YOUR WEEKLY CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE
FESTIVAL FOCUS
Supplement to The Aspen Times
From the Top Returns to Aspen! NPR’s popular classical music program From the Top returns to the Aspen Music Festival and School for a live taping of the show Sunday, July 12, at 8 pm in Harris Concert Hall. Join show host and acclaimed pianist Christopher O’Riley as he shines a spotlight on exceptional AMFS students through an evening of performance and conversation. Don’t miss this exciting event, which will be taped live and later broadcast on 250 stations nationwide to an audience of more than 700,000 listeners!
Monday, July 6, 2015
Vol 26, No. 2
Pianist Yundi presents power-packed program his presence, there is a magic to his playing, and there is an ineffable atTickets to his shows sell out in seconds, mosphere around him. He’s just a suthousands of fans scream his name, perstar,” says Asadour Santourian, vice and audiences wait in line for hours president for artistic administration and for his autograph. Is it a Justin Bieber artistic advisor of the AMFS. concert? No. It’s Yundi, China’s origiYundi began playing the piano at the nal superstar pianist. Born in Chongq- age of seven and continued his training ing, China, Li Yundi, at the Shenzhen Arts known around the School and Hochworld as just Yundi, schule for Music and skyrocketed into the Theatre Hannover. public stratosphere Since his legendwhen he won first ary performance at prize at the Chopin the Chopin CompetiInternational Piano tion, Yundi has had Competition. At the a movie made about age of 18, he was him, released nine the youngest, and CDs, received a Gold the first Chinese, Medal of Merit from artist to take home the Polish governthe first place troment for his conAsadour Santourian phy in the competitributions to Polish Vice President for Artistic Administration and Artistic Advisor of the AMFS tion’s history. culture, and has per“He has brilliant formed with some technique, he’s an of the world’s finest incredibly charismatic performer, and orchestras. “As an interpretive artist he he looks like a boy band star,” says As- is absolutely in the rarefied circle of the pen Music Festival and School (AMFS) few,” says Santourian. President and CEO Alan Fletcher. “It’s Although widely known for his experthe Elvis phenomenon.” Yundi makes tise with Chopin, Yundi has also been his Festival debut July 7 at the Bene- dedicated to expanding his repertoire. dict Music Tent, with a crowd-pleasing “With Chopin, he grabbed the world’s program of piano favorites, including attention,” says Santourian, “but as he CHEN MAN Beethoven’s “Appassionata” Sonata, Pianist Yundi will make his AMFS debut Tuesday, July 7, at among others. “There is a magic to See Yundi, Festival Focus page 3 the Benedict Music Tent. TORIE ROSS
Festival Focus writer
“There is a magic to his presence, there is a magic to his playing, and there is an ineffable atmosphere around him. He’s just a superstar.”
Alan Fletcher and Bill Morrison premiere pairing of music and film TORIE ROSS
Festival Focus writer
Travel, dreams, and an acknowledged masterpiece of Italian literature provided the inspiration for a musical work by Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) President and CEO Alan Fletcher that will receive its world premiere this coming Friday, July 10, with the Aspen Chamber Symphony, performed alone and accompanied by an original film by Bill Morrison (note 7:30 pm start time). When AMFS Music Director Robert Spano approached Fletcher about composing an orchestral piece for the 2015 AMFS season, Fletcher’s muse was clear: Italy. This would make the piece an ideal fit for the Festival’s 2015 theme, Dreams of Travel, which emphasizes works inspired by journey and far-away places, both real and imagined.
For Fletcher, inspiration came from his very real experiences of traveling throughout Italy, both alone and with friends, and one summer in particular spent just south of Florence. “Thinking about music [and travel], I immediately recollected a summer spent at a friend’s magnificent estate on the Via Chiantigiana,” he recalls. That summer Fletcher planned to spend his time composing, enjoying time with friends, and rereading Italo Calvino’s masterpiece, If on a winter’s night a traveler. However, early on in the trip, the group discovered that one of Fletcher’s travel companions was gravely ill. “The story of that summer turned out unexpectedly different from the way it began, and had been imagined,” Fletcher says. From that experience Fletcher found an immediate See Fletcher, Festival Focus page 3
LYNN GOLDSMITH
On a winter’s night a traveler, works by AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher and filmmaker Bill Morrison, will premiere July 10.
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Page 2 | Monday, July 6, 2015
FESTIVAL FOCUS: Your Weekly Classical Music Guide
Supplement to The Aspen Times
Violinist Hadelich excited to play Beethoven TORIE ROSS
Festival Focus writer
When violinist Augustin Hadelich takes the stage this Sunday for a performance with the Aspen Festival Orchestra at the Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS), he’ll be showcasing one of his most beloved pieces in his repertoire: Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D major. It’s a piece he refers to as “groundbreaking,” and one that he never tires of performing—even though it’s not without its challenges. “It’s a difficult piece to play, because the violin is so exposed and floats so much higher than the rest of the orchestra, but it’s also one of those works that as you keep playing and keep studying it, the more you grow to love it,” he says. Hadelich also notes the uniqueness of this piece, especially in comparison to some of Beethoven’s other popular works. “Many of Beethoven’s most famous pieces are very energetic and passionate, like he’s shaking his fist at destiny. This piece stands out as being one of the most serene pieces he ever wrote,” he notes. The piece holds so much emotional currency for Hadelich that he says its power surpasses his ability to describe it. “Often times music makes us feel so many things; then we try and put it in to words and nothing can convey those emotions as well as the music itself,” Hadelich says. Hadelich will perform in Aspen again on July 30 in a recital with pianist Joyce Yang. Yang and Hadelich met
almost a decade ago when they were both students at The Juilliard School and have been performing together for the last four years. “She has a very powerful intensity and stage presence when she performs. I really feed off of that when I’m on stage with her, [and] it’s very exciting,” says Hadelich. By the time Hadelich met Yang in school, he’d already been playing the violin for more than a decadeand all that dedication to his instrument wasn’t going unnoticed. In 2006, at the age of twenty-two, he won the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. Since then, the violinist has debuted with the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, released his first major orchestral CD, and has been the recipient of Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and a Borletti Buitono Trust Fellowship in the UK. But whether playing as a guest artist with an orchestra or in a recital with a long-time friend, Hadelich’s focus always remains on connecting his audiences to the pieces he plays. For this Sunday’s AFO concert, in particular, Hadelich says he wants the audience to have the same emotional connection to Beethoven’s concerto as he does, which often involves focusing all his energy on the piece and on the mastery of the composer and therefore transcending himself as an artist. “Augustin likes thematically engaging recitals,” says Asadour Santourian, vice president for artistic administration and artistic advisor of the AMFS. “He wants his
performance to challenge and engage his audience as much as it challenges and engages him.”
COURTESY OF AUGUSTIN HADELICH
Violinist Augustin Hadelich returns to the AMFS for two performances this season, July 12 and July 30.
Buy tickets now: (970) 925-9042 • www.aspenmusicfestival.com
Supplement to The Aspen Times
FESTIVAL FOCUS: Your Weekly Classical Music Guide
Yundi: Debuts Continued from Festival Focus page 1
has mastered other artists, he has continued to hold our focus.” His program for his Festival debut includes masterworks by several nineteenth-century Romantic artists. “He continues to probe his artistry, his repertoire. He is giving us a program that is indicative of an artist who is very aware of his audience and his talents,” says Santourian, “This program shows us he is an artist of substance and depth, while still providing the audience with popular, beloved works.” The pieces Yundi has chosen are not only popular, but require both technical mastery and artistic subtlety. Yundi’s expertise with Chopin will be on display with Chopin’s Nocturne in B-flat minor, Nocturne in E-flat major, and Andante spianato et Grande polonaise brillante, op. 22. After that is Beethoven’s “Appassionata” Sonata, one of the composer’s greatest and most technically challenging piano sonatas, Schumann’s Fantasy in C major, and a selection from Venezia e Napoli by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt, for whom Schumann’s Fantasy is dedicated. “There won’t be anyone sitting down at the end of this performance, I assure you,” laughs Santourian.
Aspen Music Festival and School Box Office Hours
Monday, July 6, 2015 | Page 3
AMFS Class of 2015 settles in for the summer
RYAN CUTLER/AMFS
Last Monday’s Convocation marked the start of summer for the 619 students of the AMFS’s 2015 class. This year’s students range in age from nine to thirty-four and represent forty-four states and thirty-eight countries.
Harris Concert Hall: 9 am through the intermission of the evening concert, daily. Wheeler Opera House: 9 am–5 pm daily.
New collaborations with music, art, science FLETCHER: Premiere Continued from Festival Focus page 1
TORIE ROSS
Festival Focus writer
The Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) launches two new collaborations this summer: a free concert series at the Aspen Art Museum and a four-part lecture series with the Aspen Science Center. The first of the two series, Music with a View, is a free weekly presentation of chamber music by AMFS artist-faculty and students on the Aspen Art Museum’s rooftop. Offered on Aspen’s only public rooftop space, the series begins Tuesday, July 7, and continues every Tuesday until the end of the Festival (note there will not be a performance Tuesday, July 28). Concerts are at 6 pm. Surrounded by intellectually stimulating modern art and some of Aspen’s most breathtaking scenery, the one-hour performances include the Finckel-Wu Han Chamber Music Studio students, piano performances, harp performances, new works from the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, string quartet performances, and a mixed repertoire program for classical guitar. Also starting in July is the four-lecture Science of Music series, presented in collaboration with the Aspen Science Center. Held each Thursday from July 23 to August 13 at 6 pm (note the July 23 lecture is at 4 pm), the lectures, given at the Chabad Jewish Community Center, cover topics ranging from the neuroscience of music to how one of the most popular instruments, the piano, actually functions. The first week’s lecture will be presented by AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher and Andrew Cohen, professor of physics at Boston University and one of the founders of the Aspen Center for Physics. The lecture, titled “Harmonics in Music and Science,” will discuss how waves work and how wave forms determine the tone color of different instruments, harmonics, acoustics, and more. In the second week, on July 30, Fletcher and violinists Robert McDuffie and Elizabeth Pitcairn explore the ongoing debate about whether modern violins can stand up to centuries-old Stradivarius and Guarneri instruments. The lecture allows participants to join the discussion as McDuffie plays his own Guarneri and
COURTESY OF ROBERT MCDUFFIE
Violinist Rober McDuffie will demonstrate various types of violins at a Science of Music lecture July 30.
Pitcairn’s famed “Red Mendelssohn” Stradivarius, which inspired the 1998 movie The Red Violin. Audiences’ ears, as well as their minds, will continue to be challenged as Dr. Robert Zatorre of the Montreal Neurological Institute joins Fletcher on August 6 to explore the relationship between music and human cognitive function. In the fourth and final lecture of the series, on August 13, Fletcher is joined by the Festival’s own head piano technician and master technician for renowned piano company Steinway and Sons, Peter Sumner, as they take apart a piano and look at how and why it sounds the way it does. Tickets to the four lectures are $10 each and can be purchased at the AMFS box office. Each of these collaborations allows audiences, no matter their knowledge of music, to explore a new way of understanding the art form. “Music achieves its purpose when the vector of composer-performer-listener is complete,” says Fletcher, whether that means a deeper understanding of the instruments and music through the science lecture series, or the development of a new way to appreciate music, such as atop an art museum.
connection with Calvino’s work, a book that takes its reader through twists and turns, through a myriad of stories and genres. “The stories never turn out remotely as expected, and, at a certain moment, one realizes that the real story is…something entirely apart from the stories themselves,” he says. From that life episode, which in some ways mirrored the literary journey found in Calvino’s novel, came the focus for Fletcher’s orchestral work, On a winter’s night a traveler. Fletcher’s piece mimics Calvino’s play on genres and structure. “There are Impressionistic bits, Expressionistic bits, some sort of deranged hip hop, a nocturne, a march. Each section has internal repeats so that the second time through there’s an attempt to create a longer line of melody navigating all the different genres,” says Fletcher, adding, “ultimately, as in the novel, it’s the connective tissue that turns out to be the real story.” The performance will also feature a corresponding film by critically acclaimed filmmaker Bill Morrison. Morrison, whose film The Great Flood was screened with an accompanying musical performance by Bill Frisell during the 2014 season, jumped at the chance to return to the AMFS. “After my experience with Aspen last year, it seemed like a great place to present music, and especially present film with music,” Morrison says. Morrison, who like Fletcher used Calvino’s treatment of literary form to shape his work, used some of his most cherished pieces of archival footage in his collection to complete the film. While both Fletcher’s and Morrison’s works stem from the heady influence of Calvino, they stand as individual, though complementary, pieces. Morrison, who takes some, but not all, cues for the order of his film from Fletcher also follows the idea of a recurring story arch, complemented by small, incomplete scraps of stories. “I am thrilled that Bill Morrison has joined the project,” notes Fletcher, as the two prepare to debut their collaboration on the AMFS stage.