While other mountain towns and destinations attract top musicians and student musicians as part of their summer festivals, Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) stands out as the nation’s premier summer music festival with both its outstanding young talent and its variety of bountiful performances.
This summer, AMFS will return to full programming after the pandemic brought personal events to a halt in 2020 and delayed them in 2021. But at least one good thing came out of the pandemic years: everyone is now auditioning via video. Before COVID hit, AMFS held in-person auditions in eight cities across the country, so international students unable to travel to an audition had to submit videos.
“Videos (compared to live auditions) are underprivileged people,” said Alan Fletcher, AMFS president and CEO. “Now there is no barrier to entry.”
And that means more talent is coming to Aspen. The videos poured in from “many, many thousands of candidates,” Fletcher said, making the selection of AMFS’s 480 students very challenging. “You get a lot of really excellent people. It’s one of the best groups I’ve ever seen. The performances we have had have been superlative.”
“It’s one of the best bands I’ve ever seen.”
— Alan Fletcher, AMFS President and CEO
While musicians and performers remain grateful to be back on stage nationwide, the AMFS students are “very happy to be here and super, super motivated…with a great spirit to jump in and be flexible,” said he.
Part of their enthusiasm comes from being able to perform on stage, but another part comes from the high quality of private and group lessons, masterclasses, panels and lectures and the ability to rehearse and perform large orchestral repertoire together with renowned teachers and protagonists of large orchestras.
For many, such as oboe player Donovan Bown, it is their first summer with AMFS.
“Attending the AMFS has been a lofty goal of mine for as long as I can remember. The oboe faculty is the pinnacle of the top. Elaine Douvas is an absolute force of nature,” Bown said. “I’m also so excited to be working with Titus Underwood. There are not many professional black oboists in this country, so to be able to work with him is a dream come true.”
Instructors with whom harpist Qi Han – who is also here for the first time – will work rarely teach anywhere, which presents a unique opportunity.
“I’m also looking forward to performing with the orchestras; in school, harpists don’t have many options other than solo and chamber music performances, so the orchestral experience I will gain in Aspen is important to my career,” said Han.
Artist and faculty member Warren Deck is inspiring students like tuba player Bridget Conley this summer.
“I like his playing and his teaching philosophy,” Conley said. “Having the opportunity to learn from him and my colleagues in a larger tuba studio environment, coupled with the number of playing opportunities available to us, is the whole package.”
And speaking of the whole package, AMFS really packs it in. The typical eight-week summer season brings in about 200 classical music events, including concerts by four orchestras, solo and chamber music performances, fully staged opera productions and children’s programs, in addition to masterclasses, panels and lectures. The festival attracts approximately 100,000 people to enjoy the magic of live music, which is highly valued by artists and audiences alike.
“Playing music makes you feel like you’re part of a wider community; whether you’re in the orchestra or conducting, you’re working together to create something bigger than yourself,” said Matthew Lynch, an Aspen Conducting Academy student. “When I conduct, I have to put my ego aside in the service of the music and demand excellence not only from the ensemble, but also from myself.”
That excellence is evident not only in AMFS’s conducting academy, but also in its many other study programs, including (get ready – it’s a whopping list): Orchestral, Solo Piano, Collaborative Piano, Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS, Seraphic Fire Professional Choral Institute, the Susan and Ford Schumann Center for Composition Studies, the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, American Brass Quintet Seminar @Aspen, and the Classical Guitar Program.
The latest program, Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS, began last year under the co-artistic direction of Renée Fleming and Patrick Summers. The curriculum trains young singers to master the vocal artistry in opera and concert work.
“This is the first summer we’ll see their whole vision of the program,” Fletcher said, adding that it was slated to launch in 2020, and last year it only accepted 15 students, compared to 43 this year. .
A highlight of the program comes in the form of Verdi’s “Falstaff” on July 22. It features world-renowned Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel, who truly inhabits the titular role of Verdi’s comedy through three acts performed in front of the Benedict Music Tent. The story depicts the misadventures of Sir John Falstaff, a portly knight who tries to seduce two married women for their fortune.
“(Terfel is) arguably the greatest singer,” Fletcher said. “He’s singing this part at The Met and all over the world.”
Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS’ other major performance, Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” is coming to the Benedict Music Tent on August 18. Based on the legend of Don Juan, the comedic and moral tale tells the tale of an irresistible but irreparable playboy whose escapades lead him to ruin.
The public can watch the emerging talents of opera coached on opera scenes at 10am every Saturday at the Wheeler Opera House, until August 20. The young performers also perform polished works during free events at 5pm. at the Wheeler July 14 and 28 and August 11.
Teachers and performers from major American orchestras lead, and often play with, students in the AMFS orchestral program, which includes the Aspen Chamber Symphony, Aspen Festival Orchestra, Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra, and Aspen Opera Theater Orchestra.
The festival presents three different orchestral programs every week.
• Aspen Chamber Symphony will perform at 5:30 PM. Friday.
• The Aspen Festival Orchestra will play at 4pm. sundays.
• The Aspen Conducting Academy, where intensive conducting training is given so that conductors under masters can gain stage experience through a broad repertoire of repertoire, will be performing at 4 pm. Mondays.
All shows take place in the Benedict Music Tent.
“The Conducting Academy is one of our signature programs. It’s unique in the world,” Fletcher said, noting how conductors work with a full orchestra every day, unlike other prominent programs in the nation, which only offer a string quartet to conduct. “We have a great track record with our alumni. Those concerts are popular. You see these (conductors) growing all summer. Any orchestra looking for a young conductor usually comes in August to see some of the top talent.”
The Susan and Ford Schumann Center for Compositional Studies is another great AMFS program, featuring nine young composers. Philip Glass was even an alumni.
“It’s a great breeding ground for great composers,” Fletcher said. “Not only do we have a brilliant permanent faculty, but then we will be hosting guest composers all summer long.”
AMFS also showcases “an extraordinary group of pianists,” Fletcher said.
It’s “A Mozart Evening with Arie Vardi, Conductor”, at 7:30 PM. On July 23 there are concerts for one, two and three pianos. It shows not only the legendary piano pedagogue Vardi, but also a carefully selected cadre of his star students.
For the most up-to-date concert schedules, pick up a tear sheet in town.
AMFS’s American Brass Quintet Seminar @Aspen is the nation’s premier brass chamber music program for emerging brass quintets.
“I can safely say that this is the most important ensemble of its kind today,” said Fletcher, adding that copper has been present at the festival for 40 years, but AMFS launched a special program for it a few years ago. “These quintets simply make chamber music with very intense coaching from their mentors (led by American Brass Quintet members, AMFS faculty since 1970 and The Juilliard School since 1987).”
Sharon Isbin leads the Classical Guitar program and offers masterclasses in an intensive four-week program focusing on technique, sound production, interpretation of all repertoire and baroque performances.
A highlight of the AMFS season will be Isbin and famed sarod player Amjad Ali Khan in a recital at 7.30pm. on Aug 6
“Sharon’s concert is typically one of our most popular concerts,” Fletcher said. “It’s a mix of her Western classical technique with North Indian techniques, which are completely different. It’s just a really interesting cultural exchange.”
“It interweaves our diverse musical, spiritual and artistic traditions with mystical beauty, creativity, grace and great emotion,” said Isbin.
The Aspen Contemporary Ensemble collaborates with the Composition Studies program, in addition to performing music by leading living composers and 20th-century classics. Because the program is so rigorous, students are not allowed to participate in extracurricular musical pursuits, such as concerto competitions.
“The seven students devote themselves to all new music. It’s quite a challenge,” Fletcher said. “Student composers write pieces for the ensemble, which is a lot of extra learning in a very intense, persistent way.”
The ensemble usually performs every Saturday, along with the AMFS artist faculty, at 4:30 PM. at Harris Hall, among other projects.
Seraphic Fire Professional Choral Institute students sing as members of the Grammy-nominated Professional Choral Institute Chorus, side by side with professional members of the Seraphic Fire. Seraphic Fire and Professional Choral Institute will perform a free Spotlight recital at 2:30 PM. August 17 at Harris Concert Hall.
