No state can top Colorado when it comes to the parade of top-level conductors who display their talents each summer at classical-music festivals from Boulder to Durango.
This year offers an especially promising lineup. Consider some of the respected names who will be on podiums around the state:
Christoph Eschenbach – After establishing himself as a major concert pianist, he made his conducting debut in 1972 and has gone on to a lauded career. He will step down in 2007-08 after five seasons as music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, which he will lead July 7 and 8 at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival.
Lorin Maazel – Some critics quibble with the originality of his interpretations, but few if any living conductors can match the breadth of his accomplishments. The music director of the New York Philharmonic will conduct the orchestra on July 27 in Vail.
Andrew Davis – Since 2000, this top British maestro has served as music director of the Chicago Lyric Opera, one of this country’s top three companies. A frequent guest conductor with orchestras worldwide, he joins the New York Philharmonic in Vail on July 20-21.
Gerard Schwartz – Though a post with a premier international orchestra has eluded him, he has nevertheless enjoyed a multifaceted career, including 22 years as music director of the Seattle Symphony. He will take the podium of the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge on July 7.
Osmo Vänskä – Music director of the Minnesota Orchestra since 2003, he has embarked on a project to record all the Beethoven symphonies, and the initial releases have garnered considerable praise. An Aspen Music Festival regular, he will lead the Aspen Festival Orchestra on July 1.
But that’s hardly all. Other notable maestros who will make appearances across the state include Michael Christie, James Conlon, Jane Glover, Hans Graf, Leonard Slatkin and Patrick Summers.
Here is a look at 10 other notable concerts this summer:
Emerson String Quartet, Aspen Music Festival. June 23. The world-renowned ensemble will give just the second performance of “Terra Memoria,” a new work by Finnish-born Kaija Saariaho, one of the more innovative and respected composers in the world. Her much-praised opera, “L’Amour de Loin (Love From Afar),” received its American premiere at the Santa Fe Opera in 2002.
Colin Currie, percussion, Colorado Music Festival, Boulder. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1976, Currie was selected as a BBC New Generation Artist for 2003-05. He will perform a chamber concert and then join the festival orchestra in Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto June 28-29.
Olga Kern, piano, Strings in the Mountains. June 28. The co-winner of the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition has become something of a regular in Colorado. She will headline Strings’ classical offerings in Steamboat Springs this summer and appear a day earlier with the Rochester (N.Y.) Philharmonic in Vail.
Joyce Yang, pianist, Aspen Music Festival. July 5. Yang, silver medalist at the 2005 Van Cliburn competition, will perform this recital in Aspen and a chamber concert with pianist Joseph Kalichstein on July 12. She also will appear July 7 in Salida and serve as soloist July 26 in Vail for the Grieg Piano Concerto with the New York Philharmonic.
Philadelphia Orchestra, Eschenbach, conductor, Marisol Montalvo, soprano, Vail Valley Music Festival. July 7. The legendary orchestra makes its debut in Vail for an eight-day residency, which runs through July 14 and includes six concerts.
Kathleen Battle, soprano, Aspen Music Festival. July 14. Battle returns to the spotlight, performing a group of Gershwin songs as part of a benefit concert with conductor David Zinman and the Aspen Chamber Symphony. Also featured will be “Rhapsody in Blue” with pianist Jon Kimura Parker.
New York Philharmonic, Davis, conductor, Measha Brueggergosman, soprano, Vail Valley Music Festival. July 20. The philharmonic, returning to Vail for the fifth year, has become something of an old friend. Its eight-day stay will include the July 25 premiere of a work by Kevin Puts, the festival’s 2007 composer-in-residence.
Aspen Festival Orchestra, Conlon, conductor, Kristine Jepson, mezzo-soprano, Aspen Music Festival. July 22. One of the world’s premier conductors offers his take on one of Mahler’s most revered works – the Symphony No. 6 in A minor, “Tragic.”
Anne Akiko Meyers, violin, Music in the Mountains, Durango. July 25. This well-regarded young soloist will make four appearances under the auspices of this southwest Colorado festival, beginning with a chamber concert in Pagosa Springs that includes a duet with pianist Aviram Reichert.
Ingrid Fliter, piano, Aspen Music Festival. Aug. 9. Since she won the prestigious Gilmore Artist Award in 2006, the once under-appreciated soloist’s star has risen quickly. She will make her Colorado debut this summer, performing twice in Aspen and making an appearance Aug. 11 in Salida.
