Three 20th century composers riff on the styles exemplified by Bach and Mozart in the opening program. Stravinsky’s “Dumbarton Oaks” evokes Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, while Prokofiev channeled Mozart and Haydn in structuring his lovely “Classical Symphony.” Ravel orchestrated his suite for small orchestra titled Le Tombeau de Couperin in a baroque style, delivering a surprisingly light-hearted memorial for friends lost in World War I.

Virtuosic French artists present a stunning recital (without orchestra). Pianist and Sun Valley favorite Jean-Yves Thibaudet returns with one of the world’s leading cellists, Gautier Capuçon, for a week-long residency. Their program continues the thread of works inspired by earlier composers with Brahms’s Cello Sonata No. 1, which pays homage to Bach’s The Art of the Fugue, and Shostakovich’s Sonata in D Minor, a beautiful piece written in 1934 but structured in classical form.

Alasdair Neale and Principal Horn William VerMeulen both celebrate 25 years with the Festival this season, and this program pairs them up on Strauss’s fiendishly difficult Horn Concerto. Strauss wrote it for his father, who was Germany’s leading horn virtuoso. However, upon seeing the score, Strauss senior pragmatically decided to cede the glory to another player. Providing comic relief to the program, Strauss’s Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme offers a humorous satire on social climbing.

Jean-Yves Thibaudet brings to life George Gershwin’s follow-on to Rhapsody in Blue. Gershwin packs this concerto full of jazz, blues, Charleston dance rhythms, and ragtime. Bernstein’s glittering Candide Overture opens the program, and Respighi brings it home with the thundering closing of Pines of Rome. If the ground doesn’t tremble under the marching of Rome’s triumphant legions, we’re not doing it right!