Aspen Music Festival and School – Festival Focus, Week 1

FESTIVALFOCUS

2023 Festival Ushers in 53 Days of Music on June 29

LAURA SMITH VP of Marketing and Communications

The Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) opens its 74th season on Thursday, June 29, beginning a 53-day-palooza of live music, which brings together classic favorites, brilliant contemporary finds, and rarely-heard gems under the 2023 season theme, The Adoration of the Earth

Opening with Stravinsky’s pulsating The Rite of Spring, the eight-week festival crams in a flood of thrilling musical experiences. From fierce contemporary voices like composers Jimmy López Bellido and Anthony Davis; pillars of tradition such as Beethoven, Mozart, and Debussy; evenings of passion projects like James Conlon’s Recovered Voices of the Holocaust and Darrett Adkins’s all-Elliott Carter recital; and pure fun in Broadway star Audra McDonald and a night of Star Wars and other film music by John Williams, it is no exaggeration to say there is truly something for everyone.

A festival that presents both an evening of Elliott Carter and the film music of John Williams? “It’s quintessentially Aspen,” says Patrick Chamberlain, AMFS vice president for artistic administration. “Carter and Williams—in my mind those are two equally great American composers whose musical language could not be more different, whose popular aesthetic could not be more different, and yet we are devoting evenings to each of them. That actually sums up Aspen more than anything else in a way.”

Another anchor of the season theme is Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony (June 30), which AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher notes as a seminal work in this realm. “The Pastoral Symphony is one of the first large-scale pieces of music in our tradition that was specifically and explicitly about nature. It was in a pivotal moment in terms of the enlight-

enment and the oncoming industrial revolution that Beethoven thought, ‘I don’t like the city. I love nature, and I love going out into nature. I’m going to recreate that experience for people so they can have it in the concert hall.’ Since then, this has become a trope for creative artists.”

Other works evoking the theme include Mahler’s Third Symphony (July 30)

and Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth) (July 23), Debussy’s La mer (August 13), Renée Fleming’s recital with works from her new Grammy-winning album Voices of Nature: The Anthropocene (July 15), several works by “atmospheric artist” John Luther Adams, and the season closer, Haydn’s The Creation (August 20).

Says Fletcher, himself a composer, “The Creation is absolutely one of Haydn’s most superior works. My own teacher regarded Haydn as the most underappreciated composer in the entire world of classical music. If you don’t know the work already, you’ll think, ‘Where was this music all my life? It’s so fabulous.’ Imagine being an artist, a composer, and thinking, ‘I guess I’ll write a piece about everything.’ Then doing it.” Notes Chamberlain, “It’s the first time we’ve done this work in Aspen. It is a piece that really has everything: storytelling, great music, tremendous orchestration. It’s a really fitting celebration of what’s beautiful in this world.”

Perhaps more even than the music, it’s the great artists who define an Aspen summer. Old friends and new, emerging talents and those at the pinnacle of their careers, musicians come from around the world to be a part of the Festival experience. “Artists connect to what we do here in a way that I think is different than their typical gig. The spirit of what we do with the school, the interaction with students, the inspiration of the natural surroundings, the quality

See Festival Opens, Festival Focus page 3

Tour de Force, Rite of Spring, on Opening Sunday

JESSICA MOORE Director of Marketing

Opening Sunday on July 2 with the Aspen Festival Orchestra, Robert Spano, and Daniil Trifonov (above) will also be available to view as a free livestream on the AMFS Virtual Stage

There’s nothing quite like a Sunday concert experience in Aspen, and the July 2 opening of the Aspen Festival Orchestra under the baton of AMFS Music Director Robert Spano is a grand program worthy of the occasion. Alongside composer Brian Raphael Nabors’s Of Earth and Sky: Tales from the Motherland and star pianist Daniil Trifonov in Gershwin’s rhythmic Piano Concerto in F major, this weekend’s orchestral performance concludes with Stravinsky’s iconic The Rite of Spring—the cornerstone and source of the Aspen Music Festival and School’s 2023 theme, The Adoration of the Earth

AMFS Vice President for Artistic Administration Patrick Chamberlain says “the opening Sunday really sets the tone for the summer,” and that there was really no other way to begin than with Stravinsky’s Rite—a work he says “always sounds like it could have been written yesterday.” Calling it “forever modern, forever fresh,” Chamberlain continues, “it’s about as loud as an orchestra gets and it’s about as difficult as orchestra writing gets. It speaks to the overwhelming quality of young orchestral talent that the piece doesn’t sound hard anymore.”

AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher echoes the timelessness of the work: “It’s a piece almost every composer since this

piece was written has had in their ear and is in some way reacting to. To this day, when I teach composition seminars, people are very often talking about The Rite of Spring more than one hundred years later.”

Composed as a ballet for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes with choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky, The Rite of Spring may largely be known for the outsized reaction the work received at its 1913 premiere in Paris. Although there are conflicting reports as to the nature of the disturbances, the Parisian audience and press did not take an immediate liking to the avant-garde music or choreography.

Fletcher describes the piece as “full of

See Sunday, Festival Focus page 3

CARLIN MA

“Artists connect to what we do here in a way that I think is different ...”

Patrick Chamberlain AMFS Vice President for Artistic Administration

The Aspen Music Festival and School’s final concert on August 20 will feature Haydn’s magnificent work The Creation, “a celebration of what’s beautiful in the world.”

ALEX IRVIN

Malofeev, Martínez Return for Harris Hall Recitals

EMMA KIRBY Marketing Coordinator

The first week at the Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) showcases the return of two artists who delighted audiences in their Aspen debuts at the Benedict Music Tent last summer, this time bringing personal programs for recitals in Harris Concert Hall. On Thursday, June 29, pianist Alexander Malofeev performs a virtuosic recital of expressive Romantic works. On Saturday, July 1, soprano Ana María Martínez presents an all-Spanish program that pays homage to her family and roots.

Although Malofeev’s first visit to Aspen was less than a year ago, he has already begun to earn his place as a fixture at the Festival. His tremendous technical abilities and commanding stage presence have won over local audiences who are still abuzz from his recent Winter Music recital in February. “There’s a magnetism to the way he draws

you in that makes you really want to listen,” says AMFS Vice President of Artistic Administration Patrick Chamberlain.

Like his past performances in Aspen, this summer’s recital program is centered around Rachmaninoff, a composer who Malofeev says “basically raised” him. The evening’s selections evoke Rachmaninoff’s legacy. Malofeev characterizes each as having the “idea of wondering,” and a strong sense of “inner choice” and freedom.

The recital opens with Beethoven’s Tempest Sonata, No. 17—one of Beethoven’s “most personal” sonatas, says Malofeev. Skryabin’s Prelude and Nocturne for the Left Hand and Liszt’s arrangement of Wagner’s Overture to Tannhäuser follow. Two of Rachmaninoff’s lesser-known works, selections from Morceaux de fantaisie, op. 3 and Études-tableaux, op. 33 conclude the recital. “It’s a beast of a program that shows the full range of what he can do, what the piano can do,” says Chamberlain.

Malofeev reciprocates Aspen concertgoers’ excited anticipation of his return to the Festival. “It’s always very inspiring,” he says about the sense of community in Aspen. “Here, you can have some personal connections to the audience. It’s a very special moment for any musician and that’s what I hope I have in Aspen, and why I’m going to return. I know what to expect and I really love it.”

Ana María Martínez’s recital is “going to be a very deep statement about who she is,” says AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher. Martínez, who brought down the house in her role as Mother Abbess in last summer’s production

of The Sound of Music, will perform a selection of her longtime favorite songs for Saturday’s program. “My mother was a beautiful singer, so she would sing them all the time. I grew up with them,” says Martínez.

Sharing the stage with Martínez is Myra Huang, AMFS faculty member and noted collaborative pianist and coach. Four students from the Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS program will also join the renowned opera singer for the second half of her recital, which features examples of Spanish zarzuelas—a popular operatic form from the 1930s and ’40s. “It’s a special, onlyin-Aspen moment: a collaboration at the very highest level between a master guest artist and teacher and the students here,” says Chamberlain. It’s a “chance for the younger singers to shine,” says Martínez. “It’s my salute to them.” It is also a program of “profound beauty,” she says. “I think the audience will feel the joy of the music.”

Start your summer with stellar artists who won over Aspen audiences last year and are sure to do the same again!

WELCOME BACK, AMFS STUDENTS AND ARTIST-FACULTY!

Pianist Alexander Malofeev opens the AMFS season June 29 in Harris Concert Hall.

LYNN GOLDSMITH

Soprano Ana María Martínez performs works in Spanish with pianist Myra Huang, July 1.

COURTESY PHOTO

Festival Opens: Season celebrates the natural world

of our facilities, the way we take care of them, all those things really make it something else, make a difference,” says Chamberlain.

New talents appearing this summer include soprano Angel Blue, violinist Maxim Vengerov, recent international piano competition winners Eric Lu and Yunchan Lim, saxophonist Jess Gillam, and Russian pianist Alexander Malofeev who returns after an outstanding debut last year.

On the other end of the spectrum, many of the 2023 artists have decades-long relationships with the AMFS such as conductor James Conlon and violinists Robert McDuffie and Gil Shaham. Pianists Misha and Cipa Dichter have been coming for more than 40 years; AMFS artistfaculty member and pianist Anton Nel will be celebrating his twenty-fifth summer in Aspen.

The Emerson String Quartet—the very first group to perform in Harris Hall in 1993 when it was still a construction site—will be performing its Farewell Concert on August 15 in that same hall. “Saying farewell to one of the greatest ensembles of our lifetime is bittersweet,” says Fletcher.

“I know they’re looking forward to coming back to Aspen one last time. It will be an emotional evening for everybody. Bring your tissues,” says Chamberlain.

Opera Encounters coached by Renée Fleming

July 1 and July 8 | 10 AM

Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS

Co-Artistic Director Renée Fleming coaches the program’s major emerging talents for the first two installations of Opera Encounters at the Wheeler Opera House. She is joined by AOTVA Co-Artistic Director Patrick Summers on July 1 and Kevin Newbury on July 8.

Free Livestreams Return; New Tiered Ticket Prices

STAFF

The signature Friday and Sunday concerts at the 2023 Aspen Music Festival and School are now more accessible than ever thanks to new lower-priced ticketing tiers, free Sunday concert broadcasts on Aspen Public Radio, and the return of free livestreams on the AMFS Virtual Stage.

Lowering ticket prices to invite more people inside the Benedict Music Tent reflects an important community initiative, says Vice President for Marketing and Communications Laura Smith. “While sitting for free on the Karetsky Lawn is one of life’s great joys,” she says, “the intensity and emotion of sitting inside for a concert is powerful, and it is something we wanted to open up to share with more people.”

say there is no place better in the world than a Tent concert on a summer weekend, and I certainly agree. These musicians pour their hearts into the deep, creative, expansive programs they bring to the stage for us; it’s a signature Aspen experience.”

Not in Aspen? Join the Sunday concerts from afar via a new series of live broadcasts on Aspen Public Radio. Starting Sunday, July 2, tune in from Aspen through Eagle and Rifle on 91.5 or 88.9 and hear the concert alongside longtime APR classical host, Chris Mohr. Returning this year also are free streams of select concerts on the AMFS Virtual Stage, streaming live from the Benedict Music Tent.

2023 FREE LIVESTREAMS

• Sunday, July 2 | Festival Orchestra: The Rite of Spring and pianist Daniil Trifonov

• Friday, July 7 | Chamber Symphony: Maxim Vengerov in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto

• Sunday, July 16 | Festival Orchestra: Violinist Augustin Hadelich

• Sunday, July 23 | Festival Orchestra: James Conlon conducts Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde

• Sunday, July 30 | Festival Orchestra: Robert Spano conducts Mahler’s Third Symphony

• Wednesday, August 9 | Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra: Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra

Sunday: Nabors and Gershwin

Continued from Festival Focus page 1

mystery and beauty and strangeness. While written as a ballet, many people, including me, think it works much better in the concert hall as a concert piece.”

Notably, this will be Spano’s first performance of The Rite of Spring in Aspen. “It’s music that’s right in his wheelhouse,” says Chamberlain, “so I think that will be really exciting for our audience.”

In thinking about how to construct a full program around such a recognizable work as Stravinsky’s, Spano and Chamberlain turned to Brian Raphael Nabors, a composer whom Spano has championed and worked with on many occasions. Of Spano’s selection Fletcher says, “he really believes this is wonderful music that we should hear. Therefore, we believe it is and really think the audience can respond to that.”

Where Stravinsky was inspired by Russian folk music, Nabors instead is inspired by African folk tunes. His work, Of Earth and Sky: Tales from the Motherland, is characterized by a driving rhythmic energy and use of large orchestra and percussion that harkens back to The Rite of Spring. “It’s a really serendipitous bit of programming that we have these two works sharing the stage,” says Chamberlain.

Bridging those two works is an artist that needs no introduction to Aspen audiences—Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov—in his first-ever performance of Gershwin’s quintessentially American Piano Concerto in F major. Gershwin himself was a brilliant pianist and Trifonov will bring the work to life in his own artfully unique way.

The Friday and Sunday orchestral concerts now have tiers at $45, $65, and $90, in addition to the always-free Lawn. “We hope this will make it easier for people to come inside the Tent for concerts and encourage those who have never come in to give it a try,” says Smith. “Many

• Thursday, August 17 | Mozart’s Idomeneo: Starring Matthew Polenzani

• Sunday, August 20 | Festival Orchestra: Final Sunday with Haydn’s The Creation

“I think our Aspen audiences know that whatever Daniil plays, you want to listen to it, you want to hear it. It will probably be one of the more definitive versions of whatever it is that you’ve ever heard,” explains Chamberlain.

AMFS

The Emerson String Quartet ends an era in a final “Aspen Farewell” recital on August 15.

JÜRGEN FRANK

CARLIN MA

Audience members enjoy the immersive experience of music in the Benedict Music Tent.