![]() ![]() “I’m, really pleased with how many beautiful new pieces we’ve heard this year, and a lot of the credit goes to Patrick,” said Fletcher. In particular, the contemporary programming shows significant improvement. Indeed, with only a few more performances left, audiences have heard a wider range of music than previously, much of it delivered by new faces, and nearly all of it at a higher level. He’s savvy about what could be of interest to us. “I loved Asadour, and I thought no one could come in here that I could work with, but it’s so easy to work with Patrick. “Losing Asadour was difficult,” said Spano. Spano and Fletcher both light up when asked about how Chamberlain has affected the programming. Competition for high-end talent requires big classical music presenters to work well in advance, and behind the scenes, seasons 20 are already filling up. To my ears, the 2023 season has had many more well-thought-out programs than in previous summers, and overall the best lineup of guest artists in my experience here. The 2022 calendar was already in place, thus this year is the first to reflect his work. Fresh from a similar position with Newark (New Jersey) Symphony, Chamberlain joined the team in spring 2022, replacing Asadour Santourian, whose responsibility it had been for 18 years. It falls to Chamberlain to assemble each summer’s concert schedule, with approval from Spano and Fletcher. ![]() As a result, both composers’ music gained a fresh perspective. That led to the French composer’s “Miroirs,” a pianistic tour-de-force dabbling in different national styles. He followed that with three minuets for more modern ears by Ravel. In his recital pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet linked the music of Ravel to a Haydn sonata that included a lovely minuet. Several programs this summer dealt in purely musical connections. 24 felt particularly elegant in contrast to the boisterous music surrounding it. These pieces bracketed unrelated piano concertos in both concerts, but Chamberlain makes this point: “Side-by-side with the other pieces on the program, you might hear both of these concertos in a different light.” And indeed, Gershwin’s jazz Concerto in F felt more grounded, more serious, in the wake of Nabors’ essay in music of Africa as seen from America. Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony scene-painted rivers, countryside and a literal storm. The first Festival Orchestra concert climaxed with the Stravinsky ballet music, preceded by Brian Raphael Nabors’ Africa-infused “Of Earth and Sky: Tales from the Motherland.”Ĭonductor Jane Glover opened an Aspen Chamber Orchestra concert with Britten’s “Four Sea Interludes,” which musically described England’s eastern coast so well that one could smell the salt air. Several outstanding concerts this year got their inspiration from the season’s theme, “Adoration of the Earth,” which borrows the title from Part I of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” to reflect our human connection with nature. The best individual programs also have a sort of logic of their own. Artists are booked a year or two in advance, and increasingly selected to represent a spectrum of backgrounds and specialties. ![]() Programming an 8 1/2-week music festival as broad and complex as Aspen’s requires a years-long effort. Robert Spano conducts Mahler’s Third Symphony. ![]()
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