Welcome the return of one of the greatest conductors of our time and hear the symphony that Neil Armstrong brought with him on the way to the moon in 1969!

Multiple Grammy award-winning conductor and AMFS alumnus Leonard Slatkin begins this concert with his own Schubertiade: An Orchestral Fantasy—a 21st century reimagining of the musical soirees that Schubert hosted during his brief life. You’ll hear familiar snippets from Schubert’s works along with mashups influenced by more recent composers.

Joan Tower’s Love Returns began as a simple piano piece she wrote in memory of her husband of 50 years. The current piece is a saxophone concerto which expands one of the themes from that original work. Co-commissioned by the Aspen Music Festival and School, it features the incomparable Steven Banks.

Long before “world music” became popular, Dvořák composed his ever-popular “New World” Symphony, which Leonard Bernstein described as “truly multinational in its foundations.” Drawing on rhythms from his native Bohemia and inspired by the indigenous melodies and wide-open spaces of the United States, Dvořák created an enduring masterpiece which was an immediate triumph at its 1893 Carnegie Hall premiere.