Golda Schultz to sing evocative program at Music Fest performance aspentimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from aspentimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Special to The Aspen Times
A piano soloist with the bona fides of Daniil Trifonov and a conductor with the stature of Vasily Petrenko figured to make Sunday’s Festival Orchestra program one of the high points of the Aspen Music Festival season. It was. They cut through a rainstorm that persisted through the entire concert to deliver an incendiary performance of Skryabin’s lurid Piano Concerto in F-sharp minor.
The rain started to fall on the Benedict Music Tent just as Petrenko gave the downbeat for the opener, composer Gabriela Lena Frank’s spicy 10-minute tone poem, Concertino Cosqueño. Although the skies did not clear until the concert ended an hour and a half later, the drumbeat on the tent mostly stayed in the background, allowing details of the music to reach an enthusiastic audience.
IF YOU GO …
Where: Benedict Music Tent and livestreaming
When: Friday, July 23, 5:30 p.m.
How much: $82
Tickets: aspenmusicfestival.com
More info: Reservations are no longer required for free lawn seating; the program includes a work by Samy Moussa, Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major and Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony
Conductor Gemma New and pianist Tengku Irfan first crossed paths onstage at the Benedict Music Tent eight years ago when both were students at the Aspen Music Festival and School. Now among the leading young lights in the international classical music world, the New Zealand-born conductor and Malaysian soloist are back on the stage as guest artists at the festival.
Staff report
The Aspen Music Festival and School will no longer limit the number of patrons on the Karetsky Music Lawn this summer, nor require free reservations, the festival announced Tuesday afternoon.
“The gates will remain open at all times,” reads the announcement. “Please come enjoy this wonderful amenity when and as you wish.”
The announcement cited the “ongoing low incident rate of COVID-19.” The festival had previously required online reservations for its Friday evening and Sunday afternoon symphonies along with select other popular events.
The festival also has reopened its lemonade stand for concessions during the Friday and Sunday concerts. It had previously been closed as a measure to discourage large groups from congregating.