Lecture

The Sun Valley Music Festival is pleased to present a new Upbeat with Alasdair talk, featuring pianist Jon Kimura Parker, Concertmaster Jeremy Constant, and Principal Cello Amos Yang in conversation with Music Director Alasdair Neale. Parker will feature prominently in the Festival’s upcoming Winter Season concerts at the Argyros, March 6-9. This year’s program, entitled “The Romance of Brahms,” is the first time the Festival’s Winter Season will focus on the music of a single composer: Johannes Brahms. Accordingly, in this edition of the popular series of talks, Neale, Parker, and two Festival musicians, Jeremy Constant and Amos Yang will explore the music of Brahms, revealing why Brahms continues to be such a beloved composer both for musicians and audiences. This event will also be livestreamed on svmusicfestival.org.

Back in 2021, the Music Festival commissioned composer Andy Akiho, a Pulitzer Prize finalist and multiple GRAMMYⓇ nominee, to write a concerto for Jeffrey Zeigler, former cellist of the Kronos Quartet. Join Music Director Alasdair Neale and these two artists as they discuss the creative process, ahead of the world premiere of the piece on August 2. This event will also be livestreamed on svmusicfestival.org.

Alma Mahler wrote that her husband’s Sixth Symphony was “his most personal work and also a prophetic one.”  Nicknamed the “Tragic” symphony by the composer himself, it’s a work of immense proportions and emotions.  In this edition of Upbeat, Music Director Alasdair Neale explores the enduring appeal and resonance of this epic piece to today’s audiences. This event will also be livestreamed on svmusicfestival.org.