2021 Aspen Music Festival delights the senses
By the JMD Team
Quaking aspen leaves. Cold spring water rushing over river rocks. Birdsong. By nature, there’s music in the mountain air.
This month, other delightful strains of music joined in as the Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) began its 72nd season with a free Spotlight Recital at the world-renowned Harris Concert Hall in Aspen’s West End. Continuing through August 22, the eight-week summer season will be comprised of three orchestral concerts a week, three evening recitals a week, two concert operas, free student recitals and more.*
Photo Credit: Grittani Creative
Listen in Wonder: Some Musical Highlights
July 17 – Mozart’s The Magic Flute
July 28 – Recital by the American String Quintet
August 2 – The Sweetest Sounds: The Music of Richard Rogers
August 10 – A Piano Recital by Vladimir Feltsman
August 18 – A Violin Recital by Agustin Hadelich
August 21 – Handel’s Rodelinda, regina de’ Longobardi
August 22 – The 2021 season closes with music director Robert Spano conducting the Aspen Festival Orchestra in a performance of Bruch’s Violin Concerto No.1 featuring violinist Augustin Hadelich and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5
*Most events will take place in the open-air Benedict Music Tent, with distanced seating both inside and in pods on the Karetsky Music Lawn.
High Notes: Eyes On Design – We’d be remiss if we didn’t share some notes about the amazing venues that make up the Aspen Music Festival and School.
The most obvious is the iconic Benedict Music Tent, where most of the Festival’s concerts are held. Designed by Aspen architect Harry Teague, the Music Tent seats 2,050 music-lovers and features a curving, tent-like roof made of Teflon-coated fiberglass. Its sides open to the park-like setting that surrounds it.
Photo Credit: Grittani Creative
Adjacent to the Music Tent, and sharing a communal courtyard, is the Joan and Irving Harris Concert Hall, a 20,000-square-foot, 500-seat rehearsal and performance hall, also designed by Teague. While its white, folding tent-like roof reflects the surrounding hills, the main floor is buried 40 feet below ground, making it practically soundproof – ideal for performances and recordings. The interior concert hall is singularly striking with its asymmetrical maple and cherry veneer wall panels and overhead canopy.
And what most people don’t see, or might not realize exists so nearby, is the 105,000-square-foot Matthew and Carolyn Bucksbaum Campus, which serves as the center of AMFS’ teaching facilities. Just outside of town on a 38-acre site up Castle Creek Road, the campus features a trio of expansive concert halls, numerous teaching studios and practice rooms, a percussion building, administrative offices and a glass-enclosed cafeteria. The roofline mirrors the shapes of the surrounding mountains and riverbanks (and, yes, it was designed by Harry Teague as well).
Box Office 970-925-9042, aspenmusicfestival.com