Aspen Music Festival and School Festival Focus - Week 7

FESTIVALFOCUS YOUR WEEKLY CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE

SUPPLEMENT TO THE ASPEN TIMES

MONDAY, AUGUST 8, 2022

VOL 32, NO. 7

In Debut, Melissa White Plays Vivaldi’s Four Seasons PIPER STARNES

Festival Focus Writer

On Thursday, August 11, American violinist Melissa White makes her Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) debut as soloist-conductor for Bach’s Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041 and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Calling this assignment “a tremendous vote of confidence,” AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher says, “we think Melissa can carry this off, and she will.”

A brilliant violinist with experience in many areas, White is an artist who can do it all. On stage, she has performed with leading ensembles across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. On screen, White’s violin solo was featured in the soundtrack to Jordan Peele’s 2019 psychological thriller Us. Her musical reach even stretches beyond the classical genre through her performances with pop artists Pharrell Williams, Bruno Mars, Alicia Keys, and Lauryn Hill.

Her next arena to conquer will be none other than Aspen’s Harris Concert Hall this Thursday evening. AMFS Vice President for Artistic Administration Patrick Chamberlain says that the venue’s acoustics will be just right for White’s Baroque program of Vivaldi and Bach. “A lot of times, Baroque music is played in halls that are, frankly, just too big for it. The clarity and sparkle that this music takes on when it’s played in an intimate setting like Harris Hall, I think, will be a revelation for people who have maybe not heard it in this context,” he says.

White will play and conduct these

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Melissa White performs a Baroque program on Thursday, August 11, in her Aspen Music Festival and School debut. The concert will include Bach’s Violin Concerto in A minor and Vivaldi’s most famous work, the Four Seasons.

beloved works alongside an ensemble composed of AMFS students—an opportunity for all participants to help craft the interpretation of the repertoire. White says, “I’m looking forward to working with these incredible musicians because I know that they will also take leadership. It’ll be a true collaborative experience, so I’ll guide them to get started, and then hopefully, I’ll create a space that allows them to be their most creative selves.”

A leader in her community, White regularly mentors youth with her fellow Harlem String Quartet members and at New York University’s Steinhardt School, where she serves as music artist faculty. White also co-founded Intermission, a program that “unites body, mind, breath, and music making through yoga and meditation.” In her teaching and performance, she’s found that

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See Melissa White, Festival Focus page 3

John O’Conor Returns to Perform All-Beethoven Recital PIPER STARNES

Festival Focus Writer

On Saturday, August 13, Irish pianist John O’Conor returns to the Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) to perform some of Beethoven’s most memorable piano sonatas: “Pathétique,” “Moonlight,” and “Appassionata.” Classical music fans may know these pieces but it is its own experience to hear O’Conor’s expert interpretation of them.

“John is another figure who needs no introduction to Aspen audiences—he’s been here many years,” AMFS Vice President for Artistic Administration Patrick Chamberlain begins. “When you see his program, at first glance, you might say, ‘why do I need to come to hear these three pieces again? They’re ubiquitous. They’re performed so frequently on Aspen stages, on classical radio, and in concert halls around the world.’ I would say, ‘Well, yes, but you haven’t

heard John O’Conor play them. John has a way of bringing such authority. He owns this repertoire.’”

O’Conor is known for his authentic sense of the German-Austrian style and a firm grasp of how Beethoven’s music was intended to sound. O’Conor says,“Haydn taught Beethoven, Beethoven taught Czerny, Czerny taught Liszt, Liszt taught Tausig, Tausig taught Barth, Barth taught Kempff, and Kempff taught me. So, there is a direct lineage back to Beethoven and Haydn.”

O’Conor has released several Beethoven albums throughout his career, including the complete piano sonatas, piano concertos, bagatelles, and cello sonatas, making him known as “one of the world’s premier Beethoven interpreters.” The “Pathétique,” “Moonlight,” and “Appassionata” sonatas hold a special place in O’Conor’s heart, as they were the pieces featured on his first recording in 1986. “People often ask me

John O’Conor will perform a solo recital featuring some of Beethoven’s most famous sonatas—the “Pathétique,” “Moonlight,” and “Appassionata”—in Harris Concert Hall on Saturday, August 13.

See John O’Conor, Festival Focus page 3

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MONDAY, AUGUST 8, 2022

FESTIVALFOCUS | YOUR WEEKLY CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE

Supplement to The Aspen Times

Joyce Yang Tackles Virtuosic Prokofiev Piano Concerto JESSICA MOORE

Director of Marketing

AMFS alumna and perennial audience favorite Joyce Yang returns to the Benedict Music Tent on Sunday, August 14 to perform Prokofiev’s electrifying Third Piano Concerto in C major.

Making his Aspen conducting debut, Thomas Wilkins leads Yang and the Aspen Festival Orchestra in a program that also includes Amer’ican by James Lee III and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.”

Now the chair of orchestral conducting at Indiana University and formerly the longtime music director of the Omaha Symphony, Wilkins was accepted to the Aspen Music Festival and School while in graduate school but could not afford to attend.

From those days as a “poor, starving graduate student,” Wilkins says his appearance at the AMFS “has come full circle for me in a poetic way.”

Wilkins says the Prokofiev piano concerto is one of his favorite pieces of the piano repertoire. “It grooves sometimes, it sings other times. Four pitches into the piece and I’m already in love.

It’s just so wonderfully lyrical and passionate before the pianist even plays a note.”

Yang, the pianist in this instance, is no stranger to this concerto. But, she says “it shakes me up every time I go on stage with this piece because it’s like getting zapped by electricity. It goes by so quickly, there’s absolutely no time to be unsure. It’s one of those pieces that grabs you from the first moment you hear it and doesn’t let you go.”

Yang’s relationship to this concerto runs particularly deep, as she credits Prokofiev’s work for changing the entire trajectory of her life. At the age of 11, Yang traveled to the United States from her native South Korea to learn English and study music at The Juilliard School. While at school, she heard the piano concerto for the first time and became, as she says, “addicted to it. I listened to it all day and all night and couldn’t wait to play it.”

While the piece is technically and musically challenging for any pianist no matter their age, for an 11-year-old, it presents an even bigger challenge. Yang recalls she could barely reach some of the chords, but threw herself into conquering the work.

At age 13, she was chosen to represent the Juilliard Pre-College Division at the school’s gala event, playing the first movement of Prokofiev’s Concerto with the Juilliard Orchestra under the baton of Leonard Slatkin. That performance resulted in an invitation to join an artist management agency and cemented her decision to stay in the United States.

With her career “completely wrapped around Prokofiev’s Third,” Yang says, “it doesn’t matter that I’ve known it for over 20 years. Its incredible rhythmic energy awakens every part of you every time you hear it.” Not only that, but the physical and mental demands of the work require intense preparation. She says “there are moments of true challenge no matter how many times you tackle it. Things are always incredibly on the edge.

You must get to a point where there can be no fear, no doubt in your mind.”

Yang and Wilkins have performed together on several

Joyce Yang plays Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto on August 14.

This concert will stream live on the AMFS Virtual Stage. Also on the program is Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony, “From the New World.”

occasions, and so both artists are looking forward to embarking on this musical adventure in Aspen. Of Wilkins, Yang notes, “there is so much joy coming out of him that it gives me incredible energy. He calms me down and shows me a way to enjoy.”

For his part, Wilkins says, “when you have a soloist that is really mature and really talented, when they have an understanding that the superstar in the room is not either one of us, it’s the music— then the sky is the limit for how much fun you can have together.”

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FESTIVALFOCUS | YOUR WEEKLY CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE

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MONDAY, AUGUST 8, 2022

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MELISSA WHITE SEEKS NEW VISION OF FOUR SEASONS Continued from Festival Focus page 1

this is all connected to the storytelling process.

When it comes to a work with so much story and imagery like Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, , White finds it helpful to tie together its overall arc. “I really like to try to find out as much as I can about where the composer was in terms of location and in terms of the period of their life,” she says. “But then, in terms of presenting it to the audience, I really like to think about storytelling in a way that sparks their imagination.”

Vivaldi’s iconic work is based on a collection of sonnets exploring the environment, animals, and community life

“It’s like a season of life. It goes through circles with lots of motion, then stillness, then chaos, and all of the emotions that are involved.”

— Melissa White, on Vivaldi’s Four Seasons

during spring, summer, autumn, and winter. As much as the music is about literal nature, White comments that it’s also about the seasons we go through as people and what that can entail. She says, “It’s like a season of life. It goes through circles with lots of motion, then stillness, then chaos, and all of the emotions that are involved.” “[The Four Seasons] is a work we’ve heard a lot. [White will be] putting her own stamp on it and sharing it with our audiences,” Chamberlain says. “Melissa’s another great rising star violinist and someone we’re thrilled to present for her debut.”

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Tuba Student Mason Soria Wins LA Phil Position O’CONOR TO NICK EDWARDS-LEVIN

Festival Focus Writer

For many musicians, winning an audition with a full-time orchestra is a dream come true. For AMFS tuba alumnus Mason Soria, the dream has come true—three times. The latest: Soria secured a position with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, one of the world’s most prestigious orchestras.

A 23-year-old California native who moved to Frisco, Texas at age five, Soria began playing the tuba in sixth grade.

For years, Soria practiced the tuba rigorously, playing with his high school orchestra. He was always passionate about music but hadn’t yet begun to seriously consider it as a career path.

His ambitions started to grow in his junior year of high school when he won the principal tuba position in the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra. “I got that experience, Mason Soria, 23, will begin his new position in the Los Angeles Philharmonic as a tuba player this September. which made me realize this is what I want to do with my life.

I want to be a tuba player in a professional orchestra and sit down before even a single note of music had been played. in that chair,” Soria says. This position opened the door to Next came four rounds of auditions: a preliminary round, the several significant opportunities, including a tour of China semi-finals two days later, and the next day, both the finals with the orchestra in the summer of 2015. and super finals. After playing the super finals, which consistFor his undergraduate degree, Soria studied at the Univer- ed of playing alongside the rest of the orchestra’s low brass sity of North Texas on a full music scholarship. In his senior section, Soria had to wait an hour for the final decision. “It year, Soria won his first position with a professional ensem- went slowly,” he says. ble, the Baton Rouge Symphony Soria’s first summer at the Orchestra. A per-service orchesAMFS was in 2019, when he won tra, which pays musicians for each a fellowship and studied with performance as opposed to the artist-faculty member Warren entire season, Soria was able to Deck. His next summer in Aspen, balance the position with school, 2021, he won the Brass Concerto even after beginning his master’s Competition. This summer, Soria — Mason Soria degree at the University of Miami. is using the Festival and its busy In his last year of his master’s studies, Soria won the tuba schedule as a way to prepare for life as a professional. “I’m position at the Richmond Symphony in Virginia. He spent forever grateful for this Festival and for the town,” Soria says. his last months as a student commuting from Miami to Rich- “You just meet so many people, you make so many connecmond for performances—a round trip drive of 28 hours. He tions with students and faculty members.” was prepared to move to Richmond full-time after graduatFor the first time in his young career, Soria doesn’t have to ing and realize his dream of being a professional tuba player. ask himself what’s next. He’s arrived at one of the world’s “When I won the Richmond audition, I was ready to go and best orchestras in one of the world’s most famous cities. start playing professionally and making money, and I was (Soria, a lifelong Lakers fan, is especially excited.) He said he going to be happy with that,” Soria said. could see himself staying at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Little did he know his job would be short-lived. After just for 40 years—and he’d still be younger than retirement age. five weeks at Richmond, Soria won the audition at the Los The most important part, though, is to do what he loves evAngeles Philharmonic. From the start, the process was dif- ery day: play in an orchestra. “I’m here, I’m going to enjoy it,” ferent than other auditions; in order to be invited, each tuba Soria says. “To have a great musical life and share it with the player had to submit a resumé, which narrowed the field world—I’m happy with that.”

“To have a great musical life and share it with the world— I’m happy with that.”

PLAY BELOVED PIANO SONATAS Continued from Festival Focus page 1 how many times I’ve played these, and I have actually no idea,” he says. “They ask, ‘Do you not get bored?’ And I say, ‘Never, never, ever.’”

Chamberlain confirms this from the audience’s perspective and says, “Even if it’s your thousandth time encountering these works, I believe we’ll hear something for the first time in John’s performances. That, to me, is what’s exciting about returning to this repertoire time and time again. When they’re in the hands of a great artist, there’s nothing routine about a performance like this.”

Whenever and wherever O’Conor performs, he ensures that listeners will experience the music in a way that previous listeners haven’t, and future listeners won’t. “The piano is different. The audience is different. I feel different, so I play whatever I feel that night,” he says. Chamberlain adds, “They’re works that can withstand hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands of performances, particularly in the hands of someone with so much authority and experience.”

This past March, O’Conor performed two of this recital’s sonatas during an Aspen Armchair Concert streamed on the AMFS Virtual Stage. Finally bringing the repertoire back to an in-person audience, he says, “I’ve really missed it and I’ve missed seeing everybody out there, so I’m really looking forward to coming back.”

AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher recalls O’Conor’s many years at the Festival as an artist-faculty member. “He’s become a beloved presence with many strong friendships in Aspen. We’re really thrilled that he’s back with us.”

A strong proponent of knowing the composer before performing their music, O’Conor shares with a laugh, “I learned an awful lot about Beethoven the man—the rudeness, the arrogance, and all that sort of thing. I was kind of fascinated by this incredibly dreadful man.”

In recital, O’Conor puts his in-depth research and study of the composer to use, exposing the deepest emotions of Beethoven’s piano sonatas. “As I say to my students when I’m teaching, there’ll be people at the recital who have never heard these pieces before. You’ve got to say to them, ‘you can’t fall asleep, you can’t just read your program, you’ve got to listen—this is fantastic music!’”