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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260719
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DESCRIPTION:Jul 19\, 2026\nAre symphonies an endangered species? Apparently
 \, the thought leaders at the Aspen Music Festival and School think so. To
  help\, they’ve started a five-season series of First Symphonies commiss
 ioned from composers they deem major. Gemini 3 Pro finds this very excitin
 g. “The Aspen Music Festival’s initiative to commission first symphoni
 es is brilliant because it addresses a modern reality: writing a symphony 
 is a massive undertaking that requires significant funding\, a willing orc
 hestra\, and guaranteed rehearsal time—things that are hard for emerging
  composers to secure.” Well. Johannes Brahms famously held back until he
  was 43 before plunging into his first symphony\, and he wasn’t just tic
 king off a box. “You have no idea how the likes of us feel when we hear 
 the tramp of a giant like him behind us”—“him” being Beethoven. Si
 nce Brahms\, the composers Bruckner and Mahler\, to name just two\, have j
 oined him in the giant ranks. Shouldn’t it be the creative fire that dri
 ves artists to enter the lists? Aspen’s first new symphonist is Matthew 
 Aucoin\, whose unquestionable talent skews heavily operatic. And what do y
 ou know? His “Symphony No. 1\,” entitled Two Thresholds with the “sy
 mphony” label in parens\, features a “major vocal part” for the mezz
 o-soprano Joyce DiDonato. Text? None announced. How would it be off-base t
 o call the piece a cantata? Evidently\, it leaves space on the first half 
 of the evening’s bill for Antonín Dvořák’s surefire Carnival Overtu
 re. Augustin Hadelich\, the guy who really sells tickets\, shows up after 
 intermission to play Samuel Barber’s gorgeous Violin Concerto. Then the 
 Rumanian-born Cristian Măcelaru wraps up the evening with Georges Enescu
 ’s rip-snorting Rumanian Rhapsody.
LOCATION:Aspen Music Festival and School\, 960 North 3rd Street Aspen\, CO 
 81611\, USA\, United States
SUMMARY:Matthew Aucoin's Symphony No. 1
URL;VALUE=TEXT:https://airmail.news/arts-intel/events/matthew-aucoins-symph
 ony-no-1
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