The Aspen Chamber Symphony pulls out all the stops for its last concert of the season. There’s something for everyone: two extraordinary soloists, a beloved Romantic piano concerto, two fascinating and provocative works inspired by a love of the earth and concern for its future, and finally, one of the most colorful and thrilling orchestral scores of all time.

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Chamber Symphony: Bronfman and McDuffie, Firebird Suite

Aspen Meadows Resort

The season’s theme, “The Adoration of the Earth,” takes center stage with three works inspired by Nature.

Lili Boulanger was the first woman to win the prestigious Prix de Rome for music when she was only 19. Tragically, the bronchial pneumonia she contracted as a two-year-old resulted in chronic ill health, which limited her ability to meet the growing demand for her music, and ended her life at only 25. Shortly before her death, she wrote D’un matin de Printemps, a sweet and playful piece that belies the severity of her illness at the time.

Chamber Symphony: Brahms's Second Symphony

He started out as a clarinetist, but listening to Motown’s popular hits featuring the “cool-looking” saxophone made Steven Banks switch gears and dedicate himself to showcasing that instrument’s vast capabilities. Winner of the prestigious 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Banks is an advocate for expanding the saxophone repertoire. To that end, he commissioned a concerto from four-time Grammy winner Billy Childs and premiered it last February. This exciting new work combines jazz and 20th-century neoclassical traditions in a powerful synthesis of style, range, and dynamism.

Chamber Symphony: Mozart Symphony No. 39, Steven Banks

The AMFS is thrilled to welcome Matthias Pintscher, the brilliant composer, conductor and incoming Music Director of the Kansas City Symphony to the Benedict Tent stage. Joining him for Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto will be Yunchan Lim, the Van Cliburn winner who triumphed in Aspen last summer with a brilliant recital and has since conquered the world including a sold out run at the NY Philharmonic.

Program and Artist Change: Chamber Symphony: Rachmaninoff Third Piano Concerto

Based on Ann Patchett’s award-winning novel, Jimmy López Bellido’s opera Bel Canto depicts how something truly beautiful can spring from chaos and terror. With a principal role loosely inspired by noted soprano Renée Fleming who championed the work, the opera tells the story of what happens when a gathering of international dignitaries at Peru’s vice-presidential mansion turns into a hostage situation. Music becomes the universal language of this riveting story of humanity and redemption, inspired by real-life events. The Chicago Sun-Times has called Bellido "one of the most interesting young composers anywhere today." 

Jimmy López Bellido's Bel Canto

The New York Times praised him as “an imaginative interpreter with a powerful technique” and the Los Angeles Times called him “one of the more elegant and accomplished pianists on the planet.” Jorge Federico Osorio will bring his superb musicianship and deep passion to Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, one of the most beloved works of the genre. Full of both nobility and lyricism, the “Emperor” concerto was named by Beethoven’s English publisher. While the moniker certainly captures the music’s majesty and power, it’s hardly one the composer would have chosen, given his disgust with Napoleon, whom he called “a rascal like all the others.”

Chamber Symphony: Spano Conducts Beethoven's "Emperor"

“At every turn, he effortlessly communicates his delight in the music he leads,” raved the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of conductor Nicholas McGegan, whose effervescent concerts are always highlights of the season. Joining him is the Siberian-born violinist Maxim Vengerov, recognized as one of the world’s greatest string players. Claiming to have heard a performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto while still in the womb, the precocious Vengerov was taken at age 5 to meet a famous violin teacher. When she asked "Do you have strength in these hands,?" he punched her in the stomach as hard as he could. "Fortunately, she was in a good mood that day, and she accepted me as a student," he said later. Vengerov will play Mendelssohn’s flowingly lyrical Violin Concerto, a work full of beautiful tunes and a joyously vibrant finale. It’s no wonder this work has been an audience favorite since its premiere in 1845.

Aspen Chamber Symphony

Aug 18, 2023

Chamber Symphony: Bronfman and McDuffie, Firebird Suite

Aug 11, 2023

Chamber Symphony: Brahms's Second Symphony

Aspen Chamber Symphony