Midori plays Schumann's Violin Concerto; reunion with mentors

Midori plays Schumann’s Violin Concerto; reunion with mentors

AMY OLDENBURG Festival Focus Writer

Acclaimed violinist Midori will return to Aspen Friday, August 9 to play Schumann’s Violin Concerto with the Aspen Chamber Symphony at 6 pm in the Benedict Music Tent. The concert also features conductor Erik Nielsen as well as two of his past teachers, Elaine Douvas and Nancy Allen.

Midori isn’t new to Aspen; she first came as a student when she was eight years old. After her first summer in Aspen, she went on to study at The Juilliard Pre-College program and soon began performing in concert halls all over the world. For most of her life, Midori has been a remarkable international performer, a devoted teacher, and an innovative activist for music education across the globe. With a busy schedule, Midori has nonetheless prioritized a summer stop at the Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) for several years now.

Midori will be dazzling the crowd with Schumann’s Violin Concerto in D minor. This was one of Schumann’s last significant works that follows a traditional three movement quick-slow-quick theme. Written for prominent violinist Joseph Joachim in 1853, the piece was hidden for nearly one hundred years as Joachim and Schumann’s wife Clara believed the composer was descending into madness. The melancholic melodies and brooding rhythms culminate in a hypnotizing polonaise while the transcendent second movement is as charming as it is heartbreaking. The work is an achingly beautiful testament to the human spirit and Schumann’s struggle with his declining mental state. The Violin Concerto didn’t appear again until 1937 when Georg Kulenkampff premiered it with the Berlin Philharmonic.

With the Violin Concerto’s mysterious history, Asadour Santourian, AMFS vice president for artistic administration and artistic advisor, notes “since Midori is championing it, I think she has found the secret to the work, to convey and communicate its message.”

Violinist Midori performs Schumann’s mysterious Violin Concerto on August 9 at 4 pm in the Benedict Music Tent.

Midori will be conducted by Erik Nielsen, a fellow AMFS alumni, though far more recent. Standing out as an alumnus, “Erik has the extremely rare distinction of having studied in Aspen in three disciplines: as an oboist, harpist, and conductor,” says AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher. Nielsen became chief conductor of the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra in 2015 and has also served as music director of Theatre Basel.

Nielsen will be returning to Aspen to conduct his two former Festival and Juilliard teachers, oboist Elaine Douvas and harpist Nancy Allen in Martin’s Three Dances for Oboe, Harp, and Strings. Both Douvas and Allen feel great pride in this opportunity. “By playing with our former students, it shows the lineage that we share being a part of this Festival. We get to develop relationships with students at a young age, follow their careers, and then, in this case, perform with them. Our actual job in Aspen is to watch students’ careers grow,” says Allen.

When first meeting Nielsen shortly after he graduated high school, Douvas and Allen both saw his enormous potential. At the beginning of his musical career, Nielsen focused all his time on the oboe, but he knew that one day he would become a conductor. “Once I got to know Erik, he became my own inspiration,” says Douvas. “I feel lucky that I got to pick him up as a coach because many teachers at other conservatories didn’t want to teach somebody whose final plan wasn’t to be an oboe performer. But since I saw his potential, I called Juilliard’s admissions director and told him ‘I know this guy and we have to take him in,’” she says.

The three will celebrate their “reunion” with Martin’s piece. Martin based this work on flamenco dancing, so the audience will be delighted with exotic, catchy, and dance-like rhythms. “Even though this has been the hardest piece I’ve ever worked on, I never get tired of it,” says Douvas.

Nielsen will also be conducting the Aspen Chamber Symphony in the concert’s final piece, Mozart’s sparkling Symphony No. 39.