Your weekly CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE
Festival Focus
Supplement to The Aspen Times
James Levine Tribute Dinner Tonight Maestro James Levine—one of the musical forces of our time—returns to Aspen to be honored at a gala dinner tonight. Levine, music director at the Metropolitan Opera for more than forty years, came of age as a young conductor during his fifteen summers in Aspen. All proceeds benefit the Aspen Music Festival and School. For tickets and information, call Jennifer McDonough at 970205-5063.
Monday, July 21, 2014
Vol 25, No. 5
Choruses, singer highlight Mahler Symphony his symphonies, but he took the technique to a higher level. Mahler’s Third Symphony, which “Beethoven is the one who introthe Aspen Festival Orchestra (AFO) duced soloists and chorus in symwill perform on July 27, is a massive phony,” says Santourian. “But Mahler work that takes listeners on a journey and many composers after Beethoven of ascension from Earth to heaven. The were very much enamored of this and hour-and-forty-minute piece consists began to use it in a programmatic, exof six powerful movements, and for pressive sense.” many, the highlight of the symphony For the AFO’s performance of the comes in the fourth piece, the orchesmovement, with the tra will be joined by introduction of the mezzo-soprano and voice. AMFS alumna Sasha “What Mahler Cooke, the Colorado did so brilliantly in Children’s Chorale, many of his symand women’s voices phonic works is of the Aspen Opera to incorporate the Theater Center. human voice,” says “In this particuRobert Spano, Aslar symphony, the pen Music Festival combination of chiland School (AMFS) dren’s and women’s music director voices is very strikand conductor of ing,” says Spano. this performance. “And the solo voice Robert Spano “The fourth moveenters in the fourth Music Director of the AMFS ment, appropriately movement. It’s such called ‘What Mana pivotal moment in kind Tells Me,’ is the moment where the symphony.” the human voice is introduced. It’s just Cooke, who has performed other a special feature of Mahler to incorpo- works by Mahler at the Festival in the rate the human voice into an essential- past, says the inclusion of voice adds ly symphonic experience.” dimension to his already gorgeous Asadour Santourian, AMFS vice symphonies. president for artistic administration “To me, Mahler is one of the greatest and artistic advisor, says Mahler was not the first composer to use singers in See MAHLER, Festival Focus page 3 jessica cabe
Festival Focus writer
When you experience the symphony, you feel this intensification of emotion, depth, and beauty.
alex irvin/amfs
AMFS Music Director Robert Spano will conduct the AFO’s performance of Mahler’s Third Symphony on Sunday, featuring a women’s chorus, children’s chorus, and solo singer.
Opera sets story of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Dorian Gray’ jessica cabe
Festival Focus writer
Lowell Liebermann’s The Picture of Dorian Gray debuted in 1996, but according to Edward Berkeley, director of the Aspen Opera Theater Center (AOTC), the music draws inspiration from the Romantic Era of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. “Dorian Gray was chosen because I had heard Lowell’s work as a composer before this,” says Berkeley, who notes that Liebermann employs the Romantic methods of deep emotional expression with a modern twist. “I thought it would fit well with the ‘New Romantics’ theme for the summer.” The Picture of Dorian Gray is based on the novel of the same name by Oscar Wilde. Written in 1890, it tells the story of Dorian Gray, a young man who sells his soul so that a painted portrait of his will age instead of his own body. He descends into a debauched life of hedonism,
remaining ever-beautiful while his portrait changes grotesquely. “The opera’s focus is on the characters’ relationships and the way they progress because of Dorian not changing while everything else around him does,” says Berkeley. “The dedication in that turn-of-the-century period to aestheticism—a common beauty above all— gives a kind of strangeness to the story, which questions the values of a society.” Singing the part of Dorian Gray is Christian Sanders, a first-time student at the AMFS. He says one of the greatest challenges of the character is to give him dimension when it would be so easy to represent him as pure evil. “When I’m in the audience, I get bored with characters that I don’t like,” says Sanders. “It’s easy to fall into See OPERA, Festival Focus page 3
photo courtesy of christian sanders
First-year AMFS student Christian Sanders sings the part of Dorian Gray in Lowell Liebermann’s opera The Picture of Dorian Gray, which opens at 7 pm on July 24.
Buy tickets now! (970) 925-9042 or www.aspenmusicfestival.com
Page 2 | Monday, July 21, 2014
Festival Focus: Your Weekly Classical Music Guide
Supplement to The Aspen Times
MacArthur Genius Fellow Jeremy Denk returns to Aspen jessica cabe
Festival Focus writer
Pianist and Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) alumnus Jeremy Denk is having the kind of year most musicians only dream about. In the past twelve months, he has been named a MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellow, won the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, was named Musical America’s 2014 Instrumentalist of the Year, and published articles in the New Yorker, Newsweek, the Guardian, and other major publications. To top it off, just last month, this pianist premiered his first opera, The Classical Style, for which he wrote the libretto (and which will be performed in Aspen next summer). This summer, in Aspen, audiences will have a chance to see this polymath perform a recital on July 23 presenting two giants of the piano repertoire: Bach’s Goldberg Variations and Ives’s Concord Sonata. “They’re sort of special loves of mine,” says Denk of these pieces. “I’ve always been a big fan of Charles Ives, and the Concord Sonata is in many ways his greatest piece. It’s pretty wild and dissonant, but then it becomes this really transcendent statement about the experience of music. And audiences love the Goldberg Variations. Like the Ives, it’s kind of a happening more than a piece. It’s always different, every single time.” Denk has recorded both pieces, with Ives’s Concord Sonata appearing on 2010’s Jeremy Denk Plays Ives and the Goldberg Variations on last year’s J.S. Bach Goldberg Variations. Asadour Santourian, vice president for artis-
tic administration and artistic advisor for the AMFS, says through his articles and essays, which have appeared in the Goldberg Variations in particular present a variety of outlets like the aforementioned plus the New York Review challenges for pianists, but Denk manages to make his of Books and his own blog, Think Denk. One of his New Yorker essays, last year’s “Every Good performance seem effortless. “From one to the next variation, there are different de- Boy Does Fine: A Life in Piano Lessons,” is now serving as the basis for Denk’s first book, mands, and always the player must a memoir to be published by Ranmaintain the high road of musicalidom House. ty,” says Santourian. “It’s not a work “The New Yorker piece was about about just display; it is poetry, and piano lessons, about a couple of the poetry must be declaimed with very important teachers and the great ease, with great fluidity, with experience of learning from them,” great clarity, even though it continsays Denk. “It’s an essay on what ues to make excessive demands on a piano teacher represents in your the player.” life. So I’m going to try to expand AMFS President and CEO Alan that theme of piano teachers into Fletcher says another, perhaps a larger memoir, probably mixed less obvious, challenge of proin with essays on music, much like gramming these two pieces is to the blog.” maintain a level of humility while Santourian says Denk has always tackling some of the most difficult been regarded as a great pianist, works for piano. but he is only recently achieving “Not that many people play superstar status. these pieces because they’re just Alan Fletcher “He’s a thinker on music and so hard,” says Fletcher. “But it’s President and CEO of the AMFS a thinker beyond music,” says not show-offy when Denk performs Santourian. “He’s got his blog them. It comes across so heartfelt.” Denk’s passion for the music he plays can be felt dur- where people can read demonstrated examples of his ing any of his performances, but it is also clear in another viewpoints, and his viewpoints are very elevated. They’re medium: writing. The pianist has made a name for him- not erudition for the sake of display; they’re erudition for self not just as a musician, but as a thinking musician the sake of having something to say.”
Not that many people play these pieces because they’re just so hard. But it’s not showoffy when Denk performs them. It comes across so heartfelt.
Buy tickets now: (970) 925-9042 • www.aspenmusicfestival.com
Festival Focus: Your Weekly Classical Music Guide
Supplement to The Aspen Times
MAHLER: Heavenly ascension Continued from Festival Focus page 1
composers that ever lived,” says Cooke. “It’s hard to describe his genius in words. I think there’s something about his writing that connects to everybody.” It even connects to children, according to Mary Louise Burke, associate director and conductor of the Colorado Children’s Chorale. The children’s chorus is featured in the fifth movement of the symphony, titled “What the Angels Tell Me.” Burke says the inclusion of a children’s chorus is good for both audience and performers: The young, pure voices enhance the music, and the opportunity to perform with an orchestra offers an unforgettable experience for the young singers. “It’s a great thrill for them,” says Burke. “It’s one of the things they love about being in the Colorado Children’s Chorale. They get to watch the orchestra, listen to the orchestra, and really be a part of that whole piece. You’ll meet
kids thirty years later on the street who will start to sing the Mahler 3 to you. Once they’ve learned it and they’ve had that incredible experience of performing it, it’s in there forever.” Cooke says one of the reasons Mahler’s work is so accessible is because of the way he used his own humanity to compose. “There was a lot of pain in his life, and he found a way to go beyond it, to find resilience and find divinity and spirituality,” says Cooke. “He wasn’t embraced socially, culturally, religiously. And yet, with music, he unifies all of us together. It’s very moving.” Spano agrees with that sentiment. “I think when you experience the symphony,” he says, “you feel this intensification of emotion, depth, and beauty. The piece is this beautiful progression from the level of creation, and then each movement by turns is, in a way, Jacob’s ladder ascending to heaven.”
Aspen Music Festival and School Box Office Hours
Monday, July 21, 2014 | Page 3
Cellist Lynn Harrell returns
alex irvin/amfs
Don’t miss cellist Lynn Harrell playing Augusta Read Thomas’s Third Cello Concerto, “Legend of the Phoenix,” with the Aspen Chamber Symphony at 6 pm on Friday, July 25, at the Benedict Music Tent. Also on the program that evening are Debussy’s Six épigraphes antiques, orchestrated by AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher, and Gershwin’s Catfish Row: Suite from Porgy and Bess.
Harris Concert Hall: 9 am through the intermission of the evening concert, daily. Wheeler Opera House: 9 am–5 pm daily.
Returning student prepares for bright future Opera: ‘Dorian’ attended the School. Kantor says Penrose-Whitmore’s skill and talent as a violinist are just as magnetic as his personality. “He’s a wonderful guy, just an open, friendly, The seeds of Clayton Penrose-Whitmore’s promising career as a violinist were planted when he was just respectful student, and it’s a real joy to interact with him,” says Kantor. “He’s also made quite remarkable four years old. It was then that his parents noticed a Suzuki group progress over the years. The fruits of his labors are of young violinists playing at the Illinois State Fair and really coming together in some very nice successes.” In fact, one of Penrose-Whitmore’s most recent were inspired to set him up with lessons. He can’t really remember those early days of playing, but he successes occurred earlier this year when he took does remember a very specific moment when he second place Laureate in the senior division of the Sphinx Competition—a competition in which he’d decided to take the violin seriously. previously won first place Laureate “I remember I was in school; in the junior division, when he was I was pretty young,” says fourteen years old. Penrose-Whitmore, who is now in The annual event is one of his fourth summer as an Aspen the most prestigious for young Music Festival and School (AMFS) black and Latino string players, student. “I really didn’t like doing which is why Kantor believes the chemistry lab we were doing Penrose-Whitmore’s triumph is that day. So I thought, ‘I could “going to help his career quite a bit.” either be doing this kind of stuff While Penrose-Whitmore is for the rest of my life, or I could be excited about placing twice in the playing music.’” Sphinx competition, he says his His dedication to music main reason for competing is to eventually led him to the New meet young, talented musicians England Conservatory of Music, Paul Kantor AMFS artist-faculty member and develop friendships. where Penrose-Whitmore, now “The Sphinx competition is twenty-one years old, is studying violin performance. It’s also what brought him to really like a family,” says Penrose-Whitmore. “That’s Aspen in 2010, after hearing some of his friends why I wanted to go there. This year, I was really just praise the AMFS as a fun and challenging experience there to reconnect with everyone and have a great time. I wasn’t expecting to place, but I was happy with a wealth of performance opportunities. “I love playing in orchestra, and I heard it was an that I did.” Penrose-Whitmore says he feels a similar sense of orchestra-intensive program, so that was the main draw,” says Penrose-Whitmore. “And then I got community at the AMFS, which is one of the Festival’s here, and everything else was just as exciting—the main draws. This summer, he has already performed mountains, the atmosphere, the people—so I just one of his favorite pieces, Beethoven’s Fifth, with the Aspen Chamber Symphony. His next performance kept coming back.” Penrose-Whitmore has studied with AMFS artist- is with the Aspen Chamber Symphony at 6 pm this faculty member Paul Kantor for all four seasons he’s Friday, July 25. jessica cabe
Continued from Festival Focus page 1
Festival Focus writer
He’s a wonderful guy, just an open, friendly, respectful student, and it’s a real joy to interact with him.
the trap of having the audience hate Dorian right at the beginning. So, trying to find ways to make him likable and finding motivations that prompt the gruesome things that he ends up doing have been the most interesting parts of the role.” Jennifer Cherest, another student new to the AMFS, plays Dorian’s love interest, Sybil Vane. She says although the novel was published more than 100 years ago, the themes hold true and are still relatable to audiences today. “We’re trying to show how Dorian is searching for meaning and pleasure in life,” says Cherest. “You can apply that to a lot of people today. It’s about seeking truth and love, and unfortunately Dorian does not find it.” In addition to the Romantic music and the timeless themes of Dorian Gray, Cherest says the costuming is one of the highlights of this production. It is a period piece, with designs inspired by the Victorian Era in which the novel was written. “The costumes are stunning,” says Cherest, who wears multiple elaborate dresses in the production. “The set will be great as well, but I think the costumes may steal the show.” But the ultimate sell of Dorian Gray is the music, conducted by Michael Christie. Sanders says audience members who may be skeptical of a new opera need not worry about it being dischordant. “As far as modern music is concerned, this is actually fairly tonal and melodic,” says Sanders. “It’s easy to listen to. The orchestration is also really dramatic and exciting, which is helpful in a piece that’s dramatic in its nature.” The Picture of Dorian Gray opens at 7 pm on Thursday, July 24, and plays again at 7 pm on Saturday, July 26, at the Wheeler Opera House. It is open to AMFS passholders. For more information, call 970-9259042.
Page 4 | Monday, July 21, 2014
Festival Focus: Your Weekly Classical Music Guide
Supplement to The Aspen Times