ROARING FORK BROADCASTING COMPANY
The Aspen Music Festival and School is heading into the homestretch of its 75th annual summer season. The goal was to put together a season worthy of the diamond anniversary.
“We’re going big. You only turn 75 once,” said Patrick Chamberlain, AMFS vice president for artistic administration, at the season’s outset. “Everything’s just a little bit bigger this summer.”
According to Laura Smith, VP of Marketing and Communications for AMFS, the mark has been hit.
“This season has been the spectacular combination we hoped for of honoring our inspirational founding ideals and going global with the brilliance of today’s artists,” she said.
The Aspen Music Festival and School was founded in 1949 by Chicago businessman Walter Paepcke and his wife, Elizabeth Paepcke. The couple came to Aspen together in the spring of 1945 and created what is known as the “Aspen Idea” encapsulating “mind, body and spirit.”
“Walter had the idea of creating here, in this lovely valley, this beautiful, small village, which had slept from the time of the fall of the silver dollar to slumber like Sleeping Beauty,” Elizabeth Paepcke said in an interview with filmmaker Greg Poschman. “And it didn't wake up until Walter came.”
Walter Paepcke was enchanted by the area’s natural beauty. He envisioned Aspen as a place “for man’s complete life,” a place for physical recreation and a cultural hub for the arts, culture and intellect.
The Paepckes put the Aspen Idea into effect when they enlisted philosophers Robert Hutchins and Mortimer Adler to produce the 1949 Goethe Bicentennial Convocation and Music Festival — a 20-day cultural gathering to honor German poet and philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
The event was held in a tent in a meadow a couple miles from downtown Aspen, attracting 2,000 people. That same year, the Paepckes founded the Aspen Institute. The Aspen Music Festival and School was then a part of the institute.
In 1951, the school enrolled its first official class with 183 music students. That same year, Igor Stravinsky became the first conductor to present his own works with the festival.
Since then, AMFS has firmly established itself as one of the greatest teaching academies in the world. This year’s AMFS participation includes roughly 450 students from 40 states and 40 countries. Students spend the summer in Aspen performing in four orchestras, singing, conducting and composing music alongside some of the world’s greatest classical musicians.
One student this summer who didn’t need housing is Aspen High School graduate Daniel Jansen, Class of 2021, who is performing through August in the AMFS summer program. Jansen studies French horn performance at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music.
The 75th edition of AMFS started June 26. Led by AMFS Music Director Robert Spano, the theme of this year’s festival is “Becoming Who You Are,” and explores the impact the festival and school has had on the personal development of thousands of musicians. To commemorate the anniversary, over 20 AMFS alumni will perform throughout the festival.
“Our alumni have graced our stages and teaching studios all summer long, sharing their talent and their stories with students who are having their own formative experiences,” Smith said. “Whether it was violinist Joshua Bell, streamed live to five continents from the same stage on which he first played in an orchestra; or bassist Edgar Meyer, enthralling a sold-out house as well as his bass-student fans; or Renée Fleming, coaching a young soprano in the same role she debuted in Aspen in her own student days — the moving full-circle moments have kept coming all summer long.”
Five years ago, AMFS made a notable partnership with Theatre Aspen. On June 26, AMFS and Theatre Aspen produced a one-night-only production of “Fiddler on the Roof in Concert” that delighted the sold-out audience at The Klein Music Tent.
“Fiddler” is the fifth collaboration between Theatre Aspen and AMFS. Past productions include “South Pacific” in 2019; “The Music of Richard Rodgers” in 2021; “The Sound of Music in Concert” in 2022; and “Master Class” in 2023.
“One of the secrets of the Aspen Music Festival and School’s success for three-quarters of a century has been its commitment to constantly evolving its programming,” said Jed Bernstein, producing director of Theatre Aspen. “Our ‘Fiddler on the Roof in Concert’ collaboration this summer is a terrific example of this."
Another hallmark of this summer's season was Paris-based medici.tv streaming of five concerts to a global audience. Medici.tv has an audience of millions spanning five continents; it is known as the world’s premiere venue for broadcasting classical music, opera and ballet from the most prestigious festivals and concert halls around the world. It partners with festivals and institutions like the Verbier Festival, the Vienna Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall.
“Medici.tv truly only works with the best of the best and its production value is the highest. Joining the medici.tv network is a real acknowledgment of the level of work that goes on at the AMFS, and how important it is to the world of music. Particularly special is that some of the very top performers we feature are our former students, which brings extra depth to these streams in light of our 75th anniversary,” Smith said.
“Perhaps best of all, we can feel that this anniversary celebration will come to a close, not just with a sense of completion, but with a sense of launch,” Smith continued. “This special season has been a huge energizer around our core purpose and the value of music as a force for good in the world. Our founders, Walter and Elizabeth Paepcke, believed that. And this season illustrates, again, how true it is.
“I think we all will finish out this summer season feeling as good about the 75 years to come as we do about the past 75 that brought us to this point.”
