Classical music won’t be the only thing onstage this summer during the Aspen Music Festival’s 2007 edition, which opens June 21 and runs
through Aug. 19, with more than 350 concerts, master classes and discussions.
Titled “Blue Notes,” the festival’s 58th season will focus on jazz’s influence on the classical tradition, with stars such as trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and classical masterworks marked by the distinctively American musical style.
On June 26, Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra will join Odadaa!, a nine-piece ensemble of Ghanaian drummers and vocalists, to perform Marsalis’ “Congo Square,” a work inspired by a historic gathering spot in New Orleans.
Also on the lineup are such jazz-influenced works as Gershwin’s “An American in Paris,” June 27; George Antheil’s “A Jazz Symphony,” July 6; and “Rhapsody in Blue,” July 14.
In addition to crossing over stylistic boundaries, the festival is reaching out to other cultural organizations in Aspen, with presentations under its auspices and collaborations elsewhere.
“That’s going to be a highlight of what we do – harness the cultural-intellectual power of Aspen and put it in the service of music,” said Alan Fletcher, who took over as president and chief executive officer in March 2006.
Marsalis’ “Congo Square,” for example, will be presented in conjunction with Jazz Aspen Snowmass, and a discussion June 28 between the jazz notable and a yet-to-be- named American intellectual will be co-sponsored by the Aspen Institute.
Related events outside the festival include the Aspen Writers’ Foundation’s literary festival, “Africa: The Origin of Stories,” featuring Wole Soyinka, a winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and a presention of contemporary African cinema by Aspen Film.
“We’re not calling that a minifestival, but in effect it is,” Fletcher said. “It’s a very dazzling minifestival on the impact of African culture on contemporary America.”
In addition, the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, a 10-member company that tours internationally, will make its first appearance at the festival on July 16.
“This is one of the great regional companies in America, and we had never worked with them, so it just seemed natural to invite them to the tent to do a first collaboration,” Fletcher said. “But we’re hoping in the future to commission both new music and choreography with the ballet.”
The festival also hopes to team at some point with the Anderson Ranch Arts Center and Aspen Art Museum, perhaps even collaborating on performance art and installations.
“I want us to stand for the future of music, not just the wonderful past,” Fletcher said.
At the same time the festival is pursuing these new initatives, Fletcher stressed that it also is respecting tradition.
“It will be possible to come to 30 concerts and hear all Tchaikovsky, Dvorak and Brahms, but it’s also possible to come and hear 30 things that will totally open up your experience of classical music,” he said.
The festival is putting a bigger-than-usual emphasis on opera this year. Its three-production lineup at the Wheeler Opera House will include the American premiere of “Eliogabalo,” a long-lost work by 17th-century composer Francesco Cavalli.
In addition, it will present a semi-staged version of “Madama Butterfly”on Aug. 11 in the Benedict Music Tent with music director David Zinman and the Aspen Chamber Symphony.
Other notable programs include pianist Boris Berezovsky’s festival debut July 1 in Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, Nicholas Maw’s Violin Concerto July 29 with soloist Julia Fischer and the closing program Aug. 19 pairing “Carmina Burana” and Stravinsky’s “Symphony of Psalms.”
Season passes and single tickets are available by calling 970-925-9042 or visiting aspen musicfestival.com.
