FESTIVALFOCUS YOUR WEEKLY CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE
SUPPLEMENT TO THE ASPEN TIMES
MONDAY, JULY 25, 2016
VOL 27, NO. 6
‘A Wedding’ opens at the Wheeler this week
August 1 Season Benefit: A Feast of Music
had remarkable success and has written terrific pieces,” Berkeley says. “And The Aspen Opera Center’s (AOC) sec- this one seemed a good one to perform ond production of the season opens this because it’s a social comedy, and very week with William Bolcom’s comic opera funny.” A Wedding, a piece that premiered at Santourian agrees. “All the foils and ills Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2004. The op- and happiness and dysfunction that visera is based on Robert Altman’s 1978 satir- its on families are out there for all of us in ical film of the same the audience to see, name, and Altman and it’s masterfully “In terms of American himself is one of the handled.” work's librettists. The story takes contemporary opera, Conducted by Scott place in suburban William Bolcom is Terrell and directed Chicago in the late by David Schweizer, 1970s, just after the someone who’s had A Wedding will be nuptials of a man and presented July 28 woman from two very remarkable success and 30. different families. Foland has written This is a particulowing the ceremony, larly special opera the familial clashing of terrific pieces.” to perform in Aspen: old and new money “It’s a highly original exposes the secrets Edward Berkeley work from an Aspen of everyone in this Aspen Opera Center Director Music Festival and comedy of manners. School (AMFS) alumIn addition to its nus, William Bolcom,” says Asadour San- laughs, A Wedding is known for Boltourian, AMFS vice president for artistic com’s accessible, modern score that inadministration and artistic advisor. cludes references to country, rockabilly, Aspen Opera Center Director Edward and 1950s-style music. “He is true to this Berkeley says the AOC chose A Wedding idiom he has created for himself—an as part of its season because the opera is amalgam of Americana,” Santourian says. a hilarious comedy—and because it is by “It’s an incredible swirl, and this opera is a the highly respected, Pulitzer Prize-win- quintessential example of that.” ning Bolcom. Berkeley says with newer works like A “In terms of American contemporary opera, William Bolcom is someone who’s See A Wedding, Festival Focus page 3 SARAH A. MCCARTY
Festival Focus Writer
Allow the world's premier summer music festival to fill your dance card on August 1 at its annual Season Benefit. AMFS stars, including Jeremy Denk and acclaimed tango artist Héctor del Curto, will perform six selections inspired by the magic of dance, all expertly paired with six courses of gourmet food and wine to delight your taste buds. The evening honors longtime donors Steinway & Sons and its owner, John Paulson. The event is on Monday, August 1, at the Hotel Jerome. Welcome cocktails and a silent auction begin at 6 pm, and dinner and performances begin at 7 pm. Tickets are $2,000. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Jenny McDonough at 970-205-5063 or jmcdonough@aspenmusic. org.
PHILIP BRUNNADER
A Wedding composer William Bolcom has created a musically rich comic opera that opens at the Wheeler Opera House this week.
Brilliant pianist Jeremy Denk returns to play two recitals CHRIS MOHR AND KAREN MOHR
Festival Focus Writers
Pianist Jeremy Denk, who won a MacArthur "Genius Grant" in 2013, has been hailed by The New York Times for "his penetrating intellectual engagement with the music." That intellectual engagement is one of the most striking traits that sets him apart from other piano masters. It doesn't take long in a conversation about music for him to begin drawing connections to history, literature, and other art forms. Music isn't just music to Denk; it's one piece of an all-encompassing cultural puzzle that he delights in putting together. “Music tries to borrow some of the great qualities of language, and language tries to
borrow some of the great qualities of music," Denk muses. "They are often collaborators. They aren’t enemies. Beethoven has such a narrative ethos, it sounds like a novel constructed of notes. And I often talk to my audience, especially when I’m doing something crazy, to give them a warning.” For a musician, Denk spends a lot of time with words. He is an opera librettist (for Steven Stucky’s The Classical Style, performed in Aspen last summer), a magazine writer (for The New Yorker and other publications), a book author, a world-renowned blogger (ThinkDenk), and an allaround master of the English language. His musical life includes frequent tours with
Joshua Bell, a four-season tenure as artistic partner with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, performances of Bach concertos with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields (both in London and on a U.S. tour), directing the Ojai Music Festival, Billboard number one status for his recording of the Bach Goldberg Variations, and much more. As a child, Denk and his father visited Aspen for many summers, where the musical-intellectual culture affected him deeply. He also was a student at the Aspen Music Festival and School. He says, "There’s something very nostalgic about See Denk, Festival Focus page 3
JOHN D. AND CATHERINE T. MACARTHUR FOUNDATION
Pianist Jeremy Denk performs two recitals this week— one with violinist Stefan Jackiw and one solo recital.
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MONDAY, JULY 25, 2016
FESTIVALFOCUS | YOUR WEEKLY CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE
Supplement to The Aspen Times
Two tango concerts invite Aspen audiences to dance PAIGE COOPERSTEIN
Festival Focus Writer
When violinist Sarah Chang visited Buenos Aires three years ago, she remembers descending into a humid, gritty cellar. “You think it’s a dungeon and find out it’s a tango paradise,” says Chang. She took the trip as part of a special for CNN and was tasked with playing with the Orquesta Típica Andariega among other tango ensembles. “They were laughing at me because I took things so literally,” she says. “At Juilliard, that’s what they focus on: being as precise as possible. Tango means you always have to be on your toes. You throw away the score, and you literally just play off each other.” Tango and classical come together in Astor Piazzolla, an Argentine composer who grew up in New York City and is credited with creating "new tango." Two musicians at the Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) this week will perform Piazzolla’s works in two separate concert events. “Piazzolla is one of those great figures—I would compare him to Duke Ellington—coming out of a more popular tradition of music, but then really bringing it in contact with the whole of the classical tradition,” says AMFS
CLIFF WATTS
SERGIO R. REYES
Violinist Sarah Chang will perform tango music on Thursday at a special event, Viva Piazzolla!
Héctor del Curto will perform tonight with his quintet and will join Sarah Chang on Thursday.
President and CEO Alan Fletcher. “So it’s music that is at home in the concert hall and is also at home in the super-late-night dance houses for which Buenos Aires is famous.” The tango starts off this week with acclaimed bandoneón player Héctor del Curto, who will present “Eternal Tango” tonight with his quintet. The program includes many works by Piazzolla. On Thursday, del Curto will play a ban-
doneón concerto, followed by Chang’s performance of Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, a nod to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Asadour Santourian, AMFS vice president for artistic administration and artistic advisor, says he expects the audience will get a chuckle out of the ways in which Piazzolla’s Four Seasons forges its own path from Vivaldi. “With Piazzolla, even if it’s winter, there’s
sunshine in the music,” he says. “I think it’s more like ‘my part of the world’s Four Seasons,’ is what Piazzolla is saying.” Santourian adds that del Curto and Chang are the perfect conduits for Piazzolla. He endorses del Curto’s philosophy that, in tango, conveying passion and personality through the music is more important than playing every note perfectly, and he notes that Chang has a full spirit and flourish in her playing that suits the dance elements of tango. For a classical audience that may be new to tango, del Curto describes the bandoneón as an instrument that has a thrilling character that matches that of the genre. “It’s a crazy instrument because it has no logic in the keyboard,” he says. “All the buttons are mixed, so you have to learn to kind of decode the instrument.” Chang says the bandoneón serves as the fearless leader in tango, and musicians like her revel in the fun challenge of keeping up. “The bandoneón is everything in tango,” she says. “The player will start playing extra trills, extra arpeggios, and we’ll all have to play off that. You do need to keep your eyes open 100 percent of the time and your ears alert. It’s a completely different way of listening.”
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Supplement to The Aspen Times
FESTIVALFOCUS | YOUR WEEKLY CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE
MONDAY, JULY 25, 2016 3
A WEDDING: New opera, new opportunity for singers Continued from Festival Focus page 1
Wedding, the young artist singers of the AOC have a unique learning experience. “It’s interesting how much education singers get out of working on the roles that are not as well-known,” he says. “It’s great to learn the standards of the repertoire, but it’s also great to have to discover music when there aren’t many models for how it can be done. The singers have to shape the characters and the music for themselves, from right off the page. It challenges the singers to come up with their own way of creating that character.” Tenor and AMFS student Landon Shaw II, who returns to Aspen this season to perform the role of Dino, the groom in A Wedding, enjoys taking on that challenge. “There are no recordings, which I personally love. As a singer, it’s easy to listen to other singers and end up— whether on purpose or accidentally—taking stylistic things from all them. That’s the beauty of having hundreds of years of singing [the same role]. But this is fresh and brand new, and it’s cool creating something from scratch,” he says. The roles in A Wedding also offer the young talents of the AOC an opportunity to further hone their acting skills, in ad-
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL BOX OFFICE HOURS
dition to expanding their operatic repertoire. “Bolcom has both an innate and conscious ability as a composer to write for the human voice,” Santourian says. “The roles and the parts are eminently singable, and it’s a brilliant piece because there is plenty of opportunity for acting skills to be fine tuned. To be funny, it’s all about timing.” Another reason why A Wedding was selected for this season is that it’s a large ensemble piece. With a bride, a groom, and all of their relatives as characters, the opera has more than a dozen solo roles. “There’s no one star,” Santourian says. “Everyone is a star because everybody has to step up and be an ensemble player. It’s a teamwork opera.” Shaw is happy to be part of the team and hopes the audience enjoys the AOC production. “It’s goofy, bizarre humor that I think is going to be super fun,” he says. The Aspen Opera Center production of William Bolcom’s A Wedding runs July 28 and 30 at the Wheeler Opera House. Tickets are $35 or $25 for obstructed view seats. Both performances are open to AMFS passholders.
COURTESY PHOTO
AMFS opera student Landon Shaw II plays Dino in William Bolcom’s comedy A Wedding, which runs Thursday and Saturday.
Harris Concert Hall: 9 am through the intermission of the evening concert, daily. Wheeler Opera House: 9 am–5 pm daily.
AMFS serves local kids and families DENK: Drawing connections The point of these programs, Hone Wiltgen says, is to nurture a love of music in local kids and families. Sometimes, though, The Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) is known for musicians who come up in the AMFS’s education and comits unmatched summer music festival and world-renowned munity programs end up taking their craft to the next level. training ground for promising up-and-coming musicians, That’s certainly true of Julia Foran, a seventeen-year-old but it’s also increasingly becoming known as a year-round violist who is attending the AMFS this summer for the first resource for local children. time as a student and who recently transferred from Aspen “Local kids and families have become a much bigger fo- High School to the Denver School of the Arts. She's been cus here,” says Katie Hone Wiltgen, the AMFS’s director of accepted to the University of Michigan School of Music, education and community programming. “Making connec- Theatre & Dance, and she'll start as a freshman this fall. tions with local kids and local families Foran grew up in Aspen and got the is healthy for the kids and their own itch to pick up the violin after seeing “Our mission is all musical experiences.” AMFS alumna Sarah Chang perform at about the future of According to AMFS President and one of the AMFS’s Sunday concerts. CEO Alan Fletcher, there’s very good She started studying the Suzuki method this art form, so if the reason to emphasize these education with a local teacher at eight years old, and community programs. and a couple years later she signed up number one indicator “There’s excellent research that a for P.A.L.S., an AMFS program that offers of a future audience decisive factor in whether an adult is locals focused lessons during the sumgoing to have a deep interest in clasmer with AMFS fellowship students. member is that they sical music is the link to whether they “I had no idea what I was doing,” says studied an instrument or sang as a Foran, who has since switched focus to studied, why wouldn’t child,” Fletcher says. “Economic facviola. “I was just so comfortable with we want to steward that Suzuki and simple playing, and I didn’t tors are much less decisive, and locality is much less decisive. The real really realize that there was more than ourselves?” tell is, did you have the experience of that. But these students I was taking leslearning an instrument? Our mission is sons from in the P.A.L.S. Program, they Alan Fletcher all about the future of this art form, so pushed me.” AMFS President and CEO if the number one indicator of a future Now, Foran is an AMFS student heraudience member is that they studied, self, and she says her time in P.A.L.S., as why wouldn’t we want to steward that ourselves?” well as the Maroon Bel Canto Children's Chorus, helped soThe AMFS serves the community during the school year lidify her early love of music and performance. with its AfterWorks series, which offers Beginning Strings, Patti Braceland, a local mom whose eight-year-old son Lead Guitar, and Maroon Bel Canto Children’s Chorus Willy is in his second year studying violin through P.A.L.S. (MBCCC) programs at local schools. And then there are in the summer and Beginning Strings during the school year, the myriad of education and community programs specific says the opportunities presented by the AMFS have alto summer, including Family Concerts, Tunes and Tales at lowed her son’s passion for music to grow. local libraries, Sing Play Move for infants through preschool“He loves music,” Braceland says. “And I see what learners, the P.A.L.S. (Passes and Lessons Scholarship) Program, a ing violin has brought to him. He’s learning that if he listens chorus camp, and more. and practices the basics, he can do anything.” JESSICA CABE
Festival Focus Writer
Continued from Festival Focus page 1 being here. I studied here one summer and had some lifechanging experiences. The audience in Aspen is supereducated, with a wide range of interests, people who are interested in semi-challenging repertoire." On Thursday, July 28, Jeremy Denk and violinist Stefan Jackiw will perform all four of the Ives violin sonatas, interspersed with some of the original hymns and tunes Ives borrowed for them. “There’s something about Ives’s harmonies, difficult at first, and then they become beautiful," Denk says. "The music is about Ives rediscovering his whole childhood, his past. All those chorales, marches, and bands—the way music was a communal experience, a catharsis of people singing hymns together. It’s about memory and the tenderness we feel toward music. And after all his complexity, he has really great epiphanies and hard-won revelation. He was also one of the great satirists and humorists. Beethoven also loved to cross-cut between the sublime and the ridiculous. Ives got that from Beethoven. They both laugh at the way we take classical music too seriously.” Denk’s recording of Ives's piano sonatas is on many critics’ favorites-of-the-year lists. On Saturday, July 30, Denk’s ambitious solo recital, which features the program critics raved about when he performed it at Carnegie Hall earlier this year, combines Baroque and Classical masterpieces (Bach, Schubert) with all-American styles like ragtime and jazz (AMFS alumnus William Bolcom, Hayden/Joplin). It flies in the face of traditional programming, but that should surprise no one; Denk has an unmatched talent for storytelling and drawing connections with his selection of works— connections few other artists could communicate so compellingly. Denk once said, “I really get intense pleasure out of drawing connections between pieces and poems and literature and ideas.” And Aspen audiences will have a chance to share in that joy twice this week.