ANNUAL REPORT 2018 FISCAL YEAR October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018
ROBERT SPANO Music Director ALAN FLETCHER President and CEO
“When we invest in the future of music, we invest in the future of humanity.” - R OBERT SPANO
COVER Angela Fiorini, 2018 French horn student, at the Maroon Bells in Aspen. OPPOSITE AMFS brass students busk in downtown Aspen. ABOVE AMFS student Cathryn Gaylord plays her bassoon while Sing Play Move instructor Kate Klotz encourages a participant to “feel� the music. PHOTOS Elle Logan, Grittani Creative, Aubree Dallas, Alex Irvin
4 Letter from the Board Chair 5 Letter from the President and CEO 6 Artistic Highlights 16 Student Experience 2 0 Education and Community Programming 2 4 Benefits 2 6 Salon 27 Where Dreams Begin Campaign 30 Media and Broadcasts 33 Board of Trustees 34 Artist-Faculty 3 6 Family of Supporters 48 Financial Overview
The Aspen Music Festival and School’s 2018 season was another marked by artistic excellence. On our stages and in our rehearsal halls, the AMFS achieved success both artistically and financially. From our partnerships with Walt Disney Animation Studios, Seraphic Fire, and the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet—among countless others—to the inaugural year of the American Brass Quintet Seminar @Aspen, we renewed our commitment to the principles of innovation, institutional growth, and collaboration. More than 680 of the world’s most promising studentmusicians vigorously pursued their studies under the watchful eyes and ears of our peerless artist-faculty and guest artists. Thanks to over 1,000 individual contributors and support from local businesses, national foundations, and government agencies, more than 75 percent of these students received scholarship and fellowship assistance. And with the growth of AMFS’s endowed scholarship funds, we hope to secure these experiences for countless generations of students to come. The summer was also notable for our resilience and a sense of shared community given the Lake Christine Fire, which burned nearly 13,000 acres just downvalley from Aspen during the month of July. The situation presented significant challenges, yet the AMFS rose to face the adversity with grace, including offering free musical performances to evacuees and first responders.
Our Education and Community programming, which is designed to cultivate the next generation of classical music enthusiasts, continued to mature. More than 650 local students are currently enrolled in our AfterWorks programs, learning to play stringed instruments or singing in one of our two children’s choruses, while our summer Festival for Kids attracted over 1,000 young people and family members. I was honored to assume the role of chair of the Board of Trustees this summer, taking the reins from the incomparable Bob Hurst. He has provided extraordinary leadership for which the institution will forever owe a debt of gratitude. The Board welcomed five returning members this year: Richard Felder, Mary Giese, Linda Vitti Herbst, Dana Powell, and Caryn Scheidt. Together, the AMFS looks forward to bringing our audiences another dynamic season of music and artistry. On behalf of the Aspen Music Festival and School, thank you all for your support of our shared mission and work.
Michael Klein Chair, Board of Trustees
Last June, I stood at the podium at the 2018 Season Convocation, looked out at our 650-plus music students, and asked something of them. I asked them to think deeply about their lives in music—and about why their work as a musician is important. In my remarks, I proposed that artists play a crucial role in our society, and part of that role is in being truth-tellers. The essence of our work in music is in uncovering one’s own honest—often searingly honest— interpretation. In a culture where truth and facts are now so debased, we need that honesty even more than ever. It was with this on my mind that the 2018 summer season began. Throughout the summer, I watched truth unfold through music. Time after time, I watched our student and professional musicians have the courage to open themselves to one another in the rehearsal hall, or to an audience from the stage. Our artist-faculty veritably embodied this tender virtue, imparting it every day in both their performances and teaching. One example was in the new American Brass Quintet Seminar @Aspen where our longtime brass faculty gave fully of themselves to mentor four student brass ensembles with an intense schedule of musical, professional, and personal growth experiences. Another example was the concert in which artist-faculty member Andrew Bain, rising from his seat as principal horn in the Aspen Chamber Symphony, performed with alumnus tenor Benjamin Bliss in Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings—a spectacularly exposed and challenging work for both solo artists.
Our visiting alumni and guest artists showed an equal willingness to step up, whether it was Alisa Weilerstein’s three-hour solo exploration of Bach, or Midori reprising Bernstein’s Serenade, a musical work that played a defining role in her life, or Daniil Trifonov sharing another side of himself as he performed his own composition. The summer also included moments of sheer fun. A collaboration with Disney on a new film-andmusic compilation filled the Music Tent with giddy concertgoers, many sitting in the Tent for the very first time. A sassy Figaro, student baritone Juan Carlos Heredia (of Cuauhtémoc Chihuahua, Mexico, and Los Angeles), enchanted audiences at The Barber of Seville—a star in the making. And not least, our audiences showed up to bear witness to these revelations, and to be delighted and enriched by them. For without our patrons, there would be no partners in this most human dialogue that is living art. It is only all together that we create such an important and truth-telling journey in Aspen each summer. My heartfelt thanks to each and every one who showed up and played a part. I hope this report in your hands recalls some of the joy we shared and reminds you that it is beautiful—but also critical—work we do together.
Alan Fletcher President and CEO
ARTISTIC HIGHLIGHTS
The 2018 summer of music in Aspen was delivered with a beguiling French flair, given the season theme, “Paris, City of Light.” Native French composers, as well as Francophiles, made many appearances—Debussy, Ravel, Ibert, Boulez, Offenbach, Canteloube, and more. Nicholas McGegan’s beloved annual Baroque night offered lesserknown French Baroque works, delighting regulars with the twist. The season closed with Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, combining sophistication with passion in this kaleidoscopic work. The season comprised much more. There were fresh, large-scale collaborations with Walt Disney Animation Studios and Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, increased choral and brass programming thanks to new training programs with Seraphic Fire and the American Brass Quintet, a celebration of Leonard Bernstein, Beethoven and Bach cycles, world premieres, modern masterpieces like Ligeti’s Violin Concerto, et beaucoup plus.
OPPOSITE Violinist and alumnus Gil Shaham and Music Director Robert Spano piano presented a recital to a sold-out crowd at Harris Concert Hall on August 4. TOP Aspen Opera Center alumna Golda Schultz sang songs by Canteloube and Mozart with the Aspen Chamber Symphony conducted by Vasily Petrenko on July 27. BOTTOM Russian pianist and composer Daniil Trifonov dazzled audiences with a performance of his own Piano Concerto in E-flat minor in the Benedict Music Tent on July 15.
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DAZZLING NIGHTS • The AMFS and Walt Disney Animation Studios collaborated to present the July 30 world premiere of a compilation of the Studios’ hit movies from the past ten years. The film-with-live-orchestra featured clips and music from Frozen, Moana, Big Hero 6, Tangled, and Zootopia. Artist-faculty member and AMFS alumnus David Halen led an orchestra of enthusiastic AMFS students, who enjoyed playing the soundtracks many of them listened to while growing up. The Benedict Music Tent was packed for the evening, with many families and concert-goers there for the very first time. • On August 10 and 11, the AMFS and Aspen Santa Fe Ballet presented evenings of dance and live piano performance with AMFS alumna Joyce Yang. Yang and noted Finnish choreographer Jorma Elo worked closely together on a new work, Half/Cut/Split, set to Schumann’s Carnaval. Also on the program were Jiří Kylián’s seminal Return to a Strange Land set to the music of Leos Janáček, and Nicolo Fonte’s touching Where We Left Off with music by Philip Glass. The innovative program featured Yang performing on stage with the dancers.
TOP Pianist Joyce Yang with an Aspen Santa Fe Ballet dancer. BOTTOM/OPPOSITE Disney fans of all ages—among them the AMFS students who performed the soundtrack live—were enchanted by Walt Disney Animation Studios: “A Decade in Concert” on July 30.
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25TH ANNIVERSARY OF HARRIS CONCERT HALL On July 28, violinist and alumnus Robert McDuffie presented a recital commemorating an auspicious anniversary for the Joan and Irving Harris Concert Hall. Ms. Harris herself was in attendance, along with many other AMFS luminaries. It was in 1993 that the Aspen Music Festival and School debuted the 500-seat concert hall, and it literally and figuratively changed Aspen’s musical landscape. The Hall’s extraordinary quality gave artists and audiences an opportunity to share intimate recital experiences. “Having a year-round chamber music venue of this type and quality has transformed what we can present,” says AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher. “The Hall beautifully supports what we put in it, from the most gossamer solo repertoire to our annual brass quintet recital—combinations of instruments and repertoire that just would not work, even in our acoustically successful Music Tent.”
“When I hear my students play here, I really have a sense of who they are at this moment and what their potential is.” — N ADINE ASIN FLUTE Artist-faculty member
Artists who have played in the Hall over the past twenty-five years agree that it’s special: A hall with “beautiful clarity and projection and warmth,” is how artist-faculty member Sharon Isbin describes it; “a place where you reveal your true self,” says cellist David Finckel. Harris Concert Hall also is a spectacular space for teaching and student performances. Says artistfaculty member Nadine Asin, “When I hear my students play here, I really have a sense of who they are at this moment and what their potential is.” Ultimately, it is this combination of the beauty of the moment and faith in the future that defines the great success of Harris Concert Hall. Ms. Harris saw that potential from the beginning. In an interview during the Hall’s opening weekend, she commented, “The building . . . is a metaphor for the faith and planning for the future of the Music School and Festival.” Twenty-five years later, it has proved a faith well-placed.
TOP, L-R Joan Fabry, Joan Balter, and Joan Harris BOTTOM Robert McDuffie performs with 2018 Dorothy DeLay Fellow Aubree Oliverson. LEFT McDuffie performs with an ensemble conducted by Aspen Conducting Academy alumnus Norman Huynh.
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CELEBRATIONS • The AMFS marked the 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein with some of his best works, including a concert/concept performance of his one-act opera, Trouble in Tahiti. Singers from the Aspen Opera Center performed this modern opera about 1950s domestic turmoil. As the characters used a movie to escape their unhappiness, the opera was staged with the silent Charlie Chaplin film, A Dog’s Life, behind it. Midori returned to Aspen to reprise Bernstein’s Serenade, after Plato’s Symposium, a work she played at age fourteen with the maestro himself in an astounding performance that was touted on the front page of The New York Times and firmly established her place on the world’s stage. • The AMFS commemorated twenty-five years of service from artist-faculty members Per Hannevold bassoon (an alumnus), Albert Laszlo double bass, and Mark Sparks flute by placing their names on the plaque in the Benedict Music Tent along with others whom have reached this landmark. A party with cake and much cheer followed. Also notable was Mr. Hannevold’s wonderful performance with fellow artist-faculty member Joaquin Valdepeñas of Strauss’s Duet-Concertino, accompanied by the Aspen Festival Orchestra on July 8.
TOP AMFS alumna and violinist Midori performs Bernstein’s Serenade with the Aspen Festival Orchestra conducted by Patrick Summers on August 5. BOTTOM Alumnus and twenty-five-year artist-faculty member Per Hannevold (R) with fellow artist-faculty member Joaquin Valdepeñas (L) and conductor David Robertson.
NEW AND NOTEABLE NEW PROGRAMS • This year, the American Brass Quintet, which has been in residency at the AMFS since 1970, inaugurated a new program for intensive brass chamber music study. Called the American Brass Quintet Seminar @Aspen, it drew an astonishing number of applicants. Four enthusiastic student quintets came from as far away as Australia to participate in the initial year of ABQS @Aspen.
TOP Students participating in the new American Brass Quintet Seminar @Aspen work with artistfaculty member and ABQ bass trombonist John Rojak (standing). BOTTOM Seraphic Fire and students from the new Seraphic Fire Professional Choral Institute at the AMFS perform at Harris Concert Hall on August 22 under the direction of Patrick Dupré Quigley.
Students received private lessons and ensemble coachings, and participated in seminars, demonstrations, and public performance. Artistfaculty member and ABQ bass trombonist John Rojak says that the students learned musical skills that not only “will make them highly successful in all musical endeavors, as chamber music does,” but also will “bring them the art of listening, the art of communication, and teach them lessons that will translate to any life situation they might find themselves in.” • In another first this year, the AMFS partnered with acclaimed vocal ensemble Seraphic Fire to create the Seraphic Fire Professional Choral Institute (PCI). Welcoming forty singers in its inaugural year, the institute is the only summer training program for those preparing for careers in ensemble singing. Together, the professional and student singers performed Mozart’s Requiem with the Aspen Chamber Symphony on August 17 and presented two recitals in Harris Concert Hall on August 20 and 22. Repertoire included a tour de force of rich choral works by Monteverdi, Tavener, Rheinberger, Pärt, and Theofanidis; a selection of spirituals; and Fauré’s poignant and powerful Requiem.
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EXPLORATIONS • Three cycle series appeared on the season: the final recital of Jonathan Biss’s three-year exploration of Beethoven’s complete Piano Sonatas, the first recital of violinist James Ehnes’s presentation of Beethoven’s complete Violin Sonatas, and a marathon evening with cellist Alisa Weilerstein playing all six of Bach’s Cello Suites.
PREMIERES • The season included a number of U.S. and world premieres. On June 28, AMFS Advanced Quartet Studies alumni and ensemble-in-residence the Jupiter String Quartet opened the season with the world premiere performance of alumna Kati Agócs’ Imprimatur. The Aspen Festival Orchestra performed the U.S. premiere of Anders Hillborg’s Mantra—Elegy (Homage to Stravinsky) on July 22; while the Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra presented the world premiere of Crossing, the new work composed by Krists Auznieks, winner of the 2017 Jacob Druckman Prize. British violinist Daniel Hope performed and led an ensemble of AMFS students in the second U.S. performance of a Violin Concerto by President and CEO Alan Fletcher. In comments to The Violin Channel, Fletcher expressed an aspiration that many composers certainly share: “I hope . . . that it provides a window for each listener to see through . . . and feel the undercurrents of emotion.”
In a very special, yet unplanned moment, the lights in Harris Concert Hall went out during Weilerstein’s performance. Demonstrating her spectacular command as an artist, Ms. Weilerstein continued playing without the slightest pause. The audience sat, rapt, wholly in the dark, listening until the lights came back on several minutes later.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Violinist Daniel Hope with composer and AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher; the cast of the Aspen Opera Center’s production of The Barber of Seville; student tenor Roy Hage as Hoffmann and student soprano Sydney Baedke as Olympia in the AOC production of Tales of Hoffmann; AMFS alumna Alisa Weilerstein during her July 31 recital of the complete Bach Cello Suites in Harris Concert Hall.
ASPEN OPERA CENTER • The AOC staged Rossini’s comic masterpiece, The Barber of Seville, July 12, 14, and 16 in a colorful, commedia dell’arte style. • In August, Tales of Hoffmann enchanted audience members with its mystical bent and provided a fantastic opportunity for student tenor Roy Hage. In Aspen Mr. Hage studied with Vinson Cole, a legendary tenor who has performed Hoffmann numerous times and is intimately familiar with the role’s demands. • In 2018, many AOC alumni with successful careers on the rise returned to perform on the main stage at the Benedict Music Tent. The elegant Golda Schultz revealed her playful side to followers in a backstage “takeover” of the AMFS Instagram feed before an exquisite performance of Canteloube and Mozart with the Aspen Chamber Symphony. Tenor Benjamin Bliss performed Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings with artist-faculty member Andrew Bain; and soprano Tamara Wilson and bass-baritone Ryan McKinny returned to perform scenes from Wagner’s Die Walküre at the glorious final Sunday concert. Aspen audiences cheered heartily for these artists whom they have seen “grow up” right here in Aspen.
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STUDENT EXPERIENCE
TOP THREE REASONS STUDENTS CHOOSE TO ATTEND THE AMFS 1
The opportunity to study with and/or perform alongside our world class artist-faculty
2
The opportunity to participate in an intensive, high-level program of study
3
The amount of financial aid offered
690 STUDENTS
Average age
22
34 COUNTRIES 40 STATES
FROM AND
TOTAL AMOUNT OF FINANCIAL AID PROVIDED
$
OPPOSITE The Avery Brass Quintet from the University of Colorado - Boulder participated in the new American Brass Quintet Seminar @Aspen. They were featured performers at Music on the Mountain.
38%
are returning students
75 %
2.8 million
received financial aid, in the form of either a scholarship or a fellowship
92% 73
%
rated their AMFS summer as “excellent” or “good”
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MILESTONES AND MOMENTS • Representatives from forty schools across the nation convened for three days at the beginning of the AMFS season to discuss relevant topics in the admissions world. Alan Fletcher delivered the keynote address, a highlight of the conference. • The AMFS continues to promote ethnic and cultural diversity at Aspen and this summer, a record 11 percent of students came from under-represented groups in classical music, exceeding any other summer classical music program or professional orchestra, and most year-round colleges and conservatories.
• Two new programs got off to robust starts this season: + The Seraphic Fire Professional Choral Institute received more applications than anticipated, resulting in forty participating students attending, who gave wildly positively reviews of their experience. + The ABQS @Aspen also received an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response. The program had hoped for two participating groups. Ultimately four were invited to Aspen, including a “creatively expanded sextet,” and a quintet from Sydney, Australia. Exceeding expectations, all applicants were fellowship (preprofessional) level, and the program was modified accordingly to advance the curriculum and provide more performance opportunities.
ABOVE Aspen Conducting Academy Piano Competition winner Harmony Zhu (in red) takes a bow with ACA students (L-R) Pablo Devigo-Vázquez, Hannah Maria Andresen, and Alan Buxbaum. OPPOSITE AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher congratulates the 2018 competition winners.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2018 COMPETITION WINNERS David Boutin-Bourque Winds (clarinet), student of Michael Rusinek Maya Anjali Buchanan Dorothy DeLay Fellowship, student of Sylvia Rosenberg and Donald Weilerstein Deanna Cirielli Harp, student of Nancy Allen and Sivan Magen Noah Dugan Brass (trumpet), student of Thomas Hooten, James Wilt, and Kevin Cobb
Benjamin Manis Robert J. Harth Conductor Prize
Nicky Sohn Jacob Druckman Prize
Johannes Zahn Aspen Conductor Prize
Mauro Mariani James Conlon Conductor Prize given by Mrs. Mercedes T. Bass
Katherine Woo ACA Violin, student of Masao Kawasaki and Sylvia Rosenberg
Julian Rhee Violin, student of Robert Lipsett and Sylvia Rosenberg
Christine Wu Low Strings (viola), student of Masao Kawasaki and Sylvia Rosenberg
Harmony Zhu ACA Piano, student of Arie Vardi, Yoheved Kaplinsky, and Hung-Kuan Chen
Owen Sidney Richardson Hermitage Prize
Biguo Xing Piano, student of Hung-Kuan Chen and Arie Vardi
Sasha Scolnik-Brower Robert Spano Conductor Prize given by Mrs. Mercedes T. Bass
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EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY
SUMMER PROGRAMMING SUMMER EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING
OPPOSITE/BELOW Tesfa Wondemagegnehu, choral conductor from St. Olaf College, was one of three visiting music educators who worked with young singers from the Roaring Fork Valley and beyond during the Maroon Bel Canto Children’s Chorus – Festival Summer Camp.
The Maroon Bel Canto Children’s Chorus – Festival Summer Camp served up a week of vocal instruction, behind-the-scenes visits to AMFS rehearsals and performances, games, outdoor fun, and a rousing final performance. The camp was conducted by visiting music educators Amanda Sprague Hanzlik, Michelle Bendett, and Tesfa Wondemagegnehu. One-hundred-and-one AMFS students took time out of their busy schedules to teach private and group lessons to 175 local children in the P.A.L.S. (Passes and Lessons Scholarship) program. Sixty-one percent of those P.A.L.S. students received full or partial scholarships. This year the program offered six string, three woodwind, three brass, and two percussion ensembles.
Thanks to the donors who supported education and community programming Alpine Bank of Aspen Aspen Games for Good Aspen Thrift Shop Stephen Brint and Mark Brown Colorado Creative Industries District Les Dames d’Aspen Alan Fletcher and Ron Schiller Golub Family Foundation Tita and Dan McCarty Nina McLemore Nancy Meinig - Meinig Family Foundation National Endowment for the Arts Janet and Tom O’Connor Beverle and Marc Ostrofsky Hensley and James Peterson Anne and Chris Reyes Caryn and Rudi Scheidt, Jr. Jeannie and John Seybold Gordon H. Silver The Town of Basalt Wells Fargo Community Relations Edith Kallas and Joe Whatley
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FESTIVAL FOR KIDS Kids’ summer programming at the Aspen Music Festival served hundreds of children during the 2018 season. Sing Play Move, a music education program for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers led by Kate Klotz of the Boulder Children’s Chorale, delighted eighteen youngsters and their guardians with singing, movement, and music exploration. Gotta Move!—a free program designed for infants and children through age five—gave more than 250 children the opportunity to explore singing, sounds, and movement at the Aspen Meadows Events Tent. Tunes & Tales, offered at Aspen’s Pitkin County Library and the Basalt Regional Library, treated kids nine and under to enchanting stories blended with music performed by AMFS students and staff. On Independence Day, families converged on the Benedict Music Tent to enjoy the Festival’s free Fourth of July Concert. In August, the popular Family Concert featured Kids Notes, an event featuring preconcert snacks and activities designed to prepare children for the concert, followed by a lively interactive performance of Camille Saint-Saëns’s The Carnival of the Animals.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT AMFS percussion student Bryce Leafman (in red hat) lets children try out some instruments during Kids Notes activities prior to the AMFS’s annual Family Concert; the Maroon Bel Canto Children’s Chorus in concert; young string players from the Beginning Strings program; participants from the Lead Guitar program; youngsters experiment with rhythm in the Sing Play Move class.
PROGRAMMING IN LOCAL SCHOOLS The Aspen Music Festival and School’s rapidly growing AfterWorks outreach program provides in- and after-school music education for elementary, middle, and high school students throughout the Roaring Fork Valley. The AMFS partners with AmeriCorps to bring five ArtistYear Fellows to the Valley to teach in both AfterWorks and Roaring Fork School District music programs. • Beginning Strings served 107 students in six Valley elementary schools, plus 40 in an in-school program at the Waldorf School on the Roaring Fork. • Lead Guitar served 88 students in after-school programs at four schools, and 215 students with in-school programs at an additional four schools. • The Maroon Bel Canto Children’s Chorus (MBCCC), a classic children’s choir for grades three to eight, served 203 students in ten schools during the 2017–18 school year, nearly doubling enrollment. That growth led to the creation of a new ensemble for the 2018–19 school year: the Maroon Bel Canto Singers, a select ensemble for students in grades six to eight. Twice during the 2017–18 school year, the AMFS’s Musical Connections program hosted Valley-wide honor ensembles at Harris Concert Hall, uniting students from Aspen to Rifle. The All-Valley Honor Choir, conducted by choral composer and conductor Andrea Ramsey, featured 130 high school students from six schools, while Aspen Conducting Academy alumnus Matthew Forte returned to lead 120 students from six schools in the All-Valley Middle School Honor Band. Musical Connections also partnered with University of Colorado – Boulder to bring music residencies to Valley classrooms. Two former AMFS Advanced Quartet Studies participants—the Ajax Quartet, CU Boulder’s graduate string quartet in residence, and the professional Denver-based Altius Quartet—worked with students. The University’s Brass and Wind Quintets also visited and offered interactive concerts for elementary schools, side-by-side rehearsals and master classes for middle and high school bands, and live performances for all schools.
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BENEFITS
The annual Season Benefit—A Parisian Feast of Music, honoring Walter Isaacson—was held on August 6 in Hurst Hall on the Matthew and Carolyn Bucksbaum Campus. The event raised $1.4 million for the Aspen Music Festival and School. Paula and Jim Crown, Soledad and Robert Hurst, Joan Fabry and Michael Klein, Gillian and Robert Steel, and Nancy and Charles Wall chaired the benefit. Performers included AMFS student Ray Ushikubo piano and violin, artistfaculty member Brinton Smith cello, AMFS alumna (and sixty-sixth U.S. secretary of state) Condoleezza Rice piano, Aspen Opera Center student Avery Boettcher soprano, and AMFS alumnus Robert McDuffie violin.
On July 16, the AMFS held its 15th annual Opera Benefit. The black-tie evening included dinner in a whimsical orange grove at the exclusive Caribou Club in Aspen and concluded with a full performance of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville at the Wheeler Opera House. Richard Edwards, Denise Monteleone, and Jim Martin chaired the event. Other benefit events in 2018 included intimate Artist Dinners hosted in private homes with Daniil Trifonov, Inon Barnatan, and Sarah Chang. Guests enjoyed an evening of cocktails, music, and wonderful food, all while getting to know these extraordinary musicians. Seven House Music concerts rounded out the summer offerings with a special blend of opera and chamber music.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT AMFS alumni Condoleezza Rice piano and Brinton Smith cello; (L-R) Honoree Walter Isaacson, Mercedes T. Bass, and Robert Hurst at A Parisian Feast of Music; Carrie Wells (L) and Shari Applebaum (R) at the 2018 Opera Benefit; Chairman’s Circle members Ben and Beth Wegbreit; Sarah Chang speaks with guests at an intimate Artist Dinner; (L-R) At the Opera Benefit, Jim Martin (benefit co-chair), Denise Monteleone (benefit co-chair), Billy Stolz (benefit sponsor) and Richard Edwards (benefit co-chair).
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THE SALON
The Aspen Music Festival and School’s Salon serves to enlighten and nurture the next generation of classical music enthusiasts by providing a space for intellectual and social exchange through uniquely curated artistic and cultural events.
A WALK INTO MUSIC In July, naturalists from the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES) guided Salon members on a spectacular hike through the Castle Creek Valley, educating them on the surrounding ecosystem. Afterwards, the group enjoyed lunch and nature-inspired music, performed by the Ajax Quartet, at the scenic Catto Center at Toklat.
SALON STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBERS Jamie Helzberg Cathy Koplovitz Erika Aronson Stern Alia Tutor Carrie Wells Rachel Zimmerman
SALON SPONSOR First Western Trust
ANIMATION FOR CHILDREN AND TEENS Late July brought the Walt Disney Animation Studios to Aspen. Salon members and their families went on a journey into the world of animation with Travis Lacina, Education Studio manager with the Walt Disney Family Museum. This two-hour workshop detailed the basic skills and concepts of animation at a private Aspen residence before the group headed to the Benedict Music Tent for Walt Disney Animation Studios: “A Decade in Concert.”
BEHIND THE CURTAIN – ASPEN SANTA FE BALLET: AN EVENING WITH JOYCE YANG Salon finished out the season with the stunning collaboration between the AMFS and Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. In August, members were treated to an exclusive private dress rehearsal of Aspen Santa Fe Ballet’s latest production featuring world-renowned pianist and AMFS guest artist Joyce Yang. Members enjoyed a postperformance reception at the St. Regis Aspen Resort’s elegant Velvet Buck, where they mingled with Joyce Yang, Jorma Elo, and ASFB dancers.
TOP Travis Lacina, Education Studio manager with the Walt Disney Family Museum, teaches basic animation skills to Salon family members. BOTTOM Renée Hemsing Patten violin and Eric Haugen cello of the Ajax Quartet perform for Salon members at the Catto Center.
WHERE DREAMS BEGIN CAMPAIGN
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WHERE DREAMS BEGIN 2018 UPDATE In his remarks at the Aspen Music Festival and School’s 2018 Convocation, Music Director Robert Spano reminded students that they are a part of a “living stream of tradition”—a wonderful community of composers from ages past. “They all live on through our engagement with them,” said Spano. He went on to emphasize that act of engagement, explaining, “Music only comes to life when we experience it in a shared way, with our audience.” With the capital portion of its Where Dreams Begin campaign successfully completed in 2017, the Aspen Music Festival and School has turned to the endowment phase of its ambitious $75 million
RIGHT Saul and Phyllis Lowitt haven’t missed a summer at the Music Festival in the past thirtyeight years. They are members of the Gordon and Lillian Hardy Planned Giving Society, and were featured this summer in a joint AMFS-Colorado Public Radio “Longtime Listeners” social media campaign.
DR. JOHN AMOS: SHARING A LEGACY fundraising initiative—the crucial work of building lasting support for AMFS students, artist-faculty, and programs. In 2017–18, the AMFS received nearly $2.9 million in campaign gifts from friends and supporters across the country to support the endowment. Just as the Aspen Music Festival and School’s audiences share in the experience of bringing music to life, so, too, do its donors. Gifts such as John Amos’s estate bequest and the Crown family’s leadership gift to the AMFS endowment fund continue many a family tradition and ensure lifechanging experiences for new generations of aspiring musicians and their Aspen audiences. See related sidebars.
In 2018, the AMFS received a generous planned gift from the estate of John Amos, a long-time donor to the Aspen Music Festival and School. Amos grew up in Grand Junction and attended AMFS concerts in his youth. A French horn player as a student and later during his service in the Navy, Dr. Amos continued a family tradition of attending AMFS summer concerts with his mother, Julia V. Amos, a Presbyterian church organist and music teacher, even after establishing his own dental practice in San Francisco. In recognition of the enduring role classical music played in his own life and in memory of his mother, Dr. Amos left half of his estate to the Aspen Music Festival and School. His bequest has led to the creation of the Dr. John E. Amos Endowed Teaching Chair for Brass. The chair not only supports an artistfaculty member for a three-year period, but also provides a full scholarship covering tuition, room, and board for a student recruited by the artist-faculty holding the chair during each year of his or her tenure. The AMFS is tremendously grateful to Dr. Amos and his executors for making a gift that will ensure that the Amos family’s enduring love for classical music lives on through the AMFS, artist-faculty members, and students.
THE CROWN FAMILY: A NEW CHAPTER OF ENGAGEMENT Jim and Paula Crown drew on a longstanding family tradition of engagement when planning their gift to the Aspen Music Festival and School. The Crowns have been a part of the Aspen community since the mid-1980s when the family company first invested in and later assumed full ownership of the Aspen Skiing Company. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Jim’s father, Lester Crown, was one of several civic leaders who played a key role in stabilizing Aspen’s primary cultural institutions. At that time, the Aspen Institute had sold its Meadows property with plans to relocate. Crown and others led a $32 million joint campaign to reclaim and renovate the physical assets of both the Aspen Institute and the Aspen Music Festival and School. “Our support has always been driven by our love for Aspen and our desire for it to be a thriving, diverse community,” says Jim Crown. That support has extended to Paula Crown’s engagement as a member of the AMFS Board of Trustees for the better part of two decades beginning in the late ’80s, and again with their 2018 leadership gift to the endowment phase of the Where Dreams Begin Campaign.
To commemorate their gift, the Crowns made an unusual—and whimsical—request to name the island in the middle of the Great Pond on the Bucksbaum Campus “The Island of Conclusions,” drawing on another beloved family tradition: The Phantom Tollbooth. “As our kids were growing up, Jim and I would always read to them at bedtime,” explains Paula Crown. “That was how we ended the day.” The Phantom Tollbooth was always a family favorite, and, she says, “the story itself communicates some great life lessons.” Three of the Crowns’ four children are now young adults and the youngest is seventeen—not far from the ages of the young musicians who come to the AMFS every summer. Rather than simply naming a built space, the Crowns thought it would be fun to offer a reminder of one of their favorite parables to the students who come here each summer. “The Music School Campus is one of the truly magical places we have here in Aspen,” says Jim Crown. “Being able to live and learn at the foot of a mountain along Castle Creek is a fantastic opportunity—we are happy to be able to support the students, the school, and the festival.”
ABOVE Trumpet student Andrew Heath, pictured from The Island of Conclusions (visible at the lower left) on the Bucksbaum Campus.
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MEDIA AND BROADCASTS
TRADITIONAL MEDIA AND BROADCASTS POSTCARD from...
ASPEN
Rocky Mountain High
At this year’s Aspen Festival and School, an array of leading performers rubbed shoulders with hundreds of enthusiastic young musicians. Bruce Hodges soaked up the clear mountain air
A
lmost 2,500m high in the Rocky Mountains is Aspen, Colorado. Home to celebrities and the wealthy, and dotted with luxury shops and restaurants, the bucolic locale creates an imposing yet informal backdrop for one of the world’s great summer music festivals. Established in 1949, the Aspen Music Festival and School (which this year took place between 28 June and 19 August) draws artists, audiences and students from the world over – and deservedly so. Considering the breathtaking mountain elevations on all sides, the laid-back yet exalted ambience and the presence of scores of artists and teachers – what music lover wouldn’t want to come here? Over an intense 48 hours, crammed with artistry, interviews, a few choice
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THE STRAD NOVEMBER 2018
meals and a decent quantity of local beers, I succumbed to the Aspen allure. It began on 20 July when, after a long travel day, including a bus ride from Grand Junction (Aspen-Pitkin County Airport was closed, owing to smoke from nearby fires blocking the airspace), I still had ‘fumes’ to spare for a 6pm concert from the Aspen Chamber Symphony, with a brilliantly played and conceived sequence featuring British violist Lawrence Power. After Alexander Shelley conducted a frenzied account of Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances, but before an elegantly proportioned Schumann Second Symphony, Power unveiled Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Pentatonic Etude (2008), written for the violist as a prelude to Bartók’s Viola Concerto. ‘It’s an etude on the pentatonic scale that comes at the
beginning of the Bartók,’ Power explained to me. ‘Salonen explores every part of the instrument, and he also explores harmonics really well.’ On the Bartók, left incomplete at the composer’s death, Power added: ‘What interests me is the spirit of the piece. We don’t know how much of it is Bartók’s. We have to give the impression of it being his, through the lens of someone else.’ (Power was referring to composer Tibor Serly, who compiled the work from Bartók’s sketches.) Power’s moving encore was a viola arrangement of ‘Kaddisch’ from Ravel’s Deux mélodies hébraïques, with Carla Maria Rodrigues, principal viola of San Francisco Opera, leading the viola section in a sustained drone over which Power spun out a luxurious line. The violist returned on Saturday afternoon with violinists Bing Wang and Cornelia Heard, fellow violist James Dunham and cellist Eric Kim in Mozart’s String Quintet in D major K593, a satisfying conclusion to a chamber music snapshot that began with John Harbison’s Mirabai Songs and Chausson’s Piano Trio in G minor op.3. That night, violinist James Ehnes and pianist Andrew Armstrong showed grace and exactitude in four Beethoven sonatas (nos.3, 4, 8 and 10) – a quietly satisfying, pleasantly introverted affair. Armstrong made an ideal partner, glancing at Ehnes while anticipating every phrase with admirable foresight. The acoustically clear Harris Concert Hall, ideal for chamber music, was packed. In a brief talk prior to the performance, Ehnes commented: ‘Aspen is amazing. If you come here at any given time, you’re going to run into friends and colleagues, and interesting people, coupled with the incredible beauty of the place. The audiences here are tremendous – they’re thirsty!’
T
he festival – comprising more than four hundred events, of which over two hundred are concerts – is the happy result of a comprehensive teaching initiative in which students work closely with renowned mentors. Featuring private instruction, masterclasses and dozens of performance opportunities, it is a heady www.thestrad.com
2018 was a banner year for AMFS print and broadcast coverage. The New York Times set the tone early, proclaiming the AMFS “the big daddy of North American events” in its summer festival preview. Other publications, such as The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, and Sunset Magazine followed suit, including the Festival on their recommended summer music itineraries. Several music journalists took that advice and came to Aspen for multi-day reporting residencies. Agence France-Presse writer Shaun Tandon battled wildfire-induced flight delays to explore the Parisian season theme. His article, “Un festival américain met en avant l’héritage français dans la musique Classique,” appeared in numerous French media outlets, and was picked up by more than twenty news organizations worldwide, including The Japan News, Montreal’s La Presse, and the Bangkok Post, as well as others in the Philippines, Lebanon, Belgium, Kuwait, Pakistan, Cameroon, Malaysia, and India. Bruce Hodges, from the prestigious London-based magazine, The Strad, turned a weekend packed with concerts and interviews into a rich, multi-layered “Postcard from Aspen” for the magazine. Colorado Public Radio hosts David Ginder and David Rutherford were in residence in July and August, offering CPR listeners a sampling of sound from student, artist-faculty, and guest artist perspectives. CPR also presented live broadcasts of Pre-Concert Overtures throughout the summer and collaborated with Aspen Public Radio (APR) to offer live broadcasts of the AMFS Independence Day and Final Sunday concerts. Locally, APR—the official voice of the AMFS–kept listeners up-to-date with daily and weekly Festival-
related programming, and, along with CPR and American Public Media, continued to share Festival recordings with regional and national audiences via broadcast and streaming services throughout the year. The Aspen Times and Aspen Daily News also provided ongoing Festival coverage ranging from profiles of visiting artists to behind-the-scenes glimpses for local readers, and the AMFS gained attention from other local and national media outlets, including Aspen Sojourner, Modern Luxury’s Aspen magazine, Mountain Living magazine, Opera News Online, and Gramophone.
OPPOSITE An Aspen Times story about Google software engineer and AMFS cello student Jeffrey Li generated attention in both traditional and social media. From the start, students were encouraged to share their AMFS experiences with the hashtag #AMFS2018. LEFT The AMFS earned coverage in international publications such as The Strad magazine (top) and local papers such as the Aspen Daily News (bottom). ABOVE Media partner Aspen Public Radio broadcast AMFS’s High Notes discussions, including this one featuring President and CEO Alan Fletcher in conversation with pianist and composer Daniil Trifonov.
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The AMFS had a large presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram this summer, connecting with students, artist-faculty, guest artists, and patrons. New social media initiatives that found success and engagement included profiles of competition winners, opera students, and longtime listeners, and Instagram takeovers by students and guest artists.
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
LEFT/BELOW Instagram takeovers by Aspen Opera Center students like Hunter Enoch and guest artists like alumna and soprano Golda Schultz (pictured backstage during rehearsal with pianist Inon Barnatan) were popular with followers.
The AMFS gained 1,585 new Facebook followers over the summer, bringing the total number to 20,472 by the end of August. Daily posts reached an average of 2,600 people; posts featuring competition winners and opera student spotlights reached nearly 24,000 people over eight weeks with high engagement. Facebook also contributed the greatest percentage of clickthroughs to the AMFS website. Twitter followers remained around 20,000. The AMFS saw a 49 percent increase in Instagram followers this summer, largely due to popular Instagram takeovers by guest artists and students, bringing total follower count to 5,181. Takeovers—consisting of photos, short videos, and stories—were done by guest artists Ray Chen, Simone Porter, Josh Roman, Golda Schultz, and Seraphic Fire as well as students from instrumental, opera, brass, and conducting programs. Pianist Conrad Tao and French horn student Angela Fiorini’s takeovers were shared with the Aspen Chamber Resort Association’s Instagram, which reached an audience of 87,700. Social media has had a significant impact on student recruitment as well. Just a few years ago, the AMFS Student Services Department was investing eight weeks and nearly $30,000 in recruitment travel. The department now relies primarily on social media to connect with prospective students. The number of applications has remained steady and the caliber of students has only improved.
49.44%
43.81%
40.67%
36.49%
29.82%
25.73%
17.54%
The 2018 season also saw an explosion of content in social media and webbased classical music content providers such as theviolinchannel.com, which featured British violinist Daniel Hope’s performance of Alan Fletcher’s Violin Concerto, and blogger Laurie Niles’s in-depth interview with violinist Augustin Hadelich on violinist.com.
INCREASE IN INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS | 2018 SEASON
5.60%
SOCIAL MEDIA
AUDIENCE | WHERE WE FOUND THEM
Students Students’ parents Patrons
Guest artists News outlets
Students Alumni Guest artists
October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Jonathan Haas
Erika Aronson Stern
Michael Klein, Chair
Per Hannevold
Alia Tutor
Ann Friedman, Vice Chair
Connie Heard
Joaquin Valdepeñas
Janet O’Connor, Treasurer
Linda Vitti Herbst
Charles Wall
Gail Engelberg, Secretary
Allison Kanders
Robert J. Hurst, Co-President of National Council
Paul Kantor
Carrie Wells, Co-President of National Council
Cathy L. Koplovitz
Alan Fletcher, President and CEO
Jonathan Lee
Richard Aaron Nadine Asin Amy Margerum Berg Edward C. Berkeley Sandra K. Bishop Stephen Brint Sam Brown Martin Carver Warren Deck Stephen Drimmer James Dunham Alan Englander Richard Felder John Fullerton Mary Giese Arjun Gupta
Gerald Katcher Barbara Koval Anthony Mazza Willem Mesdag Alexandra Munroe Michael Murray Anton Nel Patricia Papper Fonda Paterson Aaron Podhurst Dan Porterfield, ex-officio Dana Powell Anne Reyes John Rojak Arlene Lidsky Salomon Caryn Scheidt Victoria Smith Gillian Steel Judith Z. Steinberg
HONORARY TRUSTEES Joan W. Harris Itzhak Perlman Robert Spano, Music Director Pinchas Zukerman LIFE TRUSTEES Paula Bernstein William Bernstein Carolyn Bucksbaum Noël R. Congdon Marian Lyeth Davis, in memoriam Alfred Dietsch John Doremus Stefan Edlis Gerri Karetsky Nancy Odén Charles Paterson, in memoriam Betty Schermer W. Ford Schumann Dennis Vaughn
LEFT 2018 AMFS students Andrew O’Donnell clarinet, Josh McClendon cello, and Angela Fiorini French horn at the Maroon Bells.
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ARTIST-FACULTY 2018 SEASON
VOICE
Laurie Carney
Masao Kawasaki
CLARINET
TUBA
Vinson Cole
Laura Park Chen
Pierre Lapointe
Michael Rusinek
Warren Deck
Renée Fleming, artist-in-residence
Robert Chen
Milan Milisavljevic
Joaquin Valdepeñas
David Coucheron
CarlaMaria Rodrigues
Elizabeth Hynes
Simin Ganatra
Jonathan Vinocour
Stephen King
David Halen
Carol Vaness
Robert Hanford
ASPEN OPERA CENTER Edward Berkeley, director Elizabeth Buccheri, head of music William Billingham Kenneth Merrill Charles Prestinari Mary Duncan Steidl Diane Zola
Austin Hartman Cornelia Heard Paul Kantor Masao Kawasaki Alexander Kerr Julianne Lee Espen Lilleslåtten Robert Lipsett Robert McDuffie Sylvia Rosenberg
PIANO
Naoko Tanaka
Fabio Bidini
Danbi Um
Hung-Kuan Chen Andrew Harley Yoheved Kaplinsky Julian Martin Anton Nel Ann Schein◊ Rita Sloan Arie Vardi Virginia Weckstrom Wu Han Vivian Hornik Weilerstein
Almita Vamos Bing Wang Donald Weilerstein Peter Winograd VIOLA Daniel Avshalomov Guy Ben-Ziony Heidi Castleman ◊ Choong-Jin Chang Victoria Chiang Christian Colberg
PERCUSSION
BASSOON
Jonathan Haas
Stephen Wyrczynski
Nancy Goeres
Douglas Howard
Per Hannevold
Joseph Pereira
CELLO
Sue Heineman
Markus Rhoten
Richard Aaron
Edward Stephan
HORN
Darrett Adkins
Andrew Bain
David Finckel
Stefan de Leval Jezierski
Desmond Hoebig Eric Kim Wolfram Koessel
GUITAR
Erik Ralske
Sharon Isbin HARP
Kevin Rivard
Brinton Averil Smith
Nancy Allen
John Zirbel
Brook Speltz Brandon Vamos
Anneleen Lenaerts ◊
TRUMPET
DOUBLE BASS
Karin Bliznik
Christopher Hanulik
Kevin Cobb
Sivan Magen ◊
William Gerlach
Albert Laszlo
Louis Hanzlik
Leigh Mesh
Cynthia Yeh
Jennifer Montone Eric Reed
Michael Mermagen
Thomas Stubbs
LUTHIER Joan Balter
Thomas Hooten
ASPEN CONDUCTING ACADEMY
David Krauss
Robert Spano, director
Raymond Mase
Federico Cortese
Aaron Schuman
Nadine Asin
Jane Glover
Stuart Stephenson
Aralee Dorough
Hugh Wolff
James Wilt
Edgar Meyer Timothy Pitts FLUTE
Mark Sparks
Per Brevig
ASPEN CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE
Brook Ferguson
TROMBONE
Demarre McGill
SUSAN AND FORD SCHUMANN CENTER FOR COMPOSITION STUDIES Stephen Hartke, composer-inresidence Christopher Theofanidis, composer-inresidence VISITING COMPOSERS Kati Agócs Helen Grime Andrew Norman Eric Nathan Gabriela Lena Frank Sebastian Fagerlund Krists Auznieks
Joseph Kalichstein, piano Catharine Carroll Lees, viola Eugene Levinson, bass
Theodore Oien, clarinet
Louis Ranger, trumpet
Patrick Muehleise
Christopher Rouse, composition
Clara Osowski
W. Stephen Smith, voice
ARTIST-FACULTY EMERITUS Adele Addison, voice
Timothy Weiss
Jeffrey Irvine
Elaine Douvas
Timothy Higgins
Robert Biddlecome, trombone
Alex Klein
James Miller
Bonita Boyd, flute
Elizabeth Koch Tiscione
Michael Powell
ENSEMBLES IN RESIDENCE
Mingjia Liu
John Rojak
Pacifica Quartet
Jennifer John, violin
Sara Guttenberg
Randall Hawes
Escher String Quartet
Sydney Hodkinson, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble conductor, composition
Charles Evans
John Engelkes
R. Douglas Wright
Alan Harris, cello
Sylvia Plyler, Aspen Opera Center
OBOE
Richard Woodhams
Thomas Haines, film scoring and audio recording
James K. Bass
James Dunham
OPPOSITE Artist-faculty member Demarre McGill, principal flute of the Seattle Symphony, warms up outside the Benedict Music Tent.
Irene Gubrud, voice
Antoinette Perry, piano
Renata Arado
American String Quartet
William Grubb, cello
Patrick Dupré Quigley, director
VIOLIN
◊
John Graham, viola
Jorge Mester, music director
Donald Crockett
American Brass Quintet
Michael Czaijkowski, composition
SERAPHIC FIRE PROFESSIONAL CHORAL INSTITUTE
Wesley Collins
Adam Barnett-Hart
Carole Cowan, violin
Bruce Bransby, double bass Earl Carlyss, Center for Advanced Quartet Studies, violin
Paul Sperry, voice Sabina Thatcher, viola Viviane Thomas, voice George Tsontakis, composition Martin Verdrager, theory David Wakefield, French horn Dick Waller, clarinet Won Bin Yim, violin ◊
leave of absence
Gabriel Chodos, piano
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FAMILY OF SUPPORTERS
The Aspen Music Festival and School gratefully acknowledges those who
$150,000 AND ABOVE
Jessica and John Fullerton
have made contributions to the organization between October 1, 2017, and
INDIVIDUALS
Shirley and Barnett C. Helzberg, Jr.
September 30, 2018. This includes support of the Annual Fund, memorial
Mrs. Mercedes T. Bass
Barbara and Jonathan Lee
Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson
Mona Look-Mazza and Tony Mazza
Joan Fabry and Michael Klein
The Marc and Eva Stern Foundation, Eva and Marc Stern, Erika Aronson Stern, and Adam Stern
and honorary gifts, Winter Music sponsorships, Benefit and Artist Dinner support, special projects, and the AMFS Salon. Annual contributions are the backbone of support necessary for the realization of the Festival and School’s mission. With these gifts, donors support artist-faculty teaching, concert performances, opera productions, student education, guest artist appearances, community outreach, and many other essential projects. We remain profoundly grateful to each donor listed here.
Nancy and Charles Wall
INDIVIDUALS
BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT
Anonymous
The Polonsky Foundation
$100,000 AND ABOVE
Soledad and Robert Hurst Lynda and Stewart Resnick Gillian and Robert Steel BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation $80,000 AND ABOVE INDIVIDUALS Allison and Warren Kanders Leonard and Judy Lauder Lisa and Will Mesdag Alexandra Munroe and Robert Rosenkranz Becky and Mike Murray Kelli and Allen Questrom Beatrice and Anthony Welters
ABOVE Generous and longtime supporter Mrs. Mercedes T. Bass and Music Director Robert Spano. OPPOSITE Violinist and AMFS alumnus Ray Chen enjoys a moment of solitude before his performance with the Aspen Chamber Symphony on July 6.
Tippet Rise Fund of the Sidney E. Frank Foundation $35,000 AND ABOVE INDIVIDUALS Edward P. and Sasha C. Bass Amy Margerum Berg and Gilchrist Berg Stephen Brint and Mark Brown Ruth Carver Ann and John Doerr Richard Edwards Gail and Alfred Engelberg Linda and Alan Englander Ann and Tom Friedman Mary E. Giese, in memory of Erik Giese Arjun Gupta
BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT
Irving Harris Foundation, Joan W. Harris
City of Aspen
Judith Z. Steinberg and Paul J. Hoenmans
$55,000 AND ABOVE
Jane and Gerald Katcher
INDIVIDUALS
Barbara Koval
Anonymous
Toby D. Lewis Philanthropic Fund
Kay Bucksbaum
John P. and Anne Welsh McNulty Foundation
Martin Carver The Crown Family Jane and Michael Eisner, The Eisner Foundation
Nancy Meinig - Meinig Family Foundation David Newberger Janet and Tom O’Connor
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Patricia M. and Emanuel M. Papper Foundation
BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT
Dana and Gene Powell
The Dana Foundation
Anne and Chris Reyes
LLWW Foundation
Ali and Lew Sanders Mary and Patrick Scanlan
National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency
Betty and Lloyd Schermer
Steinway & Sons, Inc.
Jane and Larry Sherman
Yvel Jewelers
The Simms/Mann Family Foundation, Victoria and Ronald Simms
$13,000 AND ABOVE
Alia and Ron Tutor
Susan Beckerman
Beth and Ben Wegbreit
Deborah and Gabriel Brener
BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT
Sam Brown and Alison Teal Centennial Partners
The Aspen Times
NoĂŤl and Tom Congdon
Louis & Harold Price Foundation, Inc. The Rob and Melani Walton Foundation
INDIVIDUALS
Sylvie and Gary Crum Mr. and Mrs. David Dreman/The Dreman Foundation Shannon Fairbanks Nanette Finger
$20,000 AND ABOVE INDIVIDUALS Giancarla and Luciano Berti Antonia Paepcke DuBrul and the DuBrul Family Marcy and Leo Edelstein Deborah and Richard Felder Donna Genet Sharon and Lawrence Hite Steve Marcus Denise Monteleone and Jim Martin William Mayer Jeannie and Tom Rutherfoord Caryn and Rudi Scheidt, Jr. Jeannie and John Seybold Carol and Mack Trapp Edith Kallas and Joe Whatley
Jane and Bill Frazer Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation Harriett and Richard E. Gold
Jean and Allen Parelman
Ramona Bruland and Michael Goldberg
Fonda and Charlie* Paterson
Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts
Pat and Ed Peterson
Mountain Living Magazine
Jan and Ronald Greenberg
Pauline Pitt, The William H. Pitt
Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County
Jane Harman
Foundation
Ellen and Irv Hockaday
Dorothy and Aaron Podhurst
Gerri Karetsky and Larry Naughton
Arlene and Chester Salomon
Sylvia and Dick* Kaufman
Carrie and Joe Wells
Cathy and Jonathan Koplovitz Ann and Tom Korologos
BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT
$8,500 AND ABOVE INDIVIDUALS Anonymous Pamela Gross and Charles Anderson
Marianne and Sheldon Lubar Charitable Fund
America-Israel Cultural Foundation
Marilyn and George Baker
Holly and John Madigan
Aspen Magazine
Charles Balbach
Marlene and Fred Malek
Clarence Dillon Wines
Vivian and Norman Belmonte
Bettie McGowin Miller
Maja DuBrul
Barbara and Bruce Berger
Nedra and Mark Oren
Hotel Jerome
Katie Bergman
OPPOSITE AMFS cello student Josh McClendon.
Bishop Family Foundation
Alan Fletcher and Ron Schiller
Neil G. Bluhm
Nancy Swift Furlotti
BELOW Board of Trustees and Salon Steering Committee member Cathy Koplovitz and her son learn the basics of animation at an AMFS Salon event.
Deborah and Mark Breen
Barbara and Richard I. Furman
Suzanne D. and M. Peyton Bucy
Virginia and Gary Gerst
Jon Busch
Sandy and Lee Godfrey
Pamela and Richard Cantor
Barbara Gold
Katherine and Dane Chapin
Thorey and Barry Goldstein
Tina Chen and Marvin Josephson Janet F. Clark
Andi and Jim Gordon, The Edgewater Funds
Martha and Bruce Clinton
Arthur Greenberg
Bunni and Paul Copaken
Julia Hansen
Barbara and Herschel Cravitz
Ann F. and Edward R. Hudson, Jr.
Ginny Dabney
Mary Ann Hyde
Bonnie and Ken Davis
Marianne and Dick Kipper
Laura Donnelley
Anna-Lisa Klettenberg
Nadia and Stephen Drimmer
Ellen and Fred Kucker
Pam and Ken Dunn Leatrice and Melvin Eagle
Katharine C. Kurtz, in memory of James B. Kurtz
Sandy and Paul Edgerley
Joe LaDou
Gail Elden
Bette MacDonald
Judith Barnard and Michael Fain
Linda McCausland and Peter Nicklin
IN MEMORIAM It is with sadness we note the passing of members of the AMFS community, including: ROBERT MANN artist-faculty, violin (1955, ’68–69, ’73–74); founding first violinist, Juilliard Quartet GARY ROSENAU long-time donor, founding father of Snowmass MICHAEL TREE artist-faculty, violin (1994–2004); violist, Guarneri Quartet SHIRLEY GIVENS long-time artistfaculty member, violin, and director of the first Aspen Festival String Workshop with Dorothy DeLay, Itzhak Perlman, and Isaac Stern CLAUDIO SCIMONE AMFS guest conductor IRWIN BLITT Long-time donor and National Council member OWEN FREEMAN long-time donor and National Council member RUTH GRINSPOON long-time donor JANE KESSLER long-time volunteer and donor JUDITH NEISSER long-time donor and National Council member DENNIS SMYLIE artist-faculty emeritus, bass clarinet
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BELOW Alumna and violinist Midori (left) speaks with concertgoers backstage.
Leslie and Mac McQuown Gail and Alec Merriam
Lisa and David T. Schiff, The Schiff Foundation
Encore Capital Group, in honor of Will Mesdag
Renee and Bruce Michelson
June and Paul Schorr lll
First Western Trust, Aspen
Susanne H. Goldstein, in memory of Edward A. Goldstein
Diane and Ronald Miller Charitable Trust
Phyllis and David Scruggs
Fusion Design and Catering
Christine Grad, M.D.
Lois Siegel
Galerie Maximillian
Maryann and Adrian Gruia
Karen Setterfield and David Muckenhirn
Helen E. Stone
Brenda and James Grusecki
Marcia Strickland
The Gant Condominium Association
Stephanie and Michael Naidoff
Laurie Tisch
The Little Nell
Jamie and Bush Helzberg
Ilene and Jeff Nathan
Leslie and Joe Waters
Miners’ Building Hardware
Deborah and Larry Hoffman
Sara and Don Nelson
Tamara and Frank Woods
Mountain Chalet-Aspen
Hojel-Schumacher Foundation
Pitkin County Dry Goods U.S. Bank
Erica Hartman-Horvitz and Richard Horvitz
Woody Creek Distillers
Debbie and Richard Jelinek
$4,000 AND ABOVE
Shana Johnstone/Shenandoah Foundation
Ann and Bill Nitze Dr. Amy D. Ronner and Michael P. Pacin Merbie and Tom Payne Kathryn and Richard Rabinow Catherine and Thomas Reagan Myra and Robert Rich Judy and Gary Rubin Lois and Tom Sando Gloria Scharlin
BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT Alpine Bank of Aspen Asian Cultural Council The Aspen Community Foundation Aspen Sojourner Aspen Square Condominium Hotel Caribou Club, Ltd. Carl’s Pharmacy Colorado Creative Industries
INDIVIDUALS Anonymous Ronald Ager, in memory of Ellie Ager David Baer Connie and Buddy Bates Nancy Blank Susan and Richard Braddock Susan L. and Robert Brown Jackie and John Bucksbaum Catherine and Bill Cabaniss Newton Bartley and Eric Calderon Merle Chambers Alex Dell Eleanore and Domenico De Sole Brian and Susan Dickie Muffy and Andy DiSabatino Debbie and Jerry Epstein Theba and Buster Feldman Fisher Family Fund at the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo Julie Gerson, in memory of Peter Gerson Lisa Braun Glazer and Jeff Glazer
Barbara and Gary Goldstein
Marianne Gunzler
Barbara Bluhm-Kaul and Donald Kaul Harriet Washton and George Kaye Don Keltner Nancy and Don Kempf Hyunja and Jeff Kenner Sally and Jim Klingbeil Elizabeth and Michael Klump Mary Jo and Dick Kovacevich Katie Kitchen and Paul Kovach Nancy and Bart Levin Linda Dresner and Ed Levy, Jr. Judy and Sam Linhart Mary Ralph Lowe Phyllis and Saul Lowitt Tita and Dan McCarty Diane and Mead Metcalf Ellie and Bob Meyers Maria and Ramon Moran Robert Prentis Morris and JoAnn Ross Laura Taylor and David A. Mulkey, M.D. Erin Leider-Pariser and Paul Pariser Margot and Tom Pritzker Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Pugh
REMEMBERING LIFE TRUSTEE MARIAN RUBEY LYETH DAVIS JULY 5, 1918–MAY 26, 2018 Late this spring, the Aspen Music Festival and School lost one of its earliest and most enthusiastic supporters with the death of Marian Rubey Lyeth Davis. Davis was born Marian Neal in the District of Columbia and spent her childhood and early adult years in Texas. She moved to Aspen with her late husband Bill Rubey and their children in 1958, and quickly adopted the community as home.
Gail Scott and Thomas Quinlan
Andrea and Lubert Stryer
Pixie and Jimmy Reiss
Linda and Dennis Vaughn
Lecie and Jack Resneck
Melani and Rob Walton
Marilynn and Charles Rivkin
Linda and Steve Webster
Phyllis and Sidney Rodbell
Rivka and Seth Weisberg
Sarah Broughton and John Rowland
Andrea Yablon
Clare and Marius Sanger
Rachel and Paul Zimmerman
Alece and David Schreiber Susie and Barry Schub
BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT
Patsy and John Shields
Aspen Thrift Shop
Evelyn Siegel
Bessemer Trust
Nancy and Bruce Stevens
Clark’s Market
Gayle and Paul Stoffel
The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc.
Billy Stolz
Les Dames d’Aspen
Curt Strand
European Caterers, Ltd.
Not content merely with financial donations, Davis was well known throughout Aspen for the energy and service she shared with the organizations she believed in—especially those involving the arts, education, and care for her fellow human beings. She first became involved with the AMFS in the late ’50s, not only as an annual donor, but also sponsoring a student each summer for more than forty years, providing for all of their expenses so that they could focus on their musical studies. She continued her service to the Festival as a longtime member of the Board of Trustees, remaining a Life Trustee until her death.
ABOVE Guest violinist Augustin Hadelich at his July 18 recital in Harris Concert Hall with conductor David Robertson.
Marian Davis touched the lives of countless AMFS students with her generosity, and the entire organization with her enthusiastic service and support. We share our condolences with her children and grandchildren.
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GORDON AND LILLIAN HARDY PLANNED GIVING SOCIETY
First Republic Bank Frias Properties of Aspen, Chuck Frias and Tim Clark
Named for Gordon Hardy’s rich legacy as president of the AMFS for twenty-eight years and his dedication to the music world, the Gordon and Lillian Hardy Planned Giving Society honors those donors who have included our organization in their estate plans. Martha Aarons Estate of John E. Amos* Pamela Gross and Charles Anderson Nadine Asin Thomas H. Baer Susan Beckerman Dr. Eugene L. Brand Stephen Brint and Mark Brown Kay Bucksbaum NancyBell Coe and William Burke Helen and Phil Burnett Jon Busch Dr. Janet Claman NoÍl and Tom Congdon Evelyn R. David Jim and Adelaide Davis Sheryl and Michael DeGenring Lee W. Dorsey Mrs. Charles B. Edison Audrey A. Sattler and Donald J. Fleisher Alan Fletcher and Ron Schiller Jane and Bill Frazer Rich Garvin Mary E. Giese
Barbara and Gary Goldstein Estate of Loette Goodell Howard Gottlieb Christine Grad, M.D. Estate of Gordon and Lillian Hardy Shirley and Barnett C. Helzberg, Jr. Casady M. Henry Juliane Heyman Soledad and Robert Hurst Montae and Richard Johnson Linda and Eugene Kalnitsky Estate of Jane Kessler Estate of Bob Klineman Barbara Koval Estate of Christine H. Leister Dr. and Mrs. Harold Leventhal Nancy R. Levi Estate of Mary Crouch Lilly Phyllis and Saul Lowitt Mona Look-Mazza and Anthony Mazza Estate of Elaine and James McDade
Joyce McGilvray Lydia Morrongiello Bert Neirick Estate of Heinz G. Neumann Ann and Bill Nitze Jean and Allen Parelman Merbie and Tom Payne Terry Lee and Bill Perich Lt. Col. and Mrs. R. L. Pickard Estate of Jean Pokress Marilynn and Charles Rivkin Noyes W. Rogers Betty and Lloyd Schermer Estate of Vera Sears Eric Simon Alicia and Alan Sirkin Estate of Freda Gail Stern Norma and Don Stone Marcia Strickland Barb and Bob Sypult Magda B. Tenser Michael Teschner Leslie and Joe Waters Estate of Cynthia and Gerald Weinbrum Laura Werlin Kay and Ken Whiting
Martha Dougherty, in memory of Newton G. Dougherty Sherri Draper
Golub Family Foundation
Caroline W. Duell
Harriman Construction, Inc.
Merle Dulien
Fred and Elli Iselin Foundation
Eliza and Johnny Duncan
Lin Yao Ji Scholarship for Summer Studies in Music
Bernice and Loyal Durand
Ernst and Wilma Martens Foundation
Charles B. Edison Memorial, Mrs. Charles B. Edison Diana M. Elton
John P. McBride Family and the ABC Foundation
Marja Engler
Ochestre Symphonique de Montreal
Susan and George Fesus
United Jewish Appeal Aspen Valley powered by JEWISHcolorado Vulcan Materials Company Matching Gifts $2,000 AND ABOVE INDIVIDUALS Ruth C. Abramson - Stephen Abramson Scholarship Tracy and Dennis Albers Becky Ayres Marilyn Hayes and John Balson Chuck Bellock Wilma and Stuart Bernstein Sue and Jock Bickert J. Michael Bishop Lucia and Louis Brandt Shelley Senterfitt and Ken Canfield Sandy and Michael Collins Mary and John Cronin Dave Danforth The Patricia Dedman Family Foundation Sheryl and Michael DeGenring Inanna Donnelley and Jeffrey Taback and the Gaylord Donnelley Charitable Trust
Anne and Alan Feld Marcia and Don Flaks Fleck Family Foundation Karen and Jim Frank/J.S. Frank Foundation Mary Ann Frenzel The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Joseph and Alma Gildenhorn Louise and David Gitlitz Darby Glenn and Patsy Malone Jean Golden Tiffany and Steve Haddad Alexander Henkin Dorene and Frank Herzog Linda and Steven Hill Ruth and George Hopfenbeck Elizabeth Katz and Reed Hundt Dorothy S. Jacobs Sandy and Dick Jones Laura and Michael Kaplan Sally B. Kaplan Thomas S. Kenan, III Laura and Gary Lauder Rosemarie Lavender Elaine and Rob LeBuhn Bruce Lee, The Rockwood Charitable Trust
REMEMBERING LIFE TRUSTEE CHARLES G. PATERSON
Bertel M. Lewis
The Solid Rock Foundation
Julia and Michael Fink
Perry J. Lewis
Velvet Buck at the St. Regis Aspen Resort
Pam Finkelman
Wells Fargo Community Relations
Ricki and Peter Fuchs
$800 AND ABOVE
Karen Goldman, in memory of Jerry Goldman
C. Glenn McLoughlin
INDIVIDUALS
Jane and Allen Grossman
Betty McManus
Anonymous
Bette and Donne Moen
Yuni and Richard Aaron
Betty Kelly Moore
June and Hovik Abramian
Joan and Rodger Gurrentz, in memory of Susan and Morton Gurrentz
Jane and Marc Nathanson
Michael Antonello
Navias Family Foundation
Todd Arcomano
Donald and Judith Norris
Claudia and Richard Balderston
Nancy Odén
Edward C. Berkeley
Beverle and Marc Ostrofsky
Melissa Eisenstat and Jonathan Blau
Cyrena and Lee Pondrom
Dr. Eugene L. Brand
Ellen Roeser
LesLianne and Richard Braunstein
Phil Rothblum
Kathy and Richard Broussard
Helen and Marc Rubenstein Linda J. Sandell
Dr. Margaret Waisman and Dr. Steven S. Callahan
Lorraine and Mark Schapiro
Ellie Caulkins
Enika and Richard Schulze Gordon H. Silver
Shirley Chann, in memory of Earl Kai Chann
Madeline and Michael Silverman
Laura and Robert Chen
Herb Silverstein
Dr. Janet Claman
Sandy and Stephen Stay
The Community Foundation Mortimer and Josephine Cohen Fund
Drs. John and Mary Sanfelippo Lilley Kristin and Chuck Lohmiller Mr. and Mrs. H. Montgomery Loud
Bill Stirling Alana Spiwak and Sam Stolbun Marion W. Weiss Mary and Hugh Wise Judith Wyman Zanin Family Foundation John Zrno BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT
Sistie Fischer
Gurrentz Family Anna and Jonathan Haas Margot and Dick Hampleman Paula and David Harris Barbara and Gerald D. Hines Barbara Reid and David Hyman Sandra and Bob Ireland Sandy and Charles Israel James Janossy Christine Karnes Ann and Stephen Kaufman, in honor of Ed Berkeley Bonnie Levinson and Dr. Donald Kay Martha and Garnett Keith Lisa See and Richard Kendall Gail Mizner and Michael Kendrick Lorraine and Bob Kingsbury
Phyllis M. Coors
Nancy R. Levi
Suzi Cordish
Lucia Swanson and Ted Levine
David J. and Vicki Perlmutter Dansky Fund
Rochelle and Max Levit
Sandra and Lynn Davis
Margaret and Daniel Loeb, Third Point Foundation
Terry and Ronny Davis
Marc Lipton
Mary Dominick-Coomer and Sven Coomer
Sam and Pete Louras
Aspen Self Storage Warehouses
Beverly and Shelley Don
ExxonMobil Foundation, Inc.
Evi and Evan Makovsky
Marsha and David Dowler
Maison Ullens
Nancy Manderson
Delia Duson
Neil-Garing Insurance
Margaret and Larry Marsland
Jerry Eberhardt
Sashae Floral Arts & Gifts
Dr. Nancy Maruyama
Cinda and Donnelley Erdman
Roberta McCoy
Patty and Robert Mack
JULY 7, 1929—AUGUST 8, 2018 Charlie Paterson made indelible contributions to our organization and to life in Aspen. He was an usher and rope-puller in the Eero Saarinen Tent at the very first summer of music in Aspen in 1949. After completing architecture study with Frank Lloyd Wright, he returned to build a historic role in Aspen’s development, culminating in his design and leadership of the Boomerang Lodge. His service to the Aspen Music Festival and School went beyond being an enthusiastic and influential Board member and eventual Life Trustee. He was a wise counsellor, generous donor, avid and knowledgeable music lover, and, always, a loving and true friend. Charlie, born Karl Georg Schanzer in Vienna, Austria, had a dramatic and consequential life story, chronicled in his wonderful memoir, Escape Home, yet he was always quiet, modest, and empathetic to all. In everything, he sought to help others be their best, never calling attention to himself. His love for his family was beautiful to see and know. His wife, Fonda, and daughters Carrie Paterson and Jenny Rose are in our thoughts.
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Cynthia and Jeffrey McCreary
Laura Werlin
Lucy Tremols and Galen Bright
Kristen Henry
Joyce McGilvray
Robert P. “Chet” Winchester
Mr. and Mrs. Douglas M. Cain
Dale and Stephen Hoffman
Carol Hood Peterson and Brooke A. Peterson
Karen Mende-Fridkis
Jeffrey Woodruff
Richard Carrigan
Dr. Leonard Horwitz
Joyce and Ken Polse
Robbie and John Michelman
ZG-CHICKS Advised Fund at Aspen Community Foundation
Carol and David Clemons
Virginia and Richard Irwin
The Pope Foundation
Sheila M. Cleworth
Melanie and Myron Roschko
Robert T. Connery
Dr. and Mrs. Joseph and Cathy Jankovic
Alix and John Corboy
Susan and Donald Jarzemsky
Judith C. Schalit
Judy and Archibald Cox, Jr.
Meg and Ralph Jones
Susan and Sheldon Schneider
Toby and Carleton Cronin
Elyse Seidner-Joseph and Kenny Joseph
Debra and Dennis Scholl
Suellen and Larry Kadis
Susan and Ford Schumann
Kathy and Richard Kaplan
In memory of George and Bertha Seifert
Ellen and Ed Monarch Caroline Y. and John Moore Betty Naster* Judith E. Neisser* John J. Nicholson Glenda and Doug Otten Essie Perlmutter Hensley and James Peterson Joanne Pittard Leslie and Harold Porosoff Pam and Jim Porter Irma Prodinger Robin and Harold Quinn Clare and Charles Reel Noyes W. Rogers Elaine and Marvin Rosenberg Nancy Goeres and Michael Rusinek Drs. Ruth and Steven Ryave Sally Saunders Kitty P. Sherwin Susan A. Ingerman and Arlene Siegelman Mr. and Mrs. Heinz K. Simon Robert Skolnick Susan Slaughter Susanne and Jack Sogard Austine Stitt Norma and Don Stone Cathy Mitchell Toren and Peter Toren Mi Hyon and Joaquin Valdepeñas The Vicino Family Charitable Fund of the Community Foundation of Broward County
BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT Aspen Skiing Company Family Fund at Aspen Community Foundation BBC Destination Management The GE Foundation Hearthstone House Hotel Monteleone
Anna Beth Culver John Czuwak Claire and Wayne Dailey Pat Damoorgian
Maury and Gerry Kaplan
Diana Rumsey
Cecily Cameron and Derek Schrier
Prof. Carolyn Fairbanks and Nick Kereakos
Mary Shafey
Dr. Edith W. King and Matthew King
Phyllis and Nathan Shmalo
Carmen and Jeffrey Kobacker
Bobbi and Gary Siegel
Christa Kohler
Alicia and Alan Sirkin
Valerie and Patrick Lally
Rona and Norman Smith
Melony and Adam Lewis
Linda Rae and J. Daniel Snyder
Dori and Robert Libson Nancy Machiah
Ziao Lan Zhang and Christopher Sommer
Laura Maggos Properties
Phyllis and Ron Steinhart
Nancy Magoon
Barb and Bob Sypult Nicole and Lex Tarumianz
Jeannette Mandelbaum
Anne and Bill Tobey
Carole and Arnold Bailis
The Jack, Karen, Hillary, and Max Friedman Philanthropic Fund of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh
Susan and Jay Mall, in honor of Fonda and Charles Paterson Sally and Bruce McMillen
Margaret F. Walker
Margaret Bates and Scott Johnson
The Gerson Family
Mary Mendenhall
Angi Wang
Janice Baucum
Elvie and Yale Gieszl
Connie Heard and Edgar Meyer
Hanna M. Warren
Michael Behrendt and Ivan Cassar
Ethel and Bill Gofen
Carol Murphy and Michael Miller
Sam and Marshall Webb
Phyllis and Sanford Beim
Dr. and Mrs. William Mitchell
Sheila and Jack Weinberg
Meredith Bell
Lisa Levy Goldberg and Jon Goldberg
Shelah and Marc Moller
Beth Anne Goodman, in honor of Susan Beckerman
Donna and Roger West
Peggy Scharlin and Shlomo Ben-Hamoo
Eudice M. Morse
Peggy Wise
Carla F. and R. Stephen Berry
Anne and Wes Goyer
Judy B. Biondini
Lulie and Gordon Gund
Naughton-Nicholson Foundation/ Will F. Nicholson, Jr.
BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT
Nina McLemore National Federation of Music Clubs Oates, Knezevich, Gardenswartz, Kelly & Morrow, P.C. Pfizer Inc. Sigma Alpha Iota Texas Instruments Foundation Two Leaves and a Bud Tea Company $400 AND ABOVE INDIVIDUALS Anonymous
Drs. Nancy Thomas and Roger Davis Adelaide and James Davis Lee W. Dorsey Kay and Tom Dunton Lesha and Thomas Elsenbrook Zoe Eskin Nancy and Mike Estrada Mynan and Sam Feldman Barbara and Don Findlay Edmund Frank and Eustacia Su
Sally Shiekman-Miller
MaryAnn Tittle
Musselman Family
Sandra Blake
Kenneth H. Hannan
Jane and Carroll Novicki
AMFS Artist-Faculty Fund
Patti and Jay Webster
Rita and Herschel Bloom
Mary Ann and Jim Harris
Karin Reid Offield
The Arts Federation
Sallyann Wekstein
Sandra M. Moses and Harvey S. Bodker
Jack Hayflick
Dr. David S. Pearlman
Casady M. Henry
Aspen Constructors, Inc. – Michael Tanguay
Lynda and Ron Charfoos
Roslyn Harkavy
Don E. Miller
Rika and David Charley
Sally Greer and David Heil
Bethel Party Rentals
Jill Chozen
Sue and Bob Hess
Jean and Saul A. Mintz Family Foundation
Independence Press, Inc.
Sydney and Steven Cohen
Anne Hetlage
Dick Moebius
Town of Basalt
Peter R. Cohn
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Horwich
Ellen-Jane and Ben Moss
Kate Haugen and Carlton J. Hunke
Nassan Family
$200 AND ABOVE
Roberta Corbett, in memory of Freda Gail Stern
Ellen Hunt
Terrylin Neale
INDIVIDUALS
Sandy Simpson and Don Davidson
Carolyne T. Hyde
Ricki and Kerry Newman
Anonymous
E. Lee DeGolyer, III
Thomas Isaac
Lucy and Gary Nichols
BJ and Michael Adams
Kara Horner and Spencer Denison
Marsha and Bill Adler
Trine Sorensen and Michael Jacobson
Deb and Keith Oates
Ina and Jan Dlouhy
Robert C. Anderson
Penny and Charles Donelan
Ann and Doug Jones
Lynda Palevsky
Nadine Asin and Thomas van Straaten
Carol Dopkin
Martha Keith
Maria and Paul Dragoumis, in honor of Karen Smart
Meg and Phil Kendall
Judith Parkinson, in memory of Scott Parkinson
Marilyn Susman and Gary Auerbach
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas P. Owen
Sylvia Blau and Rabbi Samuel Kenner
Meghan and Aaron Pearlman
Carole Kirschner
Deborah Prince
Lisa and Joe Bankoff
Ron Drazin, in memory of Joseph Feldman
Kathy Barger
Susan and James Dubin
Roberta and Mel Klein
Dr. Cathrine Blom and Dr. Gordon Baym
Nancy S. Dunlap
Jessica Krane
Carol E. Paul and Glenn M. Earl
Judy Kravitz
Christine S. and Leif C. Beck
Karen and John Fagelson
Amy and Tom Kwei
Barbara and Karl Becker
Charlie Fields
Marilyn and Earl Latterman
Dr. William J. Bertschy
Ellie and Stuart Fine
Marcia Bishop
Richard Finkelstein
Carole and Gary Lazar DeDe and Moses Lebovits
Anne and Clarence Blackwell
Cheryl Fisher
Nancy Bryant and Chris Leverich
Kimberly Bloom
Margot Fleck
Denison Levy
Fran and Larry Blum
Mikey and Marty Lustberg
Michele Bodner
Audrey A. Sattler and Donald J. Fleisher
Annette and Lacy Boggess
David Frantz
Dr. Frank C. Marino Foundation, Inc.
Dorothy Fait and David Borenstein
Kathy and Jeffrey Friedland
Peggy and David Marks
Lotta and Stuart Brafman
Dorothy Frommer
Kathy Mayer
Harriett and Bob Breihan
Shirley and David Ginzberg
Colleen and Bill McAleer
Dr. and Mrs. Daniel M. Brener
DeeDee and Herb Glimcher
Deb and Bill McCanne
Linda and Bob Brining
Denise and Andy Goldfarb
Sharon and Dan Brooks
Sandy and Bill Goodglick
Joelle McDonough - Henry Claessens
K. Dane and Carter S. Brooksher
Annie and Jim Goodman
Bruce McEver
Wendy and Dale Brott
Nanette and Irving Greif, Jr.
Martha Mecom
Elizabeth Buccheri
Lois and Michael Haber
John Menninger
Shelley Burke and Al Nemoff
Elise and Allan Hall
Suzanne and Taber Meyers
The Butler Family
Per Hannevold
Trudy Ann Milcan
Susan and Paul Penn
Student tenor Roy Hage (L) in the titular role of the Aspen Opera Center’s production of Tales of Hoffmann, with student mezzo-soprano Lindsay Metzger (R) singing the role of Nicklausse.
Joan and Michael Marek
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 2018 ANNUAL REPORT
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Laurie Smith and Andy Prodanovic Gloria and Joe Pryzant Faith and David Rachofsky Ann and Gene Reiling Patricia Richards Lynette Richardson Mr. and Mrs. E.B. Robinson, Jr. Donna and Gino Rossetti David A. Roth David Sadroff Mary Salton Joann and Richard Sanders
Marilyn G. and Donald H. Schaffer Philanthropic Fund of the Dallas Jewish Community Foundation
Betty and Rob Shiels Fund of the Communities Foundation of Texas, Inc.
Anne Anderson
Judd Clarence
Blake Appleby
Chis Cohan
Dr. and Mrs. Joel Schneider
Dr. and Mrs. William F. Short
Richard Arnold
Lyn Rosensweig and Bruce Schnelwar
Robyn Samuels and Bruce Shragg
Carole and Paul Auvil
John R. Cohn Philanthropic Fund of the Dallas Jewish Comm. Foundation
Elyse Schostak
Sandy Smith
Joyce Semple
Julie and Barry Smooke
Jean and Mike Sewell
Lorraine and Pat Spector
Layne Shae
John Starr
Mary Ellen Sheridan
Tanai Starrs
Susan Sheridan
Marty Stonerock
Margaret and Mike Simmons
Kathy Hansen and Edward Sweeney John Czuwak, John Scott, Paul Streveler, and Katherine Tachau Carla and Kelly Thompson Linda and Denis Trupkin Suzanne and Michael Vernon Ruth and Bob Wade Rosalind Walter Pat Ward Mr. and Mrs. Perry M. Waughtal Tina and Brian Weiner Irene Weinrot Hans Widmer Lynn Asbury and John Wronosky Karen and Shelby Wyll BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT Hetta Heath & Associates Taylor Foundation $100 AND ABOVE INDIVIDUALS Anonymous Ann Abernethy Sarah C. Brett Smith and Stephen L. Adler
Alain Azizi Jim Bain Annie Baldo Kristin Balko Raifie Bass Karen Beard Daniel Becker Daniel Benavent Barbara Berkman Richard Berkshire Betsy P. Black Louise Riddell Bland
Dr. Michael Condie Ashley and Michael Connolly Sharon Cook Tom Cooper Gretchen Cooper Emily and Rick Corleto Bryan Cournoyer Corey Crocker Linda and Clay Crossland Sue Crowley James R. Custer, M.D.
Leslie and Jack Blanton, Jr.
Lorie D’Alessio
Karen M. Johnson, M.D., and Steven Blumenkranz
Paula Damaso Lisa Dancing-Light
Nancy and Evan Boenning
Bonnie and Mike Daniels
Rob Bordan
Sue and Richard de Campo
Kathie and Howard Brand
Jaird de Raismes
Adrienne Brandes
Amy Doherty
Joseph Brazie
Dr. John and Kathy Eckrich
Cindy Brinks
Harriet and Charles Edwards
Arlene Bronstein
Charlene and Pierre Eilian
Markell Brooks
Nina and David Eisenstat
R. Malcolm Brown, Jr.
Lucy and Dan Ellerhorst
Corin Brucker
Jennifer Engel
Emily R. Burr
Marita Fairbanks
Gordon and Ron Butz
Sylvia and George Falk
Nichole Campbell
Ruslan Faradzhov
Franci Candlin
Patti and Joe Farago
Paulette and Joseph Cantey
Mary Kate Farrell
Michele and Jim Cardamone
Margie and Larry Feinberg
Amy and Tom Carr
Bridget and Jesse Feng
Dr. Matthew and Paula Carr
Patricia and Thomas Foels
Mike Carr
Ed Foran
BJ and Jack Carter
Mark Fordham
Caroline Christensen
Linda S. Fossier
Greer and Bruce Fox
Karen and Michael Kaplan
Tim Mooney
Susan Salomon
Susan Vincent
Robin Fox
Peter Kelley
Karen Sandler
Donna and John Vogt
Sandra Friedman
Chris and Gary Kelly
Gayle B. Morgan and Jonathan Armytage
Nina and Joshua Saslove
Adam Funk
Stacey Kelly
Leah and Bill Moriarty
Marion A. Scharffenberger
Jennifer Causing and Peter Waanders
Kay and Alfred Gardner
Karen and Phil Kelton
Lydia Morrongiello
Donald D. Schiff
Carol and Hulse Wagner
Alma Garrett
Soon Duck Kim and Kang Il Kim
Stephen D. Morton
Judith J. Schramm
Sandy Waltner
Lauren Garrity
Krista Klees
Melanie Muss and Tracy Nichols
Marlene Schroeder
Riley Warwick
Jacqueline Rosen and Daniel George
Kathryn and John Koch
Lyn and Doug Nehasil
Reina and Alberto C. Serrano
Fred W. Weitz
Gloria and Robert Koenig
Richard Y. Neiley, Jr.
Nancy and Philip Shalen
Marj and Bill Wise
Carol Ann Jacobson Kopf
Drs. Sarah and Harold Nelson
Karlyn and Don Shapiro
Steve Wiseley
Barbara Gilmore Mark Giosi, in honor of Stephen Brint and Mark Brown
Janet Korenblat
Aaron Neustadt
Joyce and Charles Shenk
Wendy Wogan
Candice Girgis
Carly Kraemer
Win Norman
Carolyn and Dick Shohet
Melinda and John Wright
Betsy Schwarm and Rick Glesner
Happy Birthday Dad/Grandpa Fred! love, Josh, Ryan, and Gavin
Pat and Hiram Nowlan
Jill Shore
Ruth Wright
Robert Goldstein
Ann Spaeth and Raymond Ollett
Pat and Robert Silverman
Adrienne Zatorski
Tamara Goldstein
Doris La Mar
Robin Amster and Steve Olszewski
Jo Ann and Samuel Silverstein
Joe Zuena
Holly Goldstein
Stephen LaMar
Peggy and Paul Pace
Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Simpson, lll
David V. Gollon
Josh Landis
Frank Pajerski
JoAnn C. Skillett
Sue and John Goott
Marian and Leonard Lansburgh
Marilyn G. Palade
Dr. and Mrs. Charles C. Smith, III
Sylvia and Marvin Gordon
Michael Latousek
Alice and Charles Parker
Dawnette Smith
Naomi Grabel
Linda Lee
Ginny Car-Skaden Passoth
Chris Souki
Marlene and Dennis Grant
Lynne and Dan Levinson
Nancy Patton
Sally Spindel
Lori Guilander
Mark Lewis
Sandra and Fred Peirce
Pat Spitzmiller
Flossie and Evan Gull
Bonnie and Taylor Liebmann
Terry Lee and Bill Perich
Louise and Stanley Stevens
Jo-Ann Hall
Jennifer and Greg Long
Nancy Peterson
Diane and Stephen Stewart
Nancy Tate Hall
Mark Love
Susan C. Plummer
Pat and Tom Stocker
Richard Hart
Julie and Robert MacLean
Anne Powell-Riley
Susan Stone-Chen
Julia Herman
Martha W. Madsen
Wanda Wray Putnam
Nancy Stover
Susan and Chuck Hiller
Kristen Maley
Andy Quiat and Jane Keener-Quiat
Dr. and Mrs. Barry S. Strauch
Willie Hobson
Carolyn and Martin Manosevitz
Ewald Rainer
Max Taam
Liza Hogan
Julia Marshall/Mt. Daly Enterprises
Ellen and Milton Reitman
Dottie and Sandy Thomson
Shirley Holst, in memory of Jack Holst
Kelli Marshall
Jodi Richard
Charlotte Gibb and Dale Toetz
Ella McElya
Kay Richter and Stephen Buchmann
Ellen and Les Holst
Tommy Tollesson
Peter Rispoli
Emery Holton
Donna L. Meckfessel, in memory of Clement Meyer
Marie Torreano
Felicitas H. Ritrosky, M.D.
Monica Hooker
Mrs. Harriet Mehl
Alicia Turbidy
Thorn C. Roberts
Barbara Ilfeld
Ann E. Meyer
Tara Turner
Cristy Ann Robertson
Amy Rowe and Paul Jacob
Cynthia Milling
Paula and Bill Turner
Brittanie Rockhill
Sandy and Peter Johnson
Nancy and Charles Mitchell
Reine Fedor and Doug Turner
Ruth and Mel Ronick
Shael Johnson
Ari Mizrahi
Carlie Umbarger
Patti and Greg Rulon
Sally Anne Kaiser
Gerald Mohl
Jan and Rein van West
Mike Salamon
Monica Viall
BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT Sherry Achi/Skin Therapy Clinic Commander’s Palace Galatoire’s Restaurant Eli Lilly and Company Foundation Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra TIAA Bank Jack Wilkie Builder, Inc. * Denotes deceased supporter
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 2018 ANNUAL REPORT
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FINANCIAL OVERVIEW
In 2018 the Aspen Music Festival and School ended the year with an $80,000 operating surplus which the Board of Trustees transferred to the endowment. The AMFS spent the year focusing on new programs, such as the American Brass Quintet Seminar @Aspen and the Seraphic Fire Professional Choral Institute, while continuing to produce a balanced budget.
Rental and miscellaneous income 1%
Investment income Student fees
17% 28%
TICKET SALES
DEVELOPMENT
INVESTMENT INCOME
On July 3, 2018, a wildfire started in the Aspen valley near Basalt. The fire and the smoke it created continued through July and finally started to decrease in early August. It caused flights to be cancelled, fewer locals to leave their homes, and second homeowners to change their plans. We experienced a decrease in ticket sales over the first six weeks of our Festival. As the fire finally abated in week seven, we saw our ticket sales start to return to budgeted amounts. This natural disaster resulted in approximately $150,000 less revenue than was budgeted.
The AMFS raised $6.9 million for the operating fund in 2018. These contributions— which included annual fund gifts, benefit income, and grants—funded both general operations and special projects. While we fell short of our budget for individual giving by approximately $250,000, the Season Benefit, A Parisian Feast of Music, exceeded our budget by a similar amount.
In 2017 the AMFS began the process of decreasing the rate of its operating draw on the endowment. Historically the AMFS has drawn 5% of the previous 36-months average balance, net of fees. In 2017, the AMFS drew 4.75% and in 2018 the AMFS drew 4.63% with a goal of continuing to decrease the rate to 4.5% in 2019. This increasingly conservative approach was recommended by the AMFS’s Investment Committee in light of forecasted decreasing average returns in future years. The endowment fund increased from $72M to $77M from October 1, 2017, to September 30, 2018. The fund returned 5% for the fiscal year and averaged 8.5% for each of the past seven years.
REVENUE 8%
Ticket sales
4%
42%
Other earned income
Development (operating)
Management and general costs Ancillary programs 1%
15%
Marketing
27%
2%
Cost of sales-other earned income
4%
Summer staff compensation
8%
Student assistance and other school costs
EXPENSES
16% 23%
Administrative compensation
Faculty compensation 4%
Guest artist compensation
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 2018 ANNUAL REPORT
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ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL STATEMENT OF REVENUE AND EXPENSES As of September 30, 2018
9.30.18
2018 Budget
Variance of Actual to Budget
2017 Actual
Student fees
$4,716,431
Ticket sales
1,348,001
$4,630,300
$86,131
$4,339,915
1,505,000
(156,999)
1,444,052
715,634
731,500
(15,866)
706,762
Development (operating)
6,940,685
6,891,500
49,185
6,683,822
Investment income
2,872,687
2,886,900
(14,213)
2,889,799
180,897
222,000
(41,103)
146,293
16,774,335
16,867,200
(92,865)
16,210,643
Student assistance
2,993,914
2,935,400
58,514
2,842,045
Other school costs
1,545,310
1,489,700
55,610
1,381,940
4,539,224
4,425,100
114,124
4,223,985
Faculty compensation
2,702,712
2,756,700
(53,988)
2,589,527
Guest artist compensation
606,073
683,200
(77,127)
715,122
Administrative compensation
3,852,389
3,917,000
(64,611)
3,791,458
Summer staff compensation
1,385,832
1,404,700
(18,868)
1,328,107
665,568
675,500
(9,932)
573,182
321,907
344,300
(22,393)
363,007
REVENUE
Other earned income
Rental and miscellaneous income TOTAL REVENUE
EXPENSES Student assistance and other school costs:
TOTAL
Cost of sales-other earned income Marketing Ancillary programs Management and general costs TOTAL EXPENSES NET FROM OPERATIONS
Capital improvements - unfunded Bucksbaum capital reserve Transfer of staff salaries to capital campaign and project budgets Transfer (to)/from endowment Cushion/contingency NET REVENUE
267,670
256,000
11,670
212,375
2,417,885
2,373,600
44,285
2,374,970
16,759,260
16,836,100
(76,840)
16,171,733
15,075
31,100
(16,025)
38,910
0
0
0
(28,485)
(50,000)
(50,000)
0
(50,000)
119,000
119,000
0
143,719
(84,075)
0
(84,075)
(104,144)
0
(100,000)
100,000
0
$0
$100
($100)
$0
225 MUSIC SCHOOL ROAD ASPEN, CO 81611
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www.aspenmusicfestival.com