Events

One of the world’s leading composers, Tan Dun wrote that his Water Concerto was inspired by his childhood life along a river: “I transpose memories of beautiful laundry sounds, swimming sounds, water dancing sounds, and water popping sounds.” The Festival’s Principal Percussion Mark Damoulakis will bring water itself into the music using a variety of vessels. You might want to sit a few rows back. Next, Associate Conductor Euan Shields makes his Music Festival debut conducting Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole, a piece inspired by the composer’s Basque heritage that evokes Spain’s sights, sounds, and passions.

Conductor, arranger, and composer Jeff Tyzik invites you to Come Swing With Me! Step back in time to the heyday of the 1950’s Las Vegas strip when the biggest names in show business ruled the room and a well-poured martini was always within reach. Tyzik will bring his own orchestral arrangements of some of the great standards, and the soulful crooner Paul Loren will take you on a musical journey highlighting iconic voices of the era, from Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin to Duke Ellington and Bobby Darin.

Samuel Barber was a serious composer and a gifted orchestral craftsman perhaps best known for his cinematic Adagio for Strings. Equally lush and compelling, his violin concerto gained popularity for its lyrical and songful first two movements and completely virtuosic third. The great violinist Gil Shaham returns to Sun Valley to share this marvelous work with us. To open the concert, Euan Shields conducts several excerpts from Thomas Adès’s Inferno, whose passages vividly depict episodes in Dante’s journey through Hell.

Beethoven wrote a string quintet?? Though it was published after his death, scholars believe the great composer re-arranged his famous “Kreutzer” violin sonata into a quintet featuring two cellos. Full of fiery passion, it features demanding solo parts for each instrument. The program opens with Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet, and String Quartet, a piece commissioned by a harp company to show off its instruments. Yet while the harp shines brightly, this is ultimately a shared tapestry that showcases Ravel’s masterful orchestration.