Santa Fe Opera
When: 29 June – 25 August Where: Santa Fe, New Mexico Tel: 800-280-4654 Web: www.santafeopera.org
After last season’s headline-drawing premiere of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, Santa Fe Opera sticks to the theme of invention. Among the five productions is John Adams and Peter Sellars’s Doctor Atomic, the 2005 opera about the atom bomb whose actual development took place in nearby Los Alamos (itself worth a visit). It stars bass-baritone Ryan Mckinney as J Robert Oppenheimer. The 2018 season opens with Bernstein’s Candide in a new production by Laurent Pelly. Also planned are Rossini’s The Italian Girl in Algiers, Puccini’s Madam Butterf ly and Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos.
Santa Fe Opera has a cultural profile enjoyed by few US opera companies. Users of the website Tripadvisor rank it number one on a list of things to see – above the many historic buildings and natural wonders that dot the region – and it’s easy to understand why. Perched on a hilltop overlooking mountains and sky, Santa Fe ’s 2,128-seat amphitheatre has a dramatic profile normally associated with football or baseball stadiums.
Change is also coming to Santa Fe Opera. In February, the company introduced a new management ‘troika’ that divides administrative, artistic and musical responsibilities among three people: the Canadian Opera Company’s general director Alexander Neef will take up the newly created position of artistic director; conductor Harry Bicket will become music director; and Robert Meya has been promoted to general director.
Some challenges loom for Meya. Tesuque Pueblo, a Native American tribe, is planning to build a casino adjacent to the opera house, a development that could generate light and noise pollution and interfere with performances. Meya says he is hoping that the company can work things out with its neighbours. ‘Our goal is to have a symbiotic relationship,’ he told the Santa Fe New Mexican.
SANTA FE HIGHLIGHTS:
14 July – 16 August Adams Doctor Atomic; Ryan Mckinny (Robert Oppenheimer) et al, Santa Fe Opera Orchestra/matthew Aucoin
29 June – 25 August Bernstein Candide; Brenda Rae (Cunegonde) et al, Santa Fe Opera Orchestra/harry Bicket
28 July – 23 August Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos; Amanda Echalaz (The Prima Donna/ariadne) et al, Santa
Fe Opera Orchestra/james Ga gan
30 June – 24 August Puccini Madam Butterfly; Kelly Kaduce, Ana María Martínez (Cio-cio-san) et al, Santa Fe Opera Orchestra/john Fiore
21 July – 17 Aug Rossini The Italian
Girl in Algiers; Daniela Mack (Isabella), et al, Santa Fe Opera Orchestra/ Corrado Rovaris
Ravinia Festival
1 June – 17 September Highland Park, Illinois 847-266-5100 www.ravinia.org
Conductor Marin Alsop takes up a new post of musical ‘curator’ this year at Ravinia and will conduct several programmes of music by her mentor, Bernstein, including his Mass, his Jeremiah Symphony and Chichester Psalms. Other Alsop-led programmes feature Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut of Igor Levit in Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G. The Emerson, Juilliard and Takács String Quartets are among the featured chamber music groups.
HIGHLIGHTS:
14 July Beethoven Symphony No. 9; Bernstein Chichester Psalms; Tamara Wilson (soprano) et al, Chicago SO & Chorus/marin Alsop
28 July Bernstein Mass; Paulo Szot (baritone), Chicago Children’s Choir, Chicago So/marin Alsop
18 August Bernstein Slava!, Ravel Piano Concerto in G, Shostakovich Symphony No. 5; Igor Levit (piano), Chicago Symphony Orchestra/marin Alsop
Ojai Music Festival When: 7-10 June
Where: Ojai, California Tel: 805-646-2053 Web: www.ojaifestival.org
Thanks to heroic efforts of firefighters, the concert venues at this contemporary music festival escaped the wildfires that ravaged much of the region in December. The programming looks tantalising as the violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja assumes the rotating music director post. Joining her is the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, whose programmes include a ‘provocative staged concert’ of composers from Bach to Cage and an evening pairing ethereal works by Dowland and Mansurian.
HIGHLIGHTS:
8 June Music by Bach, Haydn, Ives, Cage and Kurtág, Beethoven Violin Concerto; Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin), Mahler Chamber Orchestra
9 June Dowland Lachrimae Antique, Lachrimae Amantis, Mansurian Four Serious Songs for Violin and Strings; JACK Quartet, Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin), Mahler Chamber Orchestra
10 June Music by Enescu, Ligeti et al; Moldovan folk music; Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Emilia Kopatchinski (violin), Viktor Kopatchinski (cimbalom)
Aspen Music Festival & School When: 28 June – 19 August
Where: Aspen, Colorado Tel: 970-925-9042 Web: www.aspenmusicfestival.com
‘Paris, City of Light’ is the theme of Aspen’s 70th season, bringing an extra serving of Debussy, Ravel, Fauré, Poulenc and other Frenchmen. Pianist Yuja Wang opens the festival in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and returns on 11 July to perform Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. Vocal ensemble Seraphic
Fire will lead a two-week educational programme and give a performance of Mozart’s Requiem (17 Aug). Operas include Rossini’s The Barber of Seville and Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann.
HIGHLIGHTS:
1 July Beethoven Piano Concerto
No. 1, Shostakovich Symphony No. 7; Yuja Wang (piano), Festival Orchestra/ Robert Spano
18 July Gabriela Lena Frank La Centinela y la Paloma, Stravinsky The Firebird (1919), Saint-saëns Violin Concerto No. 3; Jessica Rivera (soprano), violin competition winner (tba), Aspen Philharmonic/federico Cortese
19 August Wagner Die Walküre (scenes), Berlioz Symphonie fantastique; Tamara Wilson (soprano), Ryan Mckinney (tenor), Festival Orchestra/robert Spano
Caramoor Festival
When: 16 June – 29 July Where: Katonah, New York Tel: 914-232-1252 Web: www.caramoor.org
Under a new vice president of programming, Caramoor is adding extra spice to its familiar recipe of classical, folk, jazz and world music. At least two works will make use of the verdant gardens: John Luther Adams’s outdoor percussion extravaganza Inuksuit and Mozart’s opera La finta giardiniera (The Secret Gardener). The Verona Quartet is the ensemble-in-residence, premiering a new quartet by Julia Adolphe alongside works by Dvorák and Janácek. Also look for the Knights, the Kronos Quartet and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.
HIGHLIGHTS:
13 July Mozart La finta giardiniera; Ashley Kerr (Sandrina), et al, Grand Harmonie/geo rey Mcdonald
22 July Handel Atalanta; Sherezade Panthaki (Atalanta) et al, TENET, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra/ Nicholas Mcgegan
29 July Handel’s Ariodante and Alcina (selections); Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro (selections); Mozart Symphony No. 36; Susan Graham (mezzo), Orchestra of St Luke’s/bernard Labadie
Glimmerglass Festival
When: 7 July – 25 August Where: Cooperstown, New York Tel: 607-547-2255 Web: www.glimmerglass.org
Glimmerglass’s productions include Bernstein’s West Side Story, with Jerome Robbins’s original choreography; a new production of Janá ek’s The Cunning Little Vixen with bass-baritone Eric Owens; a Francesca Zambello production of Rossini’s Barber of Seville; and Kevin Puts’s opera Silent Night. As these run in rotation in the Alice Busch Opera Theater, a ‘Lounge’ series in a next-door pavilion will offer Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti and Stravinsky’s A Soldier’s Tale.
HIGHLIGHTS:
8 July – 25 August Janácek The Cunning Little Vixen; Eric Owens (The Forester) et al, Glimmerglass Festival Orchestra/ Joseph Colaneri
14 July – 25 August Rossini The Barber of Seville; Soloists, Glimmerglass Festival Orchestra/colaneri
15 July – 23 August Kevin Puts Silent Night; cast tba, Glimmerglass Festival Orchestra/nicole Paiement
Grand Teton Music Festival 3 July – 18 August
Teton Village, Wyoming 307-733-1128 www.gtmf.org
At the base of the majestic Teton Range in Jackson Hole, this festival features seven weekends of orchestra concerts, each with a noted soloist. They include violinist Leila Josefowicz, pianists Daniil Trifonov and Kirill Gerstein, cellist Johannes Moser, violinist Julian Rachlin and mezzo Kelley O’connor. Director Donald Runnicles will lead a concert performance of Bernstein’s West Side Story starring soprano Meechot Marrero and Broadway singer Jeff Kready.
HIGHLIGHTS:
6-7 July Copland Lincoln Portrait; Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 1, Kernis Invisible Mosaic III, Britten The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra; Daniil Trifonov (piano), Festival Orchestra/donald Runnicles
13-14 July Beethoven Symphony
No. 6; Adams Scheherazade.2; Leila Josefowicz (violin), Festival Orchestra/ Markus Stenz
10-11 August Mahler Symphony No. 3; Kelley O’connor (mezzo), Festival Orchestra/ Donald Runnicles
Tippet Rise
6 July – 8 September Fishtail, Montana www.tippetrise.org
A sculpture-adorned cattle ranch in rural Montana is the setting for this chamber festival, now in its third season. Weekend concerts take place in a barn-like, solarpowered concert hall, with a focus on pianists who this year include Yevgeny Sudbin, Jenny Chen, Jeffrey Kahane and Anne-marie Mcdermott. Chamber ensembles include the Borromeo, Dover, Escher and Calidore string quartets.
HIGHLIGHTS:
21 July Dover Quartet, Gabriel Kahane (voice & electric guitar), Je"rey Kahane, Timo Andres (piano)
18 August Kernis String Quartet No. 4 (premiere); Borromeo String Quartet 24-25 August Works by Beethoven, Mendelssohn & Grieg; Wu Han, Orion Weiss (piano), David Finckel (cello)
Spoleto Festival USA
25 May – 10 June Charleston, South Carolina 843-579-3100 www.spoletousa.org
Look for two noteworthy US premieres at Spoleto. One is a Donizetti rarity, Pia de’ Tolomei, based on an episode from Dante’s Purgatorio and set here in 1930s Tuscany. Also planned is Tree of Codes, an opera
by Australian composer Liza Lim. Twicedaily chamber music concerts and choral masterworks featuring the Westminster Choir are also on tap.
HIGHLIGHTS:
25 May – 10 June Chamber music; Anthony Roth Costanzo (countertenor), Paul Groves (tenor), Inon Barnatan (piano), Joshua Roman (cello), St Lawrence String Quartet, JACK Quartet 27 May – 8 June Donizetti Pia de’ Tolomei; cast (tba). Spoleto Festival
USA Orchestra/lidiya Yankovskaya
29 May Pergolesi Stabat Mater, Holst Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda; Westminster Choir (altos and sopranos)
Grant Park Music Festival
When: 13 June – 18 August
Where: Chicago, Illinois
Tel: 312-742-7638
Web: www.grantparkmusicfestival.com
This ten-week series brings imaginative programming to the Frank Gehrydesigned pavilion in Chicago’s Millennium Park (and a few other locations). Music director Carlos Kalmar has assembled a season mixing popular favourites (Orff ’s Carmina Burana and Elgar’s Enigma Variations) with rarities by the likes of Roussel, Griffes and Haydn.
HIGHLIGHTS:
13 & 16 June Shepherd Magiya; Haydn Symphony No. 99; Walton Belshazzar’s Feast; Dashon Burton (baritone),
Grant Park Orchestra/carlos Kalmar 29-30 June Dvorák Cello Concerto, Kodály Summer Evening, Janácek Sinfonietta; Johannes Moser (cello), Grant Park Orchestra/carlos Kalmar
25 July Lilburn Aotearoa Overture; Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2, Sibelius Symphony No. 2; Kirill Gerstein (piano), Grant Park Orchestra/gemma New
Tanglewood
When: 15 June – 2 September Where: Lenox, Massachusetts Tel: 888-266-1200 Web: www.tanglewood.org
Bernstein had strong and longstanding ties to Tanglewood, from his youthful conducting apprenticeship in the 1940s to his late years as a mentor. Its centennial tribute includes stagings of Bernstein’s theatre works – from the early On the Town (1944) to A Quiet Place (1983) as well as orchestral and chamber music. The Boston Symphony Orchestra will also present works with which Bernstein was associated, including Copland’s Third Symphony and Shostakovich’s Fifth.
HIGHLIGHTS:
7 July Bernstein On the Town; Boston Pops Orchestra/keith Lockhart
18 August Bernstein Fancy Free, Divertimento for Orchestra, Serenade; Baiba Skride (violin), Boston Ballet, Boston So/andris Nelsons
19 August Copland An Outdoor Overture, Bernstein Three Meditations from Mass, John Williams new work for cello and orchestra, Bartók Concerto for Orchestra; Yo-yo Ma (cello), Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra/andris Nelsons
Britt Music and Arts Festival 25 July – 11 August Jacksonville, Oregon 541-773-6077 www.brittfest.org
When: Where: Tel: Web: Held at an outdoor amphitheatre in rural southwestern Oregon, the Britt Festival’s classical portion is helmed by the young conductor Teddy Abrams and ref lects his eclectic tastes. Abrams leads the Festival Orchestra in works associated with Bernstein, including Copland’s Appalachian Spring, Respighi’s Pines of Rome and Mahler’s Symphony No. 6.
HIGHLIGHTS:
27 July Ravel La valse, Gabriel Kahane new work, Anna Clyne Abstractions, Respighi Pines of Rome; Measha Brueggergosman (soprano), Britt Orchestra/teddy Abrams
3 August Beethoven Piano Concerto
No. 1, Christopher Cerrone Will There Be Singing, Shostakovich Symphony
No. 9; Jonathan Biss (piano), Britt Orchestra/teddy Abrams
11 August Mahler Symphony No. 6; Britt Orchestra/teddy Abrams
Music Mountain
When: 10 June – 23 September Where: Lakeville, Connecticut Tel: 860-824-7126 Web: www.musicmountain.org
The Shanghai, Cassatt, Escher, Avalon, American Harlem and St Petersburg string quartets are among the ensembles performing at this long-running festival. Musicians collaborating with them include the pianists Peter Serkin, Soyeon Kate Lee and Yekwon Sunwoo. The season kicks off with a five-part Beethoven quartet cycle performed by the Shanghai String Quartet.
HIGHLIGHTS:
8 July Beethoven String Quartet in
B flat etc; Shanghai String Quartet
15 July Webern Langsamer Satz; Schubert String Quartet in D minor, Death and the Maiden etc; Yekwon Sunwoo (piano), Escher String Quartet 16 September String quartets by
Haydn & Shostakovich; Dvorák Piano Quintet in A; American String Quartet, Robert Mcdonald (piano)