Music festival getaways with a classical note
Maestro Joel Revzen has conducted all over the world, living and breathing music in the most spectacular settings from Norway and Italy to Prague and Russia.
“Next to a healthy physical existence, mankind's greatest need is to nurture the spirit,” Revzen said. “We open the door each summer to a world where audiences can experience the full depth of their emotions and emerge inspired with spirits renewed.”
As he puts together his program as artistic director and conductor of Lake Tahoe SummerFest 2013, he draws inspiration from the magic of the Sierra Nevada and Lake Tahoe where the festival takes place.
“As I’m making my selections, it’s always on my mind that there are so many elements of nature in music,” Revzen said of the nine orchestra and chamber music concerts he will conduct over the first three weekends in August.
Now in its second season, the Lake Tahoe SummerFest is the newest of the seasonal symphony festivals held across the United States. These events—such as including the Aspen Music Festival, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Tanglewood Music Festival—are staged in a variety of beautiful locations throughout the nation and make for a memorable spring or summer getaway.
Revzen, who was on the conducting faculty in Aspen and was the artistic director for 14 years of the Berkshire Opera Company near Tanglewood, said these seasonal festivals are steeped in great tradition, bringing art and nature together in beautiful and unusual settings that inspire both the musicians and the audience.
“One of the most famous chamber music festivals is Marlboro Music which was founded by the late pianist Rudolf Serkin,” said Revzen, and held each summer in the rural foothills of southern Vermont and a four-hour drive from New York City.
Perhaps the most renowned of the seasonal festivals is Tanglewood, created in the 1930s by summer residents of the Berkshires who hosted the New York Philharmonic in large tents. The festival now draws 350,000 annually to the meadows and lawns of the Tanglewood estate in western Massachusetts.
At Tanglewood you’ll hear the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), the Boston Pops, and an international array of classic and contemporary artists including Melissa Etheridge, the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration, cellist Yo-Yo Ma making one of his only two appearances this concert season, and the BSO performing the legendary Leonard Bernstein’s score of “West Side Story” while the newly mixed 1961 film plays on large screens.
The Aspen Music Festival in the Colorado Rockies started more than 60 years ago and is conducted in music tents, historic concert halls and churches throughout Aspen. This eight-week festival has more than 320 events this summer including opera, chamber music, orchestral concerts and contemporary music.
The Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina was inspired by Italy’s Festival of Two Worlds. With the charming backdrop of historic Charleston, this 17-day spring festival features chamber, symphonic, jazz and choral music along with opera, theater; and dance held in picturesque churches, outdoor spaces and theaters.
The Oregon Bach Festival based in Eugene with concerts in Bend, Portland and other venues offers three weeks of choral and orchestral masterworks while the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival founded in 1972 is enveloped by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
The Tahoe SummerFest was founded by Madylon Meiling, a longtime Tahoe resident and nationally recognized corporate coach and educator. She serves on several Tahoe-related community organizations including Sierra Nevada College and Board for American Association of University Women. Concerts are conducted in an acoustical concert tent on the lake campus of Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village, Nevada.
As with many of the other festivals that feature outdoor music tents, guests can picnic on lawn areas set against the backdrop of the Sierra Nevada and Lake Tahoe.
“What I like about it is that it’s intimate – it’s not a 3,000-seat hall – here you really feel connected to the stage and the players,” said Revzen, who grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan. “This is music in the way music was composed for before we had huge concert halls. It’s a unique experience for anyone that comes.”
Revzen has been on the conducting staff of New York’s Metropolitan Opera, and now is the principal conductor of the Arizona Opera.
Revzen also has a flourishing recording career including releases with the London Symphony, Scottish Chamber and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He also was a pianist and conductor on the Grammy-award winning “The Art of Arleen Auger.”
To find out more information about upcoming classical music festivals go to:
- Lake Tahoe SummerFest 2013, www.tahoesummerfest.org
- Marlboro Music, www.marlboromusic.org
- Aspen Music Festival, www.aspenmusicfestival.com
- Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, www.sfcmf.org
- Oregon Bach Festival, http://oregonbachfestival.com
- Tanglewood Festival (Boston area), http://www.bso.org
- Spoleto Festival USA (Charleston, South Carolina), http://spoletousa.orgHeidi Van Zant is a contributor for Sensible Driver.