FESTIVALFOCUS YOUR WEEKLY CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE
SUPPLEMENT TO THE ASPEN TIMES
MONDAY, AUGUST 18, 2025
VOL. 35, NO. 8
Broadway’s Patti LuPone Sings Her Life in Notes BY CINDY HIRSHFELD Festival Focus writer
We all know how certain songs can instantly transport us back in time, evoking memories of childhood or first love or simply driving on a summer night with the windows down—the soundtrack of a life. Legendary singer and actor Patti LuPone used this universal experience to create her newest one-woman show, Patti LuPone: A Life in Notes, which she brings to the Klein Music Tent on August 22. Unlike other cabaret-style concerts
RAHAV SEGEV
Broadway icon and television actor Patti LuPone presents A Life in Notes—a vocal memoir—in the Klein Music Tent on August 22.
the three-time Tony Award winner has In other words, Aspen listeners will be given, this one is purely autobiographi- treated to a wide variety of music durcal, following the arc of her personal ing the concert, from “Ebb Tide” (a hit experiences and celebrated career. for the Righteous Brothers) and “I Wish It Childhood crushes, leaving home, the So” (from the 1959 musical Juno) to the Beatles and Bob Dylan. tumult of the 1960s, at“It’s a departure from tending Juilliard, and “It’s a departure from what people know eventually becoming a me for,” LuPone says. what people know Broadway icon—these “There’s a lot of stuff defining moments and me for. There’s a lot people will not have more are given exquiexpected me to sing.” site musical expresof stuff people will For example, “Lilac sion, interspersed with Wine” (notably covstorytelling. not have expected ered by Nina Simone) is “I wanted to sing the me to sing.” a number LuPone says songs I basically grew she’s always wanted to up with,” says LuPone, Patti LuPone perform. “I heard that 76, who was raised on Three-time Tony Award winner song in an apartment in New York’s Long Island and actor Manhattan [when she (in Northport). “There was 19], and I was falling was always music in the house.” Her father loved jazz, she re- in love at the time,” she explains. Of course, she’ll demonstrate the calls, while her introduction to musicals came via a series of Broadway show re- mastery for which she’s most acclaimed cordings. “There was a thing, Ed Sullivan with a few of her signature Broadway Presents, and you could buy the albums numbers, including “I Dreamed a Dream” for $1 at the A&P [grocery store],” she (Les Misérables) and, yes, “Don’t Cry recalls. A young LuPone would drop the for Me Argentina” (Evita). “The shows needle on the turntable and sing along in there are touchstones—they changed my life,” says LuPone, who otherwise as she did her chores. As a teenager in the 1960s, she ab- wanted to steer clear of focusing solely sorbed other musical influences, too. on Broadway hits. Accompanying her “I’m a child of rock and roll, and that will be her longtime music director, whole era of rebellion,” says LuPone. Joseph Thalken, on piano, as well as She remembers listening to iconic DJs noted musician Brad Phillips on five diflike Wolfman Jack and Alison Steele on ferent string instruments. her transistor radio during that time. See LuPone, Festival Focus page 3
R.E.M.’S MIKE MILLS JOINS ROBERT MCDUFFIE FOR HIS CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN, ROCK BAND, AND STRINGS Wednesday, August 20 Harris Concert Hall Award-winning violinist and AMFS alum Robert McDuffie returns for a genre-bending night you won’t forget! From the lyrical beauty of Brahms’s Violin Sonata No. 1 to the electrifying Concerto for Violin, Rock Band, and Strings—written just for McDuffie by R.E.M. bass guitarist Mike Mills who joins him on Wednesday night—this is classical music turned up to 11.
ALEX IRVIN
Puccini’s La bohème with Renowned Tenor, Conductor BY SAMANTHA JOHNSTON Festival Focus Writer
JEAN BAPTISTE MILLOT
In his Aspen début, renowned maestro Enrique Mazzola conducts the Aspen Music Festival and School’s production of Puccini’s La bohème on August 19.
Puccini’s La bohème is one of opera’s most enduring and beloved works, telling the story of a group of young artists struggling to live, love, and create in 19th-century Paris. At its heart is the poignant romance between Rodolfo, a poet, and Mimì, a seamstress, whose love is tested by poverty and illness. Unforgettable music, emotionally rich storytelling, and themes of youth, friendship, and loss have made La bohème a powerful, relatable story that lends itself to adaptation, maybe most notably in the Broadway show Rent. Audiences will have a chance to experience the classic opera at 7:30 p.m. on
August 19 at the Klein Music Tent. With award-winning director Katherine M. Carter at the helm, Aspen’s production features internationally acclaimed tenor Matthew Polenzani as Rodolfo singing alongside the young artists of the Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS program. Conductor Enrique Mazzola makes his Aspen début with this opera—a work that has shaped his personal and artistic life since childhood. Mazzola is no stranger to the world’s most prestigious stages: the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, and Deutsche Oper Berlin, to name a few. Known for his dynamic artistry and deep command of both bel canto and contemporary repertoire, Mazzola brings
“ . . . I’ve entered a period of my life where I feel that it’s important—almost a necessity—to transmit my experience to young artists.” Enrique Mazzola Conductor, La bohème
See Mazzola, Festival Focus page 3
BEEN TO THE TENT YET? LAST CHANCE! IT’S THE FINAL WEEK OF THE FESTIVAL!