2015 Impromptu magazine

A MAGAZINE ABOUT THE ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL

SUMMER 2015

EXCLUSIVE

WHAT’S NEXT FOR JOSHUA BELL, VIOLIN SUPERSTAR FASHION FORWARD THE ART OF THE SOLOIST’S WARDROBE HIDDEN GEMS OF THE FESTIVAL WHAT’S NEW

SUMMER 2015 | 1

WELCOME

Welcome to Aspen and to the 67th

and Carolyn Bucksbaum Campus

season of the Aspen Music Festival

on Castle Creek. The AMFS and its

and School. We are fortunate in

partner, Aspen Country Day School,

Aspen to be able to combine the

are already benefiting in innumer-

beauty of our surroundings with

able ways from Phase One of con-

the extraordinary music of the

struction, which included almost

AMFS’s students, faculty, and guest

44,000 square feet of new and ren-

artists.

ovated facilities. Phase Two—which

As one of the preeminent classical music festivals in the world, the AMFS embraces the highest level of artistry and training. Many of today’s most accomplished per-

will include five new and renovated buildings, comprising nearly another 47,000 square feet—will break ground this summer for completion in late spring 2016.

formers were once students in

I hope you will come out to the

Aspen, and they now make room in

Campus to see the important work

their global touring schedules each

being accomplished there. Mean-

summer to return to play. On the

while, I invite you to enjoy this

pages of this magazine, you will

season of phenomenal music in

learn about some of these notable

Aspen’s fresh air and unparalleled

artists, both stars and rising stars.

surroundings.

In terms of the institution’s future, we have a watershed year in front

ROBERT J. HURST

of us as we approach the com-

Chair, Board of Trustees Aspen Music Festival and School

pletion of the revitalized Matthew

||||||

2 | IMPROMPTU

“

EVEN IF IT’S FOR FOUR DAYS, I NEED MY ASPEN FIX. IT PURIFIES THE SOUL, TO COME MAKE MUSIC WITH YOUR FRIENDS.

“

PHOTO CHARLES ABBOTT

Violin superstar Sarah Chang, in an interview in The Aspen Times, on having come to Aspen every year of her life.

See her perform this year on August 9.

67TH YEAR OF MUSIC IN ASPEN

The 67th season of the Aspen Music Festival and School comprises more than 300 events, including weekly concerts by five orchestras, three fully produced operas, dozens of chamber music events, master classes, children’s events, tours, lectures, panels, and more.

Events run July 2 to August 23; an abbreviated schedule of events can be found starting on page 27.

A full schedule with detailed information is available at www.aspenmusicfestival.com or by calling 970-925-9042.

SUMMER 2015 | 3

CONTENT

ALL AMFS PHOTOS ARE BY ALEX IRVIN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

JOSHUA BELL: LIFE STAGES

A MUSICAL FAMILY

10-13 WHAT’S NEW, FREE, AND FUN

6

HIDDEN DELIGHTS OF THE FESTIVAL

8

WHAT’S NEXT FOR JOSHUA BELL?

10

WEILERSTEIN FAMILY BIZ: MUSIC

14

THE ART OF THE SOLOIST’S WARDROBE

19

4 | IMPROMPTU

14-18

COVER: VIOLINIST JOSHUA BELL, CREDIT: LISA-MARIE MAZZUCCO

HIGHS AND LOWS OVER 67 YEARS

FASHION FORWARD: SARTORIAL SOLOISTS

19-22

23-26 COPYRIGHT 2015 BY THE ASPEN MUSIC

67 YEARS OF MUSICAL HIGHS AND LOWS

23

ABRIDGED MUSIC FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

27

FACULTY FOCUS

31

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

32

175 STEINWAY PIANOS

34

FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL, 225 MUSIC SCHOOL ROAD, ASPEN, CO 81611.

SUMMER 2015 | 5

LITTLE BITS

DID YOU KNOW? Renée Fleming, who sang the national anthem at the 2014 Super Bowl and has been the reigning opera soprano for more than a decade, attended the Aspen Music Festival and School as a student in 1982 and 1983. Current students perform three full operas each summer; learn more about the 2015 summer opera productions, featuring today’s rising-star students, at www.aspenmusicfestival.com.

FREE LAWN SEATING The beautiful grassy lawn around the Benedict Music Tent is FREE at every performance—always and forever—thanks to a gift from the family and friends of David Karetsky. Grab a picnic and blanket and go!

NEW IN 2015 Don’t miss two new series this summer.

For lovers of music and art, or just smashing views of Aspen Mountain, try out the weekly chamber concerts on the rooftop of the Aspen Art Museum. Called “Music with a View,” the concerts are free and admission to the museum is always free. Concerts are Tuesdays at 6 pm (from July 7 to August 18, no concert July 28).

For the intellectually curious, check out the four-part lecture series on science and music, a joint presentation of the Aspen Music Festival and School and the Aspen Science Center. From what happens in your brain when you listen to music to exploring the myth (or reality) of the superiority of Stradivarius violins, these lectures take a fascinating look at the inner working of music. July 23, 30, August 6, and August 13.

Tickets are $10 per lecture.

More info at www.aspenmusicfestival.com.

6 | IMPROMPTU

FEST BY THE NUMBERS 53 days 300+ events

STUDENTS FROM 40 COUNTRIES Students at the Aspen Music Festival and School’s summer program average 22 years of age and come from around 40 states and 40 countries each summer. They are drawn by the professional perfor-

5 orchestras 619 elite music students 130 elite artist-faculty Longest-serving faculty member: trombonist Per Brevig at 46 years

mance experience and the renowned artist-faculty, who are performers and teachers from prestigious institutions such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, and The Juilliard School.

PEAK EXPERIENCE Every Saturday at 1 pm, July 11 to August 15, there are free concerts by music students at the top of Aspen Mountain. Ride the gondola up, grab lunch at the Sundeck, and then lie back to listen

22.3 is the average age of the students 175+ pianos are loaned to the festival each summer

by Steinway & Sons Number of full-time piano technicians on summer staff to care for those pianos: 10

as you watch the clouds from 11,212 feet up. A heady experience!

“ 800 MUSICIANS AT 8,000 FEET

“ SUMMER 2015 | 7

HIDDEN DELIGHTS

OF THE MUSIC FESTIVAL

BY LAURA E. SMITH

WITH MORE THAN 300 EVENTS IN 53 DAYS, THE ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL OFFERS AN INCREDIBLE VARIETY OF EVENTS. NAVIGATING THE SCHEDULE CAN BE DAUNTING, AND FINDING THE LITTLE HIDDEN GEMS—THE FAVORITES OF THOSE “IN THE KNOW”—CAN TAKE YEARS. HERE IS A QUICK GUIDE TO HELP YOU SHORT-CUT THAT TIMEFRAME AND DISCOVER SOME OF THE FESTIVAL’S LESSERKNOWN BUT VERY SPECIAL EVENTS. AT EACH YOU CAN NOT ONLY ENJOY MUSIC BUT GET CLOSER TO THE FESTIVAL’S SOUL.

8 | IMPROMPTU

1

OPERA SCENES MASTER CLASSES

Wheeler Opera House • Saturdays at 10 am, July 4 to August 22 A combination of opera, theater, comedy, teaching, and inspiration, Opera Scenes Master Classes give the audience an insider look at music-making as young student singers—winners of a national audition for their spot in Aspen—are coached in every aspect of opera performance. Longtime Aspen Opera Theater Center Director Edward Berkeley has a cult following that shows up each Saturday for its weekly dose of his deft coaching skills and droll humor. At $40, it’s not rock-bottom cheap, but it’s an experience you won’t get anywhere else.

3

SUNDAY MORNING

REHEARSALS

Benedict Music Tent Sundays at 9:30 am July 5 to August 23 Looking for an easy intro to the Music Festival? Not sure about classical music? Just about anyone, no matter their musical proclivities, is wooed by 2

FREE TOUR OF BUCKSBAUM CAMPUS

225 Music School Road, 10:15 am Mondays, July 6 to August 17 Get there by public bus; call 970-925-8484 for bus schedule.

Five minutes outside of town sits a 38-acre slice of musical paradise where AMFS music students and artist-faculty come together in lessons, rehearsals, and coachings. Students practice in the shade of trees next to the rushing Castle Creek; symphonic repertoire in rehearsal swells and falls on the breeze, carried to the ears of chatting composers, staffers, and even the resident geese.

the beauty of the orchestra rehearsals on Sunday mornings at the openair Benedict Music Tent. Colorado mornings are nearly guaranteed to be pretty as a postcard, and when combined with the exquisite playing of some of the world’s best musicians, it is heady indeed. Grab a muffin and cup of coffee at the concession area, affectionately known as The Lemon-

In the midst of a $75-million redevelopment, the Bucksbaum Campus

ade Stand, and take in this incompara-

strikes a magic balance between state-of-the-art, urbane facilities—

ble combination.

engineered to acoustic perfection—and pastoral charm. Come for the

Bonus: Cost is just $20 a ticket. Or,

free guided tours, or take a self-guided tour (brochures at the Hardy

enjoy the dancing breezes and

Administration Building) to learn about what happens on this spec-

quaking aspen leaves as you take it all

tacular site today—and about its illustrious history as a silver mine.

in from the free Karetsky Music Lawn.

SUMMER 2015 | 9

MEET THE MUSICIANS

BELL: LIFE STAGES

BY LINDA BLANDFORD

WHEN JOHN CORIGLIANO ACCEPTED AN OSCAR IN 1999 FOR THE RED VIOLIN, HE SPOKE NOT OF HIS MUSIC BUT OF THE VIOLIN’S VOICE. “YOU CAN WRITE ALL THE NOTES YOU WANT,” HE SAID “BUT IF SOMEONE DOESN’T PLAY THEM LIKE A GOD THEY’LL NEVER SOUND THAT WAY. AND JOSHUA BELL, THE GREAT VIOLINIST, PLAYED THEM LIKE A GOD. THANK YOU, JOSH.” A ROAR OF APPLAUSE STOPPED CORIGLIANO MID-SPEECH: A TOAST TO THE FIRST ALL-AMERICAN SUPERSTAR OF THE VIOLIN.

10 | IMPROMPTU

Joshua Bell is one of a handful of today’s performers who

Joshua, “Aspen is one of my favorite places on earth. I’ve

can fill seats with classical music enthusiasts, while at

come to ski, I’ve come for the food festival, and of course,

the same time being mobbed by fans who just find him

most importantly, I come almost every year for the music

sexy. It’s over 30 years since the teenage Joshua came to

festival.”

Aspen as a student. Myth has it that he arrived driving a

This summer, Joshua will lead a program with the As-

Porsche 911. (He didn’t, that

pen Chamber Symphony

took another three years,

“

his priceless Stradivarius a while longer). By his second summer in Aspen, he

on August 14, featuring Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Beethoven’s Seventh

IT ALWAYS REKINDLES

Symphony. The orchestra

school, enrolled at Indiana

MY MUSICAL SPIRIT

is made up of leading pro-

University’s music school,

TO BE AROUND YOUNG PEOPLE...

was 16, finished with high

DISCOVERING WHAT A LIFE OF

from his concerts.

By then he was also stretching his wings. He left

MUSIC REALLY MEANS. —Joshua Bell

the Festival early to accept an invitation to perform

“

and already making money

chamber music with Samuel Sanders, who was then Itzhak Perlman’s pianist, in Cape Cod.

fessionals in the principal positions and filled out by music students, the best and the brightest of the world’s young musicians, as aspiring and inspired as he once was when he sat in the same position.

What does it feel like to return this way? Joshua

answers with a smile when asked. “It always rekindles my

It caused a rumpus at the time. He wasn’t invited back

musical spirit,” he says, “to be around young people who

until he was too huge a star to ignore, and huge enough

are in the process of discovering what a life of music re-

to forgive. Today, Aspen and Joshua have “made up” and

ally means—the joy, the sense of discovery, and the hard

seem equally happy with and proud of each other. Says

work—and it reminds me of the two wonderful summers

LEFT AND CENTER: BELL AT AGE 12; RIGHT: AT AGE 15 IN ASPEN WITH FELLOW VIOLINIST MIDORI, WHO WAS 12.

PHOTOS COURTESY SHIRLEY BELL

SUMMER 2015 | 11

I spent as a teenager when I was at the brink of my own

lead the full orchestra in the program. It is the first time

musical career.”

Aspen audiences will experience this new side of Joshua’s

While now a big star, and all grown up, his storybook

musicality.

youth hangs around him like an aura, and charms audi-

Conducting for most soloists is a harder ride than it looks.

ences along with his playing. Many know the story that

It means playing better than anyone in front of you and

his pianist mother discovered him plucking music he’d

earning twenty times as much (or more) while trying to

heard her play on rubber bands he had stretched across

both lead and be democratic. Has he really mastered

his nine dresser drawers. He was two-and-a-half. She got

everyone else’s part? Can he inspire or only dictate?

him a violin and then a teacher.

Orchestras, like horses, smell fear and uncertainty as well as unearned over-con-

Then there is his Lassie-like

“

fidence. When Joshua

ASPEN IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE

ensemble Academy of

PLACES ON EARTH.

St. Martin in the Fields

childhood, growing up in an 1830 Indiana farmhouse amid 20 acres of farmland with chickens, horses, dogs, an old barn and silo, playing video games (as an adult, he was the highest international

I’VE COME TO SKI, I’VE COME FOR THE FOOD FESTIVAL,

scorer of Crystal Caliburn)

AND OF COURSE,

and excelling at tennis (he

MOST IMPORTANTLY, I COME

placed fourth in a twelve-

ALMOST EVERY YEAR FOR THE

ment; he was 10), gliding

MUSIC FESTIVAL.

early through public school

—Joshua Bell

while his parents watched benignly over him.

Benignly yes, but he was a prodigy, no doubt (he was seven when he made his debut with the Bloomington

“

and-under national tourna-

started directing from the front chair of the

everyone upped their game—when he conducted, they gave him respect.

No surprise then that Joshua is the first music director trusted

by Sir Neville Marriner, now 91, to take over his beloved Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, one of the most recorded orchestras in

the world and an English national treasure.

Symphony Orchestra, and fourteen when he played with

Joshua is every European’s idea of the perfect American:

the majestic Philadelphia Orchestra under the moody,

strong, polite, affable, approachable yet reserved (a natu-

Italian matinee idol Riccardo Muti). His career skyrocket-

ral on television, no show-off he), passionate yet cerebral

ed from there.

(he’s one of the fastest solvers of the Rubik’s Cube and

Joshua is now 47, covered with honors and glittering prizes. All his albums have made Billboard’s Top 20, most entering at number one. But it may be no surprise that such a multi-dimensional talent is not satisfied there—in

has been conscripted, as an adjunct professor, into an MIT lab for gifted nerdy types). If he were an actor, Joshua would probably be Tom Hanks, deceptively ordinary and seamlessly extraordinary.

recent years Joshua has started another career, as a

In 2002, his father died of a stroke at 70. At his memorial

conductor. In Aspen this summer, he will play and also

service, Josh played Tchaikovsky’s Meditation, “a dark

12 | IMPROMPTU

piece and heartbreaking,” he says. He plays it these days

my playing and even got annoyed with her over it, now

as an encore, a reminder that talent is abundant but life

that my sons play I see it in myself, and I’m beginning to

not necessarily so.

understand how she must have felt.”

Perhaps it was no coincidence that a while after his father

And so the cycle goes. In Aspen, as in life, the student

died, Joshua decided to have children with an ex-girl-

becomes the master and shares his wisdom with the next

friend (violinist Lisa Matricardi with whom he’d lived for

generation. Each carries its own special joy. Says Joshua,

seven years in his twenties. “She thought with my nomad-

“I am very grateful to Aspen and I will do my best to keep

ic lifestyle I wasn’t husband material”).

coming as long as they keep inviting me!”

They don’t live together but Lisa and their three sons

Joshua Bell plays and conducts in Aspen this summer

are only around the block and when he’s home in New

on August 14. On the program is Vivaldi’s Four Seasons

York City, he scooters back and forth. “The best decision

and Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. For information or

I ever made.” says the proud father. “Where once I didn’t

tickets, see www.aspenmusicfestival.com or call 970-925-

understand why my mother would get so involved in

9042.

“WHEN I WALK ON THE STREETS [IN ASPEN], IT BRINGS BACK A LOT OF MEMORIES,” SAYS JOSHUA BELL OF HIS TWO SUMMERS IN ASPEN AS A STUDENT WHEN HE WAS 15 AND 16.

HE IS SEEN HERE PERFORMING ON THE STAGE OF ASPEN’S BENEDICT MUSIC TENT IN 2014.

HERE BELL IS PICTURED WITH FRIEND AND RENOWNED BASSIST EDGAR MEYER IN 2012, REHEARSING AT THE BENEDICT MUSIC TENT FOR A PERFORMANCE OF MEYER’S CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN AND DOUBLE BASS.

SUMMER 2015 | 13

MEET THE MUSICIANS

THE WEILERSTEINS

PLYING THE FAMILY TRADE

14 | IMPROMPTU

BY GRACE LICHTENSTEIN

Some families have acting or the law in common; for the Weilersteins, it’s musical brilliance. Classical music is “the family trade,” as Vivian Hornik Weilerstein puts it. She’s a busy concertizing pianist and noted teacher; husband Donald Weilerstein was a founding violinist of the acclaimed Cleveland Quartet and is a prominent pedagogue. Both teach at two of the county’s top conservatories: New England Conservatory and The Juilliard School.

Their 33-year-old daughter Alisa, a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and Avery Fisher Career Grant winner, is probably currently the world’s most acclaimed young cellist; and her brother Joshua, 27, is a conductor with a burgeoning international career. Both parents and both children have been students as well as performers at the Aspen Music Festival and School, a prestigious classical music performance and training center. Just as important, for many years, they were a family, summer after summer, in Aspen.

With Don and Vivian returning to Aspen this summer as instructors and chamber music recitalists (August 15, 17, 18) after a fourteen-year absence; Alisa an Aspen Festival Orchestra soloist (July 26) and chamber music participant (July 21); and Josh conducting the Philharmonic Orchestra (August 12), it seemed like the perfect time to chat with them about what Aspen—“our home away from home” in Josh’s words—means to them.

Don, a native of Washington, D.C., who grew up in San Francisco, went east after high school to study at The Juilliard School. Back in the day when Aspen was a little ski village with unpaved streets, Don spent a summer here studying with Eudice Shapiro and playing with a small group of students that the festival arranged to present concerts in places like Omaha. He and Vivian met in Aspen when she was a student and he was already teaching. (Among his Aspen students were the members of the Pacifica Quartet [performing August 15]. In Cleveland,

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: NOTED PIANIST AND TEACHER VIVIAN HORNIK WEILERSTEIN AS “MOM” WITH KIDS ALISA AND JOSH IN ASPEN IN 1996; FAMED VIOLINIST AND TEACHER DON WEILERSTEIN AS “DAD,” WITH KIDS IN ASPEN IN 1988; DON WITH ALISA DURING HER FIRST SUMMER IN ASPEN, 1982.

PHOTOS COURTESY VIVIAN HORNIK WEILERSTEIN

his students included Frank Huang, the New York Philhar-

SUMMER 2015 | 15

monic’s new concertmaster.)

spouting from the bricks at irregular intervals, just across the street from the Wheeler Opera House. “I played in it

Reminiscing about their Aspen summers from 1976

every day,” boasted Josh. “We got soaked!” exclaimed

to 2001, the two referred to the combination of truly

Alisa. “That was an endless source of pleasure and silli-

talented students, wall-to-wall performances, and scenic

ness for us.”

beauty as “incredible,” “inspiring,” “idyllic,” and “wonderful.” It was the “ideal situation for a working mother,” said

“

well. Once, when she was a

“AN INCALCULABLE AMOUNT”

when cellist Claus Adam of

Vivian—“great students” who also made excellent babysitters. From the beginning, their the beauty of Aspen and the great lifestyle,” she said.

Alisa was only three months old when she arrived in Aspen in 1982. Don would take her

ALISA FELT SHE LEARNED FROM PLAYING ALONGSIDE HER PARENTS SINCE “THEY ARE UNBELIEVABLE MUSICIANS.”

and later Josh in a Snugli when the family went hiking.

(Cathedral Lake was their

“

two children “flourished in

favorite trail.) In town, the children loved the playgrounds, ran around outside the Music Tent, and were mesmerized

by John the Juggler, a street performer. Josh liked visiting the goats at the T-Lazy Seven. Most of all, both siblings adored the Mill Street “jumping fountain,” with water

16 | IMPROMPTU

From her earliest days, Alisa drenched herself in music as toddler, Don walked onto the stage and she piped up: “Hi Daddy!” On another occasion, the Juilliard Quartet invited Don to play a trio with him, Vivian brought Alisa in a little baby seat to the rehearsals.

Alisa, as we now know, turned out to be a prodigy. An ofttold tale has her grandmother fashioning a “cello” for her from a Rice Krispies box with a chopstick as a bow when she was two years old. At the age of four, before she could read music, she could play her real child-sized cello by ear. Don and Vivian were already appearing profes-

“

THE YOUNGEST WEILERSTEIN’S RISE WAS METEORIC: JOSH WAS A CONDUCTING STUDENT IN ASPEN IN 2009 AND 2010, ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR IN ASPEN THE NEXT SUMMER, AND THE FOLLOWING YEAR WON A THREE-YEAR APPOINTMENT WITH THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC AS AN ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR.

“

sionally as the Weilerstein Duo; at the age of six, Alisa

taining a busy concert schedule. Don and Vivian did not

joined them to perform as the Weilerstein Trio.

believe in pushing their kids into music. “I didn’t care what

Joshua was born when Alisa was not yet six. In her mother’s memory, “the first thing Alisa wanted to do was play a Haydn trio for him.” So Vivian brought Josh home, put

they became because my philosophy is you just hopefully find something you’re passionate about and that’s what you do.”

him in a bassinet, “and we all sat down and played him a

Early on Josh was passionate about a host of things. He

Haydn trio.” Alisa, who has a “vague” recollection of this,

started learning the violin at six. But he was also passion-

said she had decided to “welcome him in style and that

ate about everything from Legos, baseball, and basket-

was the way we should do it.”

ball, to a rock band, sports writing, and producing plays.

The little girl could not get enough of music. Before bedtime, Alisa and her father had a ritual. “We’d listen to

(Don has a video of Josh directing excerpts of Macbeth at the age of ten.)

operas, mainly Mozart,” he said. “Don Giovanni was her

During his early teen days, there was no guarantee that

favorite one—the ghost coming back at the end? I must

Josh would join the family trade. “I practiced twenty-five

have listened to that a hundred times.”

minutes a day, five days a week, three seasons a year,” he

The children were buddies from childhood. ”As a baby [Josh] was like my new doll, or my new toy—he was incredibly cute and really fun,” she said. Even when the age difference seemed major, they had an “easy interaction.

We always got along.”

The Weilersteins’ non-Aspen months were spent in Rochester, Cleveland, and Boston as mom and dad moved around to join various conservatory faculties while main-

said. Every summer “I would just put the violin away. Moving from Cleveland to Boston, he joined the New England Conservatory youth orchestra as a way of making friends in his new city.

For his sister, there were no doubts. As a child she had what Don describes as “an uncanny ability to be very daring and wonderfully reflexed” on the cello. For her part, Alisa felt she learned “an incalculable amount” from

SUMMER 2015 | 17

playing alongside her parents since “they are unbelievable musicians.” At 13, she was already on the cusp of a solo career yet still felt “very proud that I could now call myself a student at the Aspen Music Festival” because she viewed the other students as “very advanced.” That first summer she was a student she was able to take master classes with longtime AMFS cello faculty Zara Nelsova and Lynn Harrell, and weekly lessons with current AMFS artist-faculty member David Finckel.

The Aspen school experience also helped her become a musical omnivore. “I really got into opera,” she noted about playing in the opera orchestra for the 1996 productions of La Traviata and The Magic Flute. They were

JOSH SMILES WITH AMFS MUSIC DIRECTOR ROBERT

“quite revelatory experiences for me.” The following

SPANO AND CHORUS DIRECTOR DUAIN WOLFE.

summer she was in the Aspen Festival Orchestra as David

At times, the Weilersteins have made the family trade a

Zinman conducted Mahler’s Ninth Symphony. “That was

concert attraction. They played a 2012 concert in Aspen’s

really life-changing. That sort of started my lifelong love

Harris Concert Hall, during which Josh picked up the

affair with Mahler’s music.” And the budding virtuoso also

violin again to play the Kodály Duo with Alisa. Don and

made “lifelong friends” at the school.

guest players joined them for a Brahms string sextet; Viv-

Josh majored in violin at the New England Conservatory,

ian played a Janáček duo with Alisa and the Weilerstein

but he had an epiphany when at a friend’s suggestion, he

Trio played Janáček’s “Kreutzer” Sonata.

watched a DVD of the legendary conductor Carlos Klei-

The family circle is expanding; Alisa was married in 2013

ber on the podium. “It was just mind-blowing,” he said.

to Rafael Payare of Venezuela, himself a Malko conduct-

“Everything changed for me right in that moment.”

ing winner. He is already on the international circuit as

Despite almost no training, Josh decided in 2009 to enter

chief conductor of the Ulster Orchestra and Aspenites will

the fiercely competitive Malko conducting competition

get a chance to watch him for the first time on July 29 in

in Denmark. Vivian thought to herself, “Well, he’ll have a

the Music Tent leading pianist Joyce Yang with the Aspen

good experience.” After the 21-year-old got through the

Philharmonic Orchestra.

first round, she thought, “Wow!” Next thing she knew, he

For Alisa, what’s just as important will be introducing

was the winner.

Rafael to the glories of Aspen. “I’m so looking forward to

The youngest Weilerstein’s rise was meteoric: he was a

showing him the place where I really grew up,” she said

conducting student in Aspen in 2009 and 2010, assistant

by phone from Belfast this spring. “I’m always thrilled to

conductor in Aspen the next summer, and the following

come back. It’s our childhood home.”

year won a three-year appointment with the New York

Last summer, Josh married Bernice Keshet, an Israeli cel-

Philharmonic as an assistant conductor. After a Dudamel

list who is now studying for her master’s degree in social

Fellowship with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and guest

work at Columbia University. Josh said this summer they

slots everywhere from Oslo to Dallas, he takes over as ar-

hope to repeat a very Aspen moment they experienced

tistic director of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne

together two years ago: watching sunrise on the Maroon

in Switzerland this fall

Bells.

18 | IMPROMPTU

MEET THE MUSICIANS

“IF I AM GOING TO WEAR ALL BLACK,” SAYS 21-YEAR-OLD PIANIST AND COMPOSER CONRAD TAO, “THERE BETTER BE SOME LAPEL OR BELT OR SOMETHING OF INTEREST JUSTIFYING THE CHOICE. MENSWEAR IS ALREADY SO BORING; WE DON’T NEED TO MAKE IT MORE SO.” PHOTO BY BRANTLEY GUTIERREZ

FASHION FORWARD BLACK TIE MAY BE THE MOST COMMON STYLE CHOICE FOR MUSICIANS ON STAGE, BUT IT’S

BY TAMARA VALLEJOS

DEFINITELY NOT THE ONLY ONE. MEET A PAIR OF ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL ALUMNI AND GUEST ARTISTS WHO LIKE TO

The image has long been cemented in our cultural consciousness: an orchestra sitting austerely in matching outfits, a soloist walking across the stage in a traditional

GIVE THEIR AUDIENCES A VISUAL TREAT IN

tuxedo or a little (but not too little) black dress.

ADDITION TO MUSICAL DELIGHTS.

Black tie attire is a classic option for a reason. It’s sleek and sophisticated in practically any setting, but in the concert hall, many believe, it serves the extra purpose of minimizing potential distractions that could keep an audience from fully focusing on the music.

That’s a popular opinion, and there may certainly be

SUMMER 2015 | 19

something to that logic. But some musicians—particularly soloists, who have more freedom to play with fashion than orchestra players—argue there’s room enough on stage for musical and visual interpretation.

“I’m waging a personal battle against the all-black movement (tuxedos I’ve already entirely forgotten about),” says 21-yearold pianist Conrad Tao, an exceptionally gifted Aspen Music Festival and School alumnus who is making his mark in the classical world, dazzling concert-goers and critics alike with his vibrant performances and

PIANIST WU HAN (PICTURED HERE WITH HER HUSBAND, CELLIST DAVID FINCKEL) MAKES IT A POINT TO PICK OUT COLORFUL FABRICS FOR HER CUSTOM-MADE ROBES—AND PAIR THEM WITH EQUALLY BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL SHOES.

musical intellect.

“And if I am going to wear all black,” he adds, “there better be some lapel or belt or

Shrugging off the norms of concert attire may not be

something of interest justifying the choice. Menswear is

commonplace, but it’s also not new. It was some twenty

already so boring; we don’t need to make it more so.”

years ago that pianist and AMFS mainstay Wu Han first

In describing his style, Tao says he responds well to graphic “loudness” and color blocking. And while he’s

began experimenting with what is now her signature style.

not crazy about the all-black look, he does enjoy con-

“A lot of people call them kimonos,” says Wu Han of

trasting black with white.

the brightly colored, boldly patterned robes she wears

He memorably combined these elements last fall when he performed the final movement of Prokofiev’s Seventh

in every performance. “But they’re not really, because they’re not square.”

Piano Sonata for In Performance, a video series from The

An accomplished and in-demand performer for decades,

New York Times. In the segment Tao donned a Bee-

she is one-half of what has been hailed as America’s

tlejuice-esque blazer (purchased at The Thrift Shop of

chamber music “power couple” (her husband is cellist

Aspen for a very well-spent $6), a Nicki Minaj for Kmart

David Finckel, a former long-time member of the famed

crop top, skinny jeans, and ASOS sneakers.

Emerson String Quartet). Both have packed perfor-

The outfit was a winner. Not only did it strike a great balance between edgy and chic, but it also delightfully

mance schedules, and they also co-share artistic director duties at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

complemented the bold and explosive piece of music

Schedules like theirs translate into lots of travel—which is

Tao performed.

a major reason Wu Han has embraced her custom-made collection of robes, ditching the formal gowns she used

20 | IMPROMPTU

“

to wear for an alternative that is easier to tote around the

“It turned out to be one of the most comfortable con-

world. But she was inspired

A LOT OF THE TIME WHEN I GO

to initially make the switch

TO SHOE STORES I ASK, ‘DO YOU

and I loved it so much I kept

while pregnant with her

HAVE ANY SHOES NOBODY WILL

the pattern.”

daughter in the 1990s, and strolling through an arts mar-

BUY?’ THOSE ARE THE SHOES

ket in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

YOU CAN WEAR ON STAGE—AT

making these beautiful silk

—Wu Han

tops, but the top was on the short side and didn’t have the width I was looking for,”

“

“I found a lady who was

LEAST FOR ME. IT’S A STATEMENT.

recalls Wu Han. “So I asked if it was possible for me to give her some kind of pattern.

At that point, I was actually five months pregnant—and I knew I would keep growing!”

Wu Han drew up her own pattern and, along with the seamstress, tinkered with the design until it flowed just right. She also requested a few customizations with her performances in mind, such as tiny buttons on the sleeves to ensure her hands would remain unobstructed while playing the piano.

cert [outfits] I’d ever worn,

After her daughter was born, Wu Han’s robes continued to be an ideal blend of fashion and practicality.

“I took my daughter everywhere with me the first ten years of her life, and the suitcase is prime real estate

when you have kids,” says Wu Han. “You have to have books and crafts and diapers and formula, so you have to be really strategic. And those traditional gowns that require a lot of maintenance were completely illogical for me.”

Today, Wu Han says she probably has twenty different robes in her closet, and she typically swaps in two or three new pieces each year. A resident of New York City, she’s able to peruse a wealth of fabrics in the city’s bustling Garment District, purchase her favorites, and then

“I LOVE GOING BOLD IN MY EVERYDAY STYLE. ONSTAGE, I FEEL COMPARATIVELY SUBDUED, MOSTLY BECAUSE IT CAN BE DIFFICULT TO MELD MY REGULAR, LOUDER CHOICES TO THE TRADITIONAL STANDARDS OF THE CONCERT HALL.” —CONRAD TAO PICTURED HERE AT ONE OF THE AMFS’S 2014 ARTIST DINNERS, HELD AT A PRIVATE RESIDENCE, TAO HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW A GLIMPSE OF HIS STYLE OUTSIDE OF TRADITIONAL MUSIC VENUES. PHOTO BY TODD PATRICK

SUMMER 2015 | 21

have her robes made by local seamstresses.

She says it’s important to select wrinkle-resistant fabrics that can hold up to being tossed into a concert bag, and that the material should be lightweight but not sheer, lest the bright lights of the stage contribute to a wardrobe malfunction.

And, of course, the final product has to look good and make her feel great. That means she also has to pair her robe with the perfect shoes—or vice versa. Like the pair of bright pink shoes she found and loved so much she had a robe made to match.

“A lot of the time when I go to shoe stores I ask, ‘Do you have any shoes nobody will buy?’” she laughs. “Those are the shoes you can wear on stage—at least for me. It’s not like I’m going to the grocery store. I only need to walk from backstage to the piano bench, so they don’t have to be super comfortable. It’s a statement.”

The whimsical style, however, doesn’t make Wu Han any less serious a musician. In fact, it does quite the opposite. Putting

WU HAN, IN ONE OF HER SIGNATURE ROBES, PERFORMING AT THE BENEDICT

on her outfit backstage has be-

MUSIC TENT.

come a sacred ritual, she says.

“I put on my tights, my clothes, my makeup. I know I’m

David Finckel and Wu Han perform the 2015 season’s

a pianist from that moment forward. I’m going to be an

opening recital on July 2; Conrad Tao performs on

artist. I’m no longer a mom, a wife, an arts administrator.

August 18, 20, and 21, and will be on a panel at a High

I’m only devoted to my music.”

Notes Discussion on August 19.

22 | IMPROMPTU

PHOTO BY CHARLES ABBOTT

67 YEARS OF HIGHS, LOWS, AND EVERY NOTE IN BETWEEN In the 1940s, Chicago businessman Walter Paepcke dreamed of transforming the picturesque and sleepy former mining town of Aspen into a place where people could develop in body, mind, and spirit. In 1949, he organized the Goethe Bicentennial Convocation and Music Festival, which gave rise to the Aspen Music Festival and School—an organization that has flowered into one of today’s top classical music festivals and training grounds for young musicians, and that has helped make Aspen one of the world’s great cultural summer destinations.

Now in its 67th summer season, the AMFS hosts an array of the world’s finest performing musicians, including many that are alumni of its prestigious educational program: violinists Joshua Bell, Sarah Chang, Robert McDuffie, and Gil Shaham, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, bassist Edgar Meyer, singers Renée Fleming, Barbara Hendricks, and Dawn Upshaw, conductors James Conlon, James Levine, and Leonard Slatkin, composer Philip Glass, and many more.

With more than 600 music students in residence each summer, and more than 100 artist-faculty drawn from the country’s top orchestras, opera companies, conservatories, and music schools, the festival creates and presents a full musical SUMMER 2015 | 23

WHEELER-FESTIVAL IN PARTNERSHIP

world each summer. Performing regularly are five full orchestras, an opera company, chamber ensembles, and soloists. Also on the program are panel discussions, lectures, and children’s events. Altogether there are more than three hundred events in eight weeks.

The result is a town completely energized by and infused with wonderful music. Concerts take place daily in the AMFS’s 2,050-seat Benedict Music Tent and 500seat Harris Concert Hall; the fully-staged operas are performed in the Wheeler Opera House; students busk on downtown street corners and inside cafés; the top

It is partly thanks to the Aspen Music Festival and School that the City of Aspen still has the historic Wheeler Opera House that it has today.

The Wheeler suffered two terrible fires and decades of neglect after its brief golden period following

of Aspen Mountain plays host to a series of stunningly scenic—and free—concerts; and area churches, libraries, and other local venues open their doors for lectures and performances. The expansive programming each

its opening in 1889. Two Chicagoans, Walter and

summer provides world-class entertainment options for

Elizabeth Paepcke, also founders of the AMFS, were

locals and draws in thousands of tourists, adding up to

the first to help bring it back. They rediscovered the

more than 70,000 people who attend the AMFS’s events

nearly abandoned building in 1949, threw in some benches, and later, in the 1960s, gave it a further, though somewhat awkward, face-lift, mixing in Bauhaus design elements with the Victorian décor, and installing used movie-theater seats.

In the 1970s, though, the Wheeler evidenced full-

over the course of the season.

Aspen audiences tend to be as enthusiastic as the visiting performers and students, and this very special ecosystem has resulted in nearly seven decades of

blown structural issues; a full renovation was the only

moments that just couldn’t have happened anywhere

thing that could save it. But who cared enough to

else.

make the gargantuan effort that that would take? It looked like the town could altogether lose the then-

Performers and audience members who were present

underutilized performance center.

in those early days of the AMFS recall the rickety first

Enter the AMFS, which, as the Wheeler website

incarnation of the Tent—meant to be a temporary

states, “led the effort for a complete structural

structure for the Goethe Bicentennial, but reused for

overhaul of the Wheeler Opera House.” The festival also gave a significant amount of the funding and

more than a decade until replaced by a sturdier version.

campaigned heavily for the Real Estate Transfer Tax,

The Aspen Times wrote of one performance that “was

passed in 1979, that has funded the maintenance and

scarcely heard because of the pounding of the rain on

improvement of the Wheeler right up to today. While

the Tent top.” Other performances were even less lucky,

the City has continued to own and run the building, it was only with the AMFS’s partnership it was able to

with rain pouring into the structure, once causing pianist

be saved and restored to its original splendor.

Beveridge Webster to splash the audience with water

By agreement, and in acknowledgment of the AMFS’s

every time he tapped his feet.

leadership role in saving this building, it houses the AMFS’s acclaimed Aspen Opera Theater Center each

“The Tent poles would bang on the cement during

summer. The rest of the year it is used at low cost

the wind and the chains would rattle. The old bearded

by dozens of community groups, school, other arts

caretaker would come out and batten the hatches,”

organizations, and for travelling shows.

recalled pianist Mary Norris. And in addition to finicky

Photo Courtesy Aspen Historical Society

24 | IMPROMPTU

TOP: AFTER HIS LUGGAGE WAS LOST EN ROUTE, IGOR STRAVINSKY CONDUCTED A 1950S AMFS CONCERT IN STREET CLOTHES. RIGHT: THE VERY FIRST INCARNATION OF “THE TENT.” PHOTOS BY FERENC BERKO

Aspen weather, attendees also had to cope with a much

town—but found that his luggage failed to make the trip.

more untamed environment than we see today. Horses

He ultimately conducted the performance in street clothes

could be seen running just outside the Tent before a storm

and socks-and-sandals.

would hit, and it wasn’t unusual for a performance to come to a halt while gophers, chased by packs of barking dogs, sought shelter beneath the Tent stage.

And one year, a late summer snowstorm forced a concert

These rough edges from the AMFS’s infancy have since been smoothed over, but what hasn’t changed is the Festival and School’s incomparable,

“

and

inspiring,

atmosphere

of music performance and education.

to be moved from the Tent

EVERY SINGLE SUMMER AT

to the Wheeler Opera House.

“I don’t think I would have

ASPEN I WOULD COME OUT

become a musician hadn’t it

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE

been for my great exposure

But the power soon failed, and the performance went on

to music [in Aspen],” recalls

by candlelight with musicians

EIGHT WEEKS CERTAINLY

and audience members alike

FEELING LIKE A DIFFERENT

bundled in heavy sweaters and

MUSICIAN, BUT ALSO LIKE A

Harrell, was one of the festival’s

DIFFERENT PERSON.

first directors. Harrell began

Then there was the time when Igor Stravinsky, the first composer to present his own works in Aspen, arrived in

—Simone Porter

“

blankets.

cellist Lynn Harrell, whose father, noted baritone Mack

coming to Aspen when he was only five years old, later becoming a student, and then an

audience-favorite

guest

SUMMER 2015 | 25

artist and festival mainstay. “I wasn’t forced to go to the concerts by my parents, but it was in the air. You could hear music coming out of windows and doorways all the time.

I think that sunk in after a while and I realized, through my

magical.”

The feeling remains the same for the current generation of students.

own beginning of cello studies, that this was a wonderful

“[Aspen] was the first place that I found myself surrounded

way to make a life.”

by other young people with similar passion and interest,”

Over the decades, the AMFS has played a similarly crucial role for countless other students. Many of the festival’s star alumni had “firsts” here that have shaped them throughout their artistic careers. Soprano Renée Fleming in 1983 sang

says violinist and rising star Simone Porter. She studied at the AMFS for seven years before making her guest artist debut in 2014, and she returns again this season to perform on August 16.

her first Countess Almaviva in Mozart’s The Marriage of

“Every single summer at Aspen I would come out on

Figaro, a role that went on to have huge importance in her

the other side of the eight weeks certainly feeling like a

career. In 1962, Metropolitan Opera Music Director James

different musician, but also like a different person,” she

Levine conducted his first opera while a student in Aspen.

says. “The moment I leave to the moment I come back, I

There have been personal firsts, too. Superstar violinist

spend looking forward to returning.”

Sarah Chang began studying at the AMFS when she was

Read more complete versions of these stories and

just six years old, and as a teenager learned to drive in the

many more in Bruce Berger’s 50th anniversary history

Tent parking lot. “I really do feel that I grew up in Aspen,”

of the Aspen Music Festival and School, A Tent in the

she says. “There’s something about the place that is very

Meadow.

BELOW: VIOLINIST SIMONE PORTER MAKES HER AMFS GUEST ARTIST DEBUT IN 2014, AFTER SEVEN SEASONS OF STUDYING IN ASPEN. SHE RETURNS AGAIN THIS SEASON FOR A PERFORMANCE ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 16.

26 | IMPROMPTU

ABRIDGED MUSIC FESTIVAL SCHEDULE SUMMER 2015 SEE FULL SCHEDULE AT WWW.ASPENMUSICFESTIVAL.COM

The Aspen Music Festival and School offers up to 15 events a day, many free, including concerts, lectures, family events, and guided tours.

See www.aspenmusicfestival. com for full concert details.

Or pick up a weekly printed schedule available at hotels and visitors centers around town.

THURSDAY JULY 2 Hotel Music at The St. Regis Aspen Resort 3:30 pm, $35 A Recital by David Finckel cello and Wu Han piano Harris Concert Hall 7 pm, $55 Features works by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and Rachmaninoff.

FRIDAY JULY 3 Aspen Chamber Symphony Benedict Music Tent 6 pm, $78 Nicholas McGegan conductor Anton Nel piano BEETHOVEN: Overture to King Stephen, op. 117 BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, op. 15 BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major, op. 60

SATURDAY JULY 4 Opera Scenes Master Class Wheeler Opera House 10 am, $40 Fourth of July Concert Benedict Music Tent 4 pm, free A band concert featuring stirring patriotic favorites.

SUNDAY JULY 5 Aspen Festival Orchestra Benedict Music Tent 4 pm, $80 Robert Spano conductor Inon Barnatan piano RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Scheherazade, op. 35 TCHAIKOVSKY: Piano Concert No. 1 in B-flat minor, op. 23

Finckel-Wu Han Chamber Music Studio Recital Harris Concert Hall 7:30 pm, free

THURSDAY JULY 9

MONDAY JULY 6

A Recital by Hung-Kuan Chen piano Harris Concert Hall 8 pm, $55 Features works by Liszt, Chopin, and Skryabin.

Guided Tour of Bucksbaum Campus 10:15 am, free

FRIDAY JULY 10

Chamber Music Benedict Music Tent 6 pm, $45 Chamber music gems played by the AMFS’s brilliant artist-faculty.

Guided Tour of Bucksbaum Campus 10:15 am, free Chamber Music Harris Concert Hall 6 pm, $45 Chamber music gems played by the AMFS’s brilliant artist-faculty.

Special Event: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, with special guest singer René Marie Benedict Music Tent 8:30 pm, $90, $60, $375 with pre-concert VIP dinner

TUESDAY JULY 7 Harris Hall Master Class 1 pm, $25 David Finckel cello Wu Han piano Music with a View Aspen Art Museum 6 pm, free A Recital by Yundi piano Harris Concert Hall 7:30 pm, $55 Features Chopin’s Nocturnes and Beethoven’s “Appassionata” Sonata.

WEDNESDAY JULY 8 High Notes Panel Discussion: Alan Fletcher in conversation with filmmaker Bill Morrison discussing their double commission.

Paepcke Auditorium 12 pm, free Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra Larry Rachleff conductor Jan Lisiecki piano Benedict Music Tent 6 pm, $25 A Recital by the Takács Quartet Harris Concert Hall 8:30 pm, $55 Features works by Haydn, Debussy, and Beethoven.

Piano Master Class Harris Concert Hall 10 am, $25 Jonathan Biss piano

Aspen Chamber Symphony Benedict Music Tent 7:30 pm, $78 Robert Spano conductor Jean-Efflam Bavouzet piano Bill Morrison filmmaker SIBELIUS: The Bard, op. 64 BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, op. 58 ALAN FLETCHER: On a winter’s night a traveler MOZART: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550

SATURDAY JULY 11 Opera Scenes Master Class Wheeler Opera House 10 am, $40 Music on the Mountain Top of Aspen Mountain (gondola ticket or hike up mountain required) 1 pm, free Chamber Music Harris Concert Hall 4:30 pm, $45 Chamber music gems played by the AMFS’s brilliant artist-faculty.

A Recital by the Takács Quartet Harris Concert Hall 8 pm, $55 Features works by Mozart and Franck.

SUNDAY JULY 12 Aspen Festival Orchestra Benedict Music Tent 4 pm, $80 Christian Arming conductor Augustin Hadelich violin BEETHOVEN: Violin Concerto in D major, op. 61 R. STRAUSS: Also sprach Zarathustra, op. 30

From The Top Harris Concert Hall 8 pm, $25

MONDAY JULY 13

Gotta Move!

Castle Creek 1 10:30 am, free, for ages 2-7 with an adult

TUESDAY JULY 14 Harris Hall Master Class 1 pm, $25 Sylvia Rosenberg violin Music with a View Aspen Art Museum 6 pm, free Chamber music.

A Recital by the Emerson String Quartet Harris Concert Hall 7:30 pm, $65 Features works by Ravel, Liebermann, Dvořák, and Barber’s Adagio for Strings.

WEDNESDAY JULY 15 High Notes Panel Discussion: Conversation with pianist Orli Shaham Christ Episcopal Church 12 pm, free Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra Stephen Mulligan conductor Yiliang Jiang violin Benedict Music Tent 6 pm, $25 A Recital by Jennifer Koh violin and Shai Wosner piano Harris Concert Hall 8:30 pm, $55 Featuring works by Beethoven and Vijay Iyer.

THURSDAY JULY 16 Piano Master Class Harris Concert Hall 10 am, $25 Arie Vardi piano

SUMMER 2015 | 27

Tunes & Tales Pitkin County Library 10:30 am, free, for ages 3+ with an adult Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette Wheeler Opera House 7 pm, $70, $25 obstructed George Manahan conductor Edward Berkeley director Aspen Opera Theater Center A Recital by Orion Weiss and Shai Wosner pianos Harris Concert Hall 8 pm, $55 Featuring works by Ravel, Dvořák, Schumann, and Brahms.

FRIDAY JULY 17 Aspen Chamber Symphony Benedict Music Tent 6 pm, $78 Larry Rachleff conductor Tengku Irfan piano Daniel Hope violin MESSIAEN: Oiseaux exotiques MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto in D minor STRAVINSKY: Suite from Pulcinella Wind Ensemble Harris Concert Hall 8:30 pm, free

SATURDAY JULY 18 Opera Scenes Master Class Wheeler Opera House 10 am, $40 Music on the Mountain Top of Aspen Mountain (gondola ticket or hike up mountain required) 1 pm, free Chamber Music Harris Concert Hall 4:30 pm, $45 Chamber music gems played by the AMFS’s brilliant artist-faculty.

Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette Wheeler Opera House 7 pm, $70, $25 obstructed George Manahan conductor Edward Berkeley director Aspen Opera Theater Center A Recital by Lise de la Salle piano Harris Concert Hall 8 pm, $55 Featuring works by Bach/ Busoni, Ravel, Debussy, and Brahms.

SUNDAY JULY 19 Aspen Festival Orchestra Benedict Music Tent

28 | IMPROMPTU

4 pm, $80 Hannu Lintu conductor Orli Shaham piano R. STRAUSS: Don Juan, op. 20 STEVEN MACKEY: Stumble to Grace SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major, op. 82

MONDAY JULY 20 Guided Tour of Bucksbaum Campus 10:15 am, free Chamber Music Harris Concert Hall 6 pm, $45 Chamber music gems played by the AMFS’s brilliant artist-faculty.

Opera Benefit: Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette Wheeler Opera House $1,000 benefit evening $70, $25 opera-only George Manahan conductor Edward Berkeley director Aspen Opera Theater Center

TUESDAY JULY 21 Harris Hall Master Class 1 pm, $25 Alisa Weilerstein cello Tunes & Tales Basalt Regional Library 10:30 am, free, for ages 3+ with an adult Music with a View Aspen Art Museum 6 pm, free Chamber Music with Daniel Hope violin, Alisa Weilerstein cello, and AMFS ArtistFaculty and Students Harris Concert Hall 7:30 pm, $45 Featuring works by Tchaikovsky and Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht.

WEDNESDAY JULY 22 High Notes Panel Discussion: Alan Fletcher interviews cellist Alisa Weilerstein and guest conductor Rafael Payare Paepcke Auditorium 12 pm, free Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra George Manahan conductor Piano Competition Winner Benedict Music Tent 6 pm, $25 A Recital by Joseph Swensen violin and Jeffrey Kahane piano

Harris Concert Hall 8:30 pm, $55 Featuring works by Prokofiev, Brahms, and Gershwin/Heifetz.

THURSDAY JULY 23 Piano Master Class Harris Concert Hall 10 am, $25 John O’Conor piano Tunes & Tales Pitkin County Library 10:30 am, free, for ages 3+ with an adult The Science of Music: Harmonics in Music and Science Jewish Community Center 4 pm, $10 Family Concert I: Dr. Seuss’s Gerald McBoing Boing Scanlan Hall 5 pm, free for all ages A Recital by Vittorio Grigolo, tenor Benedict Music Tent 6 pm, $65, $25 A Recital by John O’Conor piano Harris Concert Hall 8 pm, $55 Featuring an all-Beethoven program.

FRIDAY JULY 24 Aspen Chamber Symphony Benedict Music Tent 6 pm, $78 Jeffrey Kahane conductor Gil Shaham violin J.S. BACH: Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041 SHOSTAKOVICH/BARSHAI: Chamber Symphony in D major, op. 83a HAYDN: Symphony No. 103 in E-flat major, Hob. I/103, “Drumroll”

SATURDAY JULY 25 Opera Scenes Master Class Wheeler Opera House 10 am, $40 Music on the Mountain Top of Aspen Mountain (gondola ticket or hike up mountain required) 1 pm, free Chamber Music Harris Concert Hall 4:30 pm, $45 Chamber music gems played by the AMFS’s brilliant artist-faculty.

An Evening with Kishi Bashi, singer-violinist Belly Up Aspen 7 pm, $18, $22, $35 Purchase tickets at Belly Up Aspen.

A Recital by the Jupiter String Quartet Harris Concert Hall 8 pm, $45 Featuring works by Haydn, Sydney Hodkinson, and Brahms.

SUNDAY JULY 26 Aspen Festival Orchestra Benedict Music Tent 4 pm, $80 Ludovic Morlot conductor Alisa Weilerstein cello STRAVINSKY: Petrushka (1911) DEBUSSY: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun PROKOFIEV: SymphonyConcerto for Cello and Orchestra in E-minor, op. 125 An Evening with Performance Today and Fred Child Harris Concert Hall 8 pm, $25

MONDAY JULY 27 Guided Tour of Bucksbaum Campus 10:15 am, free Chamber Music Benedict Music Tent 6 pm, $45 Chamber music gems played by the AMFS’s brilliant artist-faculty.

Special Event: Vijay Iyer Trio Harris Concert Hall 8 pm, $65

TUESDAY JULY 28 Harris Hall Master Class 1 pm, $25 Robert McDuffie violin Tunes & Tales Basalt Regional Library 10:30 am, free, for ages 3+ with an adult Peanut Butter & Jam Session Castle Creek 1 4:30 pm, free A Recital by the American Brass Quintet Harris Concert Hall 7:30 pm, $55 Featuring works by Ferrabosco/Holborne/ Dowland, Robert Paterson, Nina Young, and Lutosławski.

WEDNESDAY JULY 29 High Notes Panel Discussion: Discussion of The Classical Style, the opera Christ Episcopal Church 12 pm, free Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra Benedict Music Tent 6 pm, $25 Rafael Payare conductor Joyce Yang piano A Recital by Kirill Gerstein piano Harris Concert Hall 8:30 pm, $55 Featuring works by Bartók, Bach, and Lizst.

THURSDAY JULY 30 Piano Master Class Harris Concert Hall 10 am, $25 Hung-Kuan Chen piano Tunes & Tales Pitkin County Library 10:30 am, free, for ages 3+ with an adult Hotel Music at the Hotel Jerome Hotel Jerome 3:30 pm, $35 The Science of Music: Evaluating Musical Instruments Jewish Community Center 6 pm, $10 Steven Stucky’s The Classical Style and Christopher Theofanidis’s The Cows of Apollo, or The Invention of Music Wheeler Opera House 7 pm, $40, $25 obstructed Robert Spano conductor Edward Berkeley director Aspen Opera Theater Center A Recital by Augustin Hadelich violin and Joyce Yang piano Harris Concert Hall 8 pm, $55 Featuring works by Debussy, Ysaÿe, Kurtag, and Franck.

FRIDAY JULY 31 Aspen Chamber Symphony Benedict Music Tent 6 pm, $78 Patrick Summers conductor Nikolai Lugansky piano Susanna Phillips soprano BRAHMS: Hungarian Dance No. 1 in G minor CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, op. 11

HAYDN: Berenice, che fai?, Hob. XXIVa:10 BRAHMS: Variations on a Theme by Haydn, op. 56a

SATURDAY AUGUST 1 Opera Scenes Master Class Wheeler Opera House 10 am, $40 Music on the Mountain Top of Aspen Mountain (gondola ticket or hike up mountain required) 1 pm, free Chamber Music Harris Concert Hall 4:30 pm, $45 Chamber music gems played by the AMFS’s brilliant artist-faculty.

Steven Stucky’s The Classical Style and Christopher Theofanidis’s The Cows of Apollo, or The Invention of Music Wheeler Opera House 7 pm, $40, $25 obstructed Robert Spano conductor Edward Berkeley director Aspen Opera Theater Center A Recital by Steven Osborne piano Harris Concert Hall 8 pm, $55 Featuring Messiaen’s Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus.

SUNDAY AUGUST 2 Aspen Festival Orchestra Benedict Music Tent 4 pm, $80 Michael Stern conductor Robert McDuffie violin RAVEL: Alborada del gracioso BERNSTEIN: Serenade DEBUSSY: Ibéria from Images HINDEMITH: Symphonic Metamorphosis after Themes

by Carl Maria von Weber

MONDAY AUGUST 3 Guided Tour of Bucksbaum Campus 10:15 am, free Gotta Move!

Castle Creek 1 10:30 am, free, for ages 2-7 with an adult Chamber Music Harris Concert Hall 6 pm, $45 Chamber music gems played by the AMFS’s brilliant artist-faculty.

TUESDAY AUGUST 4 Harris Hall Master Class 1 pm, $25 Steven Osborne piano

Orchestra Chorus VERDI: Aida

Tunes & Tales Basalt Regional Library 10:30 am, free, for ages 3+ with an adult

Opera Scenes Master Class Wheeler Opera House 10 am, $40

Music with a View Aspen Art Museum 6 pm, free Chamber music.

A Recital by the American String Quartet Harris Concert Hall 7:30 pm, $55 Featuring works by Mozart, Bartók, and Dohnányi.

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 5 High Notes Panel Discussion: Discussion of Verdi’s Aida Paepcke Auditorium 12 pm, free Recital: A Baroque Evening with Nicholas McGegan Harris Concert Hall 8 pm, $65

THURSDAY AUGUST 6 Tunes & Tales Pitkin County Library 10:30 am, free, for ages 3+ with an adult Hotel Music at The Little Nell The Little Nell 3:30 pm, $35 The Science of Music: Neuroscience of Music Jewish Community Center 6 pm, $10 Special Event: Guitar Passions with Sharon Isbin, Stanley Jordan and Romero Lubambo guitars Harris Concert Hall 8 pm, $65

FRIDAY AUGUST 7 Piano Master Class Harris Concert Hall 10 am, $25 Julian Martin piano Chamber Music Harris Concert Hall 4:30 pm, $45 Chamber music gems played by the AMFS’s brilliant artist-faculty.

Aspen Festival Orchestra Benedict Music Tent 7:30 pm, $100, $85 Robert Spano conductor Aspen Festival Orchestra Colorado Symphony

SATURDAY AUGUST 8

Music on the Mountain Top of Aspen Mountain (gondola ticket required) 1 pm, free Aspen Chamber Symphony Benedict Music Tent 6 pm, $78 Federico Cortese conductor Veronika Eberle violin Edgar Meyer bass MOZART: Overture to The Abduction from the Seraglio, K. 384 SHOSTAKOVICH: Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, op. 77 EDGAR MEYER: Double Bass Concerto in E GINASTERA: Estancia Suite, op. 8a

SUNDAY AUGUST 9 Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra Benedict Music Tent 4 pm, $90 Josep Caballe-Domenech conductor Sarah Chang violin Isabel Leonard mezzosoprano BORODIN: Overture to Prince Igor SIBELIUS: Violin Concerto in D minor, op. 47 BERLIOZ: Les nuits d’ete, op. 7 RESPIGHI: Pines of Rome

MONDAY AUGUST 11 Guided Tour of Bucksbaum Campus 10:15 am, free Percussion Ensemble Harris Concert Hall 6 pm, $25 Featuring works by Christopher Rouse, Lou Harrison, David Byrne, and Xenais.

TUESDAY AUGUST 11 Harris Hall Master Class 1 pm, $25 Isabel Leonard mezzosoprano Tunes & Tales Basalt Regional Library 10:30 am, free, for ages 3+ with an adult

SUMMER 2015 | 29

Music with a View Aspen Art Museum 6 pm, free Chamber music.

SATURDAY AUGUST 15

A Recital: Piazzolla’s María de Buenos Aires Harris Concert Hall 7:30 pm, $55

Music on the Mountain Top of Aspen Mountain (gondola ticket or hike up mountain required) 1 pm, free

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 12 High Notes Panel Discussion: Discussion with composers Steven Stucky, Jennifer Higdon, Shulamit Ran Paepcke Auditorium 12 pm, free Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra Benedict Music Tent 6 pm, $25 Joshua Weilerstein conductor Robert Diaz viola A Recital by Vladimir Feltsman piano Harris Concert Hall 8:30 pm, $55 Featuring works by known and undiscovered Russion composers. Part 1.

THURSDAY AUGUST 13 Piano Master Class Harris Concert Hall 10 am, $25 Ann Schein piano Tunes & Tales Pitkin County Library 10:30 am, free, for ages 3+ with an adult The Science of Music: PianosHow They Work Jewish Community Center 6 pm, $10 A Recital by Vladimir Feltsman piano Harris Concert Hall 8 pm, $55 Featuring works by known and undiscovered Russion composers. Part 2.

FRIDAY AUGUST 14 Baby Got Bach Castle Creek 1 10:30 am, free with ticket from AMFS Box Office Aspen Chamber Symphony Benedict Music Tent 6 pm, $85 Joshua Bell conductor and violin VIVALDI: “The Four Seasons” BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 7 in A major, op. 92

30 | IMPROMPTU

Opera Scenes Master Class Wheeler Opera House 10 am, $40

Chamber Music Harris Concert Hall 4:30 pm, $45 Chamber music gems played by the AMFS’s brilliant artist-faculty.

A Recital by the Pacifica Quartet, with guest cellist Lynn Harrell Harris Concert Hall 8 pm, $45 Featuring works by Ligeti, Shulamit Ran, and Schubert.

SUNDAY AUGUST 16 Aspen Festival Orchestra Benedict Music Tent 4 pm, $80 David Robertson conductor Simone Porter violin CHRISTOPHER ROUSE: Symphony No. 3 BARBER: Violin Concerto, op. 14 BARTÓK: Concerto for Orchestra, BB 123

MONDAY AUGUST 17 Guided Tour of Bucksbaum Campus 10:15 am, free Chamber Music Benedict Music Tent 6 pm, $45 Chamber music gems played by the AMFS’s brilliant artist-faculty.

TUESDAY AUGUST 18 Harris Hall Master Class 1 pm, $25 Donald Weilerstein violin Music with a View Aspen Art Museum 6 pm, free Chamber Music Mozart’s Così fan tutte Wheeler Opera House 7 pm, $75, $25 obstructed Jane Glover conductor James Robinson director Aspen Opera Theater Center A Recital by Conrad Tao piano Harris Concert Hall 7:30 pm, $55 Featuring works by Rzewski,

Copland, Ravel, and Schumann.

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 19 High Notes Panel Discussion: Discussion with Conrad Tao and Stefan Jackiw Paepcke Auditorium 12 pm, free Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra Benedict Music Tent 6 pm, $25 Hugh Wolff conductor Violin Competition Winner A Recital: “Let’s Misbehave” Harris Concert Hall 8:30 pm, $55 Aspen Opera Theater Center Singers Featuring songs by Cole Porter and Kander and Ebb.

THURSDAY AUGUST 20 Piano Master Class Harris Concert Hall 10 am, $25 Yoheved Kaplinsky piano Family Concert II: Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf Harris Concert Hall 5 pm, free Classical Guitar Recital Scanlan Hall 6 pm, free Mozart’s Così fan tutte Wheeler Opera House 7 pm, $75, $25 obstructed Jane Glover conductor James Robinson director Aspen Opera Theater Center Chamber Music with Conrad Tao piano, Bil Jackson clarinet, Stefan Jackiw violin, and AMFS Students Harris Concert Hall 8 pm, $45 Featuring works by Poulenc, Mozart, and Brahms.

FRIDAY AUGUST 21 Aspen Chamber Symphony Benedict Music Tent 6 pm, $78 Johannes Debus conductor Stefan Jackiw violin Conrad Tao piano MOZART: Symphony No. 35 in D major, K. 385, “Haffner” MOZART: Violin Concerto No. 5 in A mojor, K. 219 LUTOSLAWSKI: Partita for Violin and Orchestra BEETHOVEN: Fantasia in C minor, op. 80, “Choral Fantasy”

SATURDAY AUGUST 22 Opera Scenes Master Class Wheeler Opera House 10 am, $40 Chamber Music Harris Concert Hall 4:30 pm, $45 Chamber music gems played by the AMFS’s brilliant artist-faculty.

Mozart’s Così fan tutte Wheeler Opera House 7 pm, $75, $25 obstructed Jane Glover conductor James Robinson director Aspen Opera Theater Center A Recital by Marc-André Hamelin piano Harris Concert Hall 8 pm, $55 Featuring works by Mozart, Schubert, and Hamelin.

SUNDAY AUGUST 23 Aspen Festival Orchestra Benedict Music Tent 4 pm, $80 Robert Spano conductor Susanna Phillips soprano MOZART: Bella mia Fiamma…

Resta, o cara, K. 528 RAVEL: Shéhérazade MAHLER: Symphony No. 6 in A minor, “Tragic”

FACULTY FOCUS

BY LAURA E. SMITH

TEACHABLE MOMENTS students hungry to work, full of desire, interest, and life.

EARL CARLYSS (director of the Aspen Center for Quar-

tet Studies, teaches at The Juilliard School and in Aspen) on his teaching approach: A soloist develops a persona through preparing sonatas and concertos, but a quartet must merge their individual characteristics into a single group persona. CleveThe Aspen Music Festival and School’s artist-faculty come

land, Juilliard, Emerson: all these quartets have tremen-

from the top classical teaching and performing institutions

dously different personalities. A young group on the

in the country. Brilliant, fascinating, often philosophical,

verge of a career can spend a whole summer in Aspen,

these individuals are heavily sought-after by music students

undistracted. I am very free about interpretation, trying

around the world. Here we share thoughts from three of the

to give them many options to formulate their own point

hundred-plus who teach in Aspen each summer.

of view. I am like their slave! I will coach them every day

ROBERT LIPSETT (violin faculty at the Colburn School

and in Aspen) on what he looks for in a student: First I am looking for great ears—not that a student must have perfect pitch, but they have to have an extraordinary capacity for listening. To some degree this can be taught, but the nuts and bolts have to be in place. Then I look for great violin hands, which is a question of flexibility. Age and level are very important, and I have in my mind a defi-

if they want that…. I do strongly advise that they should take one day off each week; otherwise they are apt to burn themselves out in their eagerness to work.

STEVEN STUCKY (pictured in foreground, above, on a

panel critiquing and advising composition students in Aspen, Pulitzer-Prize-winning composer, teaches at The Juilliard School and in Aspen) on how much he shares his own music with his students:

nite expectation of that relationship. The artistic tempera-

I do use my music in my teaching. After all, one is asking

ment must have a rare combination of fire and musicality.

a student to share what is most personal to him or her-

And the social aspect is important, too. I look for healthy

self, so it only seems right to open up and share in re-

family support, especially for the younger ones, because a

turn—it’s an artist’s obligation. We try to help students

teacher will be involved with the parents as well. Are they

bring out their most personal thoughts, so we need to

on track with a healthy state of mind? I look for wonderful

model that behavior for them.

SUMMER 2015 | 31

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

BY TAMARA VALLEJOS

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT EACH YEAR, MORE THAN SIX HUNDRED STUDENTS MAKE THEIR WAY TO ASPEN FOR AN UNPARALLELED SUMMER OF MUSIC EDUCATION AND PERFORMANCE. GET TO KNOW ONE OF 2014’S EXCEPTIONAL STUDENTS BEFORE WITNESSING THE TALENTS OF THIS YEAR’S CLASS!

“

TO SIT NEXT TO [ARTISTFACULTY] IN THE ORCHESTRA AND SEE HOW THEY RESPOND, HOW THEY WORK, AND HOW THEY PLAY TO HAVE THE EFFECT THEY DO ON THE AUDIENCE— THAT’S A REALLY VALUABLE EXPERIENCE. I DON’T THINK YOU CAN FIND THAT ANYWHERE ELSE. —Alexander Morris

“

32 | IMPROMPTU

CLARINETIST ALEXANDER MORRIS STUDIED AT THE AMFS IN 2014.

If an eight-year-old Alexander Morris had had his way, he

also to playing in a good orchestra and meeting other

would have been a saxophonist. But today, Morris—now

young musicians that were considering careers in music,

twenty-seven—is quite thankful he was overruled by his

as well,” he says. “[After that] I decided this was some-

family.

thing I really needed to pursue as a career.”

“I started playing music when I was eight because every-

Morris’s ambitions led him to Australia’s Queensland Con-

one did at my primary school,” says Morris, who grew up

servatorium and then the Australian National Academy

in Bundaberg, Australia, a town situated near the South-

of Music. Along the way, he also performed as a freelance

ern end of the Great Barrier Reef. “Initially, I wanted to

clarinetist for the Australian Ballet, Opera Australia, and

play saxophone because, you know, they brought them

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, among others. And just

out and they were all shiny and cool.”

before coming to Aspen in 2014, he spent some time

The price tag, however, seemed a little too steep, prompt-

studying at the Colburn School in Los Angeles.

ing his mother to nudge him toward a smaller instrument,

“I felt I needed to do a little more study and see a bit

like the clarinet.

more of the world,” says Morris of his time away from

“I’m glad she did!” says Morris, who quickly felt a connection to his new instrument. “Now I listen to other instruments and sometimes I hear one and think, ‘Wow, that’s really beautiful.’ But the clarinet has always affected me more than others.”

Eventually, after several years of training, Morris attended his first summer music camp at the age of 15—and it was there, surrounded by other skilled and passionate musicians, that he realized music was more than just a hobby.

“It was my first exposure to good chamber music, and

Australia. His summer with the AMFS also gave him a student experience rare outside of Aspen: the opportunity to perform side-by-side with professional musicians, such as artist-faculty member and fellow clarinetist Joaquin Valdepeñas.

“It’s one thing to hear artists play on CDs or even live in concerts,” says Morris. “But to sit next to them in the orchestra and see how they respond, how they work, and how they play to have the effect they do on the audience—that’s a really valuable experience. I don’t think you can find that anywhere else.”

SUMMER 2015 | 33

PIANOS, PIANOS,

EVERYWHERE

BY LAURA E. SMITH

The Aspen Music Festival and

Each summer, Steinway & Sons delivers more than 175 of

School is one of the largest

its pianos to Aspen to be used by the festival’s students,

summer classical music fes-

artist-faculty, and performers. Collectively it adds up to

tivals in the world as well as a revered training ground for the next generation of professional musicians.

several million dollars’ worth of pianos.

They arrive in five semi-trucks a few weeks before the fes-

In additional to conductors, composers, singers, and

tival starts, are unloaded by an experienced crew, and are

instrumentalists of all kinds, pianists convene from all over

immediately turned over to the care of the ten-member

the world—from countries as various as Ireland, Turkey, and

piano technician team that begins the process of tuning,

China—to study with a fiercely sought-after piano faculty.

regulating, and voicing them for use.

To support the practicing, teaching, and performing of

“Each piano takes anywhere between two and five hours

these students, and performers such as Vladimir Feltsman

to prepare,” says AMFS head piano technician Peter Sumn-

and Yundi, requires a nearly unheard-of assemblage of

er. He continues, “A piano is a moving target as it changes

professional-level pianos, a number that would not be pos-

along with temperature and humidity, so you can imagine

sible without the partnership of the world’s most respect-

the contortions some of them go through as they adapt to

ed piano manufacturer, Steinway & Sons.

the conditions here at 8,000 feet.”

Steinway & Sons is widely considered to be at the pinnacle

All of this work eventually pays off for all involved—at the

of piano world. The company’s pianos are still handcraft-

end of the summer, the students, teachers, and performers

ed in Queens, New York, and Hamburg, Germany, using

have had the critical experience of learning and playing

the time-honored methods that have been continuously

on instruments with top-quality sound and touch, and in

honed since the company’s founding in 1853. Wood is

return, the pianos have been seasoned in a way that makes

hand-selected from far-flung locales: a team of six hand-

them now ideal for home purchase. In fact, Steinway holds

bends the rim, made from eighteen layers of hard-rock

a sale right on the stage of the festival’s concert hall, an

maple, into a press to make the curvaceous piano shape.

event at which many locals over the years have found their

(The concert grand Model D’s curves take a full twen-

own beloved instruments.

ty-two feet of wood.) Each subsequent step is handled

Sumner gives a lecture on how pianos work on August 13

equally lovingly by hand by a dedicated craftsperson. The

at 6 pm. The 2015 Steinway & Sons Piano Sale in Aspen

production of a single instrument can take up to a year.

runs August 28 to 30 by appointment. Call 303-947-1543.

34 | IMPROMPTU

DON’T MISS SPECTACULAR OPERA THIS SUMMER AT THE ASPEN OPERA THEATER CENTER WHEELER OPERA HOUSE, ASPEN, COLORADO GOUNOD’S ROMÉO ET JULIETTE JULY 16 · 18 · 20 STUCKY’S THE CLASSICAL STYLE AND THEOFANIDIS’S THE COWS OF APOLLO (OR, THE INVENTION OF MUSIC) JULY 30 · AUGUST 1 MOZART’S COSÌ FAN TUTTE AUGUST 18 · 20 · 22

ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL WWW.ASPENMUSICFESTIVAL.COM • 970 925 9042

36 | IMPROMPTU