FESTIVALFOCUS YOUR WEEKLY CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE
SUPPLEMENT TO THE ASPEN TIMES
MONDAY, JULY 10, 2023
VOL. 33, NO. 3
Grand Musical Spectacle with Hadelich, The Ring BY EMMA KIRBY
Marketing Coordinator
Hold on to your seats! On July 16 at 4 p.m., the Aspen Festival Orchestra presents the thrilling music of Wagner’s The Ring and the return of Augustin Hadelich, one of the biggest stars in classical music. With music that is impressive in scale and deeply evocative of nature—in line with the season’s theme, The Adoration of the Earth—this Sunday’s program is a concert everyone can enjoy. Aficionados of The Ring cycle and casual listeners alike will delight in this engaging 70-minute transcription by Dutch composer Henk de Vlieger, who has transcribed many of Wagner’s operatic works for orchestra. “The Wagner buff will appreciate that his or her inner movie will follow the paths of the original scenes. And the Wagner novice will find a magnetic way into the Wagner universe,” says Maestro Markus Stenz, who has performed this version with many orchestras around the world and will lead this Sunday’s concert. This adaptation not only “fits the bill perfectly” for orchestras that want to present the glorious music of Wagner’s The Ring, says Stenz, but also brings new life to it. Using a typically huge Wagnerian-style orchestra with expanded wind and brass sections and highlighting some of the most well-known, resounding sections of the nearly 16-hour opera cycle, it’s a “Wagner experience that allows you to get carried away without prior knowledge of the plot. No singers, no text, just mesmerizing sound,” says Stenz. It’s “truly an orchestral
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Augustin Hadelich performs an exciting new concerto by Donnacha Dennehy with the Aspen Festival Orchestra on July 16. He also mentors students in a Harris Concert Hall Class at 1 p.m., Tuesday, July 18, and presents a recital that same evening at 7:30 p.m., also in Harris Concert Hall.
adventure.” The size and acoustics of the Benedict Music Tent support the extraordinary scale of the orchestra and the excitement of the music. “It’s a type of music that really thrives in the outdoor setting of a tent. It should be a definite highlight,” says Aspen Music Festival and School Vice President for Artistic Administration Patrick Chamberlain. The adventure begins with the E-flat major chord from the prelude to Das Rheingold, the first opera of the cycle. The horns gradually move into higher octaves, as if rising from deep inside the earth. The
energetic and famous Die Walküren (The Ride of the Valkyries) marks the transition to Die Walküre, the second opera of the cycle. Waldweben (Forest Murmurs) from Siegfried begins with strong evocations of nature in the soft colors of the upper woodwinds. Music from Götterdämmerung, the last of the four Ring cycle operas, brings the exhilarating transcription to a fiery, dramatic finish. The 14-section transcription is through-composed without breaks between sections, making it an “irresistible journey of discovery,” says Stenz. To begin Sunday’s program, violin superstar Augustin Hadelich brings a “cap-
Swoon with us on July 11 for an elegant dinner and show on the Benedict Music Tent stage featuring student artists of the Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS program as they brighten the evening with a cabaret-style program. Miles Angelo, Executive Chef at the Caribou Club, will present an indulgent and creative dinner menu that perfectly pairs with the evening. tivating modern-time violin concerto” to the Benedict Music Tent, says Stenz. See Hadelich, Festival Focus page 3
Fresh Artistry at Annual Baroque Evening with McGegan BY NICHOLAS INGRAM
Festival Focus Writer
This Thursday, July 13, fans of the Aspen Music Festival and School’s (AMFS) annual Baroque concert are in for an extra treat when acclaimed pianist Awadagin Pratt makes his AMFS debut, joining the much-loved conductor Nicholas McGegan for a Bach-centric program. The evening’s program includes Bach’s Sinfonia in D major, Keyboard Concerto in A major, and, finally, the Magnificat in D major—often recognized as one of his crown jewels. In between is living composer Jessie Montgomery’s Rounds for piano and string orchestra, a short work that was composed expressly for Pratt. Celebrated pianist Pratt studied under the legendary Leon Fleisher, starting in 1986 when Pratt took one of Fleisher’s master classes at the Peabody Conservatory, and, later, as a full student of Fleisher’s in 1990. Pratt’s career exploded when he won the 1992 Naumburg
COURTESY PHOTO
Celebrated pianist Awadagin Pratt performs in A Baroque Evening with Nicholas McGegan on July 13 in Harris Concert Hall.
International Piano Competition and then the 1994 Avery Fisher Career Grant. Now, at 58, Pratt continues to be in high demand. “Awadagin is not new in his career,” says Alan Fletcher, president and CEO of the AMFS. “But sometimes we have missed someone, and we come back and say, this is someone you really need to hear. It’s just fabulous playing.” Known for his strongly personal interpretations of Bach, Pratt says he approaches the music with light. “For me,” he says, “Bach always has to dance, sing and dance. So that’s what I’m after.” Of the Keyboard Concerto in A major, Pratt says, “I like both the energy of the outer movements and the ruminating, contemplative, and yearning quality of the middle movement.” Pratt will also perform a Jessie Montgomery work that See Baroque, Festival Focus page 3
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