I
come to Aspen every summer to enjoy the music festival, but being here
in Colorado is as much of an attraction. The Rocky Mountains offer some
of the greatest scenery in the world, and the restaurants around here
can give most big American cities a run for their money.
A
typical day for us starts with an early morning walk, while the mountain
air still has a 12-degree (C.) nip in it, on one of the main walking
and biking trials that snake through Aspen and the surrounding upper
Roaring Fork Valley. From our apartment it’s about 2.5 miles to the
point where the Rio Grande Trail, following the Roaring Fork River,
crosses under Cemetary Lane, where one can catch a free bus back into
town. Past Cemetary Lane the trail goes through a secluded canyon and
all the way to Basalt, some 15 miles northwest. Sometimes we walk a
mile or two into it.
We're
back in time for breakfast and, often, a nap. Sometimes there is a morning
master class at Harris Hall featuring the likes of mezzo soprano Susanne
Mentzer or pianist Leon Fleisher working with outstanding student musicians.
Or maybe an open rehearsal. There are always several smaller master
classes at the Music School. I always enjoy cellist Yehuda Hanani’s
because of his articulate and passionate insights into the art of music
making.
Wednesdays
a program called High Notes, held at Paepcke Auditorium in the Aspen
Institute, features musicians talking about music. A few weeks ago,
the Emerson Quartet engaged in a rousing conversation with UCLA musicologist
Robert Winter. This week, the creative team behind the American premier
of H.K. Gruber's opera Gloria: A Pigtale talks about the piece,
which opens Saturday.
The
major concerts are held at the 2,000-seat Benedict Music Tent, which
opened in 2000 having replaced a creaky concrete-and-canvas structure
that was acoustically dry. The new tent is actually a permanent building
in the shape of a tent, acoustically live and big enough to accommodate
the 142-piece orchestra that played Varese's Ameriques recently with
room to spare. Immediately adjacent is Harris Hall, sunken into the
ground, which seats 500 in an acoustically perfect auditorium (the New
York Times called it "the Carnegie Hall of the Rockies").
In
a typical week, Monday evenings offer a grab-bag of chamber music at
the Music Tent by faculty players, with occasional gems such as this
past Monday's loving performance of the Ravel piano trio played by violinist
Ayako Yonetani, cellist Anthony Elliott and pianist Jean-David Coen.
Tuesdays
often feature free concerts in the tent by the American Academy of Conducting,
a project started in 2000 by Zinman that gives young conductors in the
20s and 30s a chance to work with a live orchestra in rehearsal and
in performance. All the conductors play in the orchestra, which is filled
out with other students.
Wednesday
evenings it’s the all-student Aspen Concert Orchestra, and Thursdays
it’s "An Evening With..." featuring international solo artists
in programs they choose with other musician friends. This year’s concerts
feature the likes of Joshua Bell, Leon Fleisher, Lynn Harrell and the
American String Quartet.
Friday
evening the weekend whirl starts and there’s hardly time to stop for
a meal. The Aspen Chamber Orchestra, which mixes faculty and students,
plays Friday evenings under such conductors as Zinman, Alan Gilbert
and James Conlon. Saturday morning is the opera scenes master class
in which student singers prepare scenes from operas famous and not-so-famous,
and director Edward Berkeley, head of the Julliard opera program, works
with the students to improve the scenes. At most of the sessions they
are accompanied only by piano, but for two Saturdays the Academy of
Conducting orchestra is in the pit, giving young conductors a chance
to show what they can do. Conlon, conductor of the Paris Opera, does
one morning working on arias. Saturday afternoon is a chamber music
concert in intimate Harris Hall, and Saturday nights are special concerts
such as recitals by guitarist Sharon Isbin or the International Sejong
Soloists.
Sundays
are always busy. I always like to attend the voice master class at the
Music School, in which faculty (including tenor Vinson Cole and Mentzer)
work with very promising young singers on their technique and interpretation
of arias and art songs. There is a lot of talent this year. At 4, it’s
the major concert of the week, featuring the Festival Orchestra, with
prime faculty and student players under such conductors as Zinman, Conlon,
David Robertson and Peter Oundjian, and there’s often a recital or a
special event at Harris Hall Sunday evenings.
This
goes on for nine weeks, more than 200 concerts in all, the United States’
biggest and busiest summer music program. Some 800 young musicians in
their teens and 20s rub shoulders with great musicians in orchestras,
in lessons and on the streets of Aspen. (So do we. The next person in
line at City Market might be Joshua Bell or Robert McDuffie, and in
the relaxed atmosphere of this festival, they’re happy to chat. You
will also see them in the audience at each other’s concerts.)
And
I’ve left out a few things. To see more complete information on the
festival and school, including the impressive bios of the faculty, check
out the excellent web site -- http://www.aspenmusicfestival.com-/
Harvey Steiman
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