North America
Spoleto Festival USA
When: 22 May – 7 June
Where: Charleston, SC
Tel: 843-579-3100
Web: www.spoletousa.org
This music, theatre and dance festival marks the 350th anniversary of the city of Charleston with Omar, an opera about an enslaved African sold in Charleston in 1807. Returning are two festival mainstays: The Westminster Choir, which performs Gesualdo’s Responsoria, backed by photographer Tom Keifer’s striking images from the Us-mexico border, and the St Lawrence String Quartet, now in its 25th year in residence. The line-up also includes countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, pianist
Inon Barnatan and Charleston native Jonathon Heyward, who conducts the Festival Orchestra in Holst’s The Planets.
DON’T MISS:
Omar 22, 25, 28, 31 May, 3, 7 June Rhiannon Giddens, an Oberlin-trained folk singer and multi-instrumentalist, returns to her classical roots with Omar, an opera on the life of Omar Ibn Said. Co-composed with Michael Abels, it features Jamez Mccorkle in the title role.
Music Academy of the West
When: 15 June – 8 August
Where: Santa Barbara, CA
Tel: 805-969-8787
Web: www.musicacademy.org
Set on the grounds of the Miraflores garden estate, steps from the Pacific Ocean, this summer academy has beefed up its public events as it enters its 73rd season. James Darrah returns as creative director to lead fellows in Philip Glass’s 1996 dance opera Les Enfants Terribles,
Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges and Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. The composers in residence are Ellen Reid and Tyshawn Sorey, while notable guest artists include soprano Julia Bullock, cellist Steven Isserlis and pianists Conrad Tao and Jeremy Denk.
DON’T MISS:
Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel Dates to be confirmed Experimental director James Darrah leads two staged performances of Humperdinck’s much-loved opera with a children’s chorus drawn from the Academy’s community Sing! programme.
Tanglewood
When: 19 June – 30 August Where: Lenox, MA Tel: 888-266-1200 Web: www.tanglewood.org
After an opening concert by Ringo
Starr, Tanglewood’s offerings include a centenary salute to Isaac Stern, with the late violinist’s sons, David and Michael, conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra and soloists including violinist Joshua Bell, cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Jeremy Denk. Andris Nelsons conducts the BSO in Act III of Wagner’s Tannhäuser, with Christopher Ventris in the title role, Poulenc’s Gloria with soprano Nicole Cabell, and Beethoven’s five piano concertos featuring Paul Lewis. Mark Elder conducts Berlioz’s Requiem and John Williams hosts a night of his film music.
DON’T MISS:
Adès’s Violin Concerto 14 August Thomas Adès conducts Leila Josefowicz and the BSO in his own Concentric
Paths Violin Concerto, plus Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite and Holst’s The Planets.
Caramoor Festival
When: 20 June – 2 August
Where: Katonah, NY
Tel: 914-232-1252
Web: caramoor.org
Celebrating its 75th anniversary season, this elegant Hudson River Valley festival presents several works tailored to its surroundings, including On Site Opera’s rendition of Paisiello’s The Barber of Seville using the historic Rosen House as a set and the premiere of Michael Gordon’s Field of Vision, which brings 48 percussionists to Caramoor’s grounds. Musicians from Trinity Church Wall Street present Rameau’s opera Dardanus, Pekka Kuusisto joins the Knights for Nico Muhly’s violin concerto Shrink, and chamber music will be performed by the Danish String Quartet, pianist Benjamin Grosvenor and guitarist Jiji.
DON’T MISS:
Orchestra of St Luke’s 2 August
Karina Canellakis makes her Caramoor debut, conducting Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with Leonidas Kavakos, Missy Mazzoli’s Sinfonia ( for Orbiting Spheres) and Mozart’s Symphony No. 41.
Bard Summerscape and Bard Music Festival
When: 26 June – 16 August Where: Annandale-on-hudson, NY Tel: 845-758-7900 Web: fishercenter.bard.edu
Nadia Boulanger, the formidable
French composer and pedagogue, is the focus of Bard College’s summer music offerings. Over two August weekends, the Bard Music Festival examines her influence through concerts, panels and film screenings. Earlier in the summer, look for Chausson’s neglected Arthurian opera Le Roi Arthus in its first fully-staged American production, directed by Mary Birnbaum and featuring the American Symphony Orchestra under Leon Botstein. And the FLUX Quartet joins New York City Ballet MOVES for Bartók Ballet by choreographer Pam Tanowitz.
DON’T MISS:
Crosscurrents: France and America 14 August
A transatlantic affair, as the American Symphony presents music by Nadia and Lili Boulanger, Stravinsky’s Dumbarton Oaks Concerto, Poulenc’s Concerto for Organ, Timpani and Strings, and Copland’s Sextet.
Bravo! Vail
When: 26 June – 6 August
Where: Vail, CO
Tel: 970-827-5700
Web: bravovail.org
The Chamber Orchestra of Europe joins the orchestral line-up in this skiers’ hamlet with three programmes featuring Yuja Wang in piano concertos by Chopin and Shostakovich. Jaap van Zweden conducts the New York Philharmonic in
Mahler’s First and Second Symphonies, Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto (with Conrad Tao as soloist) and Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto (with Beatrice Rana). The Philadelphia Orchestra gives six concerts, meanwhile, capped by Sibelius’s Violin Concerto with Nikolaj Szeps-znaider. Other highlights include Pinchas Zukerman conducting the
Dallas Symphony, a series of music and wine pairings with the Dover and Verona String Quartets, and an ‘After Dark’ chamber series at Vail’s Shakedown Bar.
DON’T MISS:
Dover Quartet 5 August
The former Banff Competition winners are joined by fast-rising baritone Davóne Tines for Barber’s Dover Beach and Caroline Shaw’s By and By.
Ravinia Festival
When: June – September (dates TBC)
Where: Highland Park, IL
Tel: 847-266-5100
Web: www.ravinia.org
Marin Alsop begins a two-year appointment as Ravinia’s chief conductor and curator, leading the resident
Chicago Symphony Orchestra in two weeks of concerts. Her agenda includes Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony
No. 7 and, with Midori as soloist, Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1; an all-rachmaninov evening; and Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light, an oratorio that accompanies the 1928 silent
film classic The Passion of Joan of Arc. Other CSO highlights include Leonard Bernstein’s A White House Cantata, starring soprano Patricia Racette and baritone Rod Gilfry, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony conducted by Christoph Eschenbach.
DON’T MISS:
The Order of Nature 25 July
Teddy Abrams conducts piano concertos by Florence Price and Paola Prestini, both played by Lara Downes, plus Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 1 and Abrams’s own The Order of Nature, featuring Jim James of the band My Morning Jacket.
Aspen Music Festival and School
When: 2 July – 23 August Where: Aspen, CO Tel: 970-925-9042
Web: aspenmusicfestival.com Anniversary boy Beethoven takes centre-stage in Aspen this summer.
The Festival Orchestra presents six of his symphonies, capped with a Ninth conducted by Robert Spano. The Pacifica Quartet offers the Op. 130 Quartet and Grosse Fuge, along with works by Ligeti and Ruth Crawford Seeger. And mezzo-soprano Michelle Deyoung and pianist Calio Alonso present Beethoven’s only song cycle, An die ferne Geliebte, alongside Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer. Additionally, soprano Renée Fleming joins the Festival Orchestra in scenes from Richard Strauss’s Capriccio and pianist Lise de la Salle offers an eclectic evening spanning Ravel, Stravinsky, Fats Waller and Art Tatum.
DON’T MISS:
Beethoven and Shostakovich 19 July James Conlon conducts Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 12, ‘The Year 1917’ along with Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, with violinist Benjamin Beilman, cellist Alisa Weilerstein and pianist Inon Barnatan.
OUR FESTIVAL CHOICE
Grand Teton Music Festival
When: 3 July – 22 August
Where: Teton Village, WY
Tel: 307-733-1128
Web: gtmf.org
Not distracted by its spectacular Wyoming setting, Grand Teton sets its customary focus on big names and splashy, large-scale programmes.
Donald Runnicles conducts the Festival Orchestra in Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony No. 2, Richard Strauss’s Death and Transfiguration and Beethoven’s five piano concertos with Garrick Ohlsson. Other noted soloists include Johannes Moser (Dvo ák Cello Concerto), soprano Erin Wall (Strauss’s Four Last Songs) and Midori (Sibelius Violin Concerto). Also look for performances by pianistcomposer Clarice Assad, violinists Gil Shaham and Adele Anthony, and singer Bernadette Peters.
DON’T MISS:
Adams, Beethoven and Sibelius
Date TBC
The Festival Orchestra presents John Adams’s Absolute Jest, a concerto for string quartet with the St Lawrence Quartet, Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3 and Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony, conducted by Karina Canellakis.
Festival de Lanaudière
When: 3 July – 2 August
Where: Joliette, Quebec, Canada
Tel: 866-842-2112
Web: lanaudiere.org/en
At Quebec’s largest classical music festival, located 90 minutes north of downtown Montreal, Kent Nagano concludes his 14-year tenure as music director of the Montreal Symphony. His final programme features Schumann’s enchanting and rarely performed secular oratorio Das Paradies und die Peri. Additionally, Marc-andré Hamelin
joins conductor Yannick Nézet-séguin and the Orchestre Métropolitain for a two-concert cycle of Beethoven’s piano concertos. And the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, in its only North American summer dates, offers music by Beethoven, CPE Bach and Cherubini.
DON’T MISS:
Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé 31 July
Ravel’s shimmering ballet is a speciality of the Montreal Symphony, presented here with the festival chorus. In the first half Nagano conducts the Prelude to
Act One of Wagner’s Parsifal and Berg’s Violin Concerto with Christian Tetzlaff.
Santa Fe Opera
When: 3 July – 29 August
Where: Santa Fe, NM
Tel: 800-280-4654
Web: www.santafeopera.org
With the New Mexico sky and desert offering a resplendent backdrop, this hilltop festival presents Zack Winokur’s new production of Tristan und Isolde, marking only the second Wagner opera in the festival’s history. It features Tamara Wilson and Simon O’neill in the title roles and James Gaffigan conducting. Other highlights include a revival of
Tim Albery’s staging of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, conducted by Harry Bicket; Stephen Barlow’s absurdist production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, featuring rising Canadian mezzo-soprano Emily D’angelo; and Dvo ák’s Rusalka, directed by David Pountney and starring soprano Ailyn Pérez in the title role.
DON’T MISS:
Huang Ruo’s M. Butterfly 1-26 August Adapted from David Henry Hwang’s Broadway play, Hyuang Ruo’s opera gets its premiere in a James Robinson production. The story, echoing Puccini’s Madam Butterfly, concerns a love affair between a Peking Opera star and a French diplomat.
Saratoga Performing Arts Center
When: 14 July – 25 August
Where: Saratoga Springs, NY
Tel: 518-584-9330
Web: spac.org
In a four-day marathon, Yannick Nézet-séguin conducts Beethoven’s nine symphonies alongside four new works – by Gabriela Lena Frank,
Jessica Hunt, Carlos Simon and Iman Habibi – presented ‘in dialogue’ with the composer. The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center picks up the anniversary thread with some of Beethoven’s lesser-known chamber works, plus Schubert, Franck, Dohnányi, Beach and Tower. Guest artists include the Calidore String Quartet, violinist Arnaud Sussmann, pianist Anne-marie Mcdermott and CMS artistic directors Wu Han and David Finckel.
DON’T MISS:
Philadelphia Orchestra 25 August Marin Alsop conducts highlights from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, featuring Angel Blue as Bess, along with Jessie Montgomery’s Coincident Dances and Frank’s Escaramuza.