ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL ANNOUNCES 2018 SEASON

Press Contact:
Kristin Cleveland
Publications and PR Coordinator
kcleveland@aspenmusic.org, 970-205-5073

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  February 5, 2018

70th season runs eight weeks with more than 400 events: June 28 – Aug. 19
Additional are two post-season choral recitals on Aug. 20 and 22 

Music Director Robert Spano leads a season themed “Paris, City of Light,” exploring the incomparable creative force with which this city has illuminated the arts, especially in the 19^th and 20^th centuries; theme works include those by Debussy, Ravel, Fauré, Poulenc, Offenbach, Bizet, Ibert, Gounod, Messiaen and Boulez, as well as Paris-influenced works like Stravinsky’s Parisian ballet score “Petrushka” and Mozart’s “Paris” Symphony.

Two mini-themes illuminate related, distinct creative threads. A focus on Diaghilev Ballet Russes Composers from 1909 to 1929 includes works by Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Debussy, Ravel and Falla, and a focus on the American Composition Students of Nadia Boulanger includes Thomson’s Stabat mater and chamber works by Copland and Harris. 

The season marks the 25^th anniversary of Harris Concert Hall, which will be commemorated in a concert at a recital by Aspen alumnus, violinist Robert McDuffie, on July 28. 

In 2018, the AMFS launches a new partnership with Grammy-Award-winning vocal ensemble Seraphic Fire. The new two-week educational program in Aspen will be the only summer program in the country designed to train professional ensemble singers. Seraphic Fire presents Mozart’s Requiem with the Aspen Chamber Symphony (Aug. 17), a post-concert recital on Aug. 20 and another, with the Seraphic Fire Professional Choral Institute students, on Aug. 22. 

Also in 2018, the AMFS launches a new brass chamber music program led by the American Brass Quintet, one of the world’s leading brass ensembles, which has been in residence in Aspen since 1970. Participants will spend four weeks in Aspen studying intensively with the ABQ through individual instruction, group coachings, master classes and performances.  

The Aspen Opera Center — a training ground for singers on the cusp of their careers — presents two fully staged productions: Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” (July 12, 14 and 16) and Offenbach’s “The Tales of Hoffmann (Aug. 14, 16 and 18). The AOC will also present a concert performance/concept presentation of Bernstein’s one-act opera “Trouble in Tahiti,” woven together with Charlie Chaplin’s silent film, “A Dog’s Life.” (Aug. 5).  

Aspen alumna, pianist Yuja Wang, makes a triumphant return to Aspen after a meteoric rise to international fame in recent years; she will perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (July 1) and Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand (July 11). 

Russian piano sensation Daniil Trifonov makes appearances as both performer and composer, playing his own concerto with the Aspen Chamber Symphony (July 15) and a recital of works by Chopin, and works that honor Chopin (July 10). 

Aspen alumna, violinist Sarah Chang, returns to perform a recital with works including Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence and Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D minor (Aug. 15). She also performs the Stravinsky Violin Concerto with Aspen Chamber Symphony (Aug. 10).

Beethoven cycles: Jonathan Biss returns to Aspen for the third and final year of his three-year Beethoven Complete Piano Sonata odyssey (Aug. 16 and 18); violinist James Ehnes begins a 3-year Aspen journey through the complete Beethoven Violin Sonatas (July 21). 

Violinist Daniel Hope plays a recital with a program that includes AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher’s Violin Concerto, a work that will be premiered this March in Savannah before it is played in Aspen (July 17)

Premieres presented in the 2018 season are Stephen Hartke’s cello concerto “Da Pacem” (world premiere, AMFS co-commission, July 25); Krists Auznieks’s New Work (world premiere, AMFS commission, Aug. 15), Kati Agócs’s New Work (world premiere, AMFS co-commission, June 28) and Anders Hillborg’s Homage to Stravinsky (U.S. premiere, AMFS co-commission, July 22).  

The AMFS collaborates with Aspen Santa Fe Ballet in a program with ASFB dancers and Aspen alumna, pianist Joyce Yang, performing a new work by Jorma Elo choreographed to Schumann’s “Carnaval” (Aug. 10 and 11). The program also include works by Philip Glass and Janáček. The AMFS is a co-commissioner of the dance work. 

The AMFS and the Aspen Science Center collaborate by bringing back a popular summer series of talks for the enthusiastic novice exploring the connections between science and music. This year’s talks are on concert hall acoustics with acoustician Larry Kirkegaard, who did the sound design for the Benedict Music Tent, and architect Harry Teague (July 26), music and memory with composer Bruce Adolphe (Aug. 2) and the science of percussion instruments with AMFS artist-faculty member and Chicago Symphony percussionist Cynthia Yeh (Aug. 9). 

The AMFS and the Aspen Community Church collaborate to present an evening of 19^th- and 20^th-century French organ works with organist Gail Archer (July 8). 

The AMFS and Jazz Aspen Snowmass continue their long-standing co-presenting relationship with a brassy, swinging tribute to the iconic to the “genius of soul,” Ray Charles, with an evening bringing featuring 10-time Grammy-Award winners and acapella vocal wizards TAKE 6, plus special guests Nnenna Freelon, Clint Holmes and the Grammy-winner saxophonist Kirk Whalum, all backed by the H2 Big Band. (June 30). 

Grammy Award-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin performs a recital with Aspen alumna and Metropolitan Opera regular, mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard (Aug. 5). 

The AMFS artist-faculty continue to perform chamber music at Monday and Saturday recitals and perform Chopin waltzes at Overtures, Friday pre-concert chamber mini-concerts. 

Popular works performed include, among many others, Beethoven’s Symphonies No. 3, 5, 6, 7 (July 13, July 29, July July 17, July 27), Musorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (July 15), Mahler’s “Das Lied von der Erde,” Holst’s The Planets (Aug. 8), Debussy’s La mer (Aug. 12), Gershwin’s An American in Paris (Aug. 15) and Mozart’s Requiem (Aug. 17). 

The season closes with Spano conducting Berlioz’s “Symphonie fantastique” and selected scenes from Wagner’s “Die Walküre” with soloists Tamara Wilson, soprano, and Ryan McKinny, bass-baritone, both AMFS alumni (Aug. 19). 

Composition faculty Stephen Hartke and Christopher Theofanidis are joined by visiting composers Aspen alumna Kati Agócs, Gabriela Lena Frank, Sebastian Fagerlund, Anders Hillborg, Aspen alumnus Andrew Norman and Aspen alumnus Eric Nathan. 

Artists making their guest artist debuts in Aspen this summer include Ben Bliss (alumnus), the Junction Trio, Lawrence Power, Joshua Roman, Golda Schultz (alumna), Seraphic Fire, Richard Smagur and the Z.E.N. Trio (with alumni).

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ASPEN, COLORADO — The Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) today announces its 70th season, running from June 28 through Aug. 19 with more than 400 events and featuring its signature breadth of musical works, periods and performers. The 2018 festival is informed by the season theme, “Paris, City of Light,” which explores the depth of creativity that has emanated from this city, especially in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. 

Says AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher, “Paris has been called ‘The Capital of the 19th Century,’ and its attraction for leading figures in music, theater, dance, art and literature was unsurpassed in the Romantic and post-Romantic era. We are confident that our wonderful audience will be delighted to explore the legacy of this luminous city, from the time of its Sun King through to its vibrant present.” 

Throughout modern history, Paris has attracted and inspired artists and thinkers. From 1860 to 1910, especially, Paris was the setting of a creative explosion, perhaps most known for the painting style Impressionism, but also in the areas of music, literature, philosophy and the culinary arts, among others. Parisian composers such as Debussy, Ravel, Bizet and Massenet created dazzling works during this time, as did expatriate composers then, and on through the rest of the 20^th century. 

Works on the 2018 program illustrating the theme of “Paris, City of Light” include Debussy’s “Prélude à l'après-midi d'une faune” (July 17), La damoiselle élue (July 15), La mer (Aug. 12), Clair de lune (July 17); Massenet’s Elegie  (June 30), Boulez’s Le marteau sans maître (Aug. 18), Bizet’s Symphony No. 1 in C major (July 6), Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2 (July 31) and Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D major (July 11), Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique (Aug. 19) and Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann (Aug. 14). 

In a related theme, the 2018 summer season highlights American composition students of Nadia Boulanger. “She was our alma mater...a one-woman graduate school” said composer Virgil Thomson of the influence on American composers of Boulanger, who taught him as well. Classes with the French-born Boulanger were the stuff of legend, and her students numbered generations of American composers among them. This season of the Aspen Music Festival and School will tip its hat to that influence, with concerts featuring the music of American Boulanger students Thomson, Aaron Copland (who once commented that Boulanger “knew everything that is to know about music...and knew it cold.”) and Roy Harris. 

Nearly 1,000 musicians gather in Aspen each summer, as 630 of the world’s best music students from all over the world will join to make music with more than 200 of the top professional performing and teaching classical artists. Joining the roster of faculty this year are John Engelkes, bass trombone of the San Francisco Symphony; Timothy Higgins, principal trombone of the San Francisco Symphony; Julianne Lee, principal second violin Atlanta Symphony; Mingjia Liu, principal oboe of the San Francisco Opera; Sivan Magen, principal harp of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Leigh Mess, associate principal bass of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; Timothy Pitts, professor of bass, The Shepherd School of Music; Carla Maria Rodrigues, principal viola San Francisco Opera; Markus Rhoten, principal timpanist, New York Philharmonic; James Wilt, associate principal trumpet of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and R. Douglas Wright, principal trombone of the Minnesota Orchestra. 

The AMFS season will come to a close on Aug. 19 with Berlioz’s “Symphonie fantastique,” and selected scenes from Wagner’s “Die Walküre,” conducted by Spano. But the music doesn’t end there. Post-season chamber music concerts on Aug. 20 and 22 will features the vocal ensemble Seraphic Fire and the students of the Seraphic Fire Professional Choral Institute. Both concerts will be open to passholders.

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ABOUT THE ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL
The AMFS is the United States’ premier classical music festival, presenting more than 400 musical events during its eight-week summer season in Aspen. The organization draws top classical musicians from around the world to this Colorado mountain retreat for an unparalleled combination of performances and music education. Many events are free, and seating on the David Karetsky Music Lawn and in the Music Garden is always free.

About 600 music students from 40 U.S. states and 40 countries come each summer to play in five orchestras, sing, conduct, compose and study with 200 renowned artist-faculty members. Students represent the field’s best talent; many have already begun their professional careers, and others are on the cusp.

Renowned alumni include violinists Joshua Bell, Sarah Chang, Cho-Liang Lin, Robert McDuffie, Midori, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and Gil Shaham; pianists Ingrid Fliter, Orli Shaham, Conrad Tao, Yuja Wang, Wu Han and Joyce Yang; conductors Marin Alsop, James Conlon, James Levine, Leonard Slatkin and Joshua Weilerstein; composers William Bolcom, Philip Glass, David Lang, Augusta Read Thomas, Bright Sheng and Joan Tower; vocalists Jamie Barton, Sasha Cooke, Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw and Tamara Wilson; cellists Lynn Harrell and Alisa Weilerstein; guitarist Sharon Isbin; performer Peter Schickele; and bassist Edgar Meyer.

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Ticket information
The AMFS offers the ultimate in flexibility for patrons with passes, the most convenient way to attend concerts. Passes are available at a variety of levels from maximum access and convenience to the best bargain. Buy tickets and passes through the following:

Online: www.aspenmusicfestival.com
Phone: 970-925-9042 (M-F, 9-5)                  
Email: tickets@aspenmusic.org
Harris Concert Hall box office opens for walk-up business on May 21.
Wheeler Opera House box office opens for walk-up business on June 26.

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Aspen Music Festival and School              
225 Music School Road, Aspen, CO 81611               
970-925-3254 administration phone
info@aspenmusic.org
www.aspenmusicfestival.com