Aspen Music Festival and School Announces 2027 Winter Music Recital Series

NEW “Living Room” format seats audiences on the Harris Concert Hall stage to experience the artists and music up close (Feb. 16).
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MacArthur Fellow and AMFS alumnus Jeremy Denk returns for an evening of sweeping Beethoven piano sonatas (Mar. 12).
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Tickets on sale: Wednesday, December 16, 2026 at 12 PM MT

ASPEN, Colorado — The Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) announces its 2027 Winter Music Recital Series, featuring three exceptional evenings of chamber music and piano repertoire in the acoustically pristine Harris Concert Hall. From an intimate, living-room-style concert experience to an exploration of Romantic violin sonatas and a sweeping musical journey through Beethoven’s piano sonatas, the series brings internationally celebrated artists to Aspen for a winter season of extraordinary music.

The 2027 series opens with a new concert format, inviting audiences onto the Harris Concert Hall stage for an up-close chamber music experience with the acclaimed Isidore String Quartet. AMFS Vice President of Marketing and Communications Laura Smith says, “For decades some of our most popular events have been small concerts in private homes. They create a rare, unparalleled intimacy with the music and the artists. This new on-stage format gives everyone the chance to gather together with the artists as they share the music they love in a way that’s up close and personal.”

The other two recitals resume with standard concert hall seating, showcasing the artistry of violinist Benjamin Beilman and pianist Steven Osborne, followed by the return of pianist and AMFS alumnus Jeremy Denk for the series finale.

The Winter Music Recital Series will be the first concert presentations with new AMFS Munroe President and CEO Meghan Umber at the helm. Says Umber, “I am immensely looking forward to being a part of these events in the exquisite Harris Concert Hall and to having the pleasure of meeting longtime music lovers there. The opportunity to bring world-class music to Aspen during the winter months further animates the cultural spirit of our remarkable community. I hope to have the opportunity to greet many of you in person before and after the performances.”

Full event details below. High-resolution images available upon request. Programs and artists subject to change. All recitals are at 6:30 PM MT in Harris Concert Hall.

2027 WINTER MUSIC RECITAL SERIES

Mozart, Beethoven, and Beyond with the Isidore Quartet
Tuesday, February 16, 2027 | 6:30 PM | Harris Concert Hall

NEW! Living-Room-Style Concert Experience: For this performance, audiences are invited to experience chamber music from an entirely new perspective with onstage seating in Harris Concert Hall. Gather just steps from the musicians for a rare, living-room-style encounter with the quartet, offering an opportunity to hear every note, nuance, and musical conversation up close.

The Isidore Quartet launches the Winter Music Recital Series with a program that features Mozart’s String Quartet in D major, K. 575; Billy Childs’s String Quartet No. 4, "American Mosaic"; and Beethoven’s String Quartet in E minor, op. 59, no. 2, "Razumovsky."

The Chicago Classical Review hails the Isidore Quartet as “one of the finest young chamber groups on today’s music scene.” Winners of the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022 and recipients of an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2023, the quartet has established itself as one of the most exciting young ensembles on the international chamber music scene.

Three Romances and More with Beilman and Osborne
Tuesday, March 2, 2027 | 6:30 PM | Harris Concert Hall

Violinist Benjamin Beilman and pianist Steven Osborne come together for an evening of intimacy, color, and lyricism, exploring the rich musical connections between German Romanticism and the French tradition.

Hailed by the Philadelphia Inquirer as “poised and monstrously talented,” Beilman joins Osborne, whose artistry has been described as “of a very rare order,” for a program featuring Clara Schumann’s expressive Three Romances and Brahms’s beloved Violin Sonata No. 1 in G major. The evening continues with Lili Boulanger’s atmospheric Deux Morceaux pour Violon et Piano before culminating in Franck’s radiant Violin Sonata in A major, a cornerstone of the French repertoire that combines sweeping Romanticism with distinctive French elegance.

The Arc of Beethoven’s Genius with Pianist Jeremy Denk
Friday, March 12, 2027 | 6:30 PM | Harris Concert Hall

Pianist, writer, and MacArthur Fellow Jeremy Denk brings the 2027 Winter Music Recital Series to a memorable close with a program tracing the evolution of musical expression across more than two centuries.

Hailed by The New York Times as “a pianist you want to hear no matter what he performs,” Denk pairs Beethoven’s youthful Piano Sonata No. 4 in E-flat major with the profound Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, op. 111, Beethoven’s final piano sonata. Denk has described Opus 111 as one of the “most profound musical journeys to infinity ever made.”

The program also shines a light on the remarkable work of Hélène de Montgeroult, an influential but long-overlooked composer and piano pioneer, alongside contemporary composer Unsuk Chin’s virtuosic Six Piano Études.

An alumnus of the Aspen Music Festival and School, Denk returns to the place where his own musical journey took shape for an evening celebrating the extraordinary possibilities of the piano and the enduring genius of Beethoven.

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Press Contact:
Jessica Moore
Senior Director of Marketing and Global Communications
970-205-5075 | jmoore@aspenmusic.org

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ABOUT THE ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL

The AMFS is the United States’ premier classical music center for performance and education, presenting more than 400 musical events during its eight-week summer season in Aspen. The organization draws top classical musicians from around the world for a rich combination of performances of orchestral works, opera, chamber music, recitals, contemporary music, works by new or previously unrecognized voices, popular genres, family events, and talks, competitions, and classes.

About 500 music students from 40 U.S. states and 40 countries come each summer to play in four orchestras, sing, conduct, compose and study with more than 100 artist-faculty members who come from the orchestras of Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Dallas, the Metropolitan Orchestra, and the leading conservatories and music schools like The Juilliard School, The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, and The Colburn School. Students represent the field’s best talent; many have already begun their professional careers, and others are on the cusp.

The AMFS is deeply committed to community and many events are free, including seating outside the Music Tent on the David Karetsky Music Lawn and in the Kaye Music Garden. Regular livestreams are free anywhere in the world. The AMFS also runs music programs in-school and after-school at most schools in the Roaring Fork Valley.

Renowned alumni include violinists Joshua Bell, Sarah Chang, Midori, Gil Shaham, and Robert McDuffie; pianists Joyce Yang, Orli Shaham, Conrad Tao, Yuja Wang, and Wu Han; conductors Marin Alsop, James Conlon, Leonard Slatkin and Joshua Weilerstein; composers William Bolcom, Philip Glass, David Lang, Augusta Read Thomas, Bright Sheng and Joan Tower; vocalists Isabel Leonard, Jamie Barton, Sasha Cooke, Danielle de Niese, Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw and Tamara Wilson; cellist Alisa Weilerstein; guitarist Sharon Isbin; bassist Edgar Meyer; and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

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