Perfect Pairings

The season featured many concerts that paired artists new to the Festival with faces familiar to audiences.

Violinist Randall Goosby joined long-time guest conductor Nicholas McGegan for Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, pianist Terrence Wilson deftly prevailed over a light rain with his powerful performance of the Liszt Piano Concerto with Robert Spano and the Aspen Chamber Symphony, and Gil Shaham and Sterling Elliott—alumni from two generations— delighted audiences with their musical communication during the Brahms Concerto for Violin and Cello with the Aspen Festival Orchestra and conductor John Storgårds.

Frequent guest conductor Vasily Petrenko welcomed newcomer Alexander Malofeev to Aspen by taking him hiking up the mountains, and to the Tent with a breathtaking performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. American violinist Stephen Waarts, who delighted audiences in an unexpected 2019 Aspen debut stepping in for violinist Sergey Khachatryan, returned to perform Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the Aspen Chamber Symphony.

Armenian violinist Diana Adamyan made her Aspen debut with French conductor Lionel Bringuier and the Aspen Festival Orchestra on July 24 in a livestreamed performance of the Violin Concerto in D minor by composer and fellow Armenian Aram Khachaturian.

Thomas Wilkins made his Aspen conducting debut with beloved Aspen alumna and pianist Joyce Yang in an electrifying performance of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Wilkins also led the Aspen Festival Orchestra in James Lee III’s new work, Amer’ican, and the work that inspired it, Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony.

OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT

World-renowned Welsh baritone Sir Bryn Terfel sings the title role of Falstaff. (l–r) Fleming Fellowship Artists Kresley Figueroa (Nanetta), Katerina Burton (Alice Ford), Deepa Johnny (Meg Page), and Natalie Lewis (Mistress devise a plan to teach Falstaff a lesson as

(l–r) Zerlina