U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Speaks and Performs Chamber Music at Music Tent in Aspen on August 2

July 30th, 2008 at 11:01am Aspen Music Festival 355

Appearance will be only the second public musical performance for Secretary Rice, a devoted pianist, since becoming Secretary of StatePerformance marks Secretary Rice’s return to the Aspen Music Festival and School where she studied piano as a seventeen-year-old music student, prior to changing her college major from music to international relations

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice joins the Aspen Music Festival and School and the Aspen Institute in an afternoon of “Words and Music,” Saturday, August 2, at 3 pm in the Benedict Music Tent. The event will begin with a conversation between Secretary Rice and Aspen Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson followed by a question-and-answer session with the audience. Afterwards, Secretary Rice will be joined by current Aspen Music Festival and School music students to perform two chamber music works.

Says Secretary Rice, “I am honored to have been invited to return to the Aspen Music Festival and School, and I am looking forward to performing with the students. The Aspen Music Festival and School gives musicians the opportunity to learn and cultivate their talents in one of the most inspirational settings in our country. As a musician and educator myself, I value the vision of this institution, and I am excited to take part in this year’s festival.”

Performed first will be the first movement of Dvorak’s Piano Quintet in A major, B. 155, op. 81 and to follow will be the 2nd movement of Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F minor, op. 34. Secretary Rice has said publicly that her favorite composer is Brahms.

Secretary Rice began piano lessons with her grandmother when she was three and remains a devoted amateur player, maintaining an active chamber group in Washington D.C. She attended the Aspen Music Festival and School as a 17-year-old student pianist and consequently decided a career in music was not in her future.

Secretary Rice went on to earn her PhD from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver. As professor of political science, she has been on the Stanford faculty since 1981 and has won two of the highest teaching honors -- the 1984 Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching and the 1993 School of Humanities and Sciences Dean's Award for Distinguished Teaching. Her books include Germany Unified and Europe Transformed (1995) with Philip Zelikow, The Gorbachev Era (1986) with Alexander Dallin, and Uncertain Allegiance: The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army (1984). She also has authored numerous articles on Soviet and East European foreign and defense policy. In June 1999, she completed a six-year tenure as Stanford’s provost, during which she was the institution’s chief budget and academic officer.

From 1989 through March 1991, Secretary Rice served in the first Bush Administration as director, and then senior director, of Soviet and East European affairs in the National Security Council, and a special assistant to the president for national security affairs.

Secretary Rice became Secretary of State on January 26, 2005. Prior to this, she was Assistant to President George W. Bush for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor, since January 2001.

The event will take place on Saturday, August 2 at 3 pm in the Benedict Music Tent. Tickets are $60 and $30 and are available at the AMFS box offices at Harris Concert Hall or the Wheeler Opera House, or by calling 970-925-9042 or visiting www.aspenmusicfestival.com.

The Aspen Institute, founded in 1950, is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering enlightened leadership and open-minded dialogue. Through seminars, policy programs, conferences and leadership development initiatives, the Institute and its international partners seek to promote nonpartisan inquiry and an appreciation for timeless values. The Institute is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has campuses in Aspen, Colorado, and on the Wye River on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Its international network includes partner Aspen Institutes in Berlin, Rome, Lyon, Tokyo, New Delhi, and Bucharest, and leadership programs in Africa, Central America and India.

The Aspen Music Festival and School is the United States’ premier classical music festival, led by music director David Zinman and presenting more than 350 musical events during its nine-week summer season in Aspen, including orchestra concerts, opera, chamber music, lectures, and children’s events. The institution draws top classical musicians from around the world to this charming Colorado mountain retreat for an unparalleled combination of performances and music education. More than 25 percent of events are free and seating on the David Karetsky Music Lawn and in the Music Garden is always free. Next summer the festival will celebrate its 60th anniversary.

The AMFS has five orchestras composed of top professionals and music students, many already beginning their professional careers. Hailing from 40 states and 40 countries, the 750 students begin vying for a spot as early as October of the previous year. Renowned alumni include violinists Joshua Bell, Sarah Chang, Cho-Liang Lin, Robert McDuffie, Midori, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and Gil Shaham; pianists Ingrid Fliter, Orli Shaham and Joyce Yang; conductors Marin Alsop, James Conlon, James Levine and Leonard Slatkin; composers William Bolcom, Philip Glass, Bright Sheng and Joan Tower; vocalists Renée Fleming and Dawn Upshaw; cellists Lynn Harrell and Alisa Weilerstein; performer Peter Schickele; and bassist Edgar Meyer.

Entry Filed under: Classical Music, Aspen, Aspen Music Festival