From the beginning, Aspen has been a place to create and experiment, and legions of young composers have found inspiration as students in Aspen. Be one of the first to hear these recently composed works, many written by recent AMFS alumni, artist-faculty, and visiting composers, all co-commissioned by the AMFS. If you’re lucky, you may run in to the composer at the concert!
Joel Thompson’s To See the Sky (Friday, June 28)
An orchestral work partly inspired by the last line of N.K. Jemisin’s science-fantasy novel The Fifth Season: “Have you ever heard of something called the moon?” Thompson is an AMFS alumnus and the 2017 Hermitage Prize winner.
Alan Fletcher’s Three American Songs (Sunday, June 30)
World premiere of classic folk tunes set for orchestra by AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher, featuring superstar soprano and AMFS alumna Renée Fleming.
Matthew Aucoin’s Music for New Bodies (Monday, July 1)
With text inspired by poet Jorie Graham and environmentalist Rachel Carson, this new song cycle created by Aucoin and legendary director Peter Sellars has been called “an immersion in vast planetary processes.
Jessie Montgomery’s Concerto Grosso (July 6)
The acclaimed composer is known for her skillful interweaving of classical music with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, poetry, and social consciousness. Her new work, Concerto Grosso, opens this Chamber Music recital.
Isabella Gellis’s New Work (Wednesday, July 10)
World premiere of a new work by 2023 Druckman Prize Winner Isabella Gellis.
Conrad Tao’s New Work (Monday, July 15)
A companion piece to Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue which Tao performs on the same program. Aspen audiences are often lucky to be the first to see the eight-year AMFS alumnus premiere his own compositions.
African Queens: A Recital by Karen Slack soprano and Kevin Miller piano (Wednesday, August 7)
Soprano Karen Slack brings her program “African Queens,” a vocal recital celebrating the legacy of seven fierce African Queens little-known in the West, including an original song cycle and a work by Joel Thompson, co-commissioned by the AMFS.
Anders Hillborg’s Viola Concerto (Saturday, August 10)
New viola concertos are few and far between, so when done right—like Hillborg’s Viola Concerto—they leave a seriously strong positive impression. This work has been described as “captivating,” “texturally complex,” and “the highlight of the evening” in a review of a 2021 performance by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
Christopher Theofanidis’s Flute Concerto (Friday, August 16)
AMFS Composer-in-Residence Christopher Theofanidis wrote this technically impressive and lyrically captivating concerto specifically for the beloved and illustrious flutist Marina Piccinini, who will perform it on the final Aspen Chamber Symphony concert.
Augusta Read Thomas’s ABRACADABRA (Saturday, August 17)
World premiere of a new work by AMFS alumna Augusta Read Thomas, who is known for her nuanced, majestic, elegant, capricious, lyrical, and colorful. Says Thomas, "Music for me is an embrace of the world – a way to open myself up to being alive in the world in my body, in my sounds, and in my mind."