United States Aspen Music Festival 2026 [4]: Wheeler Opera House, Harris Concert Hall, Klein Music Tent, Aspen. (HS)
20.7.2026, Britten, A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Soloists, Orchestra of Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS / Jane Glover (conductor), Colorado Children’s Chorale / Emely Crile (chorus master). Wheeler Opera House
The best thing about last week’s Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream was the music. Jane Glover’s masterful conducting drew consistently apt sonorities and phrasing. Star countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo’s vocal beauty and stature as Oberon, the king of the fairies, paid dividends in scene after scene.
Simon Godwin (artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC) chose to portray the characters in 1960s counterculture garb, reasoning that if actors in Shakespeare’s own theater wore everyday clothing, why not dress everyone around the time Britten’s opera debuted in 1960? Never mind that hippies didn’t arrive until several years later.
That worked well for Puck, in the sort of fancy military outfit Mick Jagger wore at the time, and Max Chlumecky played the role with appropriate sass and taut rhythmic speech. The four lovers looked oddly like Archie and Veronica (remember them from the comics?).
Acts I and II in Monday’s first performance came up short on the elements of magic, more a matter of presence than props. Act III made up for it, starting with a glorious lovers’ quartet and climaxing with a zany ‘play’ that got plenty of laughs.
Production:
Director – Simon Godwin
Sets and Costumes – Heather C. Freedman
Choreographer – Jonathan Goddard
Lighting – Josh Hemmo
Cast:
Oberon – Anthony Roth Costanzo
Tytania – Fantine Douilly
Puck – Max Chlumecky
Lysander – Jason Garcia-Kakuk
Hermia – Dana Mays
Demetrius – Jason Edelstein
Helena – Nicole DiPasquale
Theseus – Jacob O’Shea
Hippolyta – Emily Kondrat
Bottom – Jamie Felix-Toll
Flute – Stefán Víkingur
Starveling – Yilin Chen
Snug – S Joshua Sheppard
Quince – Christopher Markgraf
Snout – Owen Connolly
22.7.2026, Various: Daniil Trifonov (piano). Harris Concert Hall
Taneyev – Prelude and Fugue in G-sharp minor
Prokofiev – Mimoletnosti (Visions fugitives)
Myaskovsky – Sonata No.2 in F-sharp minor
R. Schumann – Piano Sonata No.1 in F-sharp minor
Encores: Santaolalla – ‘The Last of Us’; Fernandez – ‘Suave Aclanto’
The encores to Trifonov’s recital on Wednesday were esoteric and stunningly elegant. First up was the pianist’s own arrangement of the theme from the video game and TV show The Last of Us, the left hand damping and plucking inside the piano for magical effects. Lorenzo Fernandez’s ‘Suave Aclanto’ was like an exotic lullaby to close the evening.
The recital was a resounding success, especially considering that the program consisted of three Russian pieces from the 1910s which are unfamiliar to most audiences and a Robert Schumann sonata that doesn’t let up in intensity. Despite the level of complexity and technical challenges, it all made sense.
Trifonov opened by diving into Taneyev’s Prelude and Fugue in G-sharp minor before sliding quickly into all 18 of Prokofiev’s miniatures in Visions fugitives, finishing with Myaskovsky’s Sonata in F-sharp minor, the latter a barnburner that mounts to a big climax. After intermission, Schumann’s Sonata No.1 in F-sharp minor, though written 75 years earlier, came off almost as modern.
23.7.2026, Various: Maria Dueñas (violin), Eric Lu (piano). Harris Concert Hall
Schubert – Sonata in A major, ‘Grand Duo’
Mozart – Violin Sonata in E minor
Brahms – Violin Sonata No.3 in D minor
Encore: R. Strauss – ‘Morgen’
A recital like that is a tough act to follow, and violinist Maria Dueñas and Eric Lu, two popular young soloists, got through sonatas by Schubert, Mozart and Brahms without incident but somehow never quite found the music’s essence. Better was the encore, a lovely arrangement of a Richard Strausss song, ‘Morgen’.
24.7.2026, Mozart: Michael Rusinek (clarinet), William Yeh (violin), Aspen Chamber Symphony / James Conlon (conductor). Klein Music Tent
Mozart – Symphony No.29 in A major, Clarinet Concerto in A major, Adagio in E major, Symphony No.38 in D major, ‘Prague’
Whether or not turning Thursday through Saturday into a sort of Mozart oasis was intentional, it delivered some lovely performances, along with evidence that playing Mozart’s familiar music may not be as easy as the simple melodies make it seem. The centerpieces were conductor James Conlon’s all-Mozart program on Friday evening with the Aspen Chamber Symphony and Saturday’s mostly Mozart efforts featuring pianist Emmanuel Ax and an ad hoc orchestra.
Solos were the highlights on Friday in the music tent. Clarinetist Michael Rusinek, a faculty stalwart, delivered an eloquent and elegant Clarinet Concerto in A major, especially the dreamy, softly glowing Adagio. Young violinist William Yeh (last year’s violin trophy winner) brought out the soulfulness in the seldom-heard Adagio in E major.
The two symphonies on the program bounced along nicely, even if No. 29 seemed to go at the same pace in all four movements (and suffered from some horn bobbles). No. 38 (the ‘Prague’) valued power over elegance.
25.7.2026, Mozart, Shaw: Emmanuel Ax (piano), Aspen Ensemble / Robert Spano, Ken Yanagisawa (conductors). Harris Concert Hall
Mozart – Overture to La clemenza di Tito, Piano Concerto No.17 in G major, Piano Concerto No.25 in C major
Caroline Shaw: Entr’acte
Encore: Schubert/Liszt – ‘Ständchen’
Ax played two Mozart concertos on his program Saturday in Harris Hall, and the winner by far was No.25 in C major. The springy Mozart touch was there, and his phrasing made the melodic lines glow. Conductor Robert Spano coaxed more life into the orchestra in this one than he was able to get in the G major No.17. Even better was the encore, Liszt’s piano arrangement of Schubert’s ‘Ständchen’, the delicate decorations adding to a serene presentation of the song.
Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte, a 10-minute modernistic take on the classical minuet, spiked her usually impish style with detours into chaos. Just when everything was humming along nicely, dissonant chords or punchy squeals in the strings threatened to overturn the cart, only to find a way out.
26.7.2026, Various: Daniil Trifonov (Piano), Aspen Festival Orchestra / Dima Slobodeniouk (conductor). Klein Music Tent
Copland – Quiet City
Glazunov – Piano Concerto No.2 in B major
Varèse – Amériques
Ravel – La valse
Encore: Golijov (arr. Grau) – ‘Levante’ from La Passion según San Marcos
Sunday’s Festival Orchestra program was full of contrasts. There was the tranquility of Copland’s Quiet City, with placid solos on English horn by J. D. Uchal and on trumpet by Anthony Limoncelli, versus the cacophony of Varèse’s salute to 1920s New York, Amériques. In Ravel’s La valse, Russian-Finnish conductor Dima Slobodeniouk emphasized the breakdown of the Viennese waltz from the beginning rather than waiting for the crashing collapse in the final measures.
For all that gripping music, it was pianist Daniil Trifonov’s highly energized approach to Glazunov’s Piano Concerto No.2 that made the biggest impression, a deep dive into Slavic music and beautifully decorated pianism. Still strutting his stuff, Trifonov jumped played an extraordinary encore – an Argentine-rhythmic and virtuosic jazzy arrangement by Gonzalo Grau of ‘Levante’ (a fantasy on a chorus from Osvaldo Golijov’s La Passión según San Marcos), part of a concert version for piano and orchestra written for Trifonov.
Harvey Steiman
Featured Image: Clarinettist Michael Rusinek plays Mozart with James Conlon and the Aspen Chamber Orchestra © Diego Redel