Aspen Music Festival and School Director of Educational Outreach Deborah Barnekow is on the road again this week with guitarist Brad Richter. The week-long school residency ends this Friday with a free community performance at Harris Concert Hall. The following is Debby's daily blog:
Continue Reading Add comment April 8th, 2008
CSU Choir Blog Day 1
It is amazing how one group of college students can enter one’s heart so quickly and easily. That is what they did for everyone with whom they performed yesterday. We started at Aspen Elementary School for an all-school assembly. After lunch, the choir worked with the Aspen High School choir who recently performed at Carnegie Hall in February. I felt very emotional as the two choirs blended, side by side to work on a new piece. The same was true working with the Glenwood Springs Varsity choir. Sitting between the two choirs, I was overwhelmed by a wall of beautiful voices singing together.
Since these are college students I though it would be interesting to hear some of their thoughts....
Continue Reading Add comment March 11th, 2008
Aspen Music Festival and School Director of Educational Outreach Deborah Barnekow is on the road with the Colorado State University Concert Choir this week. The following is a today's entry from Glenwood Springs:
There is something so exhilarating in bringing a large group into the schools. The Colorado State University Concert Choir arrived last night in Glenwood for 2 exhausting days working with the high and middle school choirs in the valley and to perform for our two PLUS (adopted) schools. I have such respect for the choir directors and their dedicated students.
The first hurdle is finding them a place to stay and some food along the way during the day. In asking families to host choir members in their homes, I have met many new and generous people to whom I am grateful. My thanks also to Aspen and Basalt High Schools for hosting the group for lunch the two days.
As I climbed on board their bus upon arrival last night to welcome them, I was a bit overwhelmed by their faces of dedication to the task I am asking of them. I look forward to getting to know each of them. They will perform a free concert on Tuesday night, March 11, at the First United Methodist Church in Glenwood Springs at 6:30 pm. I hope to see you all there.
Add comment March 10th, 2008
“Here at last we have a major pianist using the brilliance at his disposal to illuminate what the composer wrote, rather than himself.”―John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune
ASPEN, Colo. — Pianist Stephen Hough is widely regarded as one of the most important and distinctive pianists of his generation. The renowned pianist brings his extraordinary touch to the beloved repertoire of Mendelssohn, Beethoven, and more in Harris Concert Hall, Thursday, March 6 as part of the Aspen Music Festival and School’s 2008 winter recital series.
The program includes Mendelssohn’s Variations sérieuses in D minor, op. 54; Webern’s Variations for Piano, op. 27; Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, op. 111; Weber’s Aufforderung zum Tanze (Invitation to the Dance), J. 260, op. 65; Chopin’s Waltzes; Saint- Saëns’ Valse nonchalante in D-flat major, op. 110; Chabrier’s Feuillet d'album; Debussy’s La plus que lente; and Liszt’s work from Valses oubliees, and his Mephisto Waltz No. 1, “The Dance in the Village Inn.”
Continue Reading Add comment March 4th, 2008
“…Ms. Josefowicz's musicality is as dazzling as her technique.”― Allan Kozinn, New York Times
Closing the Aspen Music Festival and School’s 2008 winter music series on March 10 is Leila Josefowicz, a violinist who has won the hearts of audiences around the world with her honest, fresh approach to the repertoire and her dynamic virtuosity. Josefowicz will be joined by international concert pianist John Novacek. The program includes Brahms’s Scherzo in C minor; Prokofiev’s Violin Sonata in F minor, op. 80; Stravinsky’s Duo concertant for Violin and Piano; and Schubert’s Rondo brilliant in B minor, D. 895, op. 70.
“Leila has a reputation world-wide for playing with great passion and total connection with the music,” says AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher. “This is her debut performance with the Festival, and we’re sure Aspen will embrace her as one of our own.”
Continue Reading Add comment March 4th, 2008
One of today's best-known and most highly regarded musicians, pianist Emanuel Ax lends his mastery to works by Schumann and Beethoven on Tuesday, February 26 at 7:30 pm in Harris Concert Hall.
Continue Reading Add comment February 21st, 2008
Notes from the road from Aspen Music Festival and School Director of Educational Outreach Deborah Barnekow:
With varied age levels again on our second day, the Trio is more comfortable with the challenge. Our first session was with the IB students at Aspen High School who will be participating in our Composer Forum in April. Our focus was to demonstrate the unique sound they have and talk about how to write for their respective instruments. The harp, of course, is the most daunting and there were many questions for Nuiko. After the trio performed the Arnold Bax Elegiac Trio, Paul Jung commented that he could hear early strains of the Beatles in it which initiated an interesting discussion!
Add comment February 13th, 2008
Blogger Deborah Barnekow, director of education outreach for the Aspen Music Festival and School, is traveling to area schools with the Janus Trio this week. This is her first entry....
Continue Reading Add comment February 12th, 2008
Praised for his personal charisma and boundless imagination, pianist Piotr Anderszewski returns to Aspen ’s Harris Concert Hall on Wednesday, February 20 at 7:30 pm for the second concert of the Aspen Music Festival and School’s winter recital series. The program includes Bach’s Partita No. 2 for Keyboard in C minor and Partita No. 1 for Keyboard in B-flat major; Schumann’s melancholy Humoreske in B-flat major, op. 20; and Szymanowski’s Masks, op. 34, included in the pianist’s highly-praised recording of the composer’s solo piano works, which received the Classic FM Gramophone Award in 2006 for best instrumental disc.
In recent years Anderszewski has been singled out for several high profile awards, including the prestigious Szymanowski Prize in 1999 and the Royal Philharmonic Society’s 2000 Best Instrumentalist Award. In April 2002 he was named Gilmore Artist and described by this prestigious award’s advisory panel as “truly extraordinary.”
“Piotr’s intensity and musicianship bring the crowd to its feet whenever he performs in Aspen ,” says AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher. “And there’s no better place to hear the nuances and technical mastery of such an artist than the immaculate acoustics of Harris Concert Hall.”
Anderszewski has made a number of highly-praised recordings, including Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, a disc which received exceptional critical acclaim. The recording was also the subject of a film by Bruno Monsaingeon, creator of documentaries on Yehudi Menuhin and Glenn Gould. For more information, see http://www.anderszewski.net/index.cfm
The AMFS’s 2008 winter recital series includes the best and the brightest of today’s classical music scene, including:
• Piano mega-star Emanuel Ax making his first appearance in Aspen in six years, February 26.
• Pianist Stephen Hough with a program featuring Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Chopin on March 6.
• Young violin sensation Leila Josefowicz, who takes the stage with the timeless music of Brahms and Schubert on March 10.
All winter recitals are performed at 7:30 pm in Aspen ’s 500-seat Harris Concert Hall ( 960 N. Third Street , Aspen , CO ). Tickets for Anderszewski’s recital are $55 for adults and are available at the AMFS Harris Hall Box Office, by calling 970-925-9042, or online at www.aspenmusicfestival.com.
The Aspen Music Festival and School is the United States ’ most extensive classical music festival, presenting more than 350 musical events during its nine-week summer season. The AMFS’s orchestras are composed of top professionals and music students, many on the cusp of their orchestral careers. The 2008 season runs June 19 through August 17.
The Aspen Meadows Resort is the hospitality sponsor of the 2008 Winter Music Series.
Add comment February 11th, 2008
JUNE 19 TO AUGUST 17, 2008
“Once Upon a Time…” theme offers a season-long exploration of folklore, legends, mythology and fairytales through music
David Zinman conducts the world premiere of John Harbison’s The Great Gatsby Suite, an AMFS commission which captures the spirit of the big band era
“Once Upon a Time…” shines through the Aspen Opera Theater Center this summer with two adult versions of the classic Cinderella tale and a production of Hansel and Gretel
Piano mega-star Emanuel Ax returns to Aspen with two extraordinary programs, including a special concert with pianists Joseph Kalichstein, Yefim Bronfman and Misha Dichter
A live taping of the nation’s most popular classical music show, From the Top, features
talent from Aspen’s own stellar student body
Jazz songstress Patti Austin joins the Count Basie Orchestra in a tribute to the first lady of American song, Ella Fitzgerald, presented in association with Jazz Aspen Snowmass
Multiple collaborations with Aspen’s arts elite, including the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Jazz Aspen Snowmass, the Aspen Institute and Aspen Film
More than 350 public events feature appearances by Joshua Bell, Sarah Chang, James Conlon, Emerson String Quartet, Vladimir Feltsman, Julia Fischer, Nicholas McGegan, David Robertson, Gil Shaham, Leonard Slatkin and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, among others.
Continue Reading Add comment February 6th, 2008
