Directed by long-time AMFS faculty member Jonathan Haas, the annual Percussion Ensemble recital offers an electrifying showcase featuring a dazzling array of instruments. Join the adventure as talented students and faculty members take you to a variety of sound-worlds.

EPSG:4326

A Recital by the Percussion Ensemble

Aspen Meadows Resort

Despite a reputation as a musical maverick, Ives had tastes that one might consider conservative. He was a big fan of Beethoven and Franck, but had a distaste for the important modernist composer Edgard Varèse.

Charles Ives & the American Tradition: Ives: Likes & Dislikes

Yale School of Music

Anna Murphy, Flute – Doctoral Solo Recital

University of Arizona

Recital: Wind Orchestra

SPCO concertmaster Steven Copes takes audiences on a deep dive into masterworks by four early 20th century composers, each distilling late-Romantic musical traditions into something fresh and modern. Arnold Schoenberg’s dramatic Chamber Symphony No. 1 for fifteen musicians condenses the symphonic language of Richard Wagner and Gustav Mahler into a colorful, action-packed thrill-ride. Maurice Ravel’s celebrated String Quartet in F Major and Richard Strauss’s Capriccio for string sextet, though no less modern, are lush and sentimental in contrast to Edgard Varèse’s Density 21.5 for solo flute played by SPCO flutist Alicia McQuerrey.

Express Concert: Musical Distillations with Steven Copes

Wooddale Church

Ted Mann Concert Hall

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts

The ASO’s first concert at the new David Geffen Hall focuses on music of composers who came of age in the 1920s. Chief among them was Edgard Varèse.

Varèse’s symphonic poem Arcana (1925-27) explores the mysterious and powerful nature of the constellations above. Varèse took his inspiration for the work from topics of alchemy and astrology—in particular, from writings by 16th-century physician and practicing astrologer Paracelsus. Upon opening the printed score, inscribed is a quote that muses, and then concludes as follows:

Edgard Varèse

Events

Upcoming events

Mar 23, 2025

Tapping into the Twenties · American Symphony Orchestra

Past events

Jul 29, 2024

A Recital by the Percussion Ensemble · Aspen Music Festival

Jul 5, 2024

Charles Ives & the American Tradition: Ives: Likes & Dislikes · Yale School of Music

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