FESTIVALFOCUS YOUR WEEKLY CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE
SUPPLEMENT TO THE ASPEN TIMES
MONDAY, JULY 12, 2021
VOL 31, NO. 3
Mozart’s Magic Flute on Saturday
NEW THIS YEAR!
AMFS Livestreams
SHANNON ASHER
This summer, the AMFS shares select concerts with the world in a series of free livestreams direct from the Benedict Music Tent. For tips on how to view the livestreams on your devices, visit aspenmusicfestival. com/virtual-stage.
LIVESTREAM SCHEDULE: Mozart’s The Magic Flute Saturday, July 17 | 7 PM MT
Aspen Chamber Symphony Friday, July 23 | 5:30 PM MT Gemma New conductor Tengku Irfan piano
Aspen Chamber Symphony Friday, Aug. 13 | 5:30 PM MT Roderick Cox conductor Joyce Yang piano
Aspen Festival Orchestra Sunday, Aug. 22 | 4 PM MT Robert Spano conductor Augustin Hadelich violin
Festival Focus Writer
The Aspen Opera Theater Center and VocalARTS (AOTVA) program will mount a special version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Benedict Music Tent this Saturday evening at 7 pm. The performance will be sung by the young singers of the program, conducted by Patrick Summers, directed by Edward Berkeley, and narrated by Renée Fleming. It will also be livestreamed free at aspenmusicfestival.com/virtual-stage. Abridged and semi-staged, this version was created by Berkeley and Summers to fit the Aspen Music Festival and School’s 2021 90-minute window for safety in performance. “Making sure it worked musically within the limitation of time was the first consideration,” says Berkeley. After that, Berkeley’s task was to find a way to keep the connection to the story and to “keep something buoyant happening.” The answer was an original narration, saturated with Berkeley’s signature sharp wit, and to be performed by none other than Fleming, who is co-artistic director of the AOTVA program along with Summers. Berkeley points out that even though abridged, “it is The Magic Flute, still,” and notes there will be a “playfulness in the staging” and “a certain loosey-goosey-ness” to retain the joy and whimsy for which Mozart’s beloved work is so well-known. Set in ancient Egypt, the story centers around Tamino, a young prince who enters a quest to win the hand of the princess,
Sarah Vautour, a soprano studying this summer in the Aspen Opera Theatre and VocalARTS program with Renée Fleming and Patrick Summers, sings the unforgettable role of the Queen of the Night.
Pamina. Her mother, the Queen of the Night, is ruthless in her determination to keep them apart, though ultimately love triumphs. This part-myth, part-fairy tale focuses on themes of love and good versus evil. Sarah Vautour, a soprano studying at the AOTVA, will be singing the formidable role of Queen of the Night, a part known for having some of the highest notes sung in all of opera. One might describe the Queen of the Night as an overprotective mother who goes too far. She would do anything to protect her daughter, Pamina. “I am definitely looking forward to playing the ‘evil’ character in an opera for once, being that in most of my
repertoire, I am playing the ingenue,” Vautour says. “The Queen of the Night is a powerful and awesome force to be reckoned with. It is so exciting to sing one of the most famous roles in opera history. Even if you aren’t an opera fan, one can pretty much guarantee that you will recognize the melody of her key aria, ‘Der Hölle Rache.’ That aria is like a rock song. It’s impossible to have a bad time listening to it.” Vautour’s first leading role in Aspen came at the young age of 20 when she sang the role of Mozart/Donna Anna in AMFS’s production of Steven Stucky’s The Classical Style.
See Vautour, Festival Focus page 3
Conductor James Conlon’s Much-Anticipated Return LAURA E. SMITH
Vice President for Marketing and Communications
Conductor and AMFS alumnus James Conlon
Sunday, July 18, sees the return to Aspen of conductor James Conlon, a longtime favorite presence, Aspen alumnus, music director of the Los Angeles Opera, and world-famous conductor and music advocate. He will lead a program of brilliant works he hand chose, anchored by William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony and Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto played by soloist Yefim Bronfman. It is a much-anticipated reunion—Conlon’s Aspen roots run deep. “The year 2024 will mark 50 years from my first year conducting in Aspen as an adult,” he says. He came to Aspen in 1968 as a young conducting student. “It was my first trip away from home,” he remembers, “and basically where I first really conducted.” His experience here led to enrolling at The
Juilliard School, to early conducting engagements in Europe, and then on to a legendary career on both sides of the pond. Asked about programming the lesser-known Dawson work, Conlon is direct, “It came about because of the increasing consciousness of the last year and the murder of George Floyd,” he says. Conlon has long been passionate about advocating for silenced voices, including those of Jewish composers oppressed or erased by the Nazis. His longtime work in that area helped lead to the establishment of the Ziering-Conlon Initiative for Recovered Voices at the Colburn School. Citing the recent national wake-up call around racism, he says he immediately began
looking for new works to bring to light by composers sidelined or diminished because of racism. “It’s an amazing work,” he explains of the Dawson, which was premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1934. “It’s accessible, melodic, rhythmic, emotionally touching, and very exciting.” AMFS Vice President for Artistic Administration and Artistic Advisor Asadour Santourian agrees. “It’s a magnificently conceived work,” he notes. “Dawson uses three spirituals as schematic material, which he synthesizes, brilliantly crafted.” Says Conlon, “I think audiences will not only enjoy the work, they will want to know ‘where
See Conlon, Festival Focus page 3
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