Aspen Music Festival and School – Festival Focus, Week 4

FESTIVALFOCUS

Opera Program Brings Patchett’s Bel Canto to Life

BY LAURA SMITH Vice President of Marketing and Communications

Author Ann Patchett’s best-selling novel Bel Canto is described on her own website as “a spellbinding story about love and opera.” On Friday, July 21, at the Benedict Music Tent, the Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) presents an opera based on the book, bringing Patchett’s dramatic story to life with all the tenderness and tension for which her novel was so highly acclaimed.

Set during a real-life hostage situation that took place in 1996 in Lima, Peru, the story is driven forward by the main character, Roxane—an opera singer—and her “bel canto,” or “beautiful singing.” During a months-long captivity, it’s Roxane’s daily practice of singing that connects the characters to each other, to their humanity, and to love.

“It is music, in the form of Roxane’s voice, that allows these people to find common ground,” notes Renée Fleming, superstar soprano, co-artistic director of the Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS (AOTVA) program, the work’s champion, and the voice upon which Patchett based Roxane’s singing.

“Throughout history, the shared experience of music and art has created community, to the extent that it’s part of human evolution,” says Fleming. “It’s in our DNA.”

“Presenting this is going to be so much fun,” says Patrick Chamberlain, vice president for artistic administration at the AMFS. “This is the second ever performance of this opera, which is really sig-

Star Wars, E.T., and More: Film Music of John Williams

Tuesday, July 25 | 7 PM Benedict Music Tent Tickets from $30! Children’s tickets $20.

COSTUMES ENCOURAGED!

nificant. It was premiered by the Chicago Lyric Opera, with music by Peruvian composer Jimmy López Bellido, based on the impassioned novel. It is a real passion project of Renée’s.”

Fleming spent five years nurturing and workshopping the opera’s commission in Chicago along with Bellido and director Kevin Newbury—the same

Patrick

team now coming to set the work in Aspen.

“Renée has absolutely championed this work,” says Chamberlain. “When she and Patrick Summers took over as co-artistic directors of AOTVA, this was very high on the list as a work that we would produce here. What makes it uniquely suited to what we can do at Aspen are

Dust off your light sabers, don your wizarding robes, and join us for an evening of the greatest works by John Williams, easily the most prolific and important film composer of our time. Played by a full orchestra, this family-friendly program will include selections from Star Wars, E.T., Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Harry Potter, and many more!

(Please note: This evening is purely orchestral and will not include film projections.)

the same reasons why it’s so challenging for other companies to produce. It

See Bel Canto, Festival Focus page 3

JAS, AMFS Collaborate to Bring Big Bass to the Stage

BY SAMANTHA JOHNSTON Festival Focus Writer

The Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) and Jazz Aspen Snowmass (JAS) are teaming up again to bring bass sensations Christian McBride and Edgar Meyer to Harris Concert Hall on Saturday, July 22.

Meyer—a Tennessee-born bluegrass specialist and classical crossover—and McBride, who first attended The Juilliard School to pursue classical studies, but hit the road with legendary jazz saxophonist Bobby Watson, create a duo that is rare magic.

The powerhouse bassists first played together in Aspen in 2007. This will be their third time performing during the summer AMFS program.

“The first time we brought Edgar and Christian to the stage at Harris Hall, it was an absolutely mind-blowing concert,” says James Horowitz, president and CEO of JAS. “In all of the shows I’ve seen over all of the years, that

one was a standout. It is one of my top ten, maybe top five.”

McBride and Meyer were both heavily influenced and inspired by double bassist Ray Brown who was known for his extensive work with Oscar Peterson and Ella Fitzgerald. Though McBride is known for blazing a path in the jazz genre and Meyer has roots in classical and bluegrass, it’s the sweet spot they share that McBride sees as unique.

“We both play an instrument that is meant to accompany, and we both were inspired by the man who brought us together—Ray Brown,” McBride says. “I come from the jazz and rhythm and blues world and Edgar comes from bluegrass and classical, but in the middle, we both love the blues.”

Common ground for this duo has less to do with the particular genre of music they play, and more to do with a continuing friendship and exploration of the music they

See Bass Extravaganza, Festival Focus page 3

“It’s a big old-school grand opera, the likes of which aren’t really being written anymore.”

Chamberlain AMFS Vice President for Artistic Administration

Renée Fleming (left) championed the creation of an opera based on author Ann Patchett’s (right) best-selling novel, Bel Canto. Student artists of the AMFS’s Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS program present that opera, composed by Jimmy LÓpez Bellido, in the Benedict Music Tent on July 21.

EMILY DORIO

Celebrated bassist Christian McBride joins AMFS artist-faculty member and bluegrass legend Edgar Meyer on July 22.

EBRU YILDIZ

ANDREW ECCLES

Free Family Events Designed with Kids in Mind

LAURA SMITH

Vice President of Marketing and Communications

Come one, come all, come big and small, to the Aspen Music Festival and School’s (AMFS) free Family Concert, Caroline Shaw’s The Mountain that Loved a Bird on Tuesday, July 18. Arrive early to enjoy pre-concert activities on the Karetsky Music Lawn starting at 4 p.m. before moving inside for the 5 p.m. concert in Harris Concert Hall.

“This concert is such a great point of entry for young ones,” says Heather Kendrick, AMFS dean of education and community. “It is in a beautiful, professional concert hall, yet the feel will be very accessible, very friendly. House lights will stay up, the doors will stay open, the performers will speak and show their instruments from the stage, and the work is a brief 20 minutes. It is a wonderful way for kids to have a great time and also learn young how to ‘show up’ in a concert hall.”

Based on the children’s book The Mountain that Loved a Bird by Alice McLerran, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw’s work was chosen for its accessibility, lively music, and beautiful themes that tie in to the AMFS’s season theme of The Adoration of the Earth

Local actor Graham Northrup will provide dramatic narration from the stage, telling the story of a barren mountain that loves a bird who visits but cannot survive on its rocky landscape. Eventually the mountain’s grief causes it to weep rivers, which transform the terrain into fertile ground rich in vegetation and wildlife, bringing the mountain joy forever. Says AMFS Vice President for Artistic Administration Patrick Chamberlain, “I was so affected by the text of the book and by how Caroline’s music so beautifully comple-

mented it. It does what the best of children’s literature and movies do, which is to take such simple ideas and emotions that are so real and human and turn them into something deeply moving.”

Families are encouraged to arrive early for the pre-concert activities designed to prepare young ears for what they’ll hear during the concert. Among the planned stations is the ever-popular Instrument Petting Zoo where young adult music students at the AMFS summer program will bring their drums, trumpets, flutes, and more for touching and trying by curious little hands.

“The entire experience is designed with children in mind,” notes Kendrick. “I hope all families and kids that come will experience a real sense of belonging, even if they are coming to something like this for the very first time.”

This summer brings another concert event for the entire family with the second-annual free Mariachi Celebration Community Concert on July 26 at the Benedict Music Tent. Featuring a performance by Denver-based Mariachi Sol de mi Tierra, the concert also includes local music students and dancers from Aspen Santa Fe Ballet Folklórico. These groups come together on stage to highlight their hard work, build community, and celebrate Mexican culture. A pre-concert fiesta with activities, community partners, and food vendors begins at 4 p.m.

In addition to these concerts, the AMFS also offers free music story hours at local libraries for kids ages eight and under with an adult all summer long. Find them at the Pitkin County Library on Thursdays at 10:30 a.m. on July 6 and 20 and August 3, and at the Basalt Regional Library on Wednes-

days at 10:30 a.m. on July 12, 19, and 26, and August 2.

As always, families are welcome to bring their children to concerts any time! Tickets for kids ages 4–18 are just $5 for most events and may be purchased by calling the AMFS Box Office at 970-925-9042.

POWERS AT HARRIS CONCERT HALL, 4:30

A future conductor tries her hand at the baton during free, preconcert Kids Notes activities. These activities begin at 4 p.m., Tuesday, July 18, on the Karetsky Music Lawn prior to this year’s free Family Concert in Harris Concert Hall at 5 p.m.

Bass Extravaganza: Adventure and Discovery

Continued from Festival Focus page 1

can create together.

“Christian is the person who makes everyone around him better. The remarkable propulsion of his beat is an important part of his raising others, but the way that he listens may be even more important,” says Meyer. “I wish everyone could have the pleasure of interacting with him, but I’m certainly not going to give up my turn.”

McBride says he is still in awe of Meyer—a MacArthur Fellow and Avery Fisher Prize winner—and he wouldn’t miss an opportunity to share the stage with him.

“The thing that will never change for me is that, besides being one of my favorite collaborators, I’m still a huge Edgar Meyer fan,” McBride says.

Bass duets are about as rare as bassists who have developed solo careers, yet listeners will be treated to both in this special presentation.

“What you will hear is so rare,” Horowitz says. “The listener just needs to suspend their assumptions about the musical conversation that should take place between a bass player that plays classical and folk and one who plays jazz and electronic. It will musically be something you’ve never heard before.”

The big energy of the performance like this one comes largely from the passion both artists feel for engaging the audience and giving them a reason to tap their foot to

Says Meyer (above) of McBride, “I wish everyone could have the pleasure of interacting with him, but I’m certainly not going to give up my turn.” See the two bassists interact on July 22.

the music.

“Oftentimes, well-trained, deeply ingrained artists and musicians get so deep into the weeds of our craft that we forget that there are people who may not know us, or our music and they just need to feel some good energy,” McBride says. “Some people don’t know or frankly don’t care about the science of our work—the chords and scales and words—they just want to be entertained.”

The evening’s program will be announced from the stage as both McBride and Meyer play with a sense of adventure and discovery, often playing what inspires them at the time.

“Our audience can expect a mishmash of cool originals, a few standards, a few show tunes, and we will also accompany one another on the piano for a couple of songs,” says McBride.

“I think you’ll have to be there,” says AMFS Vice President for Artistic Administration Patrick Chamberlain. “You’ll see two people at the absolute height of their powers who are complete masters of their instrument. They approach it from a slightly different lens, but with complete and total respect for each other, for the audience, and for the instrument. It’s just one of those nights that everyone will say, ‘Were you there when Christian McBride and Edgar Meyer played together?’”

FRIDAY/SUNDAY ORCHESTRAL CONCERT TICKETS $45/$65/$90

Bel Canto: A Story of Love and Opera

Continued from Festival Focus page 1

requires a huge orchestra, a huge chorus, and tons of roles. It’s in seven different languages. It’s just a big old-school grand opera, the likes of which aren’t really being written anymore.”

Says Fleming, “I realized when Bel Canto premiered in Chicago that it is really an ensemble piece, with opportunities for so many singers to work closely with the director. That is a foundational experience for a young performer in opera, making it ideal for our program. And we are so fortunate to have the original director, Kevin Newbury, because, among his many creative gifts, he is fantastic at building the sense of ensemble.”

Ensemble work is important in a program like the AOTVA, which brings exceptional young opera talent to Aspen to train to launch into their careers, not just vocally but dramatically.

Bel Canto gives both performers and audience an intense experience. “As in many of Ann Patchett’s novels, humans are put in a dire situation, and it brings out the best in them,” says Fleming. “Bel Canto offers audiences (and performers), pretty much the full range of emotions— the joy and excitement of an exclusive gathering, the sudden intrusion of terror, life and death confrontations, resignation, the development of understanding, and, of course, love.”

The opera’s libretto was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz. It is sung in Spanish, English, Japanese, Russian, German, French, Latin, Italian, and Quechua. As if that weren’t enough, Patchett quipped that she “learned opera” like another language when she wrote the novel.

She self-professes she “knew nothing” about opera when she found the idea for the book, but, she says, “Once I came up with the character of Roxane Coss I threw myself into learning about it whole-heartedly. I also started playing opera recordings all the time and attending operas whenever possible. I absolutely fell in love with opera. It’s been such a wonderful bonus of writing this book. I feel like I learned a second language.”

In a final dramatic layering around this charmed project, it ultimately led to a real-life story of love and opera. Through the book, Patchett and Fleming became friends and the love-spell of the novel worked its magic: “Ann actually introduced me to my husband,” Fleming explains, “so I have a lot to thank her for.”

ASHKAN IMAGE

Bel Canto composer Jimmy López Bellido also will be in Aspen this summer, working with the young artists of the AOTVA.

Renée Fleming Artist and soprano Kathryn Henry sings the role of Roxane Coss.

Renée Fleming Artist and mezzo-soprano Ruby Dibble sings the role of Carmen.

Renée Fleming Artist and bassbaritone Yue Wu sings the role of Katsumi Hosokawa.

Renée Fleming Artist and tenor Cesar Andres Parreño sings the role of Gen Watanabe.

Renée Fleming Artist and tenor Ángel M. Vargas sings the role of General Alfredo.

Renée Fleming Artist and baritone Jack Nadler sings the role of Joachim Messner.