United States Aspen Music Festival [8]: Harris Concert Hall, Klein Music Tent, Aspen, (HS)
13.8.2026, Recital: Giovanni Andrea Zanon (violin), Tony Siqi Yun (piano). Harris Concert Hall
Tartini, arr. Kreisler – Violin Sonata in G minor, ‘Devil’s Trill’
Schubert – Sonatina for Violin and Piano in D major, ‘Ständchen’
Brahms – Violin Sonata No.3 in D minor
Wieniawski – Polonaise Brillante No.1 in D major
Italian violinist Giovanni Andrea Zanon and Canadian pianist Tony Siqi Yun introduced themselves to Aspen with a high-energy recital. Zanon bent his body with the music like a rock musician, lavishing hyper-shifts in dynamics alone with impressively executed virtuosic phrases. What it wasn’t was subtle, and it overshadowed Yun’s supple piano playing which kept up with the violinist beat by beat and achieved its own expressions when called upon.
That worked well for Kreisler’s expanded version of Tartini’s ‘Devil’s Trill’ Sonata, with Kreisler’s complex cadenza thrown in for good measure. Schubert’s Sonatina in D major, written early in the composer’s career with a distinctly Mozart-like cast, bounced along with crispness.
A surprisingly extra-sentimental and often loud treatment of Schubert’s late-in-life song ‘Ständchen’ missed the serenade style, and Brahms’s Violin Sonata in D minor went over the top. Parts of it were thrilling, but heavy-handed phrasing often buried the piece’s elegance. Wieniawski’s 5-minute Polonaise Brillante No.1 appropriately stomped – that is what Polonaises do. It seemed like a programmed encore but a repeat of ‘Ständchen’ is what they played.
14.8.2026, Various: Gil Shaham (violin), Orli Shaham (piano), Aspen Chamber Orchestra / David Robertson (conductor). Klein Music Tent
R. Strauss – Serenade for Winds in E-flat major
Reena Esmail – Double Concerto (AMFS Co-Commission)
Encore: Esmail – ‘surfacing’
Brahms – Symphony No.2 in D major
The anticipation at Friday’s Chamber Symphony concert was for the first Aspen performance of a new double concerto that Reena Esmail composed for brother-and-sister violinist Gil and pianist Orli Shaham. But it was the second half, Brahms’s Symphony No.2, that stole the show, thanks to extraordinarily apt conducting by David Robertson (who happens to be Orli’s husband). The Brahms shone from the beginning, radiating sonorities, finding pulses and rising to a finely formed climax. Kudos to principal horn Kevin Rivard for one stellar solo after another.
Esmail, born in India, built the 25-minute concerto (co-commissioned by the festival) around several Hindustani ragas (a sort of scale or mode) for Western instruments. It had some lovely moments but became excessively repetitive. More problematic, the visible labors of the two soloists only sporadically penetrated the dense textures of the orchestration. Robertson clearly tried but appropriate balances were hard to find. A longtime fan of Hindustani music, I missed the tabla obbligatos that are so integral to most raga performances. A few rattles from those drums would have helped cut through the sameness.
The charming encore ‘surfacing’, also by Esmail, better emphasized the virtuosity of the Shahams and their ability to phrase subtly.
15.8.2026, Chamber Music. Harris Concert Hall
Melinda Wagner – Unsung Chordata [David Krauss (trumpet), Aspen Contemporary Ensemble / Ken Yanagisawa (conductor)]
Fauré – Piano Quartet No.2 in G minor [Alexander Kerr (violin), Victoria Chiang (viola), Michael Mermagen (cello), Anton Nel (piano)]
Avner Dorman – Sextet [Kevin Cobb (trumpet), Kathleen Winkler (violin), Stephen Wyrczynski (viola), Darrett Adkins (cello), Timothy Pitts (double bass), Orli Shaham (piano)]
This was one of the most satisfying Saturday afternoon chamber music programs, with two quirky contemporary pieces around Fauré’s energetic Piano Quartet No.2.
The Aspen Contemporary Ensemble’s cheeky run-through of Melinda Wagner’s Unsing Chordata, the quirky tale of a pufferfish, opened the proceedings, conducted by Ken Yanagisawa. Percussionist Xin Yi Chong was kept tunefully busy. An ensemble headed by pianist Orli Shaham and trumpet soloist Kevin Cobb blazed through Avner Dorman’s Sextet, which threatened to run off the rails several times, and topped things off with rhythmic vitality.
Between the Wagner and Dorman, Alexander Kerr (violin), Victoria Chang (viola) and Michael Mermagen (cello), who have long associations with pianist Anton Nel, gave the Fauré a lovely sense of common intention.
15.8.2026, Glass, J.S. Bach – Simone Dinnerstein (piano), Aspen Music Festival Ensemble. Harris Concert Hall
Philip Glass/Michael Riesman – Suite from The Hours (arr. Michael Riesman); Piano Concerto No.1, ‘Tirol’
J. S. Bach – Keyboard Concerto No.2 in E major
Conducting an 11-piece string orchestra from the piano on Saturday in Davies Concert Hall, Simone Dinnerstein led Bach’s E-major concerto alongside Glass’s Concerto No.1, and the pairing worked big-time. Both concertos use the same string ensemble to back three movements, fast in first and third around a slower movement that actually goes rather briskly.
The Bach generated smile-inducing momentum and required true virtuosity at the keyboard, which Dinnerstein provided. Her Bach is not fussy: it drives. The ensemble seemed to be having fun in both concertos too, especially when the finale of the Glass concerto kept devolving into boogie-woogie. There were arpeggios galore from both composers – differently built but still there.
In her 2018 album Circles, Dinnerstein packaged Bach’s G-minor concerto with Philip Glass’s Concerto No.3. She heard the way both composers relied on repetition and small phrases that created a sense of forward motion and counted on rhythm to bring it all together.
Michael Riesman’s suite for harp, celesta, strings and piano from the Glass score for the 2002 film The Hours opened the concert with a glow from the score’s post-minimalist colors.
16.8.2026, Various: Alexander Malofeev (piano), Aspen Festival Orchestra / Delyana Lazarova (conductor). Klein Music Tent
Barber – Medea’s Meditationæ and Dance of Vengeance
Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto No.4 (1941 version)
Shostakovich – Symphony No.5 in D minor
Encore: Purcell – Ground in C minor
Bulgarian-born Delyana Lazarova, who topped the class as a conducting student in Aspen and now is principal guest conductor of both the Utah and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestras, showed her no-nonsense podium leadership in the opener, Barber’s Medea’s Meditationæ and Dance of Vengeance. Then her take on Shostakovich’s Symphony No.5 let it fly. Every phrase, every crescendo, every climax had meaning. A slow movement seldom had more yearning than that one. There were multiple stars in the orchestra, especially principal horn Alexander Kienle, bassoonist Joshua Elmore and timpanist Edward Stephan (really, the whole percussion section). The last pages hit the jackpot with sterling sound from the brass and an appropriately overcharged mood.
Lazarova made an arresting orchestral frame for Russian pianist Alexander Malofeev in his first go at Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.4. Malofeev has the necessary technical brilliance but also found subtleties to bring out unexpected layers in the music. The concerto relies more on energy than finesse, and he and Lazarova made it feel like a personal tour of Rachmaninoff’s piano-centric mind.
Purcell’s Ground in C minor, a favorite Malofeev encore, can sound simple but his graceful pace highlighted subtleties of touch and delicate rhythms that were almost mystical.
Harvey Steiman
Featured Image: SImone Dinnerstein conducts Bach from the piano in Aspen © Diego Redel