“Cultural exchange and influence will be at the center of the Aspen Music Festival and School’s 2015 summer season,” writes Andrew Travers in Wednesday’s (2/4) Aspen Times. “Themed ‘Dreams of Travel,’ the eight-week season will begin Fourth of July weekend and will include more than 300 events, with upward of 600 students and some of the world’s most renowned classical musicians.… The theme is playing out in performances focused on music that’s been inspired by cross-cultural encounters. Violinist Jennifer Koh and pianist Shai Wosner, for example, will present a program exploring the cross-cultural influence of Beethoven, titled ‘Bridge to Beethoven.’ … ‘There is so much great music that is inspired by encounters with other types of music and other cultures,’ festival director and CEO Alan Fletcher said of the theme.… The centerpiece of the themed performances will be a semi-staged version of Verdi’s masterwork, Aida, an operatic epic about ancient Egypt… Conducted by Robert Spano, the festival’s music director … it will include professionals singing alongside students from the Aspen Opera Theater Center and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra Chorus.” Premieres include “a new piece composed by Fletcher, inspired by Italo Calvino’s novel If on a winter’s night a traveler, accompanied by a film by Bill Morrison.”
Posted February 6, 2015
