Winter Season

An exciting series of concerts featuring piano and chamber music, offered March 6-8, 2025 at the Argyros Performing Arts Center in Ketchum.

Latest Past Events

Upbeat with Alasdair: Why Mahler’s Sixth Symphony Still Resonates Today

The Community Library, John A. and Carole O. Moran Lecture Hall 415 Spruce Avenue, Ketchum

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.

Upbeat with Alasdair: Meet the Artists: Andy Akiho and Jeffrey Zeigler

The Community Library, John A. and Carole O. Moran Lecture Hall 415 Spruce Avenue, Ketchum

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.

The Romance of Brahms (Program B)

Argyros Performing Arts Center 120 Main St South, Ketchum

The Sun Valley Music Festival presents its sixth Winter Season at the Argyros Performing Arts Center, from March 6 to 9. The 2024 Winter Season focuses on “The Romance of Brahms” and offers two chamber music programs specially curated by Music Director Alasdair Neale, featuring pianist Jon Kimura Parker — winner of the Gold Medal at the 1984 Leeds International Piano Competition — and string musicians from the all-star Sun Valley Music Festival Orchestra. Presented in an intimate atmosphere, the all-Brahms programs include beloved pieces by the Romantic composer for solo piano and string ensembles, such as Hungarian Dance No. 4 in F-sharp Minor, Quintet No. 1 in F Major, Trio No. 1 in B Major, and the inventive and technically demanding Handel Variations.
Note: Two unique programs will be performed on alternating evenings: Program A on March 6 and 8, Program B on March 7 and 9.

Attending winter concerts

Festival concerts are—as always—free of charge. Space is limited for Winter Season performances, reservations are required (reserved seats are limited to two seats per household per program for a total of four for the Winter Season.).

Learn more about attending winter concerts

What is the Festival’s Winter Season?

A new, reimagined classical music experience…and so much more! Here’s a taste from the 2019 season.

“Our goal is to create an event unlike any other our concertgoers have attended—

a shared experience that breaks down the walls between musicians and audience, and re-defines the ways in which classical music can enhance our lives. It won’t feel familiar in every way… but it will be very Sun Valley.”

—Alasdair Neale, Music Director

For community members who live in Sun Valley year-round, and those who flock to the recreational opportunities the area provides in the winter, the Sun Valley Music Festival aims to provide an uncommonly rich concert experience.

The Winter Season will feature familiar and unfamiliar musical pieces in a refreshingly new environment, exploiting a wide range of acoustic possibilities and encouraging concertgoers to interact and engage with musicians in fresh ways. By up-ending the traditional structure of an orchestral performance, the concerts aim to reinvent what it means to enjoy music together.

For complete concert listings, visit the events calendar page

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