Aspen Music Festival and School announces 2025 summer season
Diego Redel/Courtesy photo
The Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) celebrates 76 years of performance and mentorship this summer, as more than 450 young artists from around the world come together, with artist-faculty and guests from the foremost orchestras and music schools nationwide, for nearly 200 public events.
The 2025 festival explores the theme “Concerning the Spiritual in Art,” inspired by Wassily Kandinsky’s book of the same title. It does so through works including “Siddhartha, She,” an AMFS co-commission from composer-in-residence Christopher Theofanidis and his longtime collaborator, librettist Melissa Studdard. The ritual music drama in seven tableaux is a centerpiece of the festival.
Other festival highlights include a fully staged production of Mozart’s “Così fan tutte,” marking Co-Artistic Director Renée Fleming’s directorial debut; an Opera Benefit headlined by mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard; the U.S. premiere of Thomas Adès’s “The Origin of the Harp,” which is another AMFS co-commission; world premieres of new AMFS co-commissions from Samuel Adams, Christopher Stark, and Max Vinetz; performances of recent AMFS co-commissions from Jasmine Barnes, Anna Clyne, Avner Dorman, Edgar Meyer, and Tyshawn Sorey; and a celebration of this year’s Boulez centennial with conductor David Robertson, a leading exponent of the composer’s work.
In Festival debuts, Davóne Tines performs a wide-ranging solo recital program, Pierre-Laurent Aimard plays site-specific Messiaen, Patricia Kopatchinskaja duets with Sol Gabetta; Enrique Mazzola leads “La bohème” in concert, and Stéphane Denève conducts Richard Strauss. Lang Lang and Patti LuPone both give mainstage solo recitals. Other returning favorites include conductors Vasily Petrenko and Xian Zhang, recitalists Conrad Tao and Alexander Malofeev, and orchestral soloists Yefim Bronfman, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Gil Shaham, and Alisa Weilerstein.
As in previous seasons, these events will all be presented over eight weeks, from July 2 to Aug. 24 in Aspen.
Alan Fletcher, who celebrates his 20th anniversary at the helm of AMFS, is the honoree of this season’s benefit, “A Feast of Music,” on Aug. 11.
Renée Fleming’s directorial debut and other operatic highlights
Now in her fifth season as co-artistic director of the Aspen Opera Theater & VocalARTS (AOTVA) program, Fleming makes her directorial debut with a fully staged new production of “Così fan tutte,” featuring AOTVA students under the baton of Co-Artistic Director Patrick Summers July 21, 23 and 27 at the Wheeler Opera House. The performance reimagines Mozart’s comedy in a 1980’s high school setting
Other operatic highlights include a festive Opera Benefit featuring three-time Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard on July 8. Leonard returns for a solo recital July 12. Bass-baritone Davóne Tines, whom The New Yorker’s Alex Ross credits with “changing what it means to be a classical singer,” also appears in recital, making his AMFS debut with a thoughtfully curated solo program featuring composers from J.S. Bach to Tyshawn Sorey and Caroline Shaw Aug 9.
In addition to weekly masterclasses, spotlight recitals, and other performance opportunities, this summer’s AOTVA students will participate in the festival’s first complete concert performance of Handel’s “Messiah,” given by Chicago’s Music of the Baroque chorus, the Aspen Festival Ensemble, and Jane Glover in Harris Concert Hall Aug. 6. Additionally, they’ll perform in “Siddhartha, She,” “Così fan tutte,” and a semi-staged production of Puccini’s “La bohème,” the latter of which features tenor Matthew Polenzani as Rodolfo under the leadership of conductor Enrique Mazzola in his festival debut Aug 19.
Boulez at 100 with David Robertson; Messiaen with Pierre-Laurent Aimard
This year marks the centennial of Pierre Boulez, and Robertson returns to conduct the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble on July 9 in an evening devoted to the great French avant-gardist, who until his death was a close friend and mentor of Robertson’s.
Another great interpreter of the modernist canon is Grammy-winning French pianist Aimard, who makes his AMFS debut with a recital of Boulez, Schoenberg, Messiaen, and Debussy July 30. Aimard then joins the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble for a performance of “Couleurs de la Cité Céleste” by Messiaen Aug. 2. He completes his Aspen residency with one of his signature, site-specific open-air performances of Messiaen’s birdsong-inspired magnum opus, “Catalogue d’oiseaux” Aug. 4.
Co-commissions from Adès, Clyne, Barnes, Dorman, Sorey, and more
The Aspen Chamber Symphony performs three major AMFS co-commissions, when conductor Marie Jacquot makes her Aspen debut with the U.S. premiere of “The Origin of the Harp,” a tone poem by contemporary musician Thomas Adès on July 5. Jeremy Denk performs “ATLAS,” a piano concerto by Grammy-nominee Anna Clyne, under the baton of Glover Aug. 8. AMFS assistant conductor Paul-Boris Kertsman leads “KINSFOLKNEM” by Emmy-winner Jasmine Barnes, whose concertante work showcases the talents of four of the nation’s leading Black woodwind principals: Anthony McGill and AMSF artist-faculty members Andrew Brady, Demarre McGill, and Titus Underwood July 11.
Six more AMFS co-commissions will be heard at Aspen this summer. Gil Shaham and Adele Anthony are the soloists in a new double concerto for violins and strings by International Opera Award finalist Avner Dorman on July 29. The American Brass Quintet performs a new piece by Pulitzer Prize laureate Tyshawn Sorey on July 23, and AMFS artist-faculty bassist Edgar Meyer performs his own new string trio with violinist Tessa Lark and cellist Joshua Roman on July 7. The remaining three co-commissions will all receive world premieres: the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble premieres new compositions by Guggenheim Fellows Samuel Adams on Aug. 16 and Christopher Stark on Aug. 23, and the Aspen Conducting Academy premieres a new piece by Max Vinetz, winner of Aspen’s 2024 Druckman Prize on Aug. 13.
Other new music highlights include performances of Matthias Pintscher’s “Assonanza by the Aspen Chamber Symphony, with Blake Pouliot as violin soloist under the composer’s leadership on July 25; “Adès’s Inferno Suite” by Robert Spano and the Aspen Festival Orchestra July 6; “Motherboxx Connection” from Carlos Simon’s Tales: A Folklore Symphony by the Aspen Conducting Academy on July 9; Stephen Hartke’s “Ship of State” by Timothy Weiss and the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, with Xak Bjerken on piano Aug 9; and of Grammy-winner Jessie Montgomery’s “Hymn for Everyone” by Xian Zhang and the Aspen Festival Orchestra July 27.
As in previous seasons, fresh music is interwoven throughout the Aspen summer. Led by Timothy Weiss, the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble performs works by prominent living composers and classics of the 20th century every Saturday, and new works are programmed on virtually every orchestral and recital program. Composition students study at Aspen’s Schumann Center for Composition Studies with Theofanidis, now in his 12th season as its co-director, and with Fletcher, Spano, and visiting composers. Those in attendance this summer include Nico Muhly, as well as Adams, Barnes, Clyne, Dorman, Hartke, Meyer, Montgomery, Sorey, Stark, and Vinetz.
Aspen Festival Orchestra and Aspen Chamber Symphony
The Aspen Festival Orchestra performs eight programs this summer. AMFS Music Director Robert Spano leads its opening and closing concerts. After leaning into the season’s spiritual theme with a program featuring both the “Inferno Suite” from Thomas Adès’s “Dante” and the “Good Friday Spell” from Wagner’s “Parsifal” on July 6, Spano draws the summer to a close with an uplifting pairing of Holst’s “The Planets” and Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto, for which he and the orchestra will be joined by powerhouse pianist Yefim Bronfman on Aug. 24.
Two French conductors make AMFS debuts with the orchestra this season. Distinguished maestro Stéphane Denève, music director of the St. Louis Symphony and artistic director of the New World Symphony, couples works by Jennifer Higdon and Tchaikovsky with Richard Strauss’s tone poem “An Alpine Symphony” Aug. 10. Denève’s compatriot Fabien Gabel, the newly appointed music director designate of Austria’s Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich, conducts a program featuring Ana María Martínez as the soprano soloist in Ravel’s orchestral song cycle “Shéhérazade” July 20. Other guest conducting highlights include a collaboration on Lutosławski’s Cello Concerto by two-time Grammy winner Ludovic Morlot and MacArthur Fellow Alisa Weilerstein on Aug. 17; Los Angeles Opera music director James Conlon leading his own arrangement of the Suite from Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” July 1); and Grammy-winner Zhang’s interpretation of Prokofiev’s Sixth Symphony July 27.
With seven concert programs, the Aspen Chamber Symphony is similarly active this summer. Ryan Bancroft, who holds positions as chief conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and principal conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, makes his AMFS debut with Nielsen’s Fourth Symphony, “The Inextinguishable,” and Ravel’s G-major Piano Concerto, featuring French pianist Lise de la Salle Aug. 1. Vasily Petrenko, music director of London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, leads works by Debussy, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and Saint-Saëns, with former BBC Young Musician of the Year Sheku Kanneh-Mason as the concerto soloist Aug. 15. Nicholas McGegan conducts Mozart and Beethoven symphonies July 11; guest conductors Marie Jacquot, Jane Glover, and Matthias Pintscher lead programs showcasing AMFS co-commissions and other recent works, as detailed above; and Spano conducts an all-English evening of Purcell, Elgar, and Vaughan Williams July 18.
Solo and chamber recitals: Lang Lang, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, and more
As always, the AMFS summer features a wealth of solo and chamber recitals. In addition to Aimard’s appearances, detailed above, this summer’s piano offerings include Schubert, Kabalevsky, and Shostakovich from Tchaikovsky Competition winner Alexander Malofeev on Aug. 16; Chopin, Schumann, and Fauré from Chinese superstar Lang Lang Aug. 5; Ravel’s complete piano works from Chopin Competition winner Seong-Jin Cho July 22; original compositions and arrangements from Tao July 2; transcriptions of classic film scores from Hollywood expert Scott Dunn Aug. 18; a festival debut from Tom Borrow July 16; and the return of Steven Osborne July 10, AMFS artist-faculty member Mikhail Voskresensky July 28, and Yefim Bronfman Aug. 14. Continuing a long-standing tradition, the AMFS will also be among the first to present the winner of this year’s Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in recital Aug. 7.
Three world-class violinists take part in duo recitals. Patricia Kopatchinskaja makes her festival debut alongside Argentine cellist Sol Gabetta, with more than three centuries of music on July 14; Grammy-winner Augustin Hadelich performs an all-American program with regular piano partner Orion Weiss Aug. 12; andFinnish polymath Pekka Kuusisto joins forces with renowned pianist-composer Nico Muhly for Muhly’s own music and more July 26. Other recital highlights include two-time Grammy winner Sharon Isbin on classical guitar Aug. 13 and a special program celebrating “A Life in Notes” with Tony-winning Broadway sensation Patti LuPone Aug. 22. The summer’s chamber lineup includes Schubert, Webern, and Brahms from the Brentano String Quartet July 19; Haydn, Schulhoff, and Dvořák from the Isidore String Quartet Aug. 23; Beethoven, Haydn, and Janáček from the Takács Quartet July 31; and performances by Edgar Meyer, Tessa Lark, Joshua Roman, and the American Brass Quintet, as detailed above.
Special event: ‘My Fair Lady’
Two special events help round out the summer season. Marking its sixth annual musical theater co-production with Theatre Aspen, AMFS presents a one-night-only concert performance of Lerner and Loewe’s “My Fair Lady,” led by eminent Broadway music director and conductor Andy Einhorn July 15.
For more information, visit aspenmusicfestival.com
