LORCA/SHARON ISBIN: from Canciones españolas antiguas --- RODRIGO: Aranjuez, ma pensée MONTSALVATGE/SHARON ISBIN: from Canciones negras ALBÉNIZ/SEGOVIA: Mallorca, barcarolle, op. 202 FALLA/LLOBET/PUJOL: Siete canciones populares españolas |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $75 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Aspen Festival Orchestra | 8/11 | 4:00 pm | In a rave review, The New York Times called Jan Lisiecki's 2016 Carnegie Hall debut recital an “uncommonly sensitive performance.” Lisiecki’s goal is always to communicate the beauty and brilliance of each work. He says, “Going into a concert hall should be like going into a sanctuary. You’re there to have a moment of reflection, hopefully leaving feeling different, refreshed and inspired.” Mendelssohn was not even as old as Lisiecki is now when he wrote his First Piano Concerto during the same trip to Italy that inspired his Fourth Symphony (“Italian”). It was an immediate triumph, with the King of Bavaria leading the applause. This compact and engaging piece is full of charm, winning melodies, and lots of glittering passagework for the soloist. Drawn from a rich collection of young artists, the Percussion Collective is reinventing the concert experience through surprising and engaging performances. Drum Circle by Christopher Theofanidis is the first orchestral showcase for the ensemble, and was commissioned by a consortium including the Aspen Music Festival and School, Baltimore Symphony, Colorado Symphony, and the Oregon Symphony. |
Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $85 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Chamber Music | 8/12 | 6:00 pm | AMFS artist-faculty, representing the best teachers and players from the country's top orchestras, opera companies, and conservatories, enjoy a chance to come together each summer to play chamber music. Always a joyful and creative ninety minutes of exquisite music-making. Artists and programs will be announced by April 1. | Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $45 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro | 8/13 | 7:00 pm | Widely considered one of the greatest operas ever written, The Marriage of Figaro is a fast-paced comedy that recounts a single day of scheming in pursuit of love--and lust--in the palace of Count Almaviva. Figaro pursues marriage to his beloved Susanna while the Count has designs on her as well. Full of witty manipulations and resonant melodies, this artistic masterpiece makes us laugh, but also reveals the depth of human tenderness. Other performances of Le nozze di Figaro on August 15 and August 17. | Wheeler Opera House | 320 E Hyman Ave, Aspen, CO 81611 | $75, $25 obstructed | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
A Recital by the JCT Trio | 8/13 | 7:30 pm | They drew wild applause last July after their Harris Concert Hall debut, and shouts and bravos from Lincoln Chamber Music Series patrons in January. These electrifying artists of the next generation call themselves the JCT (said “Junction”) Trio after their last initials. The poetry and purity of Stefan Jackiw, passion and intellect of Aspen alum Conrad Tao, and riveting intensity of Jay Campbell converge to create truly compelling performances. They approach both established and new works with the same curiosity and full-on commitment. A new work by Tao opens the evening. Called a “thoughtful and mature composer” by NPR, 24 year-old Tao has won eight consecutive ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards and has received commissions from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. Beethoven’s crown jewel of trios, the noble, majestic and sometimes playful “Archduke” will bring the evening to a deeply satisfying close. CONRAD TAO: New Work --- BEETHOVEN: Piano Trio in B-flat major, op. 97, “Archduke” |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $60 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra | 8/14 | 6:00 pm | Rachmaninoff is at his best with Symphonic Dances, with stunning melodies, vivid orchestration, stirring march-like rhythms, a haunting saxophone solo, a mysterious waltz, and a finale that brilliantly incorporates Russian Orthodox liturgical chants and the Dies Irae from the Mass for the Dead. Mozart’s festive and rhapsodic Fifth Violin Concerto showcases this summer’s Violin Competition winner. The irresistible last movement bounces between an elegant minuet and a wild gypsy dance. Although nicknamed “Turkish,” it actually draws on Hungarian sources, along with a ballet tune from an early Mozart opera. From ballet to opera to Korean traditional music to orchestral works, Nicky Sohn’s wide-ranging talent is sought after across continents. Characterized by her jazz-inspired, rhythmically driven themes, Sohn’s world premiere work commissioned by the Aspen Music Festival and School has received praise from the international press for being “dynamic and full of vitality” (The Korea Defense Daily). |
Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $25 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Family Concert | 8/15 | 5:00 pm | Family Concerts are designed to engage children of all ages in the full concert experience. Both aurally and visually captivating, these programs offer a wonderful, accessible introduction to the classical concert world with lively music and a shorter, kid-appropriate concert length. Concerts are for all ages, with an adult. Program: PROKOFIEV: Peter and the Wolf, op. 67 Also, bring your children at 4 pm for free light fare and Kids’ Notes pre-concert activities designed to help prepare them for the performance. At the Hospitality Tent just outside the Benedict Music Tent. Open to all ages; best for ages seven and below. |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | free | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro | 8/15 | 7:00 pm | Widely considered one of the greatest operas ever written, The Marriage of Figaro is a fast-paced comedy that recounts a single day of scheming in pursuit of love--and lust--in the palace of Count Almaviva. Figaro pursues marriage to his beloved Susanna while the Count has designs on her as well. Full of witty manipulations and resonant melodies, this artistic masterpiece makes us laugh, but also reveals the depth of human tenderness. Other performances of Le nozze di Figaro on August 13 and August 17. | Wheeler Opera House | 320 E Hyman Ave, Aspen, CO 81611 | $75, $25 obstructed | ||
Special Event: A Recital by Robert McDuffie violin | 8/15 | 8:00 pm | “He’s a treasure. A musician of probing intelligence, a violinist of authority, and force of great vitality,” said the San Francisco Chronicle. Grammy-nominated violinist, AMFS alumnus, and Aspen favorite Robert McDuffie returns for an evening celebrating the season theme “Being American” in this special event recital. In addition to works by Gershwin for solo violin, he’ll be featured in the original chamber music score of Copland’s sublime ballet Appalachian Spring. The iconic work was composed in 1944 for Martha Graham, and this version includes music written for the choreography that doesn’t appear in the commonly heard suite. The scenario concerns a pioneer bride anticipating her wedding and the challenges she’ll face on the frontier. Copland’s transcendent and quintessentially American work captures the optimism of our national spirit, the sustenance of the land, and the joy of new beginnings. Program to include: GERSHWIN: Works for Solo Violin COPLAND: Appalachian Spring (Original Version) |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $85, $50 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Aspen Chamber Symphony | 8/16 | 6:00 pm | In the midst of his nine-year, nine-disc recording cycle of all of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas, and following last year’s conclusion to his three-year performance journey through the complete Sonatas in Aspen, Jonathan Biss returns for Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto. Also on the program is Alan Fletcher’s “If on a winter’s night a traveler,” inspired by Italo Calvino’s novel by the same name. Fletcher’s composition will be accompanied by filmmaker Bill Morrison’s visual adaptation of the book. The two artists collaborated to create the musical and visual interpretation of Calvino’s postmodern masterpiece for the Festival’s 2015 season. Fletcher describes the book as “a mind-bending and self-reflexive narrative about authorship and the nature of stories.” Like the novel, the composition begins several new stories as it progresses, with each one expressed as a different musical style. |
Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $82 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Opera Scenes Master Class | 8/17 | 10:00 am | The Aspen Opera Center artist-faculty, representing top teachers and performers from the world's best opera companies and conservatories, teach the promising young singers of the AOC in beloved opera scenes. See the rising stars of the opera world—and enjoy AOC director Ed Berkeley's brilliant and witty coaching. | Wheeler Opera House | 320 E Hyman Ave, Aspen, CO 81611 | $40 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Chamber Music | 8/17 | 4:30 pm | AMFS artist-faculty, representing the best teachers and players from the country's top orchestras, opera companies, and conservatories, enjoy a chance to come together each summer to play chamber music. Always a joyful and creative ninety minutes of exquisite music-making. Artists and programs will be announced by April 1. | Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $45 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro | 8/17 | 7:00 pm | Widely considered one of the greatest operas ever written, The Marriage of Figaro is a fast-paced comedy that recounts a single day of scheming in pursuit of love--and lust--in the palace of Count Almaviva. Figaro pursues marriage to his beloved Susanna while the Count has designs on her as well. Full of witty manipulations and resonant melodies, this artistic masterpiece makes us laugh, but also reveals the depth of human tenderness. Other performances of Le nozze di Figaro on August 13 and August 15. | Wheeler Opera House | 320 E Hyman Ave, Aspen, CO 81611 | $75, $25 obstructed | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
A Recital by Vladimir Feltsman piano | 8/17 | 8:00 pm | The incomparable Vladimir Feltsman returns to Harris Concert Hall for a program of early Romantic masterpieces. Ever since his arrival in the United States in 1987 after eight years of artistic repression during the Soviet regime, Vladimir Feltsman has been fascinating audiences with his remarkable technique and penetrating interpretations of a vast repertoire. As The New York Times observed, he is “a master of reinventing himself.” He was initially promoted as a Russian Romantic firebrand, yet his debut recital consisted of works by Schubert, Schumann and Messiaen. Five years later he was devoting himself to Bach. Then it was back to the standard repertory—Haydn, Beethoven, Musorgsky—played in the big, muscular style that everyone expected in the first place. After that, there was a Mozart phase, when he played all the sonatas and other solo works at a pianoforte he had specially built. In this recital, he turns to some of the most beloved and well-known pieces of the repertoire including Beethoven’s “Pathetique” Sonata, with its gentle and spacious slow movement and tempestuous finale. The program’s second half is devoted to several of Chopin’s most popular nocturnes and his lilting and exquisite Ballade No. 4. BEETHOVEN: Seven Bagatelles, op. 33 BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, op. 13, “Pathétique” --- CHOPIN: Nocturne in B-flat minor, op. 9, no. 1 CHOPIN: Nocturne in E-flat major, op. 9, no. 2 CHOPIN: Nocturne in B major, op. 9, no. 3 CHOPIN: Nocturne in F-sharp minor, op. 48, no. 2 CHOPIN: Ballade No. 4 in F minor, op. 52 |
Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $75 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
Aspen Festival Orchestra | 8/18 | 4:00 pm | The season culminates with one of the most transcendent and transformative works ever written. It was also the work that opened the Benedict Music Tent on the occasion of its premiere twenty summers ago. Mahler’s Second Symphony, “Resurrection,” is an all-encompassing portrayal of life, death, and the afterlife. It was the first work to bring him fame, and his personal favorite. The enormously dramatic first movement questions life’s meaning, and the finale answers in the form of a massive choral affirmation. In between are depictions of blissful memories, the tangled web of life with all its confusion and distortions, and a celestial statement of innocent faith sung by solo soprano. Big musical effects, profound ideas, and a splendid conclusion full of fervent optimism form one of music’s most uplifting experiences. Opening the program is an early sacred cantata by Bach that will showcase the extraordinary vocal technique of the ensemble Seraphic Fire. |
Benedict Music Tent | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $90 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |
A Recital by the Seraphic Fire Professional Choral Institute | 8/21 | 7:00 pm | Program to be announced. | Harris Concert Hall | 960 N 3rd St, Aspen, CO 81611 | $25 | For more information, contact the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042 or visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com. | www.aspenmusicfestival.com |