Alan fletcher piano concerto

The Aspen Music Festival and School kicks off its summer season today and will run through Aug. 18 with 53 nights of music and over 200 public events.

Throughout the six-week festival, multiple performances will take place daily at AMFS venues at the Aspen Meadows campus in the West End, and at other locales throughout the valley. These include orchestras, recitals, solo and chamber performances, opera productions, lectures and master classes. The theme of this year’s program is “Becoming Who You Are.”

Led by AMFS Music Director Robert Spano, the season will explore the impact the festival and school has had on the personal development of thousands of musicians over the last 75 years. To commemorate the anniversary, over 20 AMFS alumni will perform over the course of the festival. 

“We're going big. You only turn 75 once, said AMFS Vice President for Artistic Administration Patrick Chamberlain. “Everything's just a little bit bigger this summer. We have more star artists, a few larger pieces of major repertoire. We want everything to feel a little bit splashier because it's a special year for us. We're using this as a moment to look back and reflect on the tremendous legacy of teaching and performing here. 

“We’ll be looking at key moments from our history, looking at artists and collaborators who've been regular fixtures on stage with us over many, many years, but also looking forward,” he continued. “What are the next 75 years going to look like? What is the future of classical music and how can Aspen be part of that?”

The Aspen Festival Orchestra is a large symphony orchestra composed of AMFS artist-faculty members and students in side-by-side performance. It is led by a rotating cast of world-renowned conductors and joined for most concerts by star guest soloists.

Their repertoire consists of standard and contemporary works for symphony orchestras. They will perform on Sundays at 4 p.m. in the Klein Music Tent. These concerts are widely regarded as the showcase events for the festival. Dress rehearsals for the recitals begin at 9:30 a.m. on Sundays and can be attended by the public for only $20.

The first orchestra performance this Sunday will be conducted by Spano. One of AMFS’ most distinguished alumna, world-renowned soprano singer Renée Fleming (who is co-director of AMFS’ opera program) will be performing the world premiere of a piece that was written for her by AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher. She also will perform pieces written by Richard Strauss, a composer whose work she has tackled frequently.

Another conductor who will be leading the orchestra this summer will be celebrating 60 years with AMFS: Leonard Slatkin, who first conducted here in 1964. Slatkin is music director laureate of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. His more than 100 recordings have won seven Grammy Awards and earned 64 nominations. Slatkin has received the prestigious National Medal of Arts, the American Symphony Orchestra League’s Gold Baton Award and several ASCAP awards.

On July 21 at 4 p.m., Slatkin will conduct the AFO with pianist Bruce Liu, one of the rising stars in the world of concert piano. The performance will feature works by Copland, Rouse and Gershwin, as well as Prokofiev’s third piano concerto, which the Chicago Daily Herald called “the most beautiful modern concerto for piano” at its American premiere in 1921.

On July 14, Jane Glover will conduct the orchestra that will feature another distinguished AMFS alumnus, Joshua Bell, who is among the most celebrated violinists of his era. He is renowned for his passion and wide-ranging musical stylings, and is an acclaimed soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and orchestra leader. 

Bell made his orchestral debut at the age of 14 with the Philadelphia Orchestra and is the youngest soloist in its history. He has made over 40 albums and has won three Grammy Awards. He was named the music director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in 2011. 

Bell will be joined by Steven Isserlis on cello and Jeremy Denk on piano. Isserlis hails from Britain and is renowned as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, author and broadcaster. As a concerto soloist, Isserlis appears regularly with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, including the Berlin Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra Washington, London Philharmonic and Zurich-Tonhalle orchestras. 

Denk is one of America’s foremost pianists. Winner of a MacArthur Fellowship and the Avery Fisher Prize, he was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Denk frequently performs at Carnegie Hall and in recent seasons has appeared with the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony.

The July 14 performance will feature Hungarian composer Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, which is considered his most popular work. It also was his last completed orchestral composition.

The day before their performance with the festival orchestra, on July 13 at 7:30 p.m. at the Harris Concert Hall, Bell, Denk and Isserlis will perform the music of Gabriel Fauré, a composer known for his melodies and harmonies. 

One of the most unique performances in the 2024 slate occurs on July 17 at Harris Hall at 7:30 p.m. when AMFS alumnus Edgar Meyer (double bass) will be joined by Béla Fleck (banjo), Zakir Hussain (tabla) and Rakesh Chaurasia (bansuri). The four virtuosos will be playing music from their album “As We Speak,” which won Grammys this year for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album and Best Global Music Performance for the song “Pashto.” Meyer has won seven Grammys in his career. 

Meyer and Fleck join mandolin player Chris Thile, who performs with an orchestra on Thursday evening at 6 p.m. at Harris Concert Hall as artists who oscillate between bluegrass and more avant-garde music. In “As We Speak,” Meyer and Fleck set their sights on Indian ragas and rhythms.

“Since we began, Aspen has been a place for brilliant, young musicians to learn what it is to have a life in music," said Fletcher in a news release. “For our 75th anniversary season, themed ‘Becoming Who You Are,’ we celebrate our alumni who have led the world of music, from our opening concert with Harmony Zhu to our closing Sunday with Tamara Wilson.

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