Supplement to The Aspen Times
FESTIVALFOCUS | YOUR WEEKLY CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE
MONDAY, JULY 19, 2021
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COMPOSERS: A ‘world stage’ to learn Continued from Festival Focus page 1
Stephen Hartke and Christopher Theofanidis. The audience a recording, which will be invaluable to them going forward.” has the opportunity to hear not only the music, but also the Some of them will then revise those works for another sescritique and conversation between the young composers sion on August 14. and their mentor teachers. Theofanidis, who works closely with the students, notes For the orchestral works written by the student composers, that the program is intensive. “Aspen is an immersive envithe AMFS has two working reading sessions, which both take ronment,” he says. “There are so many concerts, rehearsals, place this week (1 pm, July 20 and 24). The composers work master classes, and administrative wisdom floating around ahead of time with the conducting fellows and the Aspen that the students here are literally soaking in knowledge from Conducting Academy Orchestra to realize and understand all directions.” their pieces. “The fellows are Each composer treated as adults, not gets time for the just students, and for reading of their some, this is a real entry work—about 30 mininto the professional utes each—enough world,” Theofanidis time to play the work explains. “The people through, address any they come across here problematic spots, will be connected and then a play the to them throughout work a second time. their lives, and this “It is a real learning is their first chance experience. Writing a at a ‘world stage’ to work for many players learn how to navigate is daunting, and for their futures.” some, it is their first As a teacher, experience doing Theofanidis feels that CARLIN MA so,” Theofanidis says. his job is to “awaken Christopher Theofanidis (center), AMFS composer-in-residence, with fellow “The composer will composers Alan Fletcher (left) and Robert Spano (right), and students of the the ‘first loves’ that also come away with Schumann Center for Composition Studies. other artists have, and
to help them understand why those “Everything is things are valuable in their own voices, peeled back to just and how to integrate music, nature, and them.” Like many musicollaboration, and cians returning to live that is what . . . we music, Theofanidis all long for as expressed his frustrations with Zoom musicians . . . .” teaching and meetings, but he also gave Christopher Theofanidis credit to everyone AMFS Composer-in-Residence who did what they could to make the best of it. “Returning to live music seems like going from watching TV directly into nature again,” Theofanidis says. “It has a soul. I have been so moved by the few concerts I have already seen and am breathing it all in with relish. It is like being reborn from black and white into technicolor.” As a returning faculty member at AMFS, Theofanidis looks forward to his summers in Aspen. “Everything is peeled back to just music, nature, and collaboration, and that is what I think we all long for as musicians in our day-to-day lives,” Theofanidis says. “It is a nurturing environment, and one that feeds the soul at every level. Everyone is here for that reason—to remember our priorities in life.”
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JULY 1 – AUGUST 22: Daily, 12 pm – start of the day’s final concert
Bringing New Composers to Light JESSICA MOORE
Director of Marketing
Programming an entire summer’s worth of music is a balancing act, including not only curating works from the core repertoire, but also bringing to light lesser-known works by composers overlooked by history, or contemporary composers emerging as voices of a new generation. Assistant Manager for Artistic Administration Sam Paris is deeply involved in this process with Vice President for Artistic Administration and Artistic Advisor Asadour Santourian and offered a glimpse into the wildly interesting world of programming the 2021 Festival with a specific look at Canadian composer Samy Moussa, whose work Polarlicht: Étude No. 2 for Orchestra is featured on the July 23 Aspen Chamber Symphony program with conductor Gemma New. “The programming team spends countless hours looking through repertoire from past seasons, scouring scores. Sometimes people end up coming to your attention via the musicians who come to Aspen,” Paris explains. “Samy Moussa did not pop up in any of our research. However, when we asked Gemma New to suggest an overture-type work to fit in with the evening she was conducting, she mentioned Moussa’s Polarlicht. Gemma is a huge advocate of his music.” The artistic team took a listen and agreed that it was a very interesting work. “Moussa is a new composer to us, and Gemma thought that this was the perfect piece for that program,” Paris notes. “Atmospherically, it goes very well with the Beethoven and coloristically it goes very well with the Ravel. When we heard it, we were blown away, and we said, ‘Yes, let’s do it.’” Based in Germany, Canadian composer and conductor Samy Moussa is artist-in-residence of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and also works closely with the Montréal and Québec symphonies. His works have been commissioned and performed all over the world, from Dallas to Brussels. When asked about Moussa, New says, “he’s very thoughtful,
thorough, and a very intense human being. When you have a contemporary piece that has the details and the thoughtfulness that goes into every effect, it makes it a powerful impact for those listening. He really packs a punch in this piece.” Of her vision for how Moussa’s work fit into the evening’s program, New explains, “I’ve always wanted to do his music and this seems like the perfect opportunity because it all worked so well together. I think everyone is going to be captivated by the narrative that it presents.”
NEW AND MOUSSA:
Continued from ‘Unstoppable’ page 1
composer Samy Moussa’s Polarlicht: Étude No. 2 for Orchestra—a work that New proposed for the program because she found its spooky, dramatic orchestral colors not only an appropriate nod to Ravel, but also a fitting counterpoint to Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, which closes the program. “The theme of light and dark, the idea that his piece with that dark intensity and creeping nature will then be a wonderful link to the introduction to the Beethoven,” are all reasons New considered Moussa’s work a “great dramatic opener.” While sometimes overlooked in comparison to his other symphonies, Beethoven’s Fourth presents some unexpected twists and turns. The long, mysterious introduction in minor “gives us quite a bit of darkness and uncertainty, and then boom, we’re out in the light,” Montréal-born composer and conductor Samy Moussa’s Polarlicht: Étude No. 2 for explains New. “It’s such a striking Orchestra opens the Aspen Chamber Symphony’s performance this Friday. An artist-instart to a symphony.” From beautiresidence with the Toronto Symphony, Moussa won the Classical Composition of the Year ful, almost operatic melodies in the award for his Violin Concerto Adrano at the 2021 Juno Awards in Canada. second movement, to folks tunes Be among the first in Aspen to hear Moussa’s work this Friday, and a Haydn-inspired fourth movement, New suspects that July 23 at 5:30 pm when New conducts the Aspen Chamber audiences will “have that jovial nature and that energy to Symphony. The concert will also be streamed free, live from walk off and skip away to dinner in Aspen.” the Benedict Music Tent. More at aspenmusicfestival.com/ virtual-stage.
