Aspen Music Festival and School Festival Focus - Week Four

The Aspen Times | Monday, July 18, 2022 | X1

FESTIVALFOCUS YOUR WEEKLY CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE

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MONDAY, JULY 18, 2022

VOL 32, NO. 4

Broadway Talent Sings THE SOUND OF MUSIC SARAH CHASE SHAW

Festival Focus Writer

Musical theater hit a high note in the 1950s, thanks in part to a creative partnership between composer Richard Rodgers and dramatist-lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II. Their pioneering form of narrative storytelling ushered in a new age of musical classics based on real life stories. In 1958, the duo came across Maria von Trapp’s memoirs; a new musical, The Sound of Music, was born.

Set in Austria on the eve of World War II, the story—which most in the audience are surely familiar with—centers on Maria, a freespirited young nun-turned-governess to seven children. Simultaneously intimidated and enchanted by the children’s widowed father, Captain Georg von Trapp, she ultimately wins his hardened heart.

After a three-year delay, this beloved musical—the third collaboration between Theatre Aspen and the Aspen Music Festival and School—is finally set to be performed for two nights in the Benedict Music Tent on July 25 and 26. Building upon the success of The Sweetest Sounds: The Music of Richard Rodgers in 2021 and South Pacific in 2019, this concert features a cornucopia of talent that ranges from Broadway stars to local children from the Roaring Fork Valley.

Says Jed Bernstein, executive director of Theatre Aspen, “we are so thrilled that Christy Altomare (Maria) and Brandon Victor Dixon (Captain von Trapp) are returning to the Benedict Music Tent stage again this year, demonstrating how Aspen truly is a

SCIENCE OF MUSIC LECTURE SERIES This summer, on select Monday evenings at 6 PM, the Aspen Science Center and the Aspen Music Festival and School bring back the popular Science of Music series of lectures and demonstrations aimed at the “enthusiastic novice.”

No previous knowledge of physics or music theory is needed to enjoy these explorations.

Brandon Victor Dixon and Christy Altomare will perform the lead roles of Captain Georg von Trapp and Maria Rainer. Dixon and Altomare performed in The Sweetest Sounds: The Music of Richard Rodgers at last summer’s Festival.

place that attracts world-class artists.” “Now in its third iteration, one of the great joys of this collaboration with the Aspen Music Festival and School is that it combines the extraordinary musicianship of the Festival Orchestra with a bevy of Broadway stars,” he continues.

The inclusion of a full orchestra is an

opportunity that gives music students an exciting meld of professional and educational experiences, says Broadway veteran and conductor Andy Einhorn. “Playing a Golden Age musical in a large-scale presentation with singers and actors of this caliber is

Harris Concert Hall Acoustics July 18 | Harris Concert Hall

Music and Mathematics August 1 | Harris Concert Hall

Organ Acoustics August 8 | Aspen Community Church

See Sound of Music, Festival Focus page 3

Opera Star Sir Bryn Terfel Headlines Verdi’s Buoyant Falstaff SAMANTHA JOHNSTON

Festival Focus Writer

One of two operas staged for the Benedict Music Tent during the Aspen Music Festival and School’s summer season, Falstaff is a raucous and witty tale of a gluttonous and penniless knight’s efforts to reverse his financial fortune.

Written as Giuseppe Verdi’s final opera when the composer was nearly 80 years old, this comic opera in three acts comes to life on July 22 at 7:30 PM. Based on Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, the opera is recognized for its collaborative and creative blend of voices and sometimes cacophonous energy.

Set in Windsor, England, at the end of the fourteenth century, Sir John Falstaff attempts to woo the wealthy Alice Ford and Meg Page. What appears as the acceptance of his advances is only a means for the women to humiliate him. In

an opera that AMFS student and soprano Kresley Figueroa (Nannetta) calls “a raging good time,” the audience unites in Falstaff’s observation that life is but a joke.

Joining the talented artist-fellows and singers of the Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS (AOTVA) program is world-renowned Welsh bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel, a noted interpreter of the title role. Such collaboration between student and professional is a hallmark of the AMFS opera program. With co-artistic direction by legendary soprano Renée Fleming and Patrick Summers, artistic and music director of the Houston Grand Opera, the AOTVA brings the world’s most promising opera students together not only to elevate their artistic capacity, but also to better position themselves for success in an ever-changing and fast-paced performance industry.

According to soprano Katerina Burton (Alice Ford), “Bryn Terfel is the greatest bass-baritone of our generation. That I

Sir Bryn Terfel has been nominated for 12 Grammy awards and has won 4. He has defined many roles over the course of his career, from Mozart’s Figaro to Wagner’s Wotan to Verdi’s Falstaff.

See Falstaff, Festival Focus page 3

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Arie Vardi and Students Perform Mozart on Three Pianos PIPER STARNES

Festival Focus Writer

“No other composer is so natural and so simple. But in order to reach this simplicity and this natural playing, we have to work a lot. For the public, this is a rare opportunity to witness these wonderful, young pianists,” says Arie Vardi.

On Saturday, July 23, this internationally acclaimed piano pedagogue and Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) artist-faculty member presents A Mozart Evening in Harris Concert Hall.

Showcasing the talents of this season’s rising pianists— Anwen Deng, Illia Ovcharenko, and Ray Ushikubo—Vardi conducts his students in Mozart concertos for one, two, and three pianos.

The performance opens with Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466. AMFS CEO and President Alan Fletcher notes, “[This] concerto is widely considered the first work where Mozart becomes Mozart. He is suddenly a mature composer, and it is a huge favorite of pianists.” Each of Vardi’s hand-selected students will play one movement of the concerto, which he describes as “a kind of fun logistic work, so all the time [we play] musical chairs and change and change and change!”

Next on the program is the joyous and whimsical Concerto for Two Pianos in E-flat major, K. 365. This concerto features a smaller orchestra section, allowing for a playful, open dialogue amongst the soloists rather than a competition

Arie Vardi, an enthusiastic interpreter of Mozart’s works, will lead a selection of his students in an all-Mozart performance July 23. He and his students presented a similar concert of Bach piano works in Harris Hall in 2019.

between the two. It is believed that Mozart composed it to perform with his musically-gifted sister, Maria Anna (Nannerl). As Mozart grew from child prodigy to mature artist, he retained his youthful charm in this work which Vardi

describes as “full with sunshine, beautiful melodies, and fun.”

Adding one final piano to the stage, the evening comes to a close with the Concerto for Three Pianos in F major, K. 242,

See Vardi, Festival Focus page 3

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EINHORN TO CONDUCT BROADWAY MUSICAL Continued from Festival Focus page 1 invaluable for these students.”One of six kids who are all musicians, AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher says he has wanted to present this show for as long as he’s been at the Festival. “In a way, I owe my life to The Sound of Music,” he explains. “My mother heard the real von Trapp Family in their first U.S. tour (she was 16) and, on her first date with my father, she said that she wanted to have a huge family, all musicians (she was 17). It’s a true highlight of the summer to partner again with Theatre Aspen, presenting this timeless show that touches our hearts and our humanity.”

It’s a musical adventure that Einhorn invites the audience to listen to with fresh ears. “We know you know the songs,” says Einhorn. “We’re asking you to come to the show with new expectations. Part of our job as artists is to challenge you to not become complacent in your attitude or your intake of the information as it’s coming to you. Ultimately, we want you to walk away with a fresh appreciation for something you knew, or thought you knew.”

Cast in the principal role of Maria, Broadway star Christy Altomare—whose Nellie Forbush performance in the 2019 production of South Pacific wowed the audience—is partial to the song “The Lonely Goatherd.” “It hits such a sweet spot,” she says, “because [in the original Broadway musical]

IF YOU GO: THE SOUND OF MUSIC In Concert MONDAY, JULY 25 AND TUESDAY, JULY 26 7:30 PM | BENEDICT MUSIC TENT Tickets: $110, $50; limited number of $30 tickets for children 12 and under $500 with VIP after-party on July 25 only. it’s about Maria’s ability to calm the children down during a thunderstorm by diverting their attention to something happier.” “‘Do-Re-Mi’ is also a favorite,” she adds. “I just love the pieces where she’s helping the kids come out of their shells.”

Bringing The Sound of Music to the stage in Aspen in collaboration with Theatre Aspen was a brilliant move on the part of these two organizations, says Altomare. “There’s such a beauty and alignment in both classical music and musical

Andy Einhorn, who will conduct THE SOUND OF MUSIC In Concert, describes the music as “speaking directly to the heart.”

theater, and where better to stage this beautiful production than in Aspen?”

Einhorn sees The Sound of Music as the gift that keeps on giving. “We tend to think of this musical in such a plaintive simple manner, but in fact it’s incredibly deep. Rodgers and Hammerstein spoke directly to the heart and the human condition with this musical.”

Ultimately, he says, the power of the show lies in the ability of the music to carry the moment. “As a universal language, it connects us in a way that no other language can.”

ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL BOX OFFICE: 970 925 9042 OR ASPENMUSICFESTIVAL.COM Open daily, 12 pm – 4 pm or concert time or intermission, if applicable.

VARDI’S MOZART In Falstaff, Students to Sing Alongside Terfel EVENING WILL BE ON JULY 23 Continued from Festival Focus page 1

Continued from Festival Focus page 2 “Lodron.” The composition takes its name from Countess Antonia Lodron, who commissioned it to play with her two daughters. Just as when it was written in 1776, the concerto still requires cooperation and strategy to pull off. “The teamwork of a piano ensemble is not easy. The piano is a very precise instrument, and the tonal production is very precise,” Vardi explains.

The striking of the keys happens in a fraction of a second, making simultaneous playing a task in itself. Still, he insists that this is only the beginning. “We don’t want just to play together, we want to breathe together. We want to create some give-and-take relationship that each one of us will get our own individuality but still play like an ensemble.”

Throughout Vardi’s extensive 70-year career, he has performed and conducted on many of the world’s greatest stages, all while continuing to find lasting joy in teaching. Coming up on the age of 85, Vardi says, “The privilege to share music with the younger generation, to feel the freshness of youth in every day of teaching—that keeps you young.”

Calling Vardi’s evening an “only-in-Aspen happening,” AMFS Vice President for Artistic Administration Patrick Chamberlain emphasizes, “There’s nowhere to hide in Mozart. Every note has to speak, everything has to be completely honest. It’s such a good thing for all musicians to play Mozart, and so hearing these young soloists under Arie’s tutelage, with his leadership from the podium on these concerti, is really something not to be missed.”

get to play opposite him is so exciting, and I can’t wait to learn from him. He is the master of the singing actor. He can take anything and turn it into something incredible and special.”

The plot, which involves trickery and mischief with a story of young love sprinkled throughout, draws the audience in through a group of women who are bold, beguiling, quick-witted, and funny.

“As a lyric soprano, I am used to sweeping legato lines and romantic characters,” Burton says. “With Alice, it’s very different because she is such a quick wit. She has crazy and wonderful ideas that just come to her, and the music really reflects that.”

Historically, Shakespeare’s plays have been difficult to translate into opera because of the complexity of characters, range of emotions, and sheer number of words that must be condensed into a clear and concise story. With rarely a pause in the action, Verdi’s composition leaves very little time for applause.

“There are very few moments where it feels appropriate to clap and that’s purposeful,” Figueroa says. “In opera there are often lots of stops and starts. This is continuous. More like watching a movie.”

For those who can’t bear an opera without a love story, perhaps the best sub plot in Falstaff is the young and joyful love of Alice Ford’s daughter, Nannetta, and Fenton, a friend of Falstaff’s.

“It’s the most gorgeous and luscious music I’ve had the pleasure of singing,” Figueroa says. “There are a lot of conversational elements to the music. It’s more colloquial. It’s a truly interesting theatrical display that will continuously perk up your ears.”

For Paula Suozzi, who comes to Aspen from her role as

Kresley Figueroa, left, and Katerina Burton, right, sing Nannetta and Alice Ford, respectively, in Verdi’s Falstaff on July 22.

executive stage director for the Metropolitan Opera to stage and direct the AMFS’s production of Falstaff, a favorite theme is the idea of how women connect and come together while laughing at themselves in their worst moments.

“I want people to come into the theater, see themselves in some aspect of what’s happening on stage and have an emotional response to it,” Suozzi says. “And for Falstaff, hopefully it’s one of fun and joy.” “(Verdi) was a huge fan of Shakespeare. He read every Shakespeare play,” Suozzi says. “I feel like he got to the heart of the Merry Wives of Windsor, which is a mediocre play. I think the opera is actually much better than the play and I don’t normally say that.”

Both Figueroa and Burton see Falstaff as the perfect introductory opera. “If you really like a character, you can follow their track throughout the piece. It’s kind of like ‘choose your own adventure,’” Figueroa says. “Everyone has an interesting reason to be on the stage and it’s quite active for the audience, which isn’t typical in opera.”