Festival Notes

Highlights of this penultimate weekend of the 2013 festival are Sarah Chang performing Barber's Violin Concerto, a Saturday recital of Brahms and more by pianist Orli Shaham and conductor David Robertson leading the Aspen Festival Orchestra in Beethoven's Triple Concerto and Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring."

Tonight at Harris Concert Hall, a debut of sorts: the Emerson String Quartet in its new configuration with Welsh cellist Paul Watkins.  On the Emerson’s program are Haydn’s String Quartet in G minor, Op. 20, No. 3; Britten’s Third String Quartet and the first Razumovzsky quartet by Beethoven.

The concert will be broadcast live on Aspen Public Radio, beginning at 7:59 p.m.

At 6 p.m., conductor Federico Cortese leads the Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra in works by Webern, Schubert and Brahms.  And at 8:30, violinist and festival favorite Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg returns to Aspen for a recital of pieces by Pärt, Prokofiev and Chausson. 

Among today's offerings: "Baby Got Bach," master classes, Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" and pianist Inon Barnatan in recital.

Normally a quiet day, this particular Monday features a variety of performances: Rachmaninoff's soulful Cello Sonata in G Minor, the Puccini double bill "Suor Angelica" and "Gianni Schicchi" and veteran soprano Sylvia McNair singing cabaret.

It's another packed weekend. Friday at 6 p.m., pianist Garrick Ohlsson performs the poetic Schumann Piano Concerto with the Aspen Chamber Symphony, and soprano Susanna Phillips sings Britten’s song cycle "Les Illuminations."  Sunday's Aspen Festival Orchestra program features pianist Yefim Bronfman in Bartok's Third Piano Concerto.

Tonight is the premiere of Aspen Opera Theater Center’s Puccini double bill of "Suor Angelica" and "Gianni Schicchi": tragedy and comedy all in one evening.  Also tonight, pianist Garrick Ohlsson performs a recital at Harris Hall.  Works by Beethoven, Chopin, Schubert and American composer Charles Griffes are on his program.

Tonight at 8:30, the American String Quartet performs their annual concert at Harris Concert Hall.  On the program are works by Haydn and Brahms, as well as the dramatic First String Quartet by 20th-century Czech composer Leos Janacek.  

Gilmore Prize-winning pianist Kirill Gerstein returns to Aspen for a 7:30 p.m. recital of Haydn, Schumann and Berg at Harris Hall. 

And a special invitation to the public: hear a live broadcast of “Festival Showcase” from the Red Brick Center for the Arts, beginning at 3 p.m.  Festival Quartet-in-Residence the Omer String Quartet will play musical selections and answer questions from the audience.  Wine and cheese will be served.

"Fratres" by contemporary Estonian composer Arvo Pärt is part of an eclectic 6 p.m. program, presented by the Percussion Ensemble at Harris Concert Hall.

Weekend No. 5 at the Aspen Music Festival includes a semi-staged opera performance at the Benedict Music Tent and a live Sunday afternoon broadcast on Aspen Public Radio.

Pianist and faculty member Anton Nel performs a recital at Harris Concert Hall.  Included on his program is Schubert’s grand and final Piano Sonata in B-flat major.

Gil Shaham scales one of the most ambitious and Herculean projects for a solo violinist: the complete sonatas and partitas of Johann Sebastian Bach. Shaham's recital begins at 6 p.m. at Harris Concert Hall.

One of the hottest tickets of the summer, Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato makes her festival debut with a 7:30 p.m. voice recital at Harris Concert Hall.  She sings a varied program, familiar operatic arias by Mozart and Rossini, alongside lesser-known art songs and arias by Obradors, Giocomelli, Di Chiara, Hahn and Donaudy.

Violinist and longtime faculty member Sylvia Rosenberg joins faculty colleagues in a 6 p.m. chamber music performance of Mozart’s Piano Quartet in E-flat major, K. 493.

Weekend No. 4 gets off to an energetic start this evening at 6 with Gil Shaham as soloist in Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1.  On Sunday afternoon at 4, cellist Alisa Weilerstein performs Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto, music that has been famously linked to one of its legendary interpreters, the late Jacqueline du Pré.

Pianists Misha and Cipa Dichter perform a program of four-hand and two-piano music this evening at 6 at the Benedict Music Tent.   And two years after performing the complete string quartets by Beethoven, the Jupiter String Quartet returns to Aspen to play quartets by Britten, Hannah Lash and Dvorak.

A world premiere work by 32-year-old composer Adam Schoenberg is one of the main attractions of today's 6 p.m. Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra concert at the Benedict Music Tent.

At 7:30 p.m. at Harris Concert Hall, pianist Simone Dinnerstein and country singer-songwriter Tift Merritt perform together a concert that merges musical genres and landscapes.