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ALEX IRVIN / AMFS

Festival Focus Monday, June 17, 2013

Vol 24, No.1

2013 Season Explores ‘Conscience & Beauty’ verdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea as an example. For thousands of years, people have “For instance, Poppea and Nero; used art as a means to explore and there are a lot of dead bodies in her comment on the human condition. wake on the way to the throne,” he In the 2013 season, with the theme says. “But the opera’s imbued with of “Conscience and Beauty,” the As- such beautiful music. Regardless, it pen Music Festival and School (AMFS) seems, in most cases, of whether it’s focuses on the powerful compositions good conscience or bad conscience, musicians have this genesis has alpenned as social ways resulted in commentary and beautiful work.” to express their AMFS President emotions and their and CEO Alan Fletchpolitics through er says that classical their music. music continues to Asadour Sanplay an important tourian, the AMFS role in society. vice president for “It’s useful today artistic administrato look at the way tion and artistic ‘society,’ if such a advisor, says that thing can be perwhen picking a sonalized, turns to season theme, the music after an event Asadour Santourian Festival looks for like 9/11, or the asAMFS Vice President for Artistic Administration and Artistic Advisor one that is “broad sassination of John enough to encomF. Kennedy, or the pass solo, chamber, 1972 massacre at operatic, and orchestral repertoire and the Munich Olympics,” Fletcher says. tight enough that all tributaries run “In these cases, there seems to be a to it. It pulls all Festival programming formal role for classical music.” Such together.” modern works include John Adams’s Santourian adds that it shouldn’t On the Transmigration of Souls, writbe assumed that all instances of con- ten in response to the 9/11 tragedy, science in the musical works of the and John Corigliano’s Symphony summer are forms of good conscience No. 1, a work generated by the and points to the Aspen Opera Theater Center’s 2013 production of Monte- See 2013, Festival Focus page 3 courtney E. thompson Festival Focus writer

Regardless...of whether it’s good conscience or bad conscience, this genesis has always resulted in beautiful work.

roland haupt

In honor of his centennial, the 2013 AMFS season will feature a retrospective of the works of Benjamin Britten, pictured above, the first recipient of the Aspen Institute’s Robert O. Anderson Aspen Award in the Humanities (1964).

AMFS Launches New Website courtney E. thompson Festival Focus writer

In a year when the Aspen Music Festival and School rebuilt its physical presence in the form of the new Bucksbaum Campus, it also rebuilt its digital presence in the form of a brand new website with additional features previously unavailable to patrons, donors, and students. According to Director of Marketing and Public Relations Laura Smith, the former website was around six years old and is the fourth iteration of the Festival’s web presence. The creation of the new website, which was launched in the spring, was necessary to serve the needs of the AMFS’s various constituencies. “The former site was not as flexible and customizable as we needed it to be,” Smith says. As the Internet continually grew as a main marketing resource, the needs placed upon the former website grew as well. “We couldn’t create new sections or pages related to new

projects. We couldn’t use the tool to properly service our communication needs and the patrons’ needs.” This growing need coincided with two Festival patrons taking an interest in the AMFS’s online presence. It was only through the generous support of AMFS Board member Dana Powell, and her husband Gene Powell that creating the new site was possible. Smith says, “It’s a significant investment for any nonprofit to build a website with the depth and functionality we need as both a presenting and educational institution. The Powells’ support and enthusiasm really made it possible.” The new online experience includes many new functions including the ability to choose your own seats, print tickets at home, participate in virtual post-concert salons where people can share their reactions, listen to See WEBSITE, Festival Focus page 3

Music Festival Vice President and Dean of Students Jennifer Johnston and President and CEO Alan Fletcher greet a student at registration last summer. Registration this year starts Tuesday.

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