FESTIVALFOCUS YOUR WEEKLY CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE
SUPPLEMENT TO THE ASPEN TIMES
MONDAY, AUGUST 10, 2026
VOL. 36, NO. 7
A Family Affair: David Robertson and the Shahams BY EMMA KIRBY Marketing Manager
What major life milestone hasn’t happened in Aspen for pianist Orli Shaham; her brother, violinist Gil Shaham; and her husband, conductor David Robertson? Orli and Gil spent
jokes Robertson. A few years later, the pair welcomed their twin sons into the world shortly after a rehearsal in the Tent. There’s one milestone that has thus far proven elusive for the three: sharing the Tent stage. That changes on
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Beloved AMFS alumna Orli Shaham and her husband, conductor David Robertson, last took the stage together in 2016 to perform Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto.
their childhood summers here, first attending concerts and later performing in them, blossoming from students to soloists. David and Orli got engaged after performing together with the Chamber Symphony: “Luckily I didn’t mess up the accompaniment, so she said yes,”
Friday, August 14, when—for the first time in Aspen and only the second time ever— the trio takes the stage for a performance with the Aspen Chamber Symphony. The concert features Reena Esmail’s new Double Concerto, written especially for the Shahams,
with Robertson at the helm. important composers work“It’s one of our favorite things ing today,” says Aspen Music Aspen Conducting Academy to do, it always has been,” says Festival and School Munroe Orchestra Orli of performing with her President and CEO Alan brother, Gil. The sibling duo has Fletcher. “Her music is very performed countless recitals deep, very full of emotion.” together, but limited by reperIn the opening movement of toire, the opportunity to share the Double Concerto, Esmail an orchestral stage is rare. With “creates a unique sound world this in mind, Orli considered that’s entirely her own,” says Wednesday, August 12 | 5 PM the idea of performing a dou- Robertson. “When it starts, Klein Music Tent ble concerto. But first, she had you really do realize you’re in Don’t miss two of classical to decide who quite a different music’s most iconic works. might write it. world.” In the “Aspen will She landed on second moveBe there when tomorrow’s Reena Esmail, an ment, which Orli always be conducting stars take on audience Indian-American describes as favorites! Often considered home.” c o mp o s er the “most glorithe hidden gems of the Festival whose music, ous and beautiseason, these unique orchestral performances feature the Orli Shaham which blends ful” movement, AMFS Alumna fellows of the Aspen Conducting Hindustani and Esmail “makes Academy taking turns on the Western classithe violin sing podium and playing in the cal traditions, was “so beautiful, in such a uniquely violinisorchestra. and such a unique language,” tic way.” The final movement says Orli. “She is herself a pia- evokes a sense of playfulness nist and she’s married to a great that resonates with the sibling violinist as well,” so it was a per- duo: “There are a lot of musifect fit for the double concerto cal games. For me and for Gil to project. There was mutual ad- play something that’s so playful miration: “It was an absolute like that together, it’s very comhonor to write this music for Gil fortable. We grew up in the Shaham and Orli Shaham,” says same household playing cards, Esmail in her program notes. him teaching me how to play “Reena Esmail, to me, is one of catch.” the most fascinating and truly “I think Reena’s piece is going See ‘A Family Affair,’ Festival Focus page 3
Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and Copland’s Appalachian Spring
New Work by The Police Drummer to Premiere at Harris Hall BY CINDY HIRSCHFELD Festival Focus Writer
A fortunate, and perhaps unlikely, series of events resulted in Gamelan D’Drum, the percussion ensemble piece that will have its world premiere on August 17 in Harris Hall. They include a rock star composer (literally), a break in the weather, a new home for a set of unique gamelan instruments, and a just-big-enough truck. The story begins with a three-movement work commissioned in 2008 by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra to perform with D’Drum, a percussion group founded by a couple of Dallas Symphony members—including recently retired Aspen Music Festival and School artist-faculty member Doug Howard. The composer they considered up to the challenge? Stewart Copeland, best known as the drummer for English
BLAKE NELSON
AMFS artist-faculty member Jonathan Haas will lead the Percussion Ensemble in the world premiere of a new work by The Police drummer and composer, Stewart Copeland, August 17.
rock band The Police. Not one to rest on his laurels for collaborating on global hits like “Message in a Bottle” and “Roxanne,” Copeland was already well known for composing film scores, operas, and orchestral works in an ongoing effort to feed his innate curiosity. “I’m just a guy who can’t say ‘no,’” Copeland quips. “And so when some crazy-eyed Texans called me up from Dallas and said they want to do a gamelan with the Dallas Symphony—yes!” D’Drum member Ron Snider acquired the set of gamelan—dozens of instruments—in Indonesia, having the bells and gongs custom tuned to Western equal temperament rather than the traditional Indonesian tuning systems. To compose the piece, Copeland videotaped the oneby-one playing of every note available on each instrument and used those samples as a guide. See ‘Gamelan D’Drum,’ Festival Focus page 3
TWO WEEKS LEFT! HAVE YOU BEEN TO THE TENT YET?
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MONDAY, AUGUST 10, 2026
FESTIVALFOCUS | YOUR WEEKLY CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE
Supplement to The Aspen Times
One Artist, Two Roles: Dinnerstein Plays Bach, Glass BY ALENA SCOTT Marketing and Publications Assistant
When pianist Simone Dinnerstein takes the stage at Harris Concert Hall on August 15 for a program pairing the music of J. S. Bach and Philip Glass, audiences might notice something unusual before a single note is played. Unlike her past recital appearances, for this program Dinnerstein takes on the dual role of pianist and conductor, directing an ensemble of Aspen Music Festival and School students from the piano. “In performance, I must use my body language to convey a lot. I’m sitting with my back to the audience with the lid off the piano,” Dinnerstein shares. “The musicians are set up in a semicircle around the piano so that everyone can see me, as well as each other.” The choice to pair classical and contemporary programming while both playing and conducting reflects the work that Dinnerstein does with her own string ensemble, Baroklyn. As the group’s founder and director, she has learned to navigate the relationship between her performance as a pianist and leadership as a conductor. “I like to think about a theater director: one who has a personal interpretation of the play but knows how to artfully utilize all of the actors, stage managers, lighting designers, etc. in a collaborative way to reach the vision for the project,” Dinnerstein explains. When she leads rehearsals with chamber ensembles such as Baroklyn, she brings her own
interpretations but also engages colleagues in a way that allows them to collectively curate their vision into reality. There are moments on the evening’s program where Dinnerstein is not obliged to play the piano and can use her hands and arms to conduct—a skill she has had to learn, studying privately with Chris Shepherd, artistic di-
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Renowned pianist Simone Dinnerstein will span the worlds of Philip Glass and Bach on August 15, in which she will appear not only as piano soloist, but also as conductor.
rector of the Connecticut Choral Artists. Conducting is “a funny thing to practice,” Dinnerstein says. “It’s interesting to think about your physicality from the standpoint of your performance colleagues who observe your movement, as opposed to an audience watching you.”
The program pairs two works by Philip Glass—the Suite from The Hours and the First Piano Concerto—with Bach’s second keyboard concerto. Dinnerstein’s Bach interpretations have been a hallmark of her playing for nearly two decades; she first came to wider public attention in 2007 through her recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. To her, Bach’s music possesses everything she’s looking for in a work of art: “ . . . our feelings about the world, every different kind of feeling we possess as humans . . . is in his music.” Despite the centuries that divide the two composers, Dinnerstein is passionate about highlighting the commonalities between their compositional identities. “The works of both composers are practical in the sense that they reuse and recycle material in different ways depending on the needs of the moment,” Dinnerstein notes. She highlights how one might catch variations of Glass’s piano etudes woven into his film scores, just as Bach might have used the melody from a cantata aria in a new keyboard concerto. She also points out that “both really thought about the voice and what it means to ‘speak’ through music.” Even their instrumental-only works have a quality of “saying something [in the same way] the human voice sings or speaks.” Dinnerstein looks forward returning to Aspen and sharing this music with the Festival’s students and audiences. “It is always such an honor to perform [in Aspen] . . . it’s an incredibly beautiful place.”
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Continued from Festival Focus page 1
FESTIVALFOCUS | YOUR WEEKLY CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE
Supplement to The Aspen Times
MONDAY, AUGUST 10, 2026 3
This Week: String Frenzy in Harris Concert Hall A Recital by Giovanni Andrea Zanon violin and Tony Siqi Yun piano Thursday, August 13 | 6 PM
Last summer he wowed Aspen audiences with his rendition of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto. Now, Tony Siqi Yun is back—with rising star Italian violinist, Giovanni Andrea Zanon, in his Aspen debut—for a recital of works by Schubert, Brahms, Tartini, and Wieniawski. Don’t miss these two young phenoms together on the Harris Hall stage!
DIEGO REDEL
LISA-MARIE MAZZUCCO
A Recital by the Pacifica Quartet
Violinist Adele Anthony in recital with Wind Orchestra
Wednesday, August 12 | 7:30 PM
Described as “nothing short of phenomenal” by The Telegraph, the two-time Grammy Award–winning quartet is known for its virtuosity, passionate performances, and daring repertoire. For their Aspen recital, the ensemble will perform Mendelssohn’s Second String Quartet in A minor, Ligeti’s First String Quartet, “Métamorphoses nocturnes,” and Beethoven’s String Quartet, Opus 130, and the Grosse Fugue, Opus 133, both in B-flat major.
Thursday, August 13 | 8 PM
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Hear the AMFS’s top young wind artists joined by alumna violinist Adele Anthony and conducted by longtime AMFS artist-faculty member Joaquín Valdepeñas. Experience the wind orchestra up close with seating on the Klein Music Tent stage as the ensemble performs Weill’s Violin Concerto alongside works by Beethoven and Krommer.
ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL BOX OFFICE: 970 925 9042 or ASPENMUSICFESTIVAL.COM Now–August 23: Daily, 12–4 PM MDT, or concert time, or intermission, if applicable.
Gamelan D’Drum: AMFS Premiere
A Family Affair
Continued from Festival Focus page 1
Continued from Festival Focus page 1
But in 2011, after two-and-a-half years of work, the per- squeezed onto the 18-wheeler that conveys all percusformance almost didn’t happen. The first two concerts sion instruments cross-country to Aspen. With the inwere cancelled because of an ice storm that shut down struments now safely in Aspen, listeners will “be amazed,” the city; luckily, the third evening went off brilliantly. “The promises Haas. “You’ll hear sonorities you’ve never heard audience fairly exploded . . . in the most uproarious ova- unless you’ve been to Indonesia. Yet it’s easy to undertion I can remember at a Dallas Symphony Orchestra stand musically what’s going on.” The program also inclassical concert,” wrote the Dallas Morning News’ cludes a movement from Takuo Kochi’s “Nirai Kanai” Folk Suite that uses gamelan. music critic. (Aspen Film This version of will screen a documentary Gamelan D’Drum, perabout the piece’s evoluformed by the AMFS tion, Dare to Drum, at the Percussion Ensemble, Isis Theatre following the also supports a Festival August 17 concert.) goal of expanded repWhen acclaimed percusertoire, notes Haas. sionist and AMFS artist“It’s important that our faculty member Jonathan students be as worldly Haas heard Gamelan as possible,” he says, D’Drum performed a few “and the value to their years later, “I fell in love own music education with it,” he recalls. Then is greatly increased by last year, Haas, who lives in New York City, received a COURTESY PHOTO knowing how to play call from Snider’s daughter. Texas-based world percussion group D’Drum premiering rock star these instruments.” Copeland, meanwhile, Snider had passed away in composer Stewart Copeland’s Gamelan D’Drum in Dallas. Hear AMFS artist-faculty member Jonathan Haas’s adaptation for percus2020, and she wanted his sion ensemble on August 17 with Copeland in attendance. who will be in Aspen set of gamelan, then sitting to introduce the piece, in storage, to be played. Hoping to provide new opportu- looks forward to hearing the new work live. “The thing I like nities for percussionists at NYU where he is a professor, about composing is that I do my work in the quiet of my Haas agreed to acquire the extensive collection and was studio, and then when others perform it, I can sit in the audiinspired to adapt Copeland’s original piece solely for ence and receive it, without breaking a sweat,” he says. But percussion ensemble, recruiting colleague Sean Statser he’s most gratified by a legacy sustained. “What made me to help with the arrangement. happiest of all,” says Copeland, “was that Jonathan bought This upcoming AMFS performance posed its own lo- all of those instruments. It’s going to keep this piece—and gistical challenge: Snider’s gamelan collection barely other gamelan music—alive.”
to be the highlight of the whole evening,” says Fletcher. “The audience should come expecting to love it.” When tasked with putting together the program, Robertson was working under a set of unique circumstances: “Reena’s piece wasn’t finished yet,” says the conductor. Not knowing how to best complement the work, he decided to open with Strauss’s Serenade for Winds in E-flat major, op. 7. “[The Serenade] is so beautiful, and would go with anything,” he says. Robertson closes the program with Brahms’s Second Symphony. It’s “a work that is beloved by audiences. And from what I know of Reena’s music, the kind of lyricism and singing quality [would] fit beautifully with the Brahms. Now that I know what Reena’s piece is like, it should be a really nice combination.” The three are delighted DIEGO REDEL to share the stage in Aspen Gil Shaham completes his after premiering Esmail’s work cycle of all 10 Beethoven with the National Symphony Violin Sonatas on Orchestra at the Kennedy August 11. Center earlier this year. The experience was like “knowing how to read everybody’s mind,” says Robertson. It’s “very personal, in so many ways,” says Orli, especially to share in a place that holds so many fond life memories for the three. “Aspen will always be home,” she says. To complete the family affair, in the audience will be Orli and Gil’s older brother Shai and one of Orli and David’s sons (the other was a student at the AMFS in 2024). And if you’re lucky, you may spot another family member, their adorable dachshund, Oliver, enjoying the concert from the Karetsky Music Lawn.