Aspen Music Festival and School 2017 Festival Focus Week 1

FESTIVALFOCUS YOUR WEEKLY CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE

SUPPLEMENT TO THE ASPEN TIMES

MONDAY, JUNE 26, 2017

VOL 28, NO. 1

Music Festival presents season of ‘Enchantment’ CHRISTINA THOMSEN

Festival Focus Writer

Fairy tales, myths, magic, and storytelling take center stage in the Aspen Music Festival and School’s (AMFS) 69th season, opening this Thursday and running through August 20. Led by Music Director Robert Spano, the season features a theme of Enchantment woven into the programming of many of the Festival’s 400-plus events.

“The season theme is about the transformation of the ordinary to the extraordinary,” says Asadour Santourian, AMFS vice president for artistic administration and artistic advisor. The theme is “able to grasp and capture the imagination of our musicians as well as listeners. It takes place throughout our season, from the Ravel one-act opera, L’enfant et les sortilèges (The Child and the Spells), to the storytelling of Zemlinsky’s The Mermaid.”

The concept of enchantment is perhaps best displayed in the Aspen Chamber Symphony’s July 21 performance, during which Spano will conduct L’enfant et les sortilèges.

The opera, presented in Aspen as a concert performance, is full of magic and wonder in its depiction of inanimate objects coming to life to teach a rebellious child a lesson. Additional works championing the season theme include Rimsky-Korsakov’s popular Scheherazade (July 26), Stravinsky’s electrifying Firebird Suite (July 30), Mozart’s Overture to The Magic Flute (July 7), Christopher Theofanidis’s Dreamtime Ancestors (July 30), and Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (July 16).

ELLE LOGAN/AMFS

The Aspen Music Festival and School’s 69th season opens on Thursday, June 29, and features a theme of Enchantment, manifested through myths, magic, storytelling, and transformation.

The 2017 season also celebrates “The Year of the Concerto,” a major exploration of the concerto form, including no fewer than four new or modern concertos. AMFS President and CEO and composer Alan Fletcher, Spano, and a panel of composers will also discuss the lasting popularity of concertos in the free panel “The Concerto: Why Is It So Irresistible?” on July 20.

Other exciting highlights of the season include several Aspen artist debuts. Sergey Khachatryan—who in 2000 became the youngestever winner of the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition—will perform Beethoven in his debut with the Aspen Festival Orchestra (August 13). Continuing his tour of sensational U.S. orchestral debuts, German pianist Martin Helmchen performs with the Aspen Cham-

ber Symphony (August 11). Helmchen will also join Grammy Award-winning violinist Augustin Hadelich and cellist Marie-Elisabeth Hecker in their debut of the newly formed trio H3 (August 9). Rising star baritone André Schuen performs Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer with the Aspen Chamber Symphony, in a performance

See Season, Festival Focus page 3

Hundreds of students, artist-faculty arrive in Aspen CHRISTINA THOMSEN Festival Focus Writer

This week, you might notice Aspen filling with the sounds of classical music as students and artist-faculty prepare for the Aspen Music Festival and School’s (AMFS) 69th summer season. The 2017 class is made up of 645 students coming from all around the globe and representing every major music school and conservatory. These students entered into the most selective admission year in AMFS history with a record-breaking 2,500 applications, each of which underwent a rigorous evaluation to select the most talented young musicians.

“Now these budding talents come to Aspen to immerse themselves in the work of their lives,” says Jennifer Johnston, AMFS vice president and dean of students.

Artist-faculty are also beginning to arrive this week. The AMFS’s 130 artist-faculty come to Aspen from prestigious ap-

AUBREE DALLAS/AMFS

Hundreds of students and artist-faculty members arrived in Aspen last week to begin training and performing in a season of “Enchantment.”

pointments in top orchestras and conservatories—including The Juilliard School, Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music,

Oberlin Conservatory, and Indiana University’s Jacob’s School of Music—as well as players from leading orchestras across the world. Students will get the chance to learn from their mentors all summer long.

“They will study with revered pedagogues and play alongside concertmasters and principals of great orchestras like Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, New York, and Vienna,” says Johnston.

Concertmasters Alexander Kerr (Dallas Symphony Orchestra), Robert Chen (Chicago Symphony Orchestra), and David Halen (St. Louis Symphony) are among the many distinguished performers who have been coming back to Aspen year after year.

While the Music Festival doesn’t officially begin until June 29, the hundreds of students, guest artists, and artist-faculty members will be jumping right into auditions, learning music, and preparing for lessons. For students, the next two months mean indi-

See Arrival, Festival Focus page 3

BUY TICKETS NOW! 970 925 9042 or WWW.ASPENMUSICFESTIVAL.COM

2

MONDAY, JUNE 26, 2017

FESTIVALFOCUS | YOUR WEEKLY CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE

Supplement to The Aspen Times

Opening Sunday boasts dazzling program of Mozart, Mahler credible, prodigious, mature work,” says Asadour Santourian, AMFS vice president for artistic administration and artistic adviThe opening Sunday concert at 4 pm on July 2 features a sor. “Mozart’s forces are rather very delicate, and they occupy crowd-pleasing program perfect for kicking off the Aspen an elegant sound world.”

Music Festival and School’s (AMFS) 69th season, themed EnOhlsson has been mesmerizing audichantment. With AMFS Music Director ences with his “effortless virtuosity and Robert Spano at the conductor’s podium “Garrick [Ohlsson] is total musical command” (The Guardian) and world-renowned guest artist Garrick since winning the Chopin International one of the magicians Ohlsson at the piano, the afternoon of Competition in 1970. Santourian calls him Mahler and Mozart will be nothing short of the keyboard. He a “chameleon” for his ability to master the of dazzling. music of an array of composers.

“Speaking of enchantment, Garrick is can do anything, and “Ohlsson has proven that you can be a one of the magicians of the keyboard,” great pianist playing Mozart, and you can he can make pressing says AMFS President and CEO Alan be a great pianist playing Rachmaninoff, Fletcher. “He can do anything, and he down keys and having and you can be a great pianist playing can make pressing down keys and havChopin or Busoni,” Santourian says. “And ing hammers on a piano strike the strings hammers on a piano he has a great rapport and longstandsound like magic. Garrick and Robert Spaing relationship with Robert. And he’s the strike the strings no have had a lifelong relationship in preone who offered us the Mozart, so we’re sentation of concerts, and they have just sound like magic.” thrilled about including his performance a tremendous rapport. It’s always fun to as part of our season.” hear them work together, which I’ve done Alan Fletcher, AMFS President and CEO The second half of the program feamany times with different orchestras, but tures Mahler’s First Symphony, rounding we’re always proud to have them here.”

The first half of the program offers Ohlsson’s performance out what Santourian calls a “Viennese” program, though Mahler of Mozart’s Ninth Piano Concerto, nicknamed “Jeunehomme,” and Mozart are separated by about 100 years.

Mahler said of his First Symphony, “It came gushing out like a an early piece in Mozart’s career and one of his breakthrough mountain torrent.” Written for a huge orchestra and full of youthworks.

“It’s an early work, but it is recognized as the first sign of in- ful romanticism, the work follows the journey of Mahler’s “hero”

Supplement to The Aspen Times

FESTIVALFOCUS | YOUR WEEKLY CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE

MONDAY, JUNE 26, 2017 3

SEASON: The Damnation of Faust on Final Sunday Continued from Festival Focus page 1

JESSICA CABE

Festival Focus Writer

KACPER PEMPEL/COURTESY PHOTO

Pianist Garrick Ohlsson will play Mozart’s Ninth Piano Concerto during the first Aspen Festival Orchestra concert on Sunday, July 2.

through episodes of optimism, struggle, and, ultimately, triumph.

“Mahler orchestrates in such a way that we have both chamber instrumentation, meaning small forces from different choirs of the orchestra are featured, as well as the expanded, full-muscled ending of the first movement and the entire last movement,” Santourian says. “We have both of those worlds in Mahler.”

There may be no better way to set the tone for a fantastic season at the AMFS than with two powerhouse composers and a powerhouse pianist.

BUY TICKETS NOW! 970 925 9042 or WWW.ASPENMUSICFESTIVAL.COM

also featuring the Aspen debut of internationally acclaimed pianist Paul Lewis (July 28). Schuen will also sing selections from Schubert’s Schwanengesang in recital with extraordinary pianist Andreas Haefliger on July 29.

The season also features the highly anticipated return of many guest artists. Pianist Jonathan Biss continues his threeseason project, which he began last summer, to perform all of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas in Aspen, with recitals on August 1 and 8. And following her sold-out performance last season, legendary soprano and AMFS alumna Renée Fleming returns on July 30. She again sings alongside the Aspen Festival Orchestra and Music Director Robert Spano, this time performing selections from Michael Tilson Thomas’s Poems of Emily Dickinson, as well as interpretations of songs by eclectic Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk.

The July 30 AFO program is a prime example of the Festival’s dedication to new music and works by living composers.

In addition to the works performed by Fleming, the afternoon includes the world premiere of Alan Fletcher’s piano concerto, composed for and performed in Aspen by the poetic Inon Barnatan—who is scheduled to later perform the piece at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL BOX OFFICE HOURS

Other world premieres this season include works by Yuko Uebayashi, Felipe Lara, Steven Franklin, Daniel Kellogg, Matthew Ricketts, and Mohammed Fairouz.

Fleming—who will also teach a Special Event master class to current Aspen Opera Center students on July 27—is one of many celebrated alumni returning for the 2017 season. Also performing this summer are violinist Gil Shaham, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, pianist Joyce Yang, and many others.

Special Events this season include recitals by star violinist and AMFS alumna Sarah Chang, performing Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons (July 19); pop singer-songwriter turned opera composer Rufus Wainwright (July 24); and acclaimed classical guitarist Sharon Isbin (August 5). Also on the Special Events calendar are two co-presentations: Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home “Love and Comedy” show with Belly Up Aspen (August 14), and Ella at 100, Direct from the Apollo, with Jazz Aspen Snowmass (July 1).

As for the Aspen Opera Center season, audiences can look forward to fully staged productions of Verdi’s masterpiece of tragic love and loss, La traviata (July 15, 17, 18), and Mozart’s dramatically complex La clemenza di Tito (August 15, 17, and 19), both directed by AOC Director Edward Berkeley and

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

Wheeler Opera House: 9 am–5 pm daily beginning June 27.

Composition program 50/50 men, women JESSICA CABE

her asking what the autobiographical relevance of the music is because they expect works by women to be more personal In a time when works by women composers account for just than works by men. Twenty-four-year-old Kimberly Osberg over one percent of pieces performed by major orchestras, the says a teacher once told her, “What I love most about your muAspen Music Festival and School is proud to say that, for the first sic is you don’t try to write like a man.” time in its decades-long history, the Susan and Ford Schumann “I think a lot of my colleagues have their horror stories,” Osberg Center for Composition Studies consists of fifty percent fe- says. “Sometimes, the comments aren’t even made by a man.” male fellows.

Violinist Jennifer Koh, who last year performed works in Aspen “There was no affirmative action whatsoever in the process,” by Kaija Saariaho and who this year will play Anna Clyne’s violin says AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher, a composer him- concerto The Seamstress with the Aspen Philharmonic Orchesself. “I know absolutely every application was treated the same tra on July 19, has had decades as a professional musician to way, and so no one started out by saying, ‘Let’s really try to have grapple with the conversation surrounding gender in the industry. more women.’ It just turned out that they rose to the top.”

“I think for a long time, women felt like we couldn’t talk about Fletcher says achieving any gender issues because a better gender balance in we were trying to function in a “I think for a long time, women works programmed by maworld that was so dominated jor music institutions begins by men, and we didn’t want to felt like we couldn’t talk about any with achieving a better genbe seen as ‘other,’” Koh says. “I der balance in composers’ don’t think we want to be degender issues because we were trying educational programs, from fined by our sex at all, but it’s to function in a world that was so high schools to universities hard. How does one change to world-renowned summer dominated by men, and we didn’t want the field if we don’t speak training programs like Asabout this? If I don’t talk about pen’s. Fletcher says he is enit now, it’s going to be on the to seem ‘other.’” couraged by what he’s seeing backs of people twenty years in composition education, younger than me.”

Jennifer Koh, violinist but it’s still an uneven picture.

As for Aspen’s composi“I am certain it is true that, tion program, Fletcher only even at some great music schools and some great programs hopes the trend continues with a diverse group of fellows. for high school-aged people, a young woman who says, ‘I want “In addition to our students, we’ve had increasingly more to be a composer,’ may actually have a mentor who says, ‘No,’” woman guest composers, and then the students—if they’re a Fletcher says. “I hope that will be going away very soon, but I male student, here is their mentor being a female composer. think that really still happens.”

And if they’re a female student, then they can observe, ‘Oh, not The five female composition fellows set to study in Aspen every single guest is a man.’ And that is significant.” this summer have obviously been able to earn opportunities to Hear works by the AMFS composition fellows at these free hone their craft, but if the question is whether their experiences events in Harris Concert Hall: Composition Program Readings in composition are identical to the experiences of their male at 9 am on July 16 and 20; First Glimpse: Composition Program peers, the answer is “no.”

Recital I at 8:30 pm on July 28; First Glimpse: Composition ProTwenty-seven-year-old Loren Loiacono says when she sets gram Recital II at 2:30 pm on August 3; Composer Showcase at texts, like poems or novels, audience members often approach 9 am on August 12.

Festival Focus Writer

performed at the Wheeler Opera House. Rounding out the opera season is the U.S. premiere of Luke Bedford’s Seven Angels, a chamber opera inspired by Milton’s Paradise Lost and delivering a message on the urgency of climate change.

The AOC will be joined by the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble for this concert performance at Harris Concert Hall on August 5. This season’s Opera Benefit dinner will be held at the Caribou Club on July 17 with a performance of La traviata to follow. The Season Benefit, “An Enchanted Feast of Music” honoring Robert J. Hurst, will be held in Hurst Hall on the Matthew and Carolyn Bucksbaum Campus on August 7.

The season closes with the Aspen Festival Orchestra on August 20, in a massive final concert featuring Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust. “It calls for many forces. It calls for heroic voices, and we have them in our alumni,” says Santourian. The four-voice cast includes three AMFS alumni: Bryan Hymel as Faust, Sasha Cooke as Marguerite, and Federico De Michelis as Brander. Bass-baritone John Relyea rounds out the cast with his unmatched Méphistophélès. This Final Sunday performance is one audiences should not miss, says Fletcher. “It’s one of the most brilliant and epic uses of orchestra to tell a story in musical literature.”

ARRIVAL: Artist-

faculty, students Continued from Festival Focus page 1

vidual lessons, an intense professional performance schedule, coaching, and lots of practice. When not performing, artistfaculty members put on their teaching hats and instruct about 5,000 lessons and master classes to student musicians over the course of eight weeks. Friday and Sunday orchestral concerts take teaching to a new level by having students on stage, playing side-by-side with their teachers for professional performances. They will also play alongside and observe the talents of world-renowned guest artists, many of whom were once Aspen students themselves, including soprano Renée Fleming, violinist Sarah Chang, and cellist Alisa Weilerstein.

The AMFS welcomes students from thirty-six states and thirty-nine countries including Iceland, Uzbekistan, Cuba, Croatia, Japan, and more. Students range in age from eleven to thirty-six. Students often arrive in Aspen with a string of impressive accomplishments already behind them. There’s Ray Ushikubo, who is exceptionally talented at both piano and violin and has performed on the stages of Carnegie Hall and Merkin Concert Hall in New York City. Armenian-born soprano Mane Galoyan is a second-year studio artist at the Houston Grand Opera and third prize winner in the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition. Harmony Zhu, the eleven-yearold Canadian pianist who became the youngest ever to win the Juilliard Pre-College Concerto Competition at age eight, travels internationally to perform at music festivals, has composed and performed her own pieces, and is a World Champion in chess.

The quality of education at Aspen stems from the variety of experiences students take part in. With five orchestras, fully-staged operas, chamber music studies, master classes, lectures, and panel discussions, students are fully immersed in an extraordinary musical world of unparalleled depth and breadth.

Johnston adds, “As the largest summer music program in the country, there is no experience for young classical musicians like what we produce in Aspen.”