© 2024 Aspen Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

UPDATE: AMFS students killed in car crash

Aspen Music Festival and School

Update: 

23-year old Alex Greene was driving a 2011 Ford Escape, Ben Darneille -his bandmate in the  Rendezvous Brass quartet - rode in the passenger seat, he was 21. Both men were killed when Greene’s Escape crossed the center line on Highway 191 just north of Farson Wyoming, and struck a Volvo tractor pulling two trailers.

The tractor driver, 55 year old Brent Hawkes said he tried to avoid the head-on collision. Hawkes was treated and released from nearby Memorial Hospital in Rock Springs Wyoming. All three victims were wearing seatbelts.

A press release from the Wyoming Highway Patrol lists speed as a factor in the fatal accident, drug use and driver inattention are also being investigated.

A memorial post for the young musicians on the Aspen Music Festival and School’s facebook page includes an outpouring of sympathy. Almost 300 posts from locals as well as residents of Greene and Darneille’s hometowns of  Philadelphia and Rochester, Illinois have appeared on the feed, many praising the young men’s recent performance during the closing week of the Aspen Music Festival.

Earlier: Two music students who were part of this past weekend’s final classical performance have died in a car crash.

Alex Greene was a trumpet player, and Ben Darneille was a tuba player .The accident occurred Monday night.

Greene was 23 and studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and Darneille was 21 and studied tuba at Depaul University in Chicago.

Alan Fletcher, president and CEO of the Aspen Music Festival and school said he was impressed with the two young men when they first met.

 

"They made a real difference," Fletcher said. "They made so many close connections with all of us."

Fletcher was impressed by Alex’s performances of Mahler 5.  They also played in the Rendezvous Brass ensemble and often  played atop Aspen Mountain.

Music School officials have no additional information at this time.

Related Content