A look back at 2022 summer programming

A number of special moments at this summer’s concerts set the town buzzing. Time For Three made a guest appearance at the Lawn Party, where they delighted the crowd of over 9,000 by jamming with DJ Masonic (the composer Mason Bates). This followed their successful premiere the previous night of Contact, a concerto written for them by the composer Kevin Puts.

Mason Bates played another role in this summer’s festivities. On August 8, the Pavilion and Lawn crowds heard the first-ever performance of “For Alasdair,” a short work commissioned by the Festival, and written by Bates, in honor of Alasdair Neale’s 60th birthday. Following, the audience serenaded the Maestro in a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday.” An absolutely delighted Neale then conducted one of his very favorite pieces, Elgar’s Symphony No. 1, capping off the celebratory evening.

Before the season finale, Richard Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony, Maestro Neale took the audience on a whistle-stop tour of the work. As the orchestra played short clips, Neale illustrated the specific sounds Strauss used to describe a day spent hiking in the Alps, from the mountain itself, to a waterfall, to the crunch of branches, and the plink of a first drop of rain. It brought a fitting end to a season of beautiful music in Idaho’s own mountains.