Gala Concert with Joshua Bell

Sun Valley Pavilion 300 Dollar Rd, Sun Valley, Idaho, United States

With a career spanning almost four decades as a soloist, conductor, and Music Director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Joshua Bell is one of the most celebrated violinists of his era. For the Festivalā€™s Gala, he and his 1713 Stradivarius will tackle an all-time favorite, Beethovenā€™s Violin Concerto in D Major. Itā€™s a piece written in haste for a violinist with whom the composer greatly admired, and it soon became a cornerstone of the violin repertory. One of the reasons, its loose, lyrical structureā€”interplaying in narrative between solo violin and the orchestraā€™s rhythmic themesā€”which allows the soloist to present it in their own voice.

Find out more » Go to broadcast

Memories and Reflections: Mazzoli, Mozart, and Brahms

Sun Valley Pavilion 300 Dollar Rd, Sun Valley, Idaho, United States

American Composer Missy Mazzoli, writing about her piece, These Worlds in Us, noted that ā€œwe accumulate worlds of intense memory within us.ā€ Mozart must have had a headful of memories when he completed his clarinet concerto in 1791, a couple months before he died. It pairs grace and gravity in equal measure, with the clarinet hinting at a sense of sadness behind its beauty. In the summer of 1873, Brahms recalled a tune he had heard a few years before, attributed to Haydn, and composed his lovely variations based on it.

Find out more » Go to broadcast

The American Experience

Sun Valley Pavilion 300 Dollar Rd, Sun Valley, Idaho, United States

This concert highlights the music of three American composers. First up is Florence Priceā€™s Ethiopiaā€™s Shadow in America, which charts the arrival of Africans in America. Then, superstar soprano Julia Bullock sings a Sun Valley Music Festival commission, the world premiere of Jessie Montgomeryā€™s Five Freedom Songs based on traditional African American spirituals. And finally, Ms. Bullock will narrate Aaron Coplandā€™s iconic Lincoln Portrait, featuring excerpts from President Lincolnā€™s speeches, in particular, the Gettysburg Address.

Find out more » Go to broadcast

Mahler Symphony No. 4

Sun Valley Pavilion 300 Dollar Rd, Sun Valley, Idaho, United States

Welcome to the sunny side of Mahler. This symphony, his shortest, brightest, and most performed, leaves behind the brooding, tumultuous, and vast soundscapes of the others for blue skies and childlike innocence. The first symphony to end with a solo vocalist accompanied by orchestra, it builds to the final movement, which depicts ā€œThe Heavenly Life.ā€ Soprano Julia Bullock joins the orchestra to sing these verses describing an innocent and serene view of heaven.

Find out more » Go to broadcast