Supplement to The Aspen Times
FESTIVALFOCUS | YOUR WEEKLY CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE
Ehnes and Armstrong: Continued from Festival Focus page 1 Armstrong and Ehnes have a long history of performing together that extends back almost 20 years. The Melbourne Recital Center described them as having “an almost telepathic connection.” The duo has recorded all of the Beethoven sonatas and “performed them extensively, so there’s a great deal of personal history with the works that I hope will come across for the audience,” Ehnes says. On Sunday, Ehnes will perform Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D major with the Aspen Festival Orchestra—one of his favorite pieces and quite possibly the piece he’s performed the most in his career. “As a distinction and honor in the Beethoven year, we asked him to perform the Beethoven Violin Concerto,” Santourian says. He continues, “His playing is remarkable—he has such a beautiful sound and beautiful conception of the piece. The Beethoven is by no means not a showpiece, but it is one that is complete and replete with nuance. It’s virtuosity in service of music, not virtuosity for its own sake of display. A great violinist can convey the messages invented in this music. I would say James is a great violinist and I’m thrilled that he will be here to perform this work.”
MONDAY, AUGUST 9, 2021
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A RECITAL BY Robert McDuffie violin THURSDAY, AUGUST 12 7 PM MDT Benedict Music Tent Celebrated for his brilliant technique, charismatic stage presence, and adventurous repertoire, Grammy nominee Robert McDuffie will be joined by AMFS artist-faculty member and cellist Brinton Smith, pianist and Peter Mennin Prizewinner Derek Wang, and baritone Ian Rucker for a recital sure to delight and inspire. The program includes Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 4 in A minor, Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor, and Paulus’s The Long Shadow of Lincoln. Don’t miss this performance by some of Aspen’s favorite soloists!
Pianist Andrew Armstrong performs with violinist James Ehnes Wednesday, August 11.
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL BOX OFFICE: NOW OPEN FOR LIMITED WALK-UP HOURS! BY PHONE: 970 925 904 | DAILY, 12 pm to the start of the day’s final concert, now–August 22
The Brothers Johnston: Australian Guitar Duo As Isbin is also the AMFS’s classical guitar director of over 30 years, the Johnstons are excited to continue learning from On Wednesday, August 18 at 2:30 pm, Australian guitar duo her this summer, and especially to have an in-person class Ziggy and Miles Johnston perform in the free Spotlight Guitar experience again. Ziggy explains, “Sharon holds her lessons Recital at Harris Concert Hall. Both are in Aspen this summer as big master classes, so every guitarist watches everyone’s studying at the Aspen Music Festival and School. lesson. You learn more that way from watching different peoConsidered to be among Australia’s finest young concert ple play. Being around the environment with the guitarists artists, brothers Ziggy, 25, and Miles, 23, have been perform- and Sharon in this way is going to be very exciting.” ing together since they were young children. Growing up on Not only is this the Johnstons’ first summer in Aspen, but the classic rock and roll of Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and also their first summer at all in two years. Because the seathe Beatles, it was only a matter of time before they picked sons are reversed in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, up the guitar. Their parents, a sound technician dad and traveling back and forth between New York and Melbourne music-loving mother, encouraged them to take classical gui- during the year meant enduring what they say felt like, “a tar lessons to build their perpetual winter.” technique and appreciaAs with most siblings, tion for the instrument. it can be hard at times to Starting small with local get along, but fortunately concerts in Melbourne, the for the Johnston brothers, pair quickly gained attenthey are more supportive tion, eventually performof than competitive with ing at national and intereach other. “We always national venues. “We’re try to do what’s best for experienced in organizing the music, and someall of our performances times we have different because we haven’t had views on what that is, so the luxury of having a manwe’ve worked over time ager. In Australia, pretty to do that in the healthiest much every performance possible manner. Even if (except two), we’ve had to we have heated discusorganize ourselves, which sions, it’s never personal, was a great learning expe- Australian classical guitarists and AMFS students Ziggy and Miles Johnston it’s always for the music,” perform at a free Spotlight Guitar Recital on Wednesday, August 18. rience,” Miles said. Ziggy said. With greater success comes greater responsibility and As they move into the next stage of their careers, Ziggy higher expectations. This led the Johnstons to attend Monash and Miles look forward to creating long-term performance University in Australia and later the Juilliard School in New opportunities for themselves in New York and abroad. Miles York, where they completed their master’s degrees in June. concludes, “We’re very passionate about playing as soloists Due to the pandemic, all but seven months of their Juilliard and as a duo, and we want to be known as people who can experience were conducted remotely. Studying under mul- do both. Having that sense of individuality and togetherness tiple Grammy-winner Sharon Isbin, founding director of the makes us stronger.” school’s guitar department, each week they emailed her practice recordings, to which Isbin would respond with detailed, producer-style score markings and feedback. PIPER STARNES
Festival Focus Writer
Cox, Yang:
Continued from Festival Focus page 1
Also on the program is Brahms’s Third Symphony—the shortest of the composer’s four symphonies—which Cox likens to the Liszt in that “they really test every realm of orchestral technique, and it takes a lot of power to play both.” Each represents the work of an experienced composer, packing a lot of punch in a condensed time frame. “Brahms was a middle-aged man at this time, certainly feeling the weight of not being in his youth anymore, but also very much confident in his writing ability,” explains Cox. “Liszt, as a seasoned virtuosic pianist and as a composer, this concerto represents him as a person who’s also charting new territory with stretching form, even in what is considered a short concerto.” Cox will also conduct Kodály’s Dances of Galánta—referencing the Hungarian town where the composer, an ethnomusicologist, was exposed to folk tunes that he incorporated into his music. The inclusion of Kodály completes the evening’s Hungarian thread, “with Liszt being a Hungarian composer and Brahms very much a German composer that was highly influenced by Hungarian music and people,” he explains. For his part, Cox looks forward to reliving his student memories of Aspen, acknowledging the significance of returning as a professional: “I imagine it’s certainly a special feeling to conduct at a place that’s been your training ground, where you can envision yourself conducting as a student and having all these questions.” Surely his performance with Joyce Yang will be one worth remembering.
CARLIN MA
CARLIN MA
Joyce Yang poses for a selfie with students backstage at the Benedict Music Tent in 2019.
