ANNUAL REPORT 2019 FISCAL YEAR October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019
ROBERT SPANO Music Director ALAN FLETCHER President and CEO
COVER (l–r) Robert Spano, AMFS music director; James Bass, Seraphic Fire; Duain Wolfe, Colorado Symphony Orchestra Chorus director; Mané Galoyan, soprano; and Kelley O'Connor, mezzo-soprano, on Final Sunday OPPOSITE Isaac Kay (l) and Hava Polinsky (r), AMFS Center for Orchestral Leadership students and mentors for the Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra’s second violin section, celebrate at a performance. ABOVE Alumnus Conrad Tao dazzled at his July 2 recital in Harris Concert Hall. PHOTO CREDITS Alex Irvin, Elle Logan, Carlin Ma
TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 Letter from the Board Chair 5 Letter from the President and CEO 6 Artistic Highlights 18 Student Experience 22 Education and Community 24 Benefits 2 6 Media and Broadcasts 2 8 Board of Trustees 30 Artist-Faculty 32 Family of Supporters 40 Financial Overview
I’m delighted to report to you about the 2019 Fiscal Year, the 70th anniversary summer of the Aspen Music Festival and School. The “Being American� theme of the 2019 season brought us together around positive universal values. It was a season that made important contributions to the living art form of classical music, supporting the brilliant artists who devote their lives to it, while bringing joy and beauty to the thousands who enjoyed their performances. The 2019 summer season included more than 400 events. More than 680 emerging young musicians came to learn and work with revered masters in the studio and on stage in performance. More than 1,000 donors showed their passion and support for an organization that offered transformative moments for audience members, and transformative summers for young musicians. More than 100,000 enjoyed what we created together. Our 2020 summer season will share two themes: Beethoven, whose 250th birthday is inspiring in and of itself, and the role of women in classical music. We trust both will inform and infuse a great summer. We have begun work on our strategic plan for the coming years from a position of artistic and financial health. Tickets sales were well over budget. Student numbers and quality were as strong as they have ever been. Our healthy long-term financial management and Board-Designated Endowment funds provide us a solid foundation, more than enough to cover unpredictable shortfalls in programming revenues. We are poised to dream big. I know you will join us in doing so. Meanwhile, I extend my heartfelt thanks to each of you who contributed in your own way to the truly extraordinary 2019 season.
Michael Klein Chair, Board of Trustees
One of the best things about Aspen is that every season includes old friends, but also has its own flavor and flair. The 2019 season theme of “Being American” was particularly fresh, and gave us a full summer to delve more deeply into the richness of the American classical genre. American classical music, like America itself, comprises many voices. Some are suffused with light and hope, the promise of the frontier, of boomtimes; others evoke rawness and pain, the shadows of isolation, dislocation, of the American Dream beyond reach. Some voices echo home countries left behind, as with the immigrants fleeing fascism in the 1930s; some speak in a modern multicultural vernacular as with the immigrants of today. Our educational work is, of course, all about new voices. Many Aspen alumni graced our stages this summer, some making their debuts as guest artists like the 25-year-old firecracker violinist Esther Yoo, and some returning mid-super-star-career to take up a teaching mantle, like Renée Fleming. (See page 20 to read more about her new co-artistic directorship— with Patrick Summers—of the Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS program.) Throughout each summer, the twin parts of Aspen’s mission play off each other just this way—the intensive educational work elevated by professional performance, the performances deepened in meaning by the educational work. Every Aspen stakeholder shares in the beauty and wonder created by this singular alchemy. This report serves to celebrate and remind us all of the meaningful work we do together, last year, and every year. Thank you for being a part of it.
Alan Fletcher President and CEO 5
ARTISTIC HIGHLIGHTS
IN 2019, MUSIC DIRECTOR ROBERT SPANO LED A SEASON OF DEPTH AND BREADTH, FROM BACH TO BAROQUE TO BARTÓK TO BROADWAY, WITH MUCH IN BETWEEN.
SEASON THEME: “BEING AMERICAN”
The season opened with the Pacifica Quartet playing the elegiac Lyric for Strings by George Walker, the first AfricanAmerican to win a Pulitzer Prize in music, and the first Sunday afternoon featured Joyce Yang giving an electric performance of Gershwin’s Piano Concerto. Throughout the summer, each week featured works by the iconic American composers mentioned above. They were joined by contemporary voices such as Jake Heggie, Gabriela Lena Frank, Andrew Norman, and Wynton Marsalis; works by émigré composers from many eras; and settings of the poetry of Whitman, Melville, Dickinson, and Poe.
OPPOSITE Támas Pálfalvi, corno di caccia, was one of the rising young artists hand picked to perform in a special event presentation of Bach’s complete Brandenburg Concertos. OPPOSITE INSET Music Director Robert Spano RIGHT Pianist Joyce Yang exuded sheer delight on opening Sunday as she performed Gershwin’s Piano Concerto with the Aspen Festival Orchestra.
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
The season theme of “Being American” gave Aspen’s artistic leadership a chance to showcase a colorful tapestry of American voices. Anchored by signature American music works by Copland, Gershwin, Bernstein, Barber, and Ives, the expanse of the full season allowed an exploration of so much more.
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ABOVE (foreground l–r) Ariana Prappas, soprano (Osa); Erin Theodorakis, mezzosoprano (Countess Charlotte Malcolm); Geoffrey Hahn, baritone (Count CarlMagnus Malcolm); (background l–r) Sophia Hunt, mezzo-soprano (Mrs. Anderssen); Jehu Otero, tenor (Mr. Erlanson); Grace Skinner, mezzo-soprano (Mrs. Segstrom) OPPOSITE (l–r) David Weigel, bass-baritone (Figaro); Jessica Niles, soprano (Susanna); Avery Boettcher, soprano (Countess Rosina Almaviva); Xiaomeng Zhang, lyric baritone (Count Almaviva); Megan Samarin, mezzo-soprano (Cherubino)
NIGHTS OF BIG DRAMA Houses were packed at the two mainstage operas of the Aspen Opera Center, Sondheim’s A Little Night Music conducted by Andy Einhorn, and Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro conducted by Jane Glover (with both staged and directed by AOC director Edward Berkeley). Both featured not only voices powerful and tender, but also canny comic timing.
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ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
THE SOUNDS OF BEING AMERICAN The season theme, Being American, offered an opportunity to explore cultural and musical traditions—from ragtime and Broadway to country music and the American frontier—that have inspired American classical composers. Americana delighted a packed Harris Hall at an evening of great American song called Red, Hot, and Blue. Bright lights from the Aspen Opera Center sang a selection of quintessentially American songs by Scott Joplin, Stephen Foster, Vernon Duke, Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, and Rodgers and Hammerstein.
PASSION AT PROVING UP
In a collaboration with his Better Angels Society, documentarian extraordinaire Ken Burns joined AMFS president and CEO Alan Fletcher and artist-faculty bassist Edgar Meyer for a sneak preview and discussion of Burns’s eight-part documentary Country Music. The packed house hung on the moving stories told on screen and the fascinating panel discussion that followed. “Country music is a broad, complex, inter-generational story that’s American history firing on all cylinders,” Burns said. “I don’t know why it took this long in my professional life for me to get to it.”
Attendees could not stop talking about the concert performance of thirty-eight-year-old composer Missy Mazzoli’s (right) contemporary chamber opera Proving Up. It told an aching story from the 1860s frontier where families struggled in pursuit of their American Dream; singers from the Aspen Opera Center rendered its emotional and musical experience with a rare intensity.
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
Baritone Nathan Gunn (above right) and Broadway star Christy Altomare (above left) anchored a dazzling concert performance of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific in a first-ever collaboration with Theatre Aspen at the Benedict Music Tent. Renowned Broadway conductor Andy Einhorn (inset) led the orchestra.
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EXPLORATIONS Aspen’s artistic leadership encourages experimentation and innovation in programming, which leads to concert experiences that surprise and delight audiences. Longtime AMFS artist-faculty member Arie Vardi led a one-of-a-kind evening with four pianos, featuring three of his extraordinarily talented students playing Bach’s concertos for one, two, three, and four keyboards, and joined in himself for the final quartet. Artist-faculty member Darrett Adkins gave a moving performance of AMFS composerin-residence Stephen Hartke’s Da pacem, a reflective piece grappling with modern America. While composing the concerto, Hartke learned of the massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, turning what had begun as an abstract musical elegy into a very real one. As only a high priest can, pianist Daniil Trifonov made believers out of audience members who came to hear his program of works from each decade of the twentieth century. Works included Berg’s Piano Sonata, Messiaen’s from Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus, and Adams’s China Gates. Vijay Iyer’s elaborate “Rahde Rahde: Rites of Holi,” filled Harris Hall with color—the sounds of Indian music and the sights of an impressionist film by Prashant Bhargava. Aspen Times critic Harvey Steiman noted it “packed plenty of flavor.” Also with film, this time in the Tent, was a reprise of composer and AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher’s noted work If on a winter’s night a traveler with a film by Bill Morrison.
RIGHT BOTTOM Alumna and guest violinist Fabiola Kim (l) warms up with AMFS violin student Brian Allen (r) for the special event performance of Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major.
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
RIGHT TOP Cellist and artistfaculty member Darrett Adkins in his performance of Stephen Hartke’s Da pacem with 2018 Aspen Conductor Prize winner Johannes Zahn, who returned as AMFS assistant conductor for the 2019 season.
At least 400 audience members joined 40 musicians on an absolutely glorious summer’s day outside the Benedict Music Tent for a transcendent hour-long experience with John Luther Adams’s aleatoric, environmental work Sila: The Breath of the World, which swelled and hushed along with the grass, trees, and mountains around it.
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The American String Quartet, in its 45th year together, played something they noted truly “stretches the brain” with Vivian Fung’s quartet Insects and Machines. Said Aspen Times arts editor Andrew Travers, “There isn’t much string music that the American String Quartet has not heard or played. But Fung has done it with this wild 12-minute trip down the sonic rabbit hole—mimicking the buzz of swarming insects, making a waltz out of it, circling the listener’s head like a bug in pursuit, and then gradually morphing it into a mechanized whine.” Cellist and two-time Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient Jay Campbell introduced an intimate audience in Harris Concert Hall to the intersection of music and technology, as well as some of the most interesting contemporary composers on the season program. His electrifying recital included a work by Elliot Carter, Tristan Perich’s piece for sixchannel, one-bit sound (plus cello), and Pauline Oliveros’s mesmerizing Horse Sings from a Cloud, which featured the debut of the Aspen Music Festival iPhone Ensemble. Audiences were awed by the sounds and sights at the Sunday performance of Drum Circles by AMFS composer-in-residence Christopher Theofanidis, played by the innovative ensemble Percussion Collective. Said Theofanidis of the work, “I tend to think that whatever the instruments, the challenge is still the same: create something interesting and wonderful and expressive.”
LEFT The American String Quartet was featured in the July 18 edition of the Aspen Times Weekly. RIGHT Jay Campbell performs Liza Lim’s an ocean beyond earth, a dark, glittering fantasy inspired by NASA’s discoveries of erupting artic geysers on the moons of Saturn. He introduced the work as “a solo for duo,” using a violin borrowed from AMFS luthierin-residence Joan Balter. OPPOSITE Members of the Percussion Collective perform Christopher Theofanidis’s Drum Circles with the Aspen Festival Orchestra on August 11.
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ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
ALUMNI VOICES AMFS alumni at many stages of their careers remain passionate about Aspen and return at key moments. Too many to be all named, a few had stand-out moments. Superstar soprano and AMFS alumna Renée Fleming came to perform, teach, and work with co-artistic director Patrick Summers on the 2020 launch of Aspen’s new Opera Theater and VocalARTS program Bach’s complete Brandenburg Concertos were showcased, for the first time in ten years in Aspen, with an ensemble of seasoned professionals and hand-picked emerging talents, including artistfaculty Nadine Asin, Elaine Douvas, and John
Zirbel, and recent alumni such as Fabiola Kim and Blake Pouliot. Aspen alumna violinist Esther Yoo, 25, made her Aspen solo debut in a big way in a Sunday concert playing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. Yoo, the youngest prize winner of the Sibelius Violin Competition, showed the poise of someone twice her age and “played with precision and deftness” said Aspen Times critic Harvey Steiman. Celebrated international conductor Leonard Slatkin, an alumnus from 1964, led a program at the Tent in celebration of his own 75th birthday year.
ABOVE Renée Fleming (left) works with student soprano Victoria Lawal (right) during Fleming’s sold-out Master Class in Harris Concert Hall on July 30.
ARTIST-FACULTY SHINE u Artist-faculty members harpist
u Artist-faculty members oboist Elaine Douvas and harpist Nancy Allen joined forces, also with the Aspen Chamber Symphony for another Martin work, this one Three Dances for Oboe, Harp, and Strings. In an Aspen twist, the conductor, Erik Nielsen, has been a student of both Douvas and Allen. The teacher-performers virtually beamed through the performance. Said Douvas, “Once I got to know Erik, he became my own inspiration.” Concurred Allen, “Our actual job in Aspen is to watch students’ careers grow.”
TOP (l–r) Guest artist Jori Vinikour with artist-faculty members Anton Nel and Anneleen Lenaerts. BOTTOM (l–r) Artist-faculty members Elaine Douvas and Nancy Allen with conductor and former student Erik Nielsen.
MAHLER NO. 2 – FINAL SUNDAY The 2019 season finale featured Music Director Robert Spano conducting Mahler’s transcendent Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection,” with its dramatic portrayal of life, death, and the afterlife featuring vocal soloists, both the Colorado Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Seraphic Fire, and students of the Seraphic Fire Professional Choral Institute. Opening the program was the exquisitely delicate early choral cantata by Bach “Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit” performed by Seraphic Fire and a chamber ensemble on period instruments.
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
Anneleen Lenaerts and pianist Anton Nel were joined by harpsichordist Jory Vinikour in Martin’s gorgeous Petite symphonie concertante, showcasing this unusual instrumentation and truly extraordinary talent alongside the Aspen Chamber Symphony.
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STUDENT EXPERIENCE
689
Average age
33 COUNTRIES 43 STATES
FROM
STUDENTS
$
22
AND
3 million
MORE THAN IN FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
1
The opportunity to study with and/or perform alongside our world class artist-faculty
2
The opportunity to participate in an intensive, high-level program of study
3
The amount of financial aid offered
40%
74 %
OPPOSITE AMFS students take a selfie backstage at the Benedict Music Tent with pianist Joyce Yang.
94% 73
%
are returning students
received financial aid, in the form of either a scholarship or a fellowship
rated their AMFS summer as “excellent” or “good”
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
TOP THREE REASONS STUDENTS CHOOSE TO ATTEND THE AMFS
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ANNOUNCING RENÉE FLEMING AND PATRICK SUMMERS AS CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTORS OF OPERA PROGRAM On August 4, the AMFS announced that in 2020 it would launch the new Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS under the leadership of co-artistic directors Renée Fleming and Patrick Summers. The new program builds on the stellar platform of the Aspen Opera Center, led for more than 30 years by Edward Berkeley, who will continue on as stage director. The program’s young singers will perform regularly, receive intensive instruction in technique, and also gain deep knowledge about life as a professional opera singer and the intricacies of the business, auditions, resume-building, networking, attire, donor relations, and even financial planning for the self-employed. “At the start of my career, I was incredibly fortunate to be trained at the Aspen Music Festival and School,” said Fleming. “I feel just as lucky to have the chance to return to this beautiful place and share all I’ve learned in the intervening years with the best emerging talent in opera.” Said Summers, who is the artistic and music director of Houston Grand Opera, “I’m overjoyed to accept this privilege with my treasured colleague Renée. I’m eager to pass on the diverse legacies Renée and I have been so fortunate to mature within, and to build on the outstanding work Ed Berkeley has achieved so elegantly for decades.”
MILESTONES AND MOMENTS The 2018 Dorothy DeLay Prizewinner Maya Anjali
Buchanan returned and won over audiences with Glazunov’s Violin Concerto in A, but more so with her mature sound, tiger-like energy, and huge charisma. Enhancing students’ experience was top priority in 2019 and the schedule was significantly overhauled to optimize each student’s summer. + O rchestra cycles were adjusted to provide more rehearsal time in the main performance venue and smooth schedule flow. + A ll summer chamber music rehearsals and coachings are layered over five simultaneously rehearsing and performing orchestras. Using a project-based approach to improvements, administration assigned suitable repertoire to ensembles along with a dedicated performance in an artfully crafted recital series. Feedback has been positive and further advancements are planned for the 2020 season. The AMFS’s stellar artist-faculty is known for longevity. In a notable display of this, trombone artist-faculty member Per Brevig celebrated his fiftieth summer in Aspen. In an Aspen Times profile (see page 26), Brevig reflected on his experiences in Aspen and how they have changed over fifty years. Longtime horn faculty member John Zirbel retired after twenty years with the AMFS. In a moving tribute after the final concert, his students gave him an AMFS music stand emblazoned with their thanks, and the words, “Know your function,” one of his rehearsal mantras.
Justina Chu Flute/Harp (flute), student of Demarre McGill and Mark Sparks Maurice Cohn Robert J. Harth Prize Samuel Glicklich Piano, student of Fabio Bidini and Yoheved Kaplinsky Griffin Harrison Percussion, student of Jacob Nissly, Jonathan Haas, Cynthia Yeh, and Douglas Howard Darren Hicks Winds (bassoon), student of Nancy Goeres
Liam Kaplan ACA Piano, student of Julian Martin
Andrew O’Donnell Winds (clarinet), student of Joaquin Valdepeñas
Gallia Kastner 2020 Dorothy DeLay Fellowship and ACA Violin, student of Robert Lipsett
Adam Phan Flute/Harp (harp), student of Nancy Allen, Anneleen Lenaerts, and Sivan Magen
Chelsea Komschlies, Hermitage Prize, student of Stephen Hartke and Christopher Theofanidis
Hava Polinsky Violin, student of Paul Kantor
Delyana Lazarova James Conlon Prize Benjamin Manis Aspen Conducting Prize William McGregor Cello/Double Bass (double bass), student of Edgar Meyer
Lynn Sue-A-Quan Viola, student of Jeffrey Irvine and Victoria Chiang Megan Shusta Winds (horn), student of John Zirbel
Piotr Waclawak Robert Spano Prize Miles Walter Jacob Druckman Prize, student of Stephen Hartke and Christopher Theofanidis Gabriel Young Winds (oboe), student of Elaine Douvas and Mingjia Liu
ABOVE The 2019 student competition winners take the stage at the Benedict Music Tent: (l–r) C. Komschlies, D. Lazarova, P. Waclawak, M. Cohn, B. Manis, L. Sue-AQuan, L. Kaplan, W. McGregor, G. Harrison, D. Hicks, A. O’Donnell, M. Shusta, G. Kastner, A Phan, and J. Chu. Not pictured above: S. Glicklich (see opposite); H. Polinsky (see page 2); G. Young (see opposite); M. Walter. CENTER Piano Competition winner Samuel Glicklich BOTTOM Winds Competition winners (l–r) Andrew ODonnell (oboe), Megan Shusta (horn), Gabriel Young (oboe), and Darren Hicks (bassoon)
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2019 COMPETITION WINNERS
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EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY
SUMMER EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING P.A.L.S. (Passes and Lessons Scholarship) Program: 110 AMFS students taught 1,248 private lessons to 132 students ages six to nineteen, with almost 60 percent receiving full or partial scholarships. They enjoyed master classes, pre-concert program-note chats, recording sessions, studio classes and ensemble experiences. Festival Lessons: AMFS students taught 320 private lessons to fifty-six local and visiting students ages three to ninety.
LEFT AND ABOVE Young Festival-goers experiment with sounds at an Instrument Petting Zoo. OPPOSITE (l–r) ArtistYear Fellow Art Williams poses with his Glenwood Springs High School choral students; students of Beginning Strings, Lead Guitar, and Maroon Bel Canto Children’s Chorus.
Sing Play Move expanded to two weeks of sequential instruction, delighting fifty youngsters and guardians with songs, movement, and music exploration. Gotta Move! gave more than 500 children the opportunity to explore singing, sounds, and movement on stage in the Benedict Music Tent, and held two targeted preschool sessions attended by every preschool in Aspen. Tunes & Tales, treated around 540 kids nine and under to stories blended with music performed by AMFS students and staff at the Pitkin County and Basalt Regional Libraries. This year’s Family Concert featured an interactive performance of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, along with Kids Notes, a preconcert event featuring snacks and activities.
PROGRAMMING IN LOCAL SCHOOLS AfterWorks continues to provide music education for Roaring Fork Valley students, partnering with AmeriCorps to bring five ArtistYear Fellows to the Valley to teach in AfterWorks and Roaring Fork School District music programs. Beginning Strings: 135 students in six elementary schools, plus 40 at the Waldorf School on the Roaring Fork Lead Guitar: 80 students in after-school programs at five schools; 215 students in in-school programs at two additional schools Maroon Bel Canto Children’s Chorus: 85 students in grades three to six from five elementary schools Maroon Bel Canto Singers, 60 select students in grades six to eight from four middle schools Musical Connections brought CU Boulder’s Ajax Quartet and Brass and Wind Quintets to area schools for classroom residencies and interactive concerts for elementary schools, side-by-side rehearsals and master classes for middle and high school bands, and live performances for all.
THANKS TO THE DONORS WHO SUPPORTED EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMMING Alpine Bank of Aspen Aspen Thrift Shop Stephen Brint and Mark Brown Les Dames d’Aspen The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation Inc. Golub Family Foundation Sue Anne Griffith Leelee and Bill Harriman Tita and Dan McCarty Nancy Meinig - Meinig Family Foundation Janet and Tom O’Connor Beverle and Marc Ostrofsky Hensley and James Peterson Pitkin County Dry Goods Anne and Chris Reyes Caryn and Rudi Scheidt Jr. Jeannie and John Seybold U.S. Bank Edith Kallas and Joe Whatley
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
FESTIVAL FOR KIDS
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BENEFITS
The annual Season Benefit—An American Feast of Music—was held August 5 in Hurst Hall on the Matthew and Carolyn Bucksbaum Campus. The AMFS honored Mercedes T. Bass, Susan and Richard Braddock, Eva and Marc Stern, and Ann Ziff for their contributions to the world of opera. The event raised over $1 million for the Aspen Music Festival and School. Performers included Aspen alumna and opera megastar Renée Fleming; AMFS artist-faculty members Michael Rusinek clarinet, Nancy Goeres bassoon, and Anton Nel piano; student pianist Youlan Ji; and many others. On July 15, the AMFS held its 16th annual Opera Benefit. The black-tie evening included a Swedish-themed dinner at the exclusive Caribou Club in Aspen and concluded with a full performance of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music at the Wheeler Opera House. Richard Edwards, Denise Monteleone, and Jim Martin co-chaired the event.
OPPOSITE Renée Fleming performs at An American Feast of Music with pianist Kenneth Merrill. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT (L–R) Kevin Ramnaraine, Opera Benefit co-chairs Jim Martin, Denise Monteleone, and Richard Edwards with AMFS president and CEO Alan Fletcher; Aspen Opera Center director Edward Berkeley with Ann Ziff and Eva Stern; Daniil Trifonov, Judith Ramirez, and Chuck Wall at one of the summer’s Artist Dinners; (r–l) Alan Fletcher chats with Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson as they and other guests stroll across the Bucksbaum Campus to the Feast of Music in Hurst Hall; Allen Questrom, Kelli Questrom, and Nicholas DuBrul enjoy the Opera Benefit; Richard Braddock, Marc Stern, Susan Braddock, Eva Stern, and Ann Ziff were honored for their support to the world of opera at the Feast of Music.
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
Other benefit events in 2019 included three Artist Dinners hosted in private homes with the Pacifica String Quartet, pianist Daniil Trifonov, and AMFS alumnus and violinist Robert McDuffie. Guests enjoyed an evening of cocktails, music, and wonderful food, all while getting to know these extraordinary musicians.
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PRINT AND ONLINE
Klangfarbenmelodie
Media coverage for FY2019 started in Asia as Shine News, a digital platform powered by the Shanghai Daily (eastern China’s largest English-language newspaper), and Shanghai’s Kanka Television reported on president and CEO Alan Fletcher’s presentation at a roundtable discussion at the China Shanghai International Arts Festival. The “Being American” theme proved the perfect focus for London-based international online music magazine Bachtrack, which headlined its coverage of American music festivals with an interview with music director Robert Spano.
宋佩芬
小山城的國際音樂節
MEDIA AND BROADCASTS
Column
城
市
的
聲
音
MUZIK
次，可以和他一起喝咖啡，和他交流。」
師來自世界各地，從維也納到柏林愛樂樂
Fletcher指出，不僅僅是Shaham，所有頂
團，以及所有美國主要的管弦樂團的樂手
尖的音樂家都實實在在地與學生互動。
都會前來。所以學生們有機會參與25位重
Fleming通常待久一點，但這次只停留一
要的指揮家、50位重要的客座藝術家和150
個星期，雖然如此，她還是在一週內做了
名教職員工的教學活動，這是其他音樂節
幾場演出和兩個大師班。另外，今年音樂
做不到的。
節還演出了前任學生MISSY MAZZOLI創
為了參加Daniil Trifonov的鋼琴
亞斯本音樂節的總監Alan Fletcher向我透
作的歌劇。除此之外，小提琴家Midori、
露，除了美國之外，中國的學生人數可能
Joshua Bell、Sarah Chang、鋼琴家王羽佳、
夫婦別墅舉行的香檳晚宴。到達
佔第二。他每年都會到中國考察當地音樂
梁喜媛都曾經是這裏的學生， Fleming也
Harris音樂廳時還有一點時間，決
學院與學生，對中國特別感興趣。他指
是。Fletcher指出，音樂節為不少音樂家職
定在附近的草地漫步，醒一醒香
出，中國學習古典音樂的人口高於世界上
業生涯的早期提供很多幫助。如果有優秀
檳。雖然是7月底，位於科羅拉多
任何國家，人才多得驚人，他特別推薦今
的學生，他會打電話給洛杉磯愛樂樂團的
年才13歲的小鋼琴家朱仁和，這位鋼琴及
朋友，讓他們關注這些學生。當這些學生
象棋神童從8歲起就到亞斯本上課，「她可
成為明星時，為了感激報恩，他們也會回
邊做夢時，突然間聽到一陣驚叫，原來是一隻野鹿奔過草地，將在音樂廳旁野餐的人嚇了
能是未來的王羽佳。」Fletcher預測。不過
來亞斯本來幫助其他學生。
一跳！全世界有不少音樂廳，但是會「巧遇」野鹿的可能不多！
在Trifonov的音樂會上我倒是認識了兩位台
Fletcher透露，明年的節目將以貝多芬
灣的同學，一位在美國留學的大提琴手，
為主，音樂節將演出全部的交響曲、小
另一位尚在臺灣藝術大學的小提琴家。
提琴奏鳴曲以及三重奏。另外，音樂節
山脈，海拔2000多米的亞斯本不 冷不熱，氣候非常宜人。正邊走
亞斯本音樂節Benedict Music Tent全景照（© Alex_Irvin／courtesy of Aspen Music Festival & School）
Harris音樂廳是亞斯本音樂節所使用的演奏廳之一，音樂節一共有Benedict Music Tent、 Harris音樂廳及Wheeler歌劇院三個演奏廳，以及Bucksbaum校區，全部坐落在風景優美的
我問Fletcher，音樂節的重心是教學活
還會重演貝多芬在1808年12月22日當天的
音樂節是從1949年開始的，當時一位企業家兼思想家帕普克（Walter Paepcke）擔心在第
動，還是演出？Fletcher答道，經過70年
音樂會。當晚貝多芬首演了第五交響曲、
二次世界大戰結束後，社會和文化的價值觀受到質疑，決定邀請當時明尼阿波利斯交響
的運營，教學已經成為音樂節的重心。
第六交響曲、第四鋼琴協奏曲和《合唱
樂團的指揮米特羅普洛斯（Dimitri Metropoulis）、鋼琴家魯賓斯坦（Arthur Rubinstein）、
「當然，音樂會也很重要，但許多音樂會
幻想曲》之外，還演出了C大調彌撒中的
小提琴家米爾斯坦（Nathan Milstein）、大提琴家皮亞提戈斯基（Gregor Piatigorsky）、女
都是由學生們演出。不像壇格塢有波士頓
〈Gloria〉與〈Sanctus〉、即興鋼琴獨奏，
高音梅諾（Dorothy Maynor）和一羣古典音樂家到亞斯本舉辦音樂會。活動不但吸引了許
交響樂團的駐地，韋爾比亞有紐約愛樂，
以及音樂會詠嘆調《Ah！Perfido》。亞斯
多來自世界各地的音樂愛好者，他們還希望帕普克在隔年繼續進行，享譽世界的亞斯本音
亞斯本有學生組成的交響樂團，讓學生們
本將重演這個全長四個半小時的音樂會。
樂節就這麼誕生了。到了第三年，皮亞提戈斯基的學生們希望過來和他上課，音樂節於是
透過表演來學習。多年下來，我們已經有
開始了教學課程，到了第四年，學校正式成立，音樂節於是成為「亞斯本音樂節與學校」
大量的粉絲。」
（Aspen Music Festival and School，簡稱AMFS）。
|
過Shaham，到了亞斯本，會看到他十幾
之所以吸引這麼多學生，是因為這裏的老
獨奏，我必須提早離開在Phelan
地方。
64
85名左右，但是亞斯本有700名左右！這裏
明年是美國婦女選舉權的百年紀念， 音樂節將會安排一系列女性作曲家和表演
當然了，音樂節也知道有著名音樂家的
家的節目。還計劃與亞斯本劇院公司合
帕普克之所以對亞斯本產生興趣，是因為在當時，亞斯本相當於一座鬼城。亞斯本以銀
重要性，Daniil Trifonov就是其中之一。女
作，今年音樂節與劇院合作了歌舞劇《南
礦致富，最盛時期有兩萬人住在城裏。當礦井關閉之後，人口劇降到400，鎮裏到處都是沒
高音Rene Fleming不但來此演出，也開大
太平洋》，希望明年有機會合作《真善
人住的空屋。帕普克幾乎買下全部的空屋，除了音樂節與學校之外，他還協助創立亞斯本
師班。除此之外，小提琴家Joshua Bell、
美》。《真善美》的劇情發生在瑞士的阿
學院以及亞斯本滑雪場。音樂節的起源其實就是這個滑雪場，帕普克在籌備滑雪場的過程
Midori、鋼琴家Yefim Bronfman幾乎每年
爾卑斯山，如果能夠將這經典歌舞劇搬到
中想到，如果夏天也有吸引人的文化活動，亞斯本就不會像許多滑雪場一樣出現「夏眠」
都來。Gil Shaham通常在這裏待3個星期，
被洛磯山脈環繞的亞斯本，將會相當有意
的情況，夏天的音樂節就是如此誕生的。雖然現在瑞士的韋爾比亞（Verbier）、格施塔德
帶著家人來此度假的同時也與音樂節密
思。然而，更加吸引我的是能夠在這麼美
（Gstaad），聖莫里茨（St. Moritz）和茵特拉肯（Intertaken）都有類似夏季音樂節的活動，
切互動。「Shaham會授課，也會去聽其
麗的地方，和一流樂手切磋琢磨，在練琴
但亞斯本確實是全世界第一個。
他的課；會演奏，也會去聽其他的演奏。
之餘還有機會爬山健行，怪不得每年夏
從音樂節的角度來說，亞斯本也擁有最龐大的教學課程。瑞士的韋爾比耶音樂節大概收60
他住在紐約的上西區，離茱利亞很近。但
天，會有數萬人湧入這個人口不到6000的
名學生，美國的壇格塢（Tanglewood ）有120名左右，加州聖塔芭芭拉市的西部音樂學院有
你可能在那裏當了4年學生，卻沒親眼見
小山城。
MUZIK
|
65
Collaborative projects figured heavily in media coverage, with national news outlets covering the AMFS and Theatre Aspen production of South Pacific: In Concert and the Festival’s Bauhaus 100–related performances. The Aspen Times and Aspen Daily News continued to profile visiting artists and provide behind-the-scenes glimpses for local readers, while regional, and national media—including Aspen Sojourner, Aspen magazine, Mountain Living, and the Denver Post—covered the AMFS’s seventieth anniversary.
BROADCAST Aspen Public Radio, the official voice of the AMFS, provided daily and weekly Festival programming, and live broadcasts of several performances. Colorado Public Radio–Classical presented weekly live broadcasts of Friday’s Pre-Concert Overtures and sent hosts to broadcast CPR programs live from Edgar Stanton Audio Recording Center in Harris Concert Hall, featuring interviews with students, music director Robert Spano, artist-faculty member Anton Nel, guest artist Nicola Benedetti, and more. Along with CPR, American Public Media shared Festival recordings with regional and national audiences throughout the year via broadcast and streaming services like Performance Today.
The New York Times broke the biggest AMFS story of the season—the new Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS program—with coverage by Playbill, OperaWire, Broadway World, and others following suit. The New York Times website featured the photo above of Renée Fleming (l) coaching student soprano Victoria Lawal (r). TOP Visiting journalist Peifen Sung wrote an article about the AMFS for China’s MUZIK magazine. LEFT Artist-faculty member Per Brevig reflected on his fifty summers in Aspen in an Aspen Times feature.
New initiatives helped improve overall reach. Creating unique Facebook event pages for special events allowed patrons to confirm attendance and receive reminders. Tagging students and artists on Instagram prompted an increase in engagement. Instagram takeovers by each week’s Student Spotlight gave followers a glimpse of a day in the life of a student, while opera student Dorothy Gal, Broadway phenomenon Nathan Gunn, and AMFS alumnus and conductor Cristian Măcelaru also took followers on behind-the-scenes Festival tours with their takeovers. The AMFS used Twitter to expand the reach of press about the Festival. When The New York Times broke the story about the AMFS’s new opera program, “tweeting” the story resulted in “retweets” (or mentions) by Opera Magazine, Playbill, Opera Wire, Opera Plus, Aspen Times, Musical America, France Musique, Violinist.com, Tucson Symphony, Plateau Magazine Twitter feeds, among others.
AMFS social media channels grew in FY2019, boosting followers and advancing engagement. Facebook and Instagram saw leaps in the number of followers—connecting with students, artist-faculty, guest artists, parents, and patrons. Facebook promoted upcoming events, Twitter focused on the press, and Instagram served as a platform to share photos and video clips of students and performers. 22,668 followers 1,792 • Promoted upcoming events • Daily posts reached an average of 2,300 people • Greatest percentage of clickthroughs to the AMFS website • Students, students’ parents, patrons 8,281 followers 1,833 • P latform for photo and video clip sharing • Students, alumni, guest artists
20,000 followers • F ollower numbers remained steady in 2019 • Focused on press outreach • Guest artists, news outlets
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Some of the AMFS’s highest-performing social media posts included Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti greeting a young fan after her performance of Wynton Marsalis’s Violin Concerto, and student goodbyes at the end of the summer. At registration, students were encouraged to use AMFS hashtags all summer long.
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
SOCIAL MEDIA
27
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019 BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Arjun Gupta
Gillian Steel
Michael Klein, Chair
Jonathan Haas
Judith Z. Steinberg
Ann Friedman, Vice Chair
Per Hannevold
Erika Aronson Stern
Charles Wall, Vice Chair
Connie Heard
Alia Tutor
Janet O’Connor, Treasurer
Jamie Helzberg
Joaquin Valdepeñas
Carrie Wells, Secretary, CoPresident of National Council
Linda Vitti Herbst
Robert J. Hurst, Co-President of National Council
Paul Kantor
Alan Fletcher, President and CEO
Cathy L. Koplovitz
Gerald Katcher Barbara Koval
OPPOSITE Students enjoy a moment onstage.
Charles Anderson
Jonathan Lee
Nadine Asin
Espen Lilleslåtten
Amy Margerum Berg
Anthony Mazza
Edward C. Berkeley
Michael Mermagen
Sandra K. Bishop
T. Willem Mesdag
Marianne Boesky
Alexandra Munroe
Stephen Brint
Michael Murray
Sam Brown
Anton Nel
Martin Carver
Patricia Papper
Warren Deck
Fonda Paterson
Stephen Drimmer
Aaron Podhurst
James Dunham
Dan Porterfield, ex-officio
Gail Engelberg
Dana Powell
Alan Englander
John Rojak
Richard Felder
Arlene Lidsky Salomon
John Fullerton
Caryn Scheidt
Mary Giese
Victoria Smith
HONORARY TRUSTEES Joan W. Harris Itzhak Perlman Robert Spano, Music Director Pinchas Zukerman LIFE TRUSTEES Paula Bernstein William Bernstein Carolyn Bucksbaum Noël R. Congdon Alfred Dietsch John Doremus Stefan Edlis, in memoriam Gerri Karetsky Nancy Odén, in memoriam Betty Schermer W. Ford Schumann Dennis Vaughn
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
Allison Kanders
29
ARTISTFACULTY
Robert Hanford
Cristian Măcelaru*
Judith Shatin*
Austin Hartman*
Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt
David Krauss*
Vinson Cole
Raymond Mase*
Nicholas McGegan
Nicky Sohn*
Renée Fleming*, artist-in-residence
Cornelia Heard*
Brinton Averil Smith*
Stuart Stephenson*
Ludovic Morlot*
Paul Kantor*
Brook Speltz
Micah Wilkinson
Leonard Slatkin*
Elizabeth Hynes
Masao Kawasaki*
Brandon Vamos*
Stephen King
Alexander Kerr
Carol Vaness
David Kim*
ASPEN OPERA CENTER Edward Berkeley, director William Billingham Garnett Bruce Kathleen Kelly Kenneth Merrill David Moody Charles Prestinari Jeanne Slater Mary Duncan Steidl PIANO Jean Barr Fabio Bidini Hung-Kuan Chen Yoheved Kaplinsky Julian Martin Anton Nel Rita Sloan Arie Vardi Virginia Weckstrom* Wu Han* Vivian Hornik Weilerstein*
Espen Lilleslåtten* Robert Lipsett* Robert McDuffie* Sylvia Rosenberg* Brendan Speltz Naoko Tanaka* Almita Vamos* Bing Wang* Donald Weilerstein* Peter Winograd* VIOLA Daniel Avshalomov* Choong-Jin Chang Victoria Chiang*
David Coucheron Ellen dePasquale Simin Ganatra* David Halen*
Albert Laszlo*
Timothy Higgins
Edgar Meyer*
James Miller*
Timothy Pitts
Michael Powell
FLUTE Nadine Asin* Brook Ferguson
Jeffrey Irvine
Warren Deck
OBOE
PERCUSSION
Elaine Douvas
Timothy Adams
Alex Klein
Jauvon Gilliam
Mingjia Liu*
Jonathan Haas*
BASSOON Nancy Goeres* Per Hannevold*
Pierre Lapointe*
HORN
Richard Aaron
R. Douglas Wright
Mark Sparks*
Masao Kawasaki* Jonathan Vinocour*
Peter Sullivan*
TUBA
Joaquin Valdepeñas*
Mark Holloway
John Rojak*
Demarre McGill
Michael Rusinek
CELLO
Robert Chen*
John Engelkes
James Dunham
Renata Arado*
Laura Park Chen
Christopher Hanulik*
Wesley Collins
Stephen Wyrczynski
Laurie Carney*
Per Brevig
CLARINET
VIOLIN Adam Barnett-Hart*
DOUBLE BASS
Christian Colberg
Allyson Goodman
TROMBONE
Andrew Bain Stefan Dohr Erik Ralske* Eric Reed*
Douglas Howard Jacob Nissly Markus Rhoten Edward Stephan* Cynthia Yeh* GUITAR Sharon Isbin*
James K. Bass
ASPEN CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE
Clara Osowski
ENSEMBLES IN RESIDENCE
ARTIST-FACULTY EMERITUS
American Brass Quintet
Martha Aarons, flute
American String Quartet
Adele Addison, voice
Escher String Quartet*
Robert Biddlecome, trombone
Pacifica Quartet*
Kevin Cobb Louis Hanzlik*
Robert Spano, director
Thomas Hooten*
James Gaffigan*
Joseph Kalichstein, piano Catharine Carroll Lees, viola Eugene Levinson, bass Jorge Mester, music director Theodore Oien, clarinet Antoinette Perry, piano Sylvia Plyler, Aspen Opera Center Louis Ranger, trumpet Ann Schein, piano W. Stephen Smith, voice Paul Sperry, voice Thomas Stubbs, percussion Sabina Thatcher, viola
Bruce Bransby, double bass
VISITING COMPOSERS
Heidi Castleman, viola
Richard Woodhams, oboe
Gabriel Chodos, piano
Won Bin Yim, violin
Carole Cowan, violin
◊
Viviane Thomas, voice
Elizabeth Buccheri, Aspen George Tsontakis, composition Opera Center head of Stephen Hartke, Martin Verdrager, theory music, vocal coach composer-in-residence David Wakefield, French Earl Carlyss, Center for Christopher Theofanidis, horn Advanced Quartet composer-in-residence Dick Waller, clarinet Studies, violin
John Harbison
ASPEN CONDUCTING ACADEMY
Bonita Boyd, flute
Jennifer John, violin
SUSAN AND FORD SCHUMANN CENTER FOR COMPOSITION STUDIES
Sivan Magen
TRUMPET
Scott Allen Jarrett
Timothy Weiss
Anneleen Lenaerts
Desmond Hoebig
Sara Guttenberg Patrick Muehleise
Vivian Fung
Joan Balter
Charles Evans
Donald Crockett
Conor Brown
John Zirbel
Michael Mermagen*
Hugh Wolff*
Nancy Allen*
David Finckel
Wolfram Koessel
Scott Terrell*
Patrick Dupré Quigley, director
Kati Agócs*
LUTHIER
Eric Kim*
Patrick Summers
HARP
Kevin Rivard
Darrett Adkins*
Mark Stringer
SERAPHIC FIRE PROFESSIONAL CHORAL INSTITUTE
Sydney Hodkinson, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble conductor, composition
Vijay Iyer Missy Mazzoli Edgar Meyer* Andrew Norman* Conrad Tao* Augusta Read Thomas* David Sampson
Michael Czaijkowski, composition
leave of absence
* AMFS Alumni
John Graham, viola William Grubb, cello Irene Gubrud, voice Thomas Haines, film scoring and audio recording Alan Harris, cello
OPPOSITE Artistfaculty member Thomas Hooten performed as soloist at the annual Fourth of July concert.
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
VOICE
31
FAMILY OF SUPPORTERS
who have made contributions to the organization between October 1, 2018, and September 30, 2019. This includes support of the Annual Fund, memorial and honorary gifts, Winter Music sponsorships, Benefit
$150,000 AND ABOVE INDIVIDUALS Mrs. Mercedes T. Bass Joan Fabry and Michael Klein Nan and Chuck Wall
and Artist Dinner support, special projects, and the AMFS Salon. Annual contributions are the backbone of support necessary for the realization of the Festival and School’s mission. With these gifts, donors support artist-faculty teaching, concert performances, opera productions, student education, guest artist appearances, community
$100,000 AND ABOVE INDIVIDUALS Anonymous Stefan Edlis* and Gael Neeson Soledad and Robert Hurst
outreach, and many other essential projects. We remain profoundly
Kelli and Allen Questrom
grateful to each donor listed here.
Lynda and Stewart Resnick The Marc and Eva Stern Foundation, Erika Aronson Stern and Adam Stern, Suzanne Stern Gilison and Steve Gilison BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation $80,000 AND ABOVE INDIVIDUALS
OPPOSITE Crowds enjoy music and a glorious summer day on the David Karetsky Music Lawn outside the Benedict Music Tent.
Martin Carver and Mimi Wang Leonard and Judy Lauder Beatrice and Anthony Welters
BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT Wheeler Opera House (City of Aspen) Arts Grant Program $55,000 AND ABOVE INDIVIDUALS Amy Margerum Berg and Gilchrist Berg Kay Bucksbaum Jessica and John Fullerton Arjun Gupta Irving Harris Foundation, Joan W. Harris Shirley and Barnett C. Helzberg, Jr. Mona Look-Mazza and Tony Mazza John P. and Anne Welsh McNulty Foundation Lisa and Will Mesdag Alexandra Munroe and Robert Rosenkranz Alia and Ron Tutor Beth and Ben Wegbreit Ann Ziff
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
The Aspen Music Festival and School gratefully acknowledges those
33
BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT Sidney E. Frank Foundation The Polonsky Foundation $35,000 AND ABOVE INDIVIDUALS Edward P. and Sasha C. Bass Giancarla and Luciano Berti Stephen Brint and Mark Brown Ruth Carver Jane and Michael Eisner, The Eisner Foundation Gail and Alfred Engelberg Linda and Alan Englander Nanette Finger Ann and Tom Friedman Sharon and Lawrence Hite
WHERE DREAMS BEGIN CAMPAIGN/ FUNDRAISING In July 2019, the Aspen Music Festival and School celebrated the successful completion of its Where Dreams Begin Campaign, which raised more than $75 million for the historic, 38-acre teaching campus while strengthening endowment funding for student, faculty, and other vital programs. Thanks to nearly 1,200 financial contributions from 650 donors, the AMFS’s Matthew and Carolyn Bucksbaum Campus has been completely transformed. Accomplishments include: 76,603 square feet of new construction, including three new rehearsal halls, two classroom buildings, and sixty-three practice rooms
24,690 square feet of renovations to existing buildings, including two historic structures Forty-nine new named endowed scholarship funds totaling $8.6 million More than $1 million raised toward general scholarship or existing scholarship funds in the AMFS endowment On behalf of everyone at the AMFS, we thank the many donors who helped us achieve this dream. For the full list of donors to the campaign, visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com/wheredreamsbegin.
Jane and Gerald Katcher Ann and Tom Korologos Barbara Koval and the Witz Family Foundation Barbara and Jonathan Lee Toby D. Lewis Becky and Mike Murray David Newberger Janet and Tom O’Connor Patricia M. and Emanuel M. Papper Foundation Dana and Gene Powell Jeannie and Tom Rutherfoord Ali and Lew Sanders Mary and Patrick Scanlan Betty and Lloyd Schermer The Simms/Mann Family Foundation, Victoria and Ronald Simms Gillian and Robert Steel Judith Z. Steinberg and Paul J. Hoenmans
$13,000 AND ABOVE
Mountain Chalet-Aspen
INDIVIDUALS
Mountain Living Magazine
The Aspen Times
Susan Beckerman
Pitkin County Dry Goods
Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County
Deborah and Gabriel Brener Sam Brown and Alison Teal Centennial Partners
$8,500 AND ABOVE
Louis & Harold Price Foundation, Inc. The Rob and Melani Walton Foundation
Pamela and Richard Cantor
Anonymous
Noël and Tom* Congdon
Pamela Gross and Charles Anderson
Sylvie and Gary Crum
Marilyn and George Baker
Ginny Dabney
Charles Balbach
Susan and Richard Braddock
Karen and Jim Frank/J.S. Frank Foundation
Vivian and Norman Belmonte
The Crown Family
Jane and Bill Frazer
Mr. and Mrs. David Dreman/The Dreman Foundation
Jon Busch
Virginia and Gary Gerst
Katherine and Dane Chapin
Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation
Antonia Paepcke DuBrul and the DuBrul Family
Martha and Bruce Clinton
Harriett and Richard* Gold
Bunni and Paul Copaken
Marcy and Leo Edelstein
Ramona Bruland and Michael Goldberg
Laura Donnelley
Richard Edwards
Vinod and Laurel Gupta
Shannon Fairbanks
Ellen and Irv Hockaday
Mr. and Mrs. A. Huda Farouki
Gerri Karetsky and Larry Naughton
Deborah and Richard Felder
Sheldon and Marianne Lubar Charitable Fund
$20,000 AND ABOVE INDIVIDUALS
Nancy Swift Furlotti
INDIVIDUALS
Barbara and Bruce Berger
Nadia and Stephen Drimmer Pam and Ken Dunn Sandy and Paul Edgerley Gail M. Elden Judith Barnard and Michael Fain Alan Fletcher and Ron Schiller
Mary E. Giese, in memory of Erik Giese
Holly and John Madigan
Rachel and Rick Klausner
Bettie McGowin Miller
Stephen Marcus
Ann and Bill Nitze
Denise Monteleone and Jim Martin
Jean and Allen Parelman
Caryn and Rudi Scheidt, Jr.
Fonda Paterson
MaryAnn Tittle
Dorothy and Aaron Podhurst
Carrie and Joe Wells
Sarah Broughton and John Rowland
Edith Kallas and Joe Whatley
Jane and Larry Sherman
Alexandra Woods
Carol and Mack Trapp
BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT
BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT
Maryann and Adrian Gruia
America-Israel Cultural Foundation
The Dana Foundation
Jamie and Bush Helzberg
LLWW Foundation
The Gant Condominium Association
Ann F. and Edward R. Hudson, Jr.
Steinway & Sons, Inc.
Hotel Jerome
Mary Ann Hyde
JUSTIN Vineyards & Winery
Shana Johnstone/Shenandoah Foundation
Leslie and Mac McQuown
LOUIS XIII Cognac
Barbara and Richard I. Furman Sandy and Lee Godfrey Barbara Gold Thorey and Barry Goldstein Meg and Bennett Goodman Andi and Jim Gordon, The Edgewater Funds Christine Grad, M.D. Arthur Greenberg Jan and Ronald Greenberg Julia Hansen
IN MEMORIAM It is with sadness that we note the passing of members of the AMFS community, including: BARBARA ALLEN long-time donor and National Council member JAMES CALAWAY long-time donor and spouse of Board member Connie Calaway THOMAS CONGDON long-time donor and National Council member, spouse of former Board Chair and Board member Noël Congdon RICHARD E. GOLD long-time donor and National Council member, spouse of former Board member Harriett Gold MARILYN GREENBERG long-time donor LITA WARNER HELLER long-time donor, Board member, and National Council member RICHARD KAUFMAN long-time donor and National Council member DONALD KELTNER long-time donor and National Council member ROBERT LEBUHN long-time donor, National Council President, past Board Chair, and past Board member RONALD W. MILLER long-time donor and National Council member JACK RENNER former co-chair of AMFS’s Edwin Stanton Audio Recording Institute BILL TOBEY long-time donor JOAN AND KARL ZEISLER long-time donors
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT
35
REMEMBERING LIFE TRUSTEE STEFAN EDLIS
Sylvia Kaufman
Caribou Club, Ltd.
Marianne and Dick Kipper
Carl’s Pharmacy
Judah Klausner
Colorado Creative Industries
Anna-Lisa Klettenberg
First Republic Bank
Ellen and Fred Kucker
First Western Trust, Aspen
Joe LaDou
Fusion Design and Catering
Melony and Adam Lewis
Lin Yao Ji Scholarship for Summer Studies in Music
Bette MacDonald Nancy Meinig - Meinig Family Foundation
The Little Nell
Gail and Alec Merriam
Miners’ Building Hardware
Renee and Bruce Michelson
St. Regis Aspen Resort
Ilene and Jeff Nathan
U.S. Bank
Sara and Don Nelson Nedra and Mark Oren
Vulcan Materials Company Matching Gifts
Merbie and Tom Payne
Woody Creek Distillers
Luther King Capital Management
Kathryn and Richard Rabinow Catherine and Thomas Reagan
$4,000 AND ABOVE
Myra and Robert Rich
INDIVIDUALS
Carolyne Roehm and Simon Pinniger
Anonymous
Judy and Gary Rubin
Ronald Ager, in memory of Ellie Ager
This fall, the Aspen Music Festival and School lost one of its most ardent supporters and friends with the passing of industrialist, admired contemporary art collector, and generous arts patron Stefan Edlis. After escaping the Nazis by traveling with his family from Vienna to New York City at the age of 15, he became a member of the Greatest Generation, a World War II Navy man who returned from the South Pacific to prosper in postwar America and become, with his wife Gael Neeson, an unwavering advocate for the arts across three American cities.
Lisa and David T. Schiff, The Schiff Foundation
Tracy and Dennis Albers
June and Paul Schorr lll
Donna and James Barksdale
Susie and Barry Schub
Connie and Buddy Bates
Phyllis and David Scruggs
Nancy Blank
Jeannie and John Seybold
Jackie and John Bucksbaum
Lois Siegel
Bucy Family Fund - Suzanne D. and M. Peyton Bucy
From the moment they arrived in the mountains, Edlis and Neeson established themselves as pillars of the arts and culture in Aspen. They have long been among the AMFS’s most generous financial supporters and their leadership gift in support of the Where Dreams Begin Campaign helped set the pace for the most successful fundraising drive in our history. Edlis was always at the center of any gathering celebrating the arts in Aspen, and each of these occasions was more enlivened and enjoyable because he was there.
Karen Wing Family Charitable Foundation
Newton Bartley and Eric Calderon
Tamara and Frank Woods
Janet F. Clark
BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT
Amy and Darrell Crate
Alpine Bank of Aspen
Bonnie and Ken Davis
Asian Cultural Council
Eleanore and Domenico De Sole
Aspen Square Condominium Hotel
Brian and Susan Dickie
Aspen Valley Hospital
Muffy and Andy DiSabatino
Bessemer Trust
Ann and John Doerr
BMI Foundation
Leatrice and Melvin Eagle
JUNE 12, 1925– OCTOBER 15, 2019
We share our condolences with Gael, the Edlis family, and all who will undoubtedly benefit from his vision and generosity for generations to come.
Marcia Strickland
David Baer
Merle Chambers
Barbara and Herschel Cravitz
Fisher Family Fund at the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo
Drs. Amy D. Ronner and Michael P. Pacin Pixie and Jimmy Reiss Lecie and Jack Resneck
Rich Garvin, in honor of Riley Garvin
Anne and Chris Reyes
Julie Gerson, in memory of Peter Gerson
Marilynn and Charles Rivkin
Dr. Lisa Braun Glazer and Dr. Jeff Glazer
Helen and Marc Rubenstein
Patsy Malone and Darby Glenn Susanne H. Goldstein, in memory of Edward A. Goldstein Barbara and Gary Goldstein Brenda and James Grusecki Leelee and Bill Harriman Deborah and Larry Hoffman Hojel-Schumacher Foundation Erica Hartman-Horvitz and Richard Horvitz Debbie and Richard Jelinek Don Keltner* Hyunja and Jeff Kenner Sally and Jim Klingbeil Elizabeth and Michael Klump Mary Jo and Dick Kovacevich Mollie L. and Garland M. Lasater Jr. Charitable Fund Nancy and Bart Levin
Phyllis and Sidney Rodbell
Lois and Tom Sando Clare and Marius Sanger Gail Scott and Thomas Quinlan Karen Setterfield and David Muckenhirn Patsy and John Shields Nancy and Bruce Stevens Gayle and Paul Stoffel Billy Stolz Curt Strand Andrea and Lubert Stryer Linda and Dennis Vaughn Hao and Michelle Wang Foundation Linda and Steve Webster Rivka and Seth Weisberg Una Chae and Jonathan Zucker BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT Aspen Skiing Company
Bertel M. Lewis
Aspen Thrift Shop
Judy and Sam Linhart
Clark’s Market
Mary Ralph Lowe
The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc.
Marlene Malek Tita and Dan McCarty Diane and Mead Metcalf Laura Taylor and David A. Mulkey, M.D. Stephanie and Michael Naidoff Jane and Marc Nathanson
AMFS Composerin-Residence 1999–2010
Drs. Ruth and Steven Ryave
Edward C. and Linda Dresner Levy Foundation
Phyllis and Saul Lowitt
REMEMBERING CHRISTOPHER C. ROUSE III
Aspen Sojourner
Les Dames d’Aspen The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation Inc. Douglas Elliman Real Estate European Caterers, Ltd. Frias Properties of Aspen, Chuck Frias & Tim Clark
FEBRUARY 15, 1949—SEPTEMBER 21, 2019 When the New York Philharmonic premiered Christopher Rouse’s Pulitzer Prize– winning Trombone Concerto (composed as a memorial to Leonard Bernstein) in 1992, New York Times critic Edward Rothstein noted that its middle movement was so loud some of the string players put their fingers in their ears. It was not an understatement, then, when conductor and AMFS alumnus Joshua Weilerstein described Rouse in a remembrance as “one of the most powerful voices of our time.” The three-time Grammy Award–winner died of complications from renal cancer just a month shy of the premiere of his Sixth Symphony. Described as “the leading American symphonist of our time,” and one of the most commissioned composers in America, Rouse was known as a prolific creator of “giant, terrifying and muscular orchestra music,” as well as a soft-spoken, wry teacher who shared an encyclopedic knowledge of music, both in the classroom and in works full of musical references. For inspiration, he drew from wildly disparate sources— mythology, death, 15th-century Indian mystic poetry, the designs of Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí; even Led Zeppelin. A graduate of Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and Cornell University, Rouse also studied privately with composer George Crumb. He was member of the Eastman School of Music faculty for more than 20 years and also taught at the University of Michigan and The Juilliard School. From 1999 to 2010 as composer-in-residence, Rouse shared with students, artistfaculty, and audiences of the AMFS his ability to convey in music consolation, excitement, anger, and delight. We remember Christopher Rouse as a composer, a teacher, and a friend. We share our condolences with his family.
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
Debbie and Jerry Epstein
37
GORDON AND LILLIAN HARDY PLANNED GIVING SOCIETY Named for Gordon Hardy’s rich legacy as president of the AMFS for twenty-eight years and his dedication to the music world, the Gordon and Lillian Hardy Planned Giving Society honors those donors who have included our organization in their estate plans. Martha Aarons Estate of Dr. John E. Amos Pamela Gross and Charles Anderson Nadine Asin Thomas H. Baer Susan Beckerman Dr. Eugene L. Brand Stephen Brint and Mark Brown Kay Bucksbaum Helen and Phil Burnett Jon Busch Dr. Janet Claman NancyBell Coe and William Burke NoÍl and Tom* Congdon Evelyn R. David Adelaide and James Davis Sheryl and Michael DeGenring Lee W. Dorsey Mrs. Charles B. Edison Audrey A. Sattler and Donald J. Fleisher Alan Fletcher and Ron Schiller Jane and Bill Frazer Rich Garvin Mary E. Giese
Barbara and Gary Goldstein Estate of Loette Goodell Howard Gottlieb Christine Grad, M.D. Estate of Lillian and Gordon Hardy Shirley and Barnett C. Helzberg, Jr. Casady M. Henry Juliane Heyman Soledad and Robert Hurst Montae and Richard Johnson Linda and Eugene Kalnitsky Jane Kessler* Estate of Bob Klineman Barbara Koval Estate of Christine H. Leister Dr. and Mrs. Harold Leventhal Nancy R. Levi Estate of Mary Crouch Lilly Phyllis and Saul Lowitt Mona Look-Mazza and Tony Mazza Estate of Elaine and James McDade Joyce McGilvray Lydia Morrongiello Bert Neirick
Estate of Heinz G. Neumann Ann and Bill Nitze Jean and Allen Parelman Merbie and Tom Payne Terry Lee and Bill Perich Lt. Col. and Mrs. R. L. Pickard Estate of Jean Pokress Marilynn and Charles Rivkin Noyes W. Rogers Betty and Lloyd Schermer Estate of Vera Sears Eric Simon Alicia and Alan Sirkin Estate of Freda Gail Stern Norma and Don Stone Marcia Strickland Barb and Bob Sypult Magda B. Tenser Michael Teschner Leslie and Joe Waters Estate of Cynthia and Gerald Weinbrum Laura Werlin Kay and Ken* Whiting * Denotes deceased supporter
ABOVE AMFS students play for visitors in downtown Aspen. The historic Wheeler Opera House, home to Aspen Opera Center performances, stands in the background.
Ruth and George Hopfenbeck
Bill Stirling
Golub Family Foundation
Betsy and Reed Hundt
Barb and Bob Sypult
Harriman Construction, Inc.
Thomas Isaac
Patti and Jay Webster
Fred & Elli Iselin Foundation
Sandy and Dick Jones
Marion W. Weiss
John P. McBride Family and the ABC Foundation
Laura and Michael Kaplan
Sallyann Wekstein
Harriet Washton and George Kaye
Mary and Hugh Wise
Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal
Thomas S. Kenan, III
Judith Wyman
Katie Kitchen and Paul Kovach
Zanin Family Foundation
Rosemarie Lavender
David Zelman
Elaine LeBuhn
Barbara and John Zrno
Bruce Lee, The Rockwood Trust
$2,000 AND ABOVE INDIVIDUALS Anonymous
Jeffrey Li
Ruth C. Abramson - Stephen Abramson Scholarship
BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT
Drs. John Lilley and Mary Sanfelippo
Aspen Self Storage Warehouses
Becky Ayres
Kristin and Chuck Lohmiller
Susan L. and Robert Brown
The Benevity Community Impact Fund
Mr. and Mrs. H. Montgomery Loud
Catherine and Bill Cabaniss
Maja DuBrul
Patty and Robert Mack
Mary and John Cronin
ExxonMobil Foundation, Inc.
Betty McManus
Sheryl and Michael DeGenring
Robbie and John Michelman
Elaine and Claiborne Deming
Neil-Garing Mountain West Insurance
Bette and Donne Moen
Inanna Donnelley and Jeffrey Taback and the Gaylord Donnelley Charitable Trust
Betty Kelly Moore
Slifer, Smith, & Frampton Real Estate
Linda Nathanson
The Solid Rock Foundation
Caroline W. Duell Merle Dulien Bernice and Loyal Durand Lesha and Tom Elsenbrook Marja Engler Billie and Greg Erwin Susan and George Fesus Julia Fink Marcia and Don Flaks Fleck Family Foundation Mary Ann Frenzel Hon. Joseph and Alma Gildenhorn Jean Golden Tiffany and Steve Haddad Alexander Henkin Dorene and Frank Herzog Linda and Steven Hill
Navias Family Foundation Donald and Judy Norris
$800 AND ABOVE
Nancy Odén*
INDIVIDUALS
Beverle and Marc Ostrofsky
June and Hovik Abramian
Virginia Pearce
AMM Charitable Fund
Hensley and James Peterson
Todd Arcomano
Cyrena and Lee Pondrom
Claudia and Richard Balderston
Margot and Tom Pritzker
Katie Bergman
Lindsay and Arthur Remiers
Edward C. Berkeley
Ellen Roeser Linda J. Sandell
The Community Foundation— Mortimer and Josephine Cohen Fund
Lorraine and Mark Schapiro
Sue and Jock Bickert
Enika and Richard Schulze
Melissa Eisenstat and Jonathan Blau
Peter Ross
Gordon H. Silver Madeline and Michael Silverman Alana Spiwak and Sam Stolbun Sandy and Stephen Stay
Dr. Eugene L. Brand Leslie Anne and Richard Braunstein Kathy and Richard Broussard
REMEMBERING LIFE TRUSTEE NANCY ODÉN
JUNE 28, 1932–DECEMBER 13, 2019 Nancy Newcomet Clow Odén passed away on December 13, 2019 at the age of 87 after a long battle with COPD. Educated at Miss Porter’s School and Vassar College, Nancy later moved in 1964 to Aspen, where she met and married Dr. Robert Odén. Odén was a familiar figure at the Benedict Music Tent, where she ran the Fred O. Lane Lemonade Stand for decades, supporting more than 100 students through the profits made each summer. In addition, she served for many years as Trustee and eventually Life Trustee for the Aspen Music Festival and School. In 2011 the AMFS successfully nominated Odén for the Greg Mace Award for Volunteer Service. In addition to her volunteer work for the AMFS, she also was a founding member of Aspen Community Theatre, organized the early Roach Cup ski races, and eventually the Winternational Ski Races. She was elected, with her husband Robert, to the Aspen Hall of Fame in 1996. Odén touched the lives of countless AMFS students with her enthusiastic service and generosity. We share our condolences with her family.
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
Friends of the Minnesota Orchestra
39
Marian H. Brown
Bonnie Levinson and Dr. Donald Kay
Cathy and Peter Toren
Dorothy Fait and David Borenstein
Joan Lebach
Mi Hyon and Joaquin ValdepeĂąas
Lotta and Stuart Brafman
Dori and Robert Libson
Dr. Margaret Waisman and Dr. Steven S. Callahan
Martha Keith
Dr. and Mrs. Daniel M. Brener
Jeannette Mandelbaum
Judy and Stan Clauson
C. Glenn McLoughlin
Shelley Senterfitt and Ken Canfield
In honor of Barbara and Jon Lee —Solly, Ron, Joe, Paul, Jeffrey, Norman, and Roy
The Vicino Family Charitable Fund of the Community Foundation of Broward County Laura Werlin
Carol and David Clemons
Sally and Bruce McMillen
Sheila M. Cleworth
Mary Mendenhall
Toby and Carleton Cronin
Carol Murphy and Michael Miller
John Czuwak
Musselman Family
Claire and Wayne Dailey
Naughton-Nicholson Foundation/ Will F. Nicholson, Jr.
Noreen and Kenneth Buckfire
Phyllis M. Coors David J. and Vicki Perlmutter Dansky Fund
Lisa See and Richard Kendall
Rose Ann and Michael Leiner
Sandra and Lynn Davis
Nancy R. Levi
Pamela and Chris Denby
Perry J. Lewis
Mary and Sven Dominick-Coomer
Evi and Evan Makovsky
Marsha and David Dowler
Nancy Manderson
Pam Finkelman
Joyce McGilvray
Sistie Fischer
Shelah and Marc Moller
Xan Fischer
Caroline Y. and John Moore
Edmund Frank and Eustacia Su
Ellen-Jane and Ben Moss
Ricki and Peter Fuchs
Janet Rae Naster Memorial Fund
The Gerson Family
Barbara Nau
Rachel and Ephraim Gildor
Terrylin Neale
Mary Griffith
John J. Nicholson
Jane and Allen Grossman
Glenda and Doug Otten
Marianne Gunzler
Dr. David S. Pearlman
Joan and Rodger Gurrentz, in memory of Susan and Morton Gurrentz
Pat and Ed Peterson
Gurrentz Family
Karen Herrling and Dan Porterfield
Margot and Dick Hampleman
Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Pugh
Michael Harold
Clare and Charles Reel
Paula and David Harris
Elaine and Marvin Rosenberg
Mary Kathryn Hartigan
Karen Sandler
Barbara Reid and David Hyman
Sally Saunders
Susan A. Ingerman and Arlene Siegelman
Kitty P. Sherwin
Sandy and Charles Israel
Ellen and Mort Silver
Martie A. Moreno and Roger L. Johnson Ann and Stephen Kaufman, in honor of Ed Berkeley Barbara Bluhm-Kaul and Donald Kaul
Leslie and Harold Porosoff Pam and Jim Porter
Phyllis and Nathan Shmalo Mr. and Mrs. Heinz K. Simon Robert Skolnick Robin and Larry Statsky Austine Stitt Norma and Don Stone Anne and Bill* Tobey
Jeffrey Woodruff ZG-CHICKS Advised Fund at Aspen Community Foundation BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT
Pat Damoorgian Drs. Nancy Thomas and Roger Davis
Jane and Carroll Novicki
Adelaide and James Davis
Essie Perlmutter
Lynne & Jimmy DeWitt Family Fund Kay and Tom Dunton
Marjorie Musgrave and Frank S. Peters
Cinda and Donnelley Erdman
Joyce and Ken Polse
Nancy and Mike Estrada
Dr. Harold Quinn
Mynan and Sam Feldman
Noyes W. Rogers
Richard Finkelstein
Melanie and Myron Roschko
Louise B. Frank
David A. Roth
Elvie and Yale Gieszl
David Ruder
DeeDee and Herb Glimcher
Diana Rumsey
Ethel and Bill Gofen
Joann and Richard Sanders
$400 AND ABOVE
Newman T. Halvorson
Linda and Jay Sandrich
INDIVIDUALS
Connie Heard and Edgar Meyer
Kathryn Sansone
Anonymous
Casady M. Henry
Judith C. Schalit
Kristen Henry
Kim and Darryl Schall
Dale and Stephen Hoffman
Debra and Dennis Scholl
Virginia and Richard Irwin
Susan and Ford Schumann
Susan and Steven Beebe
Dr. Joseph and Cathy Jankovic
Joyce Semple
Michael Behrendt and St. Moritz Lodge
Susan and Donald Jarzemsky
Nancy and Mark Silverman
Jan and Bill Jentes
Alicia and Alan Sirkin
Phyllis and Sanford Beim
Meg and Ralph Jones
Kristin Kramer and Brian Skocaj
Meredith Bell
Maury and Gerry Kaplan
Laurie Smith and Andy Prodanovic
Peggy Scharlin and Shlomo Ben-Hamoo
Christine Karnes
Linda Rae and J. Daniel Snyder
Nancy and Don Kempf
Phyllis and Ron Steinhart
Carla F. and R. Stephen Berry
Hanna M. Warren
Judy and Tom Biondini
Prof. Carolyn Fairbanks and Nick Kereakos
Frances F. Blum and Jon Blum
Dr. Edith W. King and Matthew King
Sheila and Jack Weinberg
Sandy Bolton
Christa Kohler
Peggy Wise
Aspen Skiing Company Family Fund at Aspen Community Foundation McMahan and Associates, LLC National Federation of Music Clubs Oates, Knezevich, Gardenswartz, Kelly & Morrow, P.C. Sigma Alpha Iota Two Leaves and a Bud Tea Company United Jewish Appeal Aspen Valley powered by JEWISHcolorado
Carol and Ken Adelman Carole and Arnold Bailis Janice Baucum
Lynda Palevsky
Sam and Marshall Webb
BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT
Richard Carrigan
Carolyne T. Hyde
Rika and David Charley
Barbara Ilfeld
Aspen Constructors, Inc. - Michael Tanguay
Peter R. Cohn
Richard M. Jennings
Robert T. Connery
Ann and Doug Jones
FCI Constructors, Inc.
Ashley and Mike Connolly
Independence Press, Inc.
Phil Kendall Family Fund of Pikes Peak Community Foundation
Maison Ullens
Jerry Conover, in memory of Tom Congdon
The Metropolitan Opera
Anna Beth Culver
Roberta and Mel Klein
Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation
E. Lee DeGolyer, III
Janet Korenblat
Kara Horner and Spencer Denison
Judy Kravitz
$200 AND ABOVE
Ina and Jan Dlouhy
Marilyn and Earl Latterman
INDIVIDUALS
Penny and Charles Donelan
DeDe and Moses Lebovits
Anonymous
Lee W. Dorsey
Jean and Richard Leety
BJ and Michael Adams
Denison Levy
Marsha and Bill Adler
Maria and Paul Dragoumis, in honor of Karen Smart
Robert C. Anderson
Susan and James Dubin
Regenia Maes
Fran and Dr. Dan Arnold
Eliza Duncan
Peggy and David Marks
Marilyn Susman and Gary Auerbach
Deborah and James Dunham
Colleen and Bill McAleer
Susan and Steve Baird
Nancy S. Dunlap
Marilyn Hayes and John Balson
Michelle Ferguson, in memory of Heather Stowe-Battone
Maura Ann McBreen, in honor of Kay Bucksbaum’s nintieth birthday
Ellie and Stuart Fine
Julie and Robert MacLean
Deb and Bill McCanne
Kathy and Carter Barger
Margot Fleck
Joelle McDonough - Henry Claessens
Dr. Cathrine Blom and Dr. Gordon Baym
Kit Weiss and Mark Fordham
John Menninger
Dorothy Frommer
Trudy Ann Milcan
Barbara and Karl Becker
Sally and Alan Gass
Don E. Miller
Daniel Benavent
Annie and Jim Goodman
Dr. and Mrs. A. David Bernanke
Carolyn J. Grant
Jean and Saul A. Mintz Family Foundation
Dr. William J. Bertschy
Kirstin and James Gray
Dick Moebius
Anne and Clarence Blackwell
Katherina Grunfeld
Paula and Herbert R. Molner
Sandra Blake
Anna and Jonathan Haas
Beth and Josh Mondry
Fran and Larry Blum
Per Hannevold
Pam E. Moore
Joseph Brazie
Sally Greer and David Heil
Edward L. Mulcahy
Harriett and Robert Breihan
Sue and Bob Hess
Nassan Family
Galen Bright and Lucy Tremols
Anne Hetlage
The Oakes Family
Linda and Bob Brining
Susan and Tom Hilb
John W. Overbey
K. Dane and Carter S. Brooksher
Ellen and Les Holst
Baba and Tom Owen
Wendy and Dale Brott
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Horwich
Jan and Jim Patterson
Elizabeth Buccheri
Dr. Leonard Horwitz
Carol E. Paul and Glenn M. Earl
Shelley Burke and Al Nemoff
Kate Haugen and Carlton Hunke
Catherine and John Pearson
Helene and John Baran
ABOVE Students tune before a performance in the Benedict Music Tent.
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
Lisa and Joe Bankoff
Sylvia Blau and Rabbi Samuel Kenner
41
Deborah Prince
Rosalind Walter
Gloria and Joe Pryzant
Tina and Brian Weiner
Faith and David Rachofsky
Hans Widmer
Betsy Ratcliff
Maureen Stone and Doug Wyatt
Ann and Gene Reiling
Karen and Shelby Wyll
Patti Richards Mr. and Mrs. E.B. Robinson, Jr.
BUSINESSES/FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT
Donna and Gino Rossetti
AMFS Artist-Faculty Fund
Mark Salkind
Hetta and Jesse Heath
Mark Rick
Mary Salton Dr. and Mrs. Joel Schneider
$100 AND ABOVE
Susan and Sheldon Schneider
INDIVIDUALS
Elyse Schostak Joseph W. Serene
Sarah C. Brett Smith and Stephen L. Adler
Jean and Mike Sewell
Carole and Paul Auvil
Susan Sheridan
Sam R. Bacon
Betty and Rob Shiels Fund of Communities Foundation of Texas, Inc.
Elizbeth Barbatelli
Robyn Samuels and Bruce Shragg
Leslie and Jack Blanton, Jr.
Jo Ann and Samuel Silverstein
Kathie and Howard Brand
Margaret and Mike Simmons
Judy and Paul Braun
Ann and Richard Simpson
Gordon and Ron Butz
Sandy Smith
Franci Candlin
Katharine Smith-Warren, in memory of Tom Congdon
Paulette and Joseph Cantey
Julie and Barry Smooke
Lynda and Ron Charfoos
Lorraine and Pat Spector
Sydney and Steven Cohen
Tanai Starrs Kathy Hansen and Edward Sweeney
John R. Cohn Philanthropic Fund of the Dallas Jewish Community Foundation
Katherine H. Tachau
Ruth and Dick Conant
Taylor Foundation
Gretchen Cooper
Harry Teague
Emily and Rick Corleto
Charlotte Gibb and Dale Toetz
Donald Crockett
Marie Torreano
Linda and Clay Crossland
Linda and Denis Trupkin
Lisa Dancing-Light
Dr. Frank C. Marino Foundation, Inc.
Bonnie and Mike Daniels
Ruth and Bob Wade
Sandy Simpson and Don Davidson
Ruth Stone
ABOVE Violinist Midori greets a young fan backstage.
Barbara Berkman Louise Riddell Bland
BJ and Jack Carter
Irene Davis
Peter Kelley
Sandra and Fred Peirce
Diane and Stephen Stewart
Sue and Richard de Campo
Karen and Phil Kelton
Susan and Paul Penn
Pat and Tom Stocker
Tomas de la Rosa
Vicki Reynolds and Murray Pepper
Dr. and Mrs. Barry S. Strauch
Beverly and Shelley Don
Soon Duck Kim and Kang Il Kim
Lucy and Dan Ellerhorst
Kathryn and John Koch
Terry Lee and Bill Perich
Hanne and George Thatcher
Ashley and Andrew Ernemann
Amy and Tom Kwei
Sara M. Peterson
Dottie and Sandy Thomson
Doris La Mar
Nancy Peterson
Paula and Bill Turner
Mauricio Fabre
Elsa Lapeze
Carolyn Pichardo
Reine Fedor and Doug Turner
Sylvia and George Falk
Lynne and Dan Levinson
Timothy Pitts
Jan and Rein van West
Michael Fischbach
Jennifer and Greg Long
Susan C. Plummer
Donna and John Vogt
Linda S. Fossier
Martha W. Madsen
Gail Pokress
Dr. Greer Fox and Mr. Bruce Fox
Rosalie Mandelbaum
Yale Pokress
Jennifer Causing and Peter Waanders
Carolyn and Martin Manosevitz
Anne Powell-Riley
Allison and Walter Weathers
David Frantz
Wanda Wray Putnam
Irene Weinrot
Sandra Friedman
Dr. Jerard R. Martin
Ewald Rainer
Stephanie Williams
Alma Garrett
Sue and Bill Mason
Ellen and Milton Reitman
Marj and Bill Wise
Sara Garton
Martha Mecom
Jodi Richard
Melinda and John Wright
Barbara Gilmore
Mrs. Harriet Mehl
Kay Richter
Ruth Wright
Denise and Andy Goldfarb
Linda and Jerome Meister
Peter Rispoli
David V. Gollon
Suzanne and Taber Meyers
Thorn C. Roberts
Lynn Asbury and John Wronosky
Sandy and Bill Goodglick
Christine Montgomery
Cristy Ann Robertson
Sylvia and Marvin Gordon
Gayle B. Morgan and Jonathan Armytage
Jean W. Rueschhoff
Marlene and Dennis Grant
Stephen D. Morton
Linda Watson and Ted Saks, in memory of Barbara MeyerWendt
Sue Anne Griffith
Richard Y. Neiley, Jr.
Judith J. Schramm
Sandy and Darryl Grosjean
Drs. Sarah and Harold Nelson
Debbie and Lenny Schreier
Flossie and Evan Gull
Winifred H. Norman
Marlene Schroeder
Christine and George Hakim
Ann Norwood
Reina and Alberto C. Serrano
Ann Harris, Ph.D.
Pat and Hiram Nowlan
Earlene and Herb Seymour
Susan and Chuck Hiller
Deb and Keith Oates
Karlyn and Don Shapiro
Shirley Holst, in memory of Jack Holst
Samantha and George Olenik
Joyce and Charles Shenk
Ann Spaeth and Raymond Ollett
Dr. and Mrs. William F. Short
Rosalind and Clement Hopp Paul W. Husted
Lydia Morrongiello
June Simmons and Jody Dunn
Paul Jacob
Robin Amster and Steve Olszewski
James Janossy
Frank Pajerski
Dr. and Mrs. Charles C. Smith III
Shael Johnson
Alice and Charles Parker
Chris Souki
Sally Anne Kaiser
Ginny Car-Skaden Passoth
Pat Spitzmiller
Karen and Michael Kaplan
Sarah and Tom Pattison
John Starr
BUSINESSES/ FOUNDATIONS/ GOVERNMENT The Arts Federation IBM Eli Lilly and Company Foundation * Denotes deceased supporter
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
Dr. Beverly Gibbons and Dr. James Gorney
K. M. Tafejian
43
FINANCIAL OVERVIEW
In 2019 the AMFS Board of Trustees approved the use of $340,000 from the Boarddesignated fund to cover losses from certain non-operating events as noted below. This deficit, approximately 2% of our total budget, was the institution’s only deficit in almost a decade.
Rental and miscellaneous income 1%
Investment income 17% 29%
INVESTMENT INCOME
Ticket sales in 2019 were higher than both 2018 sales and the 2019 budget. A huge success was the performance of South Pacific: In Concert, presented in collaboration with Theatre Aspen. This event brought many new patrons into our facility and created a generous boost to ticket sales.
In 2017 AMFS began the process of decreasing the rate of its operating draw on the endowment. Historically AMFS has drawn 5% of the previous 36-months average balance, net of fees. In 2017, AMFS drew 4.75%, in 2018 AMFS drew 4.63%, and in 2019 AMFS drew 4.5%. This increasingly conservative approach was recommended by AMFS’s Investment Committee in light of forecasted decreasing average returns in future years. In 2019 the endowment fund stayed flat at $77M. The fund returned .9% for the fiscal year and averaged 6.2% for each of the past seven years.
DEVELOPMENT AMFS raised $6.9M for the operating fund in 2019. These contributions, which included annual fund gifts, benefit income, and grants, funded both general operations and special projects. While this total was quite close to what was raised in 2018, the amount was $250,000 below budget due to a shortfall in the net revenue from the season benefit. While the event was well attended and artistically successful, the live auction did not produce as much revenue as planned.
REVENUE
There was significant income included in the budget for the rental of AMFS’s facilities for a special event. This event was cancelled in early 2019 and the income was never realized.
Ticket sales
4%
Development (operating)
Other earned income
Management and general costs 14%
Ancillary programs
OTHER INCOME
9%
40%
Marketing Cost of sales-other earned income
Summer staff compensation
28%
2% 2%
Student assistance and other school costs
4%
EXPENSES
8%
16% 23% 3%
Administrative compensation Guest artist compensation
OPPOSITE AMFS alumnus and world renowned maestro Leonard Slatkin (r) takes a bow as artist-faculty member and Aspen Festival Orchestra concertmaster David Halen looks on.
Faculty compensation
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
TICKET SALES
Student fees
45
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL STATEMENT OF REVENUE AND EXPENSES As of September 30, 2019
September 30, 2019
2019 Budget
Variance of Forecast to Budget
2018 Actual
Student fees
$5,163,510
$5,079,500
$84,010
$4,716,431
Ticket sales
1,494,439
1,432,000
62,439
1,348,001
784,704
739,000
45,704
715,634
Development (operating)
6,874,128
7,125,300
(254,672)
6,940,685
Investment income
2,977,405
2,982,000
5,076
2,872,687
114,676
182,000
(48,810)
180,897
17,408,862
17,539,800
(106,253)
16,774,335
2,993,914
REVENUE
Other earned income
Other income TOTAL REVENUE EXPENSES Student assistance and other school costs: Student assistance
3,267,565
3,215,300
52,265
Other school costs
1,644,087
1,554,000
90,087
1,545,310
TOTAL
4,911,652
4,769,300
142,352
4,539,224
2,755,024
2,771,800
(16,776)
2,702,712
578,421
600,800
(22,379)
606,073
Administrative compensation
4,124,960
4,070,000
54,960
3,852,389
Program service compensation
Faculty compensation Guest artist compensation
1,460,482
1,478,300
(17,818)
1,385,832
Cost of sales-other earned income
669,336
664,000
5,336
665,568
Marketing
312,539
322,700
(10,161)
321,907
Programs
364,386
341,000
23,386
267,670
2,522,587
2,371,800
124,433
2,417,885
17,699,387
17,389,700
283,333
16,759,260
(290,525)
150,100
(389,586)
15,075
(50,000)
(50,000)
0
(50,000)
0
0
0
119,000
Management and general costs TOTAL EXPENSES NET FROM OPERATIONS Bucksbaum capital contribution Transfer of staff salaries to capital campaign and project budgets Transfer (to)/from endowment Cushion/contingency NET REVENUE
OPPOSITE (l–r) Students Thea Humphries, horn; Lily Josefsberg, flute; and John Fawcett, violin atop Aspen Mountain.
340,525
0
0
(84,075)
0
(100,000)
100,000
0
$0
$100
($289,586)
$0
225 MUSIC SCHOOL ROAD ASPEN, CO 81611
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