Free Livestreams Return in 2022

FREE LIVESTREAMS RETURN

STAFF REPORT

This summer, the Aspen Music Festival and School will once again present a series of free livestreams of select concerts. Broadcast in real time from the Benedict Music Tent, the livestreams will be available to view on the AMFS Virtual Stage: aspenmusicfestival.com/virtual-stage.

What started as pre-recorded virtual events in 2020 developed into last year’s livestreams—marking the first time the AMFS broadcast real-time events from the iconic Tent venue.

“The response to those 2021 livestreams was great,” says AMFS VP for Marketing and Communications, Laura Smith. “We had people tune in from all over the world who had been students here in past decades, former audience members who can no longer come to Aspen, musicians’ families, artist fans . . . there was a lot of joy generated by those broadcasts.”

Last winter the AMFS continued offering free virtual music with the debut of its Aspen Armchair Concerts—a series of online recitals by artists with deep Aspen roots, which covered a variety of genres, from all-Beethoven piano sonatas to a solo saxophone evening. “Again, we had such a nice response from people who enjoyed connecting with these artists in these intimate presentations. Through these concerts, they were reconnecting with their Aspen experience; we got so many letters of deep appreciation,” says Smith.

2022 Livestream Schedule:

Aspen Chamber Symphony July 1, 5:30 pm MT The rising young jazz pianist Matthew Whitaker joins celebrated Aspen alumna and renowned conductor Alsop for the Aspen Chamber Symphony’s first concert of the season. Program includes Barber’s First Symphony and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.

Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra July 11, 4 pm MT This year’s Piano Competition Winner will perform Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor. Also on the program, Brahms’s Second Symphony.

Aspen Chamber Symphony July 15, 5:30 pm MT Acclaimed by the Baltimore Sun as “one of the biggest pianistic talents to have emerged in this country in the last

25 years,” pianist Terrence Wilson makes his Aspen debut in Liszt’s uber-virtuosic First Piano Concerto led by AMFS Music Director Robert Spano.

Aspen Festival Orchestra July 24, 4 pm MT In her Aspen debut, outstanding violinist Diana Adamyan takes on Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto in D minor. Conductor Lionel Bringuier leads the AFO in three works by Ravel.

Aspen Festival Orchestra July 31, 4 pm MT Hear the extraordinary Augustin Hadelich perform the Violin Concerto by Sibelius. Music Director Robert Spano leads Mahler’s First Symphony.

Augustin Hadelich, violin | July 31

Aspen Chamber Symphony August 5, 5:30 pm MT British pianist Paul Lewis plays Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto. Aspen alumnus Kerem Hasan leads a program that also includes violinist Fiona Shea performing Bruch’s First Violin Concerto.

Aspen Festival Orchestra August 14, 4 pm MT AMFS alumna and pianist extraordinaire Joyce Yang returns to Aspen for a performance of pianistic pyrotechnics in Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto.

Joyce Yang, piano | August 14

Mozart’s Don Giovanni August 18, 7:30 pm MT Acclaimed Mozartian and conductor Jane Glover leads the magnificent singers of the Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS program in Mozart’s provocative work.

Aspen Festival Orchestra August 21, 4pm MT AMFS Music Director leads the AFO and special guests in Berlioz’s Requiem—a season finale that offers a monumental, rarely performed work designed for a 188-piece orchestra a 210-member chorus.

Robert Spano | August 21