2015 Festival Focus Week 4

YOUR WEEKLY CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE

FESTIVAL FOCUS

Supplement to The Aspen Times

Science and Music Lectures Begin This Week The Aspen Music Festival and School begins its new collaboration with the Aspen Science Center this Thursday, 4 pm, at the Chabad Jewish Community Center. Cost is $10 per lecture.

The first of the four “Science of Music” lectures centers on “Harmonics in Music and Science.” Join AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher along with Andrew Cohen, professor of physics at Boston University and former president of the Aspen Center for Physics, as they discuss wave forms, harmonics, acoustics, and more.

The other lectures in the series are: •”Evaluating Musical Instruments” July 30, 6 pm •”Neuroscience of Music” August 6, 6 pm •”Pianos: How They Work” August 13, 6 pm

Monday, July 20, 2015

Vol 26, No. 4

Italian tenor Grigòlo sings with passion, power Aspen audiences will get a chance to experience Grigòlo’s gifts for themWhen Italian tenor Vittorio Grigòlo selves in a recital at the Benedict Music was scheduled to debut at the Metropol- Tent on July 23 at 6 pm, presented by itan Opera in 2010, The New York Times the Aspen Music Festival and School called him “the Great Tenor Hope.” Of (AMFS). his spectacular debut at Covent GarOne of the world’s most discerning den shortly before, the writer gushed, opera patrons, Mrs. Mercedes T. Bass, “Commanding, conalso a generous supfident…he sounded porter of the AMFS, very much like the has made it possible robust lyric tenor… for Grigòlo to come that the world was to Aspen and for waiting for.” tickets to be at an There are reasons affordable $25 ($65 the opera world was for premium seats). and is on fire about A long-time friend this young talent. of Grigòlo, Mrs. Bass Besides his smolderexplains that she ing good looks and “first met Vittorio sogift-from-god voice, cially.” She rememGrigòlo has the critibers at the time she cal third ingredient didn’t know what to needed in opera: the expect of him as a dramatic touch. At performer, but she Mrs. Mercedes T. Bass the end of a 2014 says, “once I saw solo recital at the him on the stage, I Metropolitan Opera, was dazzled not only where he sold out the 4,000-seat audi- by his voice, but also by his acting, and torium, he addressed the raving audi- by his beautiful interpretations.” She ence by “sinking to one knee while ac- notes, “He has all the qualities it takes knowledging the applause, then tossing to be a great star.” his handkerchief into the audience.”

AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletch“I’m crying inside,” he said from the er recognized that in Grigòlo as well stage. “I am trying to give you all of my See Grigòlo, Festival Focus page 3 heart” (The New York Times).

LAURA E. SMITH and TORIE ROSS Festival Focus writers

“Once I saw him on the stage, I was dazzled by his voice, and by his acting, and by his beautiful interpetations. He has all the qualities it takes to be a star.”

CORRADO MARIA FALSINI

At the age of twenty-three, Grigòlo became the youngest tenor in history to perform at La Scala in Milan.

Pianist John O’Conor performs all-Beethoven recital TORIE ROSS

Festival Focus writer

When Irish pianist John O’Conor prepares to perform a new piece, he doesn’t just practice the notes—he also dives into the life of the composer. “While I’m in rehearsal mode I read a lot, not only about the composer, but about the history of the period he lived in and what he was likely to come across as he walked out the front door,” says O’Conor. “I read about the political climate of the time, about what wars may have been going on, and whether or not the composers would have been comfortable or uncomfortable about their place in the world. When you understand them as people and as more than just their music, you realize that playing Mozart is completely different than playing Beethoven, even though they both lived in Vienna within fifty years of one another.”

O’Conor will put the fruits of his research on display when he performs an all-Beethoven recital at the Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) this Thursday, July 23. His performance will include the composer’s Piano Sonata No. 5 in C minor, Six Bagatelles, and 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli.

“This program isn’t your average all-Beethoven program,” says Asadour Santourian, vice president of artistic administration and artistic advisor for the AMFS. “It really presents a rainbow of obstacles for a pianist to overcome.” Santourian adds that, to him, O’Conor’s name has become synonymous with Beethoven. The connection should come as no surprise, since O’Conor’s relationship with Beethoven has spanned almost the entirety of his career. As a student and early professionSee O’Conor, Festival Focus page 3

COURTESY OF JOHN O’CONOR

AMFS guest artist John O’Conor will instruct a piano master class the morning of his recital on July 23 in Harris Concert Hall.

Buy tickets now! (970) 925-9042 or www.aspenmusicfestival.com

Page 2 | Monday, July 20, 2015

FESTIVAL FOCUS: Your Weekly Classical Music Guide

Supplement to The Aspen Times

The Vijay Iyer Trio brings its eclectic jazz Torie Ross Festival Focus writer

When pianist Vijay Iyer, drummer Marcus Gilmore, and bass guitarist Stephan Crump perform at the Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) on July 27, they will bring with them a repertoire they’ve amassed over more than a decade of playing together, a repertoire that includes everything from John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk to M.I.A and original pieces Iyer has composed himself.

The group, known as the Vijay Iyer Trio, performs across a spectrum of genres, although they are highly rooted in the improvisational nature of the jazz tradition. “Every time we perform, we’re improvising the set list and making it authentic to the time and the place that we’re in. We pay attention to the venue and listen to the audience, so each performance, even if we’re playing the same piece, will be a little different,” says Iyer.

To call the trio’s leader and namesake a man of many trades would be an understatement. A composer, a performer, an academic, a writer, and

a teacher, Iyer wholly embodies the word “polymath.”

During his career Iyer has received an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in the cognitive science of music from the University of California, Berkeley, has been published in Wire, JazzTimes, and the Journal of Consciousness Studies, has taught at the Manhattan School of Music, Harvard, and New York University, has been a recipient of the MacArthur “Genius Grant,” and has produced and collaborated on more than a dozen critically acclaimed albums.

“To say he is a jazz musician is to restrict him,” says Asadour Santourian, vice president of artistic administration and artistic advisor of the AMFS. “He transcends pigeonholing, he transcends being cornered, he is just a beautifully well-rounded musician.”

The Vijay Iyer Trio has also received great acclaim. The Trio’s album Historicity, produced in 2009, was named “Jazz Album of the Year” by The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune, among others, while its 2012 album, Accelerando, was given the distinction

by NPR and the Los Angeles Times.

COURTESY OF VIJAY IYER TRIO

The Vijay Iyer Trio performs next Monday, July 27, at Harris Concert Hall.

Although the Trio’s special event next Monday will be the first time Aspen audiences see Iyer perform in person, they may recognize his name as the composer behind the “Bridgetower Fantasy,” which Shai Wosner and Jennifer Koh performed as part of their “Bridge to Beethoven” recital at the Festival earlier in the season.

“I am so thrilled to invite Vijay Iyer to

Aspen and that we have the opportunity to work with him in these different capacities,” says Santourian.

“People who know him, or at least know of him, know what a great mind and what a great musician he is. His musicianship appeals not only to his colleagues across a wide range of genres and disciplines, but also to audiences.”

Buy tickets now: (970) 925-9042 • www.aspenmusicfestival.com

Supplement to The Aspen Times

FESTIVAL FOCUS: Your Weekly Classical Music Guide

Monday, July 20, 2015 | Page 3

GRIGÒLO: Singer presents recital of Italian favorites Continued from Festival Focus page 1

and made room in the busy AMFS summer schedule to add him in. “He has the classic big Italian tenor sound,” says Fletcher. “He’s rising fast and we’re proud to give Aspen audiences a chance to hear him.”

Asadour Santourian, vice president for artistic administration and artistic advisor for the AMFS, explains that it is Grigòlo’s ability to engage the audience that struck him immediately. “What makes him stupendous is his ability to break through the proscenium and look his audience in the eye,” Santourian says. “When he sings, he is so warm and welcoming that you feel as though you have entered into his heart.”

All agree that it is Grigòlo’s total command of a performance space and everything in it that makes him so compelling as a performer. “As a person, he is very playful and very lighthearted,” says Mrs. Bass, “and you can’t imagine that this young man could get on the stage of The Metropolitan Opera and control the entire cast. But he does. He takes over the stage with such a magnitude with his brilliant acting and beautiful voice that you can’t take your eyes off of him.”

Born in Arezzo, Tuscany, Grigòlo first began exploring his passion for music at the age of four and a few years

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later became a soloist in the Sistine Chapel choir. Now thirty eight, the artist continued his rapid ascent to stardom when he became the youngest tenor in history to perform at La Scala in Milan at the age of twenty-three.

Since then he has become in demand at the world’s leading opera houses, including the Royal Opera House in London and the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

When he performs his AMFS debut on Thursday, he will present a selection of operatic arias, art songs, and favorites by both beloved and lesser-known Italian artists, from Verdi and Bellini to Tosti and Gastaldon. While Verdi and Bellini are mostly known for their operas, Gastaldon is known primarily for his salon songs written for solo voice and piano.

In all, Grigòlo will showcase in his recital the works of nine different Italian composers. “It’s not going to be the traditional song recital I can assure you,” says Santourian.

Audiences at the tenor’s recital can expect an evening full of vocal mastery and charismatic artistry.

“My dream is for the audience at this performance to not only fall in love with Vittorio, but to fall in love with the art form of opera,” says Mrs. Bass.

ALEX D. JAMES

Tenor Vittorio Grigòlo will make his AMFS debut with a recital of Italian opera arias, art songs, and favorites.

Harris Concert Hall: 9 am through the intermission of the evening concert, daily.

Wheeler Opera House: 9 am–5 pm daily.

Student Zlatomir Fung returns for new experience O’CONOR: Beethoven TORIE ROSS

Festival Focus writer

For sixteen-year-old cellist and returning Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) student Zlatomir Fung, his life-long love affair with his instrument started as a relationship of convenience.

“My parents had me start playing the cello when I was three. They decided on the cello because my sister was already playing the violin and they didn’t want us both on the same instrument,” jokes Fung.

However, considering Fung’s early success with the instrument it seems as though his parents, both mathematicians, made a good choice.

The high-school student has achieved a great deal so far in his studies, taking home the gold in several internationally recognized competitions, performing solo in front of international audiences in Portugal, and working with some of the most renowned cello instructors.

Fung adds that although he loves playing other instruments, especially the piano, the cello has always stood out to him for its blending of violin-like vocal qualities and rich, low bass.

The teenager, who will be spending his second summer in Aspen, this year as a fellow on a Susan and Ford Schumann Scholarship, says he chose to return to the AMFS to experience a new side of his instrument and to work with some familiar faces.

This year, in addition to spending several weeks playing with the Finckel-Wu Han Chamber Music Studio, Fung will be playing in the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble. “Being the only cellist with ACE, learning the music can be complicated, especially since the composers love to use such interesting techniques, but that’s why I love it,” explains Fung.

To guide him, the young musician will be working with fellow cellist, and his long-time teacher, Richard Aaron.

Fung works with AMFS artist-faculty Aaron regularly during the year, however, because

Aaron resides in Michigan, Fung, a native of Westborough, Massachusetts, usually has to work with his teacher over Skype. “It’s really great to be able to come here for eight weeks and have the opportunity to work together in person, which is something we wouldn’t otherwise be able to do,” says Fung.

In addition to exploring his musicality this summer, Fung says he’s also looking forward to exploring what the town of Aspen has to offer. “I really want to try out all the different restaurants this summer,” Fung says, “I only got to go to a couple last year. And who knows, maybe I’ll be able to work in a hike or two.”

ALEX IRVIN/AMFS

Student Zlatomir Fung returns to the AMFS for his second summer to play in the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble.

Continued from Festival Focus page 1

al, O’Conor studied Beethoven’s music with Wilhelm Kempff, the German musician made famous by his Beethoven interpretations, won first prize in Vienna’s 1973 International Beethoven Piano Competition, and his recording of Beethoven’s Sonatas was described as “Beethoven playing at its best” (CD Review).

All these successes almost didn’t happen; when O’Conor was younger, becoming a professional musician seemed an impossible dream. “My parents were completely against me taking up music as a profession,” the pianist says. “We had a lot of arguments, but in the end, I won.” Shortly after, O’Conor began studying at Dublin’s College of Music. O’Conor had a similar reaction as his parents when his oldest son Hugh told him he wanted to be an actor. Just like his father, Hugh, who is now a professional actor, won out in the end.

Today, O’Conor is spreading his inquisitive nature to the next generation of musicians. “Teaching to me is fascinating. When you point something out to a student, it’s like opening a door for them to go through and explore the joy and wonder of music,” O’Conor says.

The pianist teaches all over the world, from the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin, to the Shenandoah Conservatory in Virginia, to Showa University in Japan, helping students hone their love of music.

When he arrives in Aspen, O’Conor will bring not only his illustrious talents as a performer, but also his talents as a teacher. O’Conor will give a Piano Master Class the morning of his recital at 10 am in Harris Concert Hall. Audiences will be able to watch and follow along as O’Conor instructs some of the AMFS’s most exceptional students on the nuances of great music-making.

O’Conor’s lifelong love of learning, and of teaching, is easily seen in his performance style. “He doesn’t draw your attention to his virtuosity, he draws your attention to the intellectual collateral of the music he is playing,” says Santourian. “That makes him singularly brilliant as a pianist.”