As a child prodigy, she was called “one in a million” by conductor Zubin Mehta. As a psychology student, she wrote a master’s thesis on pain. As an activist, she won the Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum at Davos and spoke before the U.N. As a performer, she is indomitable, playing dozens of concerts a year. The one and only Midori returns to Aspen for Bartók’s Second Violin Concerto. Bartók wrote the piece in 1938 as Hungary was forming an alliance with Nazi Germany, and it’s often heard as a musical farewell to his native land. The first movement has a dark, brooding atmosphere, the second a dreamy hypnotic character, and the finale is a virtuosic showcase for the soloist full of folk-inspired melodies and rhythmic twists and turns.

Pictures at an Exhibition, Mussorgsky’s homage to the artist Victor Hartmann, was originally written as a set of piano pieces depicting 11 of Hartmann’s works, with a theme representing the composer himself as he roved through the exhibition remembering his dear friend. The idea of orchestrating the work never occurred to Mussorgsky, but it has intrigued musicians ever since his death, inspiring arrangements for rock band, brass ensemble, acoustic guitar, massed accordions, and even a re-arrangement for solo piano by Vladimir Horowitz. Ravel’s version remains the most popular, and wins the prize for sheer orchestral brilliance and ingenuity.

Opening the program is Donghoon Shin’s Upon His Ghostly Solitude. Mahler and Berg are major influences on Shin’s music, and Musical America called it “powerful stuff, worth hearing again.”

Welcome back one of Aspen’s most illustrious alumnae and be swept away by the color and power of the orchestra in this varied program!