In amphitheaters, churches and auditoriums, on riverbanks and great lawns, in sheds, shells and tents, summer music is casting its seductive spell over the American landscape.
Wherever you may be traveling this summer, chances are there will be a classical music festival presenting something to your taste, from standard orchestral fare to opera, early music, contemporary works and chamber repertory.
Here, listed by region, is a selective guide to some of the more noteworthy events. As always, programs and dates are subject to change and should be verified.
Midwest
What better complement to a fine summer night than the music of Mozart? The 10th Woodstock Mozart Festival at the charming, Victorian-style Woodstock Opera House will present three weekends of Mozart symphonies, concertos and overtures performed by conductors Catherine Comet, Karl Sollak and Edvard Tchivzhel, CSO principal flutist Donald Peck, pianist Janis Vakarelis and violinist Mark Peskanov. July 26 to Aug. 10. 815-338-5300.
The Opera Theatre of St. Louis, one of the nation’s finest regional companies, enters its third decade at the Loretto-Hilton Center at Webster University in suburban Webster Groves. Repertory, sung in English, consists of Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville,” Puccini’s “La Rondine,” Mozart’s “La Clemenza di Tito” and Britten’s “The Rape of Lucretia.” The St. Louis Symphony serves pitside duty. Now to June 29. 314-961-0171.
Opera in English also happens to be the specialty of the Des Moines Metro Opera. The 1996 repertory holds Mozart’s “Cosi Fan Tutte,” Verdi’s “Macbeth” and Puccini’s “La Boheme.” Indianola, Iowa; June 21 to July 14. 515-961-6221.
Two musicians well known to Chicagoans, Northwestern University conductors Victor Yampolsky and Stephen Alltop, will lead orchestral concerts at the Peninsula Music Festival, celebrating its 44th season in Fish Creek, Wis. Other performers include pianist John Browning and cellist Wendy Warner. Aug. 4 to 24. 414-854-4060.
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra will include a screening of Serge Eisenstein’s “Alexander Nevsky,” with live musical accompaniment, as part of a Russian Festival at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, Milwaukee. Artistic advisor Stanislaw Skrowaczewski conducts. The orchestra’s summer season otherwise mixes classical and pops fare. Now to July 13. 414-291-6010.
A concert version of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” highlights the Minnesota Orchestra’s Viennese Sommerfest, honoring the 60th birthday of artistic director David Zinman. Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 tops the symphonic bounty. The starry guest list for Zinman’s opening-night birthday gala includes violinist Isaac Stern, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Emanuel Ax. July 9 to Aug. 3. 800-292-4141.
West
The spectacular high-desert country of Santa Fe beckons travelers with all sorts of musical lures.
At the innovative Santa Fe Opera the 40th-season lineup includes the premiere of American composer Tobias Picker’s “Emmeline” (based on a Judith Rossner novel), new productions of Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly,” Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress” and Richard Strauss’ “Daphne,” and a revival of “Don Giovanni.” John Crosby is the general director. June 28 to Aug. 24. 505-986-5900.
Meanwhile, over at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, participants will present 30 concerts, including a survey of the instrumental and vocal chamber music of Robert Schumann and a premiere, “Creatures of the Rain Forest,” by resident composer Lee Hoiby, who turns 70 this year. This is the nation’s largest chamber music festival and its offerings perfectly complement the operafest going on across town. July 13 to Aug. 19. 505-983-2075.
Also major-league, the Aspen Music Festival will focus on the links between music and nature, in concerts led by Lawrence Foster (in his final season as music director), James DePreist, Robert Spano and others. Haydn’s “The Creation,” Strauss’ “An Alpine Symphony” and Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” illustrate the festival theme. Michael Torke’s opera “King of Hearts” receives its American stage premiere July 27. Bernard Rands is composer-in-residence. Chamber music, recitals and opera round out a rich array of programs. Aspen, Colo.; June 21 to Aug. 18. 970-925-9042.
“Bach and the Americas” is the theme of the 27th Oregon Bach Festival in Eugene and Corvallis, Ore. Bach’s B-minor Mass, conducted by artistic director Helmut Rilling, will open the season. Johann Sebastian’s influence on latter-day composers will be traced in cantatas by resident composers Robert Kyr, Osvaldo Golijov, Stephen Jaffe and Linda Bouchard; all four works are premieres. The first American Bach Colloquium takes place June 27 to 30. The Bachfest runs June 21 to July 7. 541-687-5000.
Under the direction of pianist James Dick, the Round Top International Festival-Institute will present orchestral and chamber concerts including the premiere of Malcolm Hawkins’ “Rasmandala” for piano and orchestra. Conductors Eiji Oue and Pascal Verrot are among the artists visiting the tiny Texas hamlet of Round Top. Now to June 29. 409-249-3129.
Music director Michael Tilson Thomas will lead his San Francisco Symphony in a far-reaching American Festival, spanning 250 years of American composers, from William Billings to Steve Reich. Among the 10 concerts will be two all-Aaron Copland programs and works by the West Coast experimental pioneers Lou Harrison and Henry Cowell. Davies Symphony Hall. Friday to June 29. 415-864-6000.
East
Perhaps the most eagerly awaited of this summer’s festivals is the inaugural season of New York’s Lincoln Center Festival 96. Classical and contemporary, Western and non-Western traditions mingle in more than 200 performances of music, dance, theater and high-tech events over a three-week period. Among the 13 world premieres will be Tod Machover’s “Brain Opera,” an interactive digital event. The period-instruments Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique makes its U.S. debut in four all-Beethoven concerts, John Eliot Gardiner conducting. Director Robert Wilson’s Houston Grand Opera production of the Virgil Thomson-Gertrude Stein “Four Saints in Three Acts” will have its New York premiere, as will the Japanese gagaku orchestra Reigakusha. July 22 to Aug. 11. 212-721-6500.
Those headed to Atlanta for the centennial Olympic Games should note the large-scale, multi-disciplinary Olympic Arts Festival running concurrently in venues throughout the city. Highlights include the Bavarian Radio Symphony under Lorin Maazel, a concert performance of Gershwin’s “Of Thee I Sing,” a chamber music celebration organized by Charles Wadsworth, Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under Yoel Levi and an opera gala starring soprano Gwyneth Jones. Now to Aug. 4. 404-744-1996.
Beethoven and Britten in the Berkshires: That’s what you will hear at this year’s Tanglewood Music Festival, plus a whole lot more. The Boston Symphony Orchestra will be led by music director Seiji Ozawa, Bernard Haitink, Andre Previn, Jeffrey Tate, Trevor Pinnock and Ravinia’s Christoph Eschenbach, among others. Ozawa will conduct Tanglewood Music Center forces in a production of Benjamin Britten’s opera “Peter Grimes,” which had its American premiere there 50 years ago. Robert Shaw returns to Tanglewood after five decades, on Aug. 24, to conduct choral works by Mozart and Stravinsky. Lenox, Mass.; June 28 to Sept. 2. 800-274-8499.
“Charles Ives and His World”will be the focus of the seventh Bard Music Festival, on the campus of Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y. Two weekends of concerts, plus panel discussions, will trace the influence of the American philosophical tradition on the music of the spiritual father of American music. Leon Botstein leads discussions and the American Symphony Orchestra. Aug. 9 to 18. 914-758-3226.
Glimmerglass Opera, located in Cooperstown, N.Y., will present new productions of Jack Beeson’s “Lizzie Borden,” Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale” and Mozart’s “La Finta Giardiniera,” along with a period-instruments production of Cavalli’s “La Calisto,” directed by British actor Simon Callow. Stewart Robertson is the artistic director. Performances will be sung with English projected titles. July 5 to Aug. 26. 607-547-5704.
Professional operetta and musical comedy thrive in the Ohio town of Wooster, courtesy of Ohio Light Opera. Festival highlights include the world premieres of Quade Winter’s musical setting of W.S. Gilbert’s first operetta, “Thespis,” and “Regrets Only”–artistic director James Stuart’s updating of Offenbach’s “M. Choufleuri.” More familiar fare includes Lehar’s “The Merry Widow” and “Song of Norway.” College of Wooster; Tuesday to Aug. 10. 216-263-2345.
Blossom Music Center, the summer home of the Cleveland Orchestra, plays host to music director Christoph von Dohnanyi, festival conductor Leonard Slatkin and guest artists including Kathleen Battle, Sylvia McNair, Gil Shaham and Gary Graffman. Among the visiting ensembles will be the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra under Keith Lockhart. Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; July 3 to Sept. 1. 216-231-1111.
