Summer Season 2026 – Recommended Recordings

The Sun Valley Music Festival is grateful to Peter Henderson, Festival Principal Keyboard, for compiling the following listening list for the Summer Season’s repertoire. A few words from Peter:

Dear Audience Members,

To preview the Sun Valley Music Festival’s 2026 Summer Season before our live performances at the Sun Valley Pavilion, listed below are vibrant recorded performances of our programmed works. As of Mayo 2026, all listed recordings are available via major streaming services (e.g., Spotify, Apple Music, Qobuz), except the two hyperlinks, which connect directly to the recordings.

Happy listening!
Peter Henderson, SVMF Principal Keyboardist

Opening Night with Orion Weiss

Festival Chamber Orchestra
Lunes, Julio 27, 6:30 PM
Sun Valley Pavilion

Alasdair Neale, Conductor
Orion Weiss, Piano

  • Gioachino Rossini: Overture to La scala di seta (The Silken Ladder) — Fritz Reiner / Chicago Symphony Orchestra (RCA / BMG / Sony)
  • Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15 — Leon Fleisher, piano / George Szell / Cleveland Orchestra (Sony)

Childress Conducts Beethoven

Festival Chamber Orchestra
Martes, Julio 28, 6:30 PM
Sun Valley Pavilion

Stephanie Childress, directora de orquesta

  • Benjamin Britten: Simple Symphony, Op. 4 — Benjamin Britten / English Chamber Orchestra (Decca)
  • Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21 — Karl Böhm / Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (DG)

Orion Weiss and Festival Musicians Play Tchaikovsky and Dohnányi

Chamber Concert
Jueves, Julio 30, 6:30 PM
Sun Valley Pavilion

Orion Weiss, Piano
Juliana Athayde, Violin
Shawn Weill, Violin
Marylène Gingras-Roy, Viola
Bjorn Ranheim, Cello

  • Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Theme and Variations in F Major, Op. 19, No. 6 — Daniil Trifonov, piano (DG)
  • Ernst von Dohnányi: Piano Quintet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 1 — Marc-André Hamelin, piano / Takács Quartet (Hyperion)

Strauss and Mozart

Festival Chamber Orchestra
Viernes, Agosto 31, 6:30 PM
Sun Valley Pavilion

Alasdair Neale, director de orquesta

  • Richard Strauss: Metamorphosen, A Study for 23 Solo Strings — Herbert von Karajan / Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (DG)
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No. 39 in E-flat Major, K. 543 — Charles Mackerras / Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Linn)

Stravinsky’s Firebird and Anna Clyne’s Woman of the Mountain

Festival Orchestra
Lunes, Agosto 3, 6:30 PM
Sun Valley Pavilion

Alasdair Neale, director de orquesta

  • Anna Clyne: Woman of the Mountain (Sun Valley Music Festival Co-Commission) — No commercial recording available
  • Igor Stravinsky: Suite from The Firebird (1919 revision) — Mariss Jansons / Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BR-Klassik)

Childress Conducts Elgar

Festival Orchestra
Martes, Agosto 4, 2024, at 6:30 PM
Sun Valley Pavilion

Alasdair Neale, Conductor
Stephanie Childress, Conductor

Brahms’s A German Requiem

Festival Orchestra
Domingo, Agosto 9, 6:30 PM
Sun Valley Pavilion

Alasdair Neale, Conductor
Christina Pier, Soprano
Benjamin Appl, Baritone
American Festival Chorus; Craig Jessop, Director

  • Johannes Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), Op. 45 — Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, soprano / Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone / Otto Klemperer / Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus (Warner Classics)

Christina Pier and Benjamin Appl Sing Lieder

Festival Orchestra
Lunes, Agosto 10, 6:30 PM
Sun Valley Pavilion

Christina Pier, Soprano
Benjamin Appl, Baritone
Peter Henderson, Piano

  • Clara Schumann: 3 Lieder, Op. 12 — Petra-Maria Schnitzer, soprano / Charles Spencer, piano (Orfeo):
  • Franz Schubert Lieder:
    • “Kennst du das Land” (Mignons Gesang), D. 321 — Barbara Bonney, soprano • Geoffrey Parsons, piano (Teldec / Elatus)
    • Lied der Mignon, Op. 62 — Barbara Bonney, soprano / Geoffrey Parsons, piano (Teldec / Elatus):
    • An die Musik, Op. 88, No. 4 — Elly Ameling, soprano / Dalton Baldwin, piano (Philips)
  • Robert Schumann: Dichterliebe (A Poet’s Love), Op. 48 — Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone / Christopher Eschenbach, piano (DG)

Alexander Malofeev Plays Prokofiev

Festival Orchestra
Jueves, Agosto 13, 6:30 PM
Sun Valley Pavilion

Alasdair Neale, Conductor
Alexander Malofeev, Piano

  • Michael Tilson Thomas: Street Song for Orchestral Brass — Michael Tilson Thomas / Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra (DG)
  • Sergei Prokofiev: Excerpts from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64 — Lorin Maazel / Cleveland Orchestra (Decca)
  • Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26 — Martha Argerich, piano / Claudio Abbado / Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (DG)

Tan Dun’s Water Concerto

Festival Orchestra
Viernes, Agosto 14, 6:30 PM
Sun Valley Pavilion

Alasdair Neale, Conductor
Euan Shields, Conductor
Marc Damoulakis, Percussion

Gil Shaham Plays Barber

Festival Orchestra
Lunes, Agosto 17, 6:30 PM
Sun Valley Pavilion

Alasdair Neale, Conductor
Euan Shields, Conductor
Gil Shaham, Violin

  • Thomas Adès: Excerpts from Inferno (Dante Ballet – Part I) — Gustavo Dudamel / Los Angeles Master Chorale / Los Angeles Philharmonic (Nonesuch)
  • Samuel Barber: Violin Concerto, Op. 14 — Gil Shaham, violin / André Previn / London Symphony Orchestra (DG)

Gil Shaham and Festival Musicians Play Beethoven

Chamber Concert
Martes, Agosto 18, 6:30 PM
Sun Valley Pavilion

Gretchen Van Hoesen, Harp
Andrea Kaplan, Flute
Jason Shafer, Clarinet
Erin Schreiber, Violin
Polina Sedukh, Violin
Chris Tantillo, Viola
Louise-Phillipe Robillard, Cello
Gil Shaham, Violin
Jeremy Constant, Violin
Adam Smyla, Viola
Amos Yang, Cello
Eric Gaenslen, Cello

  • Maurice Ravel: Introduction and Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet, and String Quartet — Nash Ensemble (Onyx)
  • Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quintet in A Major, Op. 47b, “Kreutzer” — Quatuor Zaïde, Bruno Delepelaire (NoMadMusic)

Season Finale: Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 “Titan”

Festival Orchestra
Jueves, Agosto 20, 6:30 PM
Sun Valley Pavilion

Alasdair Neale, director de orquesta

  • Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D Major, “Titan” — Rafael Kubelík / Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (Audite)