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Gala Concert with Joshua Bell
Sun Valley Pavilion 300 Dollar Rd, Sun Valley, Idaho, United StatesWith 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 Festival’s Gala, he and his 1713 Stradivarius will tackle an all-time favorite, Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D Major. It’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 structure—interplaying in narrative between solo violin and the orchestra’s rhythmic themes—which allows the soloist to present it in their own voice.
Memories and Reflections: Mazzoli, Mozart, and Brahms
Sun Valley Pavilion 300 Dollar Rd, Sun Valley, Idaho, United StatesAmerican Composer Missy Mazzoli, writing about her piece, These Worlds in Us, noted that “we accumulate worlds of intense memory within us.” 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.
The American Experience
Sun Valley Pavilion 300 Dollar Rd, Sun Valley, Idaho, United StatesThis concert highlights the music of three American composers. First up is Florence Price’s Ethiopia’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 Montgomery’s Five Freedom Songs based on traditional African American spirituals. And finally, Ms. Bullock will narrate Aaron Copland’s iconic Lincoln Portrait, featuring excerpts from President Lincoln’s speeches, in particular, the Gettysburg Address.