Festival Focus June 30

Your weekly CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE

Festival Focus

Supplement to The Aspen Times

Don’t Miss Beethoven 5 on July 5!

This week’s Aspen Chamber Symphony (ACS) concert will take place in the Benedict Music Tent at 6 pm on Saturday, July 5, to accommodate the July 4 holiday.

Don’t miss the ACS’s impassioned performance of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, as well as a program that also features Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture and Bartók’s Second Violin Concerto with soloist Gil Shaham.

Ticket holders are also invited to enjoy a complimentary wine tasting sponsored by JUSTIN Vineyards & Winery and Landmark Vineyards prior to the start of the concert.

Monday, June 30, 2014

Vol 25, No. 2

Joshua Bell Performs, Festival Premieres Organ jessica cabe

the quality of sound he produces on his instrument.

The Aspen Festival Orchestra’s (AFO) up“There’s a certain number of people coming concert on Sunday, July 6, features who are among the greatest violinists an Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) in the world at any given moment, and favorite and a brand new instrument. Su- he has always been one of those,” says perstar violinist Joshua Bell returns to As- Fletcher. “Even as a teenager, it was clear. pen, and a new organ makes its debut.

That comes across in the carrying power The organ, which will be showcased in of his sound.” the concert’s second half, represents a After Bell’s performance, the Festival’s new technology far new electronic organ, superior to the organ donated by communisynthesizers used ty member and AMFS by the Festival in the alumnus Jon Busch, past. Described as will have its moment “the world’s most to shine. This new advanced virtual pipe instrument makes it organ,” the Hauptpossible to present a werk organ uses the work like Saint-Saëns’s recorded sound of Third Symphony— Asadour Santourian every single pipe of also known as his “OrVice President for Artistic Administration and Artistic Advisor of the AMFS an actual organ. gan” symphony—in Before the organ is true form. showcased, however, the first half of the “Composers like Saint-Saëns are great AFO program features Bell playing Bruch’s assimilators of their contemporaries and First Violin Concerto—a performance sure predecessors, but they’re also innovators, to stand out, thanks to Bell’s rare combi- which is why they are in the pantheon of nation of musicianship and personality. composers whose works we perform,” “He’s a thinking musician; he’s always says Santourian. “We’re thrilled to be evaluating his own work and improving doing this work, because it’s quintesupon it,” says Asadour Santourian, vice sentially a Romantic work. There’s terrific president for artistic administration and writing for all the instruments, and the orartistic advisor of the AMFS. “As a per- gan is the cherry on top. So you’re riding son, he was kissed by fate. He has charm, the crest of this great Romantic work with he has charisma, and you can’t do better brilliant writing for the woodwind soloists than that.” and the two pianists on the piano part.

According to AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher, part of Bell’s appeal is in See ORGAN, Festival Focus page 3 Festival Focus writer

As a person, [Joshua Bell] was kissed by fate.

He has charm, he has charisma, and you can’t do better than that.

alex irvin/amfs

Violinist and Aspen alumnus Joshua Bell will perform with the Aspen Festival Orchestra on July 6 at the Benedict Music Tent.

High Notes Series Offers Insight jessica cabe

Festival Focus writer

In addition to presenting hundreds of high-caliber performances each season, the Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) also offers an opportunity to get to know the composers and performers with its free and open-tothe-public High Notes panel discussion series.

Every Wednesday at noon, from July 2 to August 13, AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher leads a conversation with performers, composers, and industry insiders to offer audiences a more complete picture of some of the music that will be heard on the Festival’s stages.

“Alan is an insightful and incisive interviewer and is engaging,” says Asadour Santourian, AMFS vice president for artistic administration and artistic advisor. “So he charms information out of the participants that you would not find in a magazine or in a sound bite on the Internet.”

This year’s High Notes series lineup features discus-

sions with musicologist Joseph Horowitz, composer Lowell Liebermann, singer-songwriter-composer Rufus Wainwright, and more.

“I think that the main thing about High Notes is it brings such fascinating people in week after week,” says Fletcher. “The format offers people a chance to get to know these performers and composers. It’s a lot of fun.”

The first High Notes takes place on July 2 at Christ Episcopal Church. It will feature an overview of the 2014 season by Fletcher as well as an interview with members of the Takács Quartet. The Quartet will perform at Harris Concert Hall on July 3 and 8 (see related story on Festival Focus page 2).

Next, on July 9 at Paepcke Auditorium, musicologist and author Joseph Horowitz will discuss Dvořák and Mahler. He will primarily focus on how each composer See TALKS, Festival Focus page 3

Alex irvin/amfs

Aspen Music Festival and School President and CEO Alan Fletcher hosts free High Notes panel discussions every Wednesday at various venues around town.

Buy tickets now! (970) 925-9042 or www.aspenmusicfestival.com

Page 2 | Monday, June 30, 2014

Festival Focus: Your Weekly Classical Music Guide

Supplement to The Aspen Times

Takács Quartet Returns to Aspen with Stories to Tell Jessica cabe

Festival Focus writer

There’s a reason the Tackács Quartet has won a Grammy Award, a Gramophone Award, and most recently the prestigious Wigmore Hall Medal, among many others. To one of the ensemble’s violinists, Geraldine Walther, it’s because the members take their roles as communicators just as seriously as their roles as musicians.

“These days, what we seem to be working on and thinking about is telling the story of the music, doing whatever it takes to bring the story to life,” says Walther. “Everything involved in bringing the music to life and making the experience of coming to one of our concerts an exciting event is what we’re concerned with. We also try to play with a lot of humor.”

Some of the stories the Quartet will be telling during their two recitals in Aspen on July 3 and 8 come from the great Eastern European Romantic composers Smetana and Janáček, fitting with the Aspen Music Festival and School’s (AMFS) season theme of exploring Romanticism. The Quartet, formed in Hungary in 1975, excels with this type of music, according to Asadour Santourian, AMFS vice president for artistic administration and artistic advisor.

“They have a European burnished, warm sound,” says Santourian. “And they very much continue the tradition of an Eastern European approach to creating sound, which is very warm, very velveteen. It’s more about sort of ‘embers of sound,’ the golden

glow that embers make.” tics?’” says Santourian. “This is something that they Although Walther loves the Slavic Romantics, excel in, and I think they have something to say about she says the reason she wanted to join the Quar- that music.”

The members of the Quartet will have something tet in 2005 was because of its “meat and potatoes” classical music repertoire, including the complete to say—literally—when they are guest speakers in the first week of the High Notes Beethoven cycle. series (see related story on Fes“We love the central core of the string quartet repertoire,” tival Focus page 1) at noon on says Walther. “What we do has Wednesday, July 2, at Christ evolved over the past few years, Episcopal Church. High Notes and hopefully it’ll keep evolving. talks are free and open to the It’s the same Tackács sound, public, and they feature converbut you don’t want to stand sations between AMFS President still or rest on your laurels. I and CEO Alan Fletcher and comjust think we play great quartet posers, performers, and industry music, and I’m happy to do that figures. because that’s where my heart The Takács will share insights lies.” to their music-making at High This is the ninth time the Notes, but for now, Walther says no matter which pieces the Takács Quartet will perform at Quartet plays, she strives to crethe AMFS since Walther joined the group. She says the proate an unforgettable experience for the audience. gramming for the Quartet’s perGeraldine Walther “Communicating with the auformances, which also includes Violinist, Takács Quartet works by Barber and Beethoven, dience what we feel about the was decided on last year when music and what it means to us Santourian approached the group with the 2014 is what we’re interested in,” she says. “It’s such an theme of Romanticism. incredible honor and privilege to be able to devote “When we shared the theme with them, of course one’s life to playing all this great music. To be a part their reaction was, ‘How about the Slavic Roman- of that is such a wonderful experience.”

What we do has evolved over the past few years, and hopefully it’ll keep evolving. It’s the same Takács sound, but you don’t want to stand still or rest on your laurels.

Buy tickets now: (970) 925-9042 • www.aspenmusicfestival.com

Festival Focus: Your Weekly Classical Music Guide

Supplement to The Aspen Times

ORGAN: Instrument Debuts Continued from Festival Focus page 1

And when you think he can’t top himself, Saint-Saëns delivers this great C major chord and says, ‘Hello, folks, I’m topping myself. I’m introducing the organ.’”

Because the symphony’s highlight is the organ, it is imperative that the new Festival instrument sound rich and authentic. Daniel Song, vice president and general manager of the AMFS, led the project of voicing the new Hauptwerk to get it to sound right for the Benedict Music Tent. The first step was finding the right speakers and subwoofers to carry the sound.

“The instructions we gave to our audio team is we want the Tent to shake—and they delivered,” says Song. “When we first started to test the organ, we played it at full blast. The stage manager’s office lives right below where the speakers are placed, and things were falling off the walls.”

After Song was satisfied with the power of the organ, the real voicing began.

“You need to tame the beast,” says Song.

“We brought in a professional to come in and touch up every single note and every single stop of the organ.”

In a traditional pipe organ, certain notes correspond with pipes on the left side of the organ, while others correspond with pipes on the right side; the correlation is not linear. When listening to a pipe organ, audiences would experience a stereo effect. According to Song, the Festival crew worked for about fifteen hours to achieve that same effect with the speakers.

“It’s important the effect is very musical and artistic when it’s played,” says Song.

Now that the AMFS has a high-quality organ, Santourian says he will feel less restricted when determining programming.

“I think it’ll make it easier not to discount works because they have organ now,” says Santourian. “Works like Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra, or Elgar’s Enigma Variations, or works that have organ in them that in the past we’ve just said, ‘Oh, gosh, if only we had an organ,’ now we can do them.”

Aspen Music Festival and School Box Office Hours

Monday, June 30, 2014 | Page 3

Support Music in Harris Hall

“One of the great chamber music halls in the entire world”—Michael Powell of American Brass Quintet, on Harris Hall Help keep Aspen’s 500-seat Harris Concert Hall one of the great chamber music halls in the world with a contribution toward the Harris Hall 20th Anniversary Fund. All gifts will be matched 1-1 by a generous $1 million challenge grant given last year by the Irving Harris Foundation. This fund will keep Harris Hall a state-of-the art performing institution for decades to come and also endow the Winter Music Series.

If you enjoy the beauty of concerts in this hall, or even just appreciate what it means to have one of the world’s top halls in our town, please make a gift today.

Give online at www.aspenmusicfestival.com/CampaignGift or mail a check to the Aspen Music Festival and School at 225 Music School Road, Aspen, CO 81611. To learn more, call VP for Development Alexander Brose at 970-205-5060 or abrose@aspenmusic.org.

Harris Concert Hall: 9 am through the intermission of the evening concert, daily.

Wheeler Opera House: 9 am–5 pm daily.

International Partnership Brings Student talks: High Notes Moscow began when he was four years old, the age he began taking piano lessons from his grandparents.

At the time, he says, he didn’t put much thought into Young musicians come from all over the world to why he was playing piano specifically. But over the study at the Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS), years, he came to love the instrument.

“It’s an instrument that perfectly suits me,” says including this summer twenty-year-old pianist Timofey Dolya, who is attending as a result of a new partnership Dolya. “I think that you can make so many different with the top conservatory in Russia, the P. I. Tchaikovsky sounds on so many different pianos; each piano is Moscow State Conservatory. Each summer, the not the same as another one. It’s always like a game conservatory, whose alumni include violinst Gidon when you’re on a different one.”

By the time he was twelve, Dolya decided he wanted Kremer, pianist Olga Kern, and even legendary cellist Mstivlav Rostropovich, will select one of its top students a career in music, which he has been working toward to study in Aspen. The Festival will make this possible ever since—and the accolades have followed. In 2009, he won third place in the “Soloist by providing that student with the with Orchestra” category at the full funding to attend.

International Festival-Competition “This is a world-famous festival, Chords of Khortitca in Ukraine. In and I’ve known of it for a long 2013, he won second place at the time,” says Dolya. “And so when International Rachmaninov Piano I was chosen to come here for Competition in Germany. two months, have lessons with He has also participated in outstanding professors, and live festivals around the world, and here in Aspen, I felt wonderful, now, thanks to his scholarship, fantastic.”

Timofey Dolya he is spending his first summer This partnership, and another AMFS Student from Moscow State Conservatory at the AMFS, where he is working similar one with the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin, were initiated on a slew of pieces with his teachers, Arie Vardi and this year by AMFS Trustee Stephen Drimmer, Yoheved Kaplinsky, including Haydn’s Sonata in F who contacted the conservatory after befriending major, Beethoven’s 26th Sonata in E-Flat major, another of its alumni, Vadym Kholodenko, the 2013 and Chopin’s Etude op. 10, no. 12.

Dolya says he feels grateful to have the opportunity Van Cliburn Competition winner who performed in Aspen last year. Other partnerships currently to come to the AMFS, and his ability to travel abroad exist with conservatories in the UK and Israel, and has greatly benefited his musical studies.

“Students from other countries all teach me another relationship is already developing with a conservatory in Ireland, according to Jennifer new and amazing things, and I hope I do the Johnston, AMFS vice president and dean of students. same for them,” says Dolya. “When people from “We’ll keep working on this, and we will continue different countries communicate, it’s good for their the relationship with each of them every year,” says profession because they discuss experiences, and Johnston. “This will bring to Aspen the best student it’s not the same in each country.

“I’m sure that the AMFS will be a fantastic two from each conservatory, which is a huge coup.”

Dolya’s journey to becoming a top student in months that I won’t ever forget.” jessica cabe

Continued from Festival Focus page 1

Festival Focus writer

Students from other countries all teach me new and amazing things, and I hope I do the same for them.

was affected by his visit to America, and will explore the differences in Dvořák’s music before and after coming to the United States. The talk coincides with the Aspen Festival Orchestra’s concert on July 13, which features a performance of Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony, “From the New World.”

Baroque music specialist Nicholas McGegan and Aspen alumna and pianist Joyce Yang will join Fletcher on July 16 at Christ Episcopal Church in time for McGegan’s Baroque recital on July 17 and Yang’s performance with the Aspen Chamber Symphony on July 18.

The fourth week of High Notes, on July 23 at Paepcke Auditorium, features a conversation with The Picture of Dorian Gray composer Lowell Liebermann, and pianist Jeremy Denk. Dorian Gray is based on Oscar Wilde’s novel of the same name, which was a controversial work when it came out in the late nineteenth century because of its depiction of immorality. Denk has become well-known both for his broad repertoire and his blog, where he writes everything from musical analyses to accounts of his tour. Denk performs later that same evening, while Dorian Gray opens on July 24.

On July 30 at Paepcke Auditorium, singer-songwriter-composer Rufus Wainwright will be the featured guest. While he is widely known as a pop artist, Wainwright’s work crosses genres, with much of his recent focus placed on creating operatic works; his first opera, Prima Donna, premiered at England’s Manchester International Festival in 2009. Wainwright’s inclusion in the High Notes series comes after his performance, The Best of Rufus Wainwright, on July 24.

Pianist Inon Barnatan, violinist Stefan Jackiw, and other guest artists will be featured on August 6 at Paepcke Auditorium. The discussion coincides with the artists’ performances: Barnatan will perform a recital on August 7; Jackiw will perform with the Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra on August 6; and both artists will take part in A Baroque Evening with Harry Bicket on August 9.

The final installment of High Notes will feature a discussion on Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on August 13 at Paepcke Auditorium. The importance of the work as a “soundtrack” to many major world and cultural events will be the main focus of the talk, which comes just days before the Aspen Festival Orchestra closes the Festival with the piece on August 17.

Page 4 | Monday, June 30, 2014

Festival Focus: Your Weekly Classical Music Guide

Supplement to The Aspen Times