Summer music festivals can be big or small. Some present only public performances, and some combine education for up-and-coming musicians with high-profile guest musicians. Most feature a slightly more casual approach to music-making than regular season orchestral or opera house performances and a broader range of types of music, and many have outdoor venues so you can enjoy the weather along with the music.
 
 
Spoleto Festival USA actually began its 2008 season on May 22 and ends on Sunday, June 8. The festival was founded in 1977 by Gian Carlo Menotti as a counterpart to the Italian festival he had founded in 1958. Each year, the festival presents a variety of works that emphasize the marriage of music to stage or visual arts, and newer works, performed in a number of venues scattered throughout historic Charleston, South Carolina. This year’s festival opens with the American premiere of Monkey: Journey to the West, a stage work involving singing, dancing, and acrobatics in the tradition of Chinese opera, written by director Chen Shi-Zheng and with music by Damon Albarn (of the “virtual hip-hop group” Gorillaz) that combines the sounds of classical and pop, East and West (see the trailer below). Also on the schedule are the opera Amistad by Anthony Davis; a performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring by dancers from Mali, Benin, Nigeria and Senegal; and Laurie Anderson’s Homeland. Visit Spoleto’s website for more.

 
 
Ravinia Park began life as a small amusement park, built around a rail line in Highland Park, Illinois, in 1904, complete with baseball diamond, theatre, and a building housing a dining hall and dance floor. After the rail line went bankrupt, it was re-opened as home for classical music and opera in 1911, quickly becoming renowned for the caliber of talent it attracted. In the mid-1930s, it became the summer home of the Chicago Symphony, jazz was added to the offerings, and later, ballet was added as well. Today, the park has both indoor and outdoor stage venues, several restaurants, and a three-month schedule of performance offerings ranging from Joshua Bell, to Feist, to the Joffrey Ballet, to Tony Bennett. Ravinia’s schedule begins on May 31 and runs into September. Check out the full list here.
 

The Aspen Music Festival and School grew out of the same 1949, two-week gathering of artists and intellectuals held in Aspen, Colorado, as the Aspen Institute. It’s now a nine-week program of lectures, master classes, lessons, and performances with 750 college-age students and 200 faculty, all presided over by the current music director David Zinman. Some of this year’s guest faculty are the Takács and Ying Quartets; the American Brass Quintet; pianists John O’Conor and Wu Han; and many others. There’s even a recital with Condoleezza Rice this year. While the school begins on June 11, public events begin on June 19 and run through August 17. Aspen’s website is here.
 
The Boston Symphony Orchestra had performed summer concerts in the Berkshires in the early 1930s, but didn’t establish a home there until 1937 after a local family gifted the orchestra and conductor Serge Koussivitzky with its 210 acre estate in Lenox, Massachusetts. Tanglewood’s primary performance venue is affectionately known as “the Shed,” but really is a building with outstanding acoustics, open to the outdoors, with canopy and lawn seating. There is also the Tanglewood Music Center, an education center for musicians and composers; and Seiji Ozawa Hall for smaller performances. Although Tanglewood is still primarily a classical music destination, it also has expanded its offerings over the years. This year’s schedule includes a live performance of Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion, a jazz festival centering around Marian McPartland’s 90th birthday, and the alt-rock band Wilco, all scattered among concerts and recitals by the BSO, the Boston Pops, the Kronos Quartet, and a celebration of Elliott Carter’s 100th birthday. The BSO’s official opening is July 5, but other performances begin June 23. Tanglewood’s website is here.

 
For those who like chamber music and are willing to take a chance on what they’ll hear, there are two places in New England to explore. First is a relative newcomer to festival lists: the Bang on a Can Summer Institute, established in 2002. This is a educational, new music festival for young musicians and composers with performances open to the public, held at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams. Terry Riley is this year’s guest artist, and he, the Bang on a Can All-Stars, and institute attendees will present a six-hour marathon concert on July 26. There are also free recitals in the museum galleries and the surrounding community during the July 9-25 program period. Watch for more at Bang on a Can’s website.
 
A more well-established summer music program is the Marlboro Music School and Festival in Marlboro, Vermont. It was founded in 1951 by pianist Rudolf Serkin, violinist Adolph Busch, and the Moyse family of musicians on the campus of Marlboro College as a place where college-student musicians could play chamber music with and learn from professionals. The current artistic directors of the festival are Richard Goode and Mitsuko Uchida, and faculty include members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, Orion, and Mendelssohn Quartets, and the Beaux Arts and Mannes Trios. Because the focus is on musicians coming together to explore all aspects of chamber music, concerts and recitals are scheduled so that the public can purchase tickets, but what will be played isn’t determined until participants begin rehearsals. 2008 concerts run from July 12 to August 10 (schedule here).
 
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York presents the 2008 Mostly Mozart Festival from July 29 to August 23. This festival, established in 1966, is dedicated to performing not only the works of Mozart, but works inspired by him. Soprano Dawn Upshaw, music director Louis Langrée, and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra will give the US premiere of the oratorio La Passion de Simone by Kaija Saariaho, this year’s composer-in-residence. Other guests slated for this year’s festival are soprano Christine Oelze; the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (doing a concert version of La clemenza di Tito); and many more. For a full schedule and description of presentations, click here.
 

Here’s a listing (by no means comprehensive) of other festivals by state. Those marked with a * are educational programs for young musicians with public performances. Also check with your local orchestra, band, opera company, or music school to see if they are offering a summer series. And, if you are an amateur looking for somewhere to practice your skills during your vacation, a list of programs is maintained by Music for the Love of It, with support from the Amateur Chamber Music Players (workshops in the list are not restricted to chamber music or instrumentalists).

Alaska
Sitka Music Festival June 6-27, Sitka

Arizona
Grand Canyon Music Festival September 5-21, Grand Canyon National Park

Arkansas
*Hot Springs Music Festival June 1-14, Hot Springs
*Opera in the Ozarks-Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony June 20-July 18, Eureka Springs

California
Bear Valley Music Festival July 26-August 10, Bear Valley
Berkeley Festival and Exhibition of Early Music June 3-8, Berkeley
Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music July 27-August 10, Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista
Carmel Bach Festival July 19-August 9, Carmel
Festival del Sole July 12-20, Napa Valley
LA Philharmonic Hollywood Bowl July 10-September 4, Hollywood
La Jolla Music Summerfest August 1-24, La Jolla
Lake Tahoe Music Festival July 17-August 9, Tahoe City
Mendocino Music Fesival July 12-26, Mendocino
*Music Academy of the West June 23-August 16, Santa Barbara
*Music at Menlo July 18-August 8, Menlo
Ojai Music Festival June 5-8, Ojai
Strauss Festival July 24-27, Elk Grove
*Zeltsman Marimba Festival July 6-19, Los Angeles

Colorado
Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival June 25-August 2, Vail
Central City Opera June 6-August 10, Central City
*Colorado College Summer Music Festival June 9-July 1, Colorado Springs
Colorado Music Festival June 21-August 1, Boulder
Crested Butte Music Festival July 4-July 31, Crested Butte
Strings in the Mountains Music Festival June 28-August 9, Steamboat Springs

Connecticut
Connecticut Early Music Festival June 13-29, New London
Music Mountain June 14-September 7, Lakeville

Idaho
Sun Valley Summer Symphony July 28-August 18, Sun Valley

Illinois
Grant Park Music Festival June 11-August 16, Chicago
Wheaton Band Festival July 18-19, Wheaton

Iowa
Des Moines Metro Opera Festival June 22-July 15, Des Moines

Kentucky
Great American Brass Band Festival June 12-15, Danville

Maine
*Bowdoin International Music Festival June 21-August 2, Brunswick

Maryland
Eastern Shore Chamber Music Festival June 6-15, Easton and Chestertown

Massachusetts
Aston Magna June 27-August 2, Great Barrington and Williamstown, MA, and Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

Michigan
Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival June 14-29, metropolitan Detroit
Pine Mountain Music Festival June 17-July 10, Upper Peninsula

Minnesota
Minnesota Orchestra Sommerfest July 11-August 3, Minneapolis

Missouri
Opera Theater of St. Louis May 24-June 29, St. Louis

New Hampshire
Opera North August 9-23, Lebanon

New Jersey
New Jersey Opera Theater Summerfest July 11-27, Princeton

New Mexico
Music from Angel Fire August 15-September 1, Angel Fire, Taos, Raton, and Las Vegas
Music in the Mountains July 11-August 3, Four Corners - Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico
Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival July 20-August 25, Santa Fe and Albuquerque
Santa Fe Opera June 27-August 23, Santa Fe

New York
Bach & Beyond Baroque Music Festival June 6-8, Fredonia
Bard Music Festival and SummerScape August 8–10, August 15–17, Annandale-on-Hudson
Caramoor International Music Festival June 21-August 3, Katonah,
*Chautauqua Institution June 28-August 19, Chautauqua
Chenango Summer MusicFest June 15-22, Hamilton
Glimmerglass Opera July 5-August 24, Cooperstown
June in Buffalo June 2-7, Buffalo
Lincoln Center Festival July 2-27, New York City
New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks June 24-July 15, New York City
River to River Festival May 28-September 30, New York City
Saratoga Performing Arts Center July 3-August 24, Saratoga
Skaneateles Festival August 7-30, Skaneateles

North Carolina
Appalachian Summer Festival June 28-July 27, Boone
*Brevard Music Center June 27-August 10, Brevard
Carolina Chamber Music Festival September 6-13, New Bern
Eastern Music Festival June 28-August 2, Greensboro

Ohio
Cleveland Orchestra Blossom Festival July 3-August 31, Cuyahoga Falls
Cincinnati Opera June 11-July 27, Cincinnati

Oregon
Chamber Music Northwest June 23-July 27, Portland
Oregon Bach Festival June 27-July 13, Portland

Pennsylvania
Gettysburg Brass Band Festival June 19-22, Gettysburg
Music at Penn’s Woods June 14-28, University Park

Rhode Island
Newport Music Festival July 11-27, Newport

Texas
Austin Chamber Music Festival July 10-July 19, Austin
*International Festival and Institute at Round Top June 7-July 12, Round Top
*Mimir Chamber Music Festival June 30-July 11, Fort Worth
*Texas Music Festival May 30-June 28, Houston

Utah
Deer Valley Music Festival July 19-August 16, Salt Lake City
Moab Music Festival August 29-September 13, Moab
Park City International Music Festival July 12-23, Park City and Salt Lake City

Vermont
Central Vermont Chamber Music Festival August 10-24, Randolph
*Manchester Music Festival July 10-August 21, Manchester
Summer Music from Greensboro July 22-August 19, Greensboro

Virginia
Ash Lawn Opera Festival July 4-August 10, Ash Lawn
Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival September 7-21, Charlottesville
US Army Band Summer Season May 14-September 5, various venues
*Wintergreen Summer Music Festival & Academy July 7-August 3, Wintergreen
National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap July 6-August 2, Vienna

Washington
Bellingham Festival of Music July 5-20, Bellingham
Olympic Music Festival June 28-September 7, Seattle
Seattle Chamber Music Society Summer Festivals July 7-August 15, Seattle

Wyoming
Grand Teton Music Festival July 1-August 16, Jackson Hole

Buried in the list of Pulitzer prizes for journalism, announced Monday, was the prize for feature writing, awarded to Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post. The story was about violinist Joshua Bell playing incognito in a subway station in Washington, DC, in January, 2007. Bell played during a weekday morning rush hour, at a downtown Metro station, to see if anyone would realize he was more than an average busker. The answer was: not really. Only a handful of people stopped to listen as he played Bach’s Chaconne. Just one woman, who had attended his recital the evening before, recognized him. He did, however, make $39. Read the full story and view video of baseball-capped Bell in the subway here.

Last November, Austrian pianist Alfred Brendel announced that he would be retiring from the concert stage at the end of 2008. At 77-years-old, he has now been performing publicly for 60 years. The recordings of his early career show a little greater variety of music and a little more verve, but he has earned the regard of many as the pre-eminent interpreter of the Austro-Germanic repertoire and as an intellectual and traditionalist when it comes to music-making. He believes that music needs to be brought to life and have feeling in the way the composer intended, not by molding it to his own or another person’s expressive ideas.
He has recorded the Beethoven and some of the Mozart concertos more than a couple of times.

 
 
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 17, Op. 31/2 “Tempest” - 1. Largo-Allegro-Adagio
Liszt: La campanella, S. 140/3
Schoenberg: Piano Concerto, Op. 42
Schubert: Piano Sonata in B flat major, D 960 - 1. Molto moderato
Liszt: Sonata in B minor
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 21 - 2. Andante
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 - 3. Rondo
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 - 3. Rondo

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Contemporary music in the auld sod, aka Ireland, is as diverse and cosmopolitan as new music in America. So what and who are making themselves heard these days? Here’s a brief introduction to get your St. Patrick’s Day weekend off to the proper start.

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February 29. Leap Day. That extra 24 hours jammed in between February and March every four years that makes up for the Earth’s revolving around the Sun at approximately 365.25 days per year instead of an even 365. On this day in 1504, Christopher Columbus used a lunar eclipse to frighten natives into providing food for his crew while stranded in Jamaica; in 1892, St. Petersburg, Florida, was incorporated; in 1940 Gone with the Wind won eight Academy Awards; and in 1960 an earthquake struck southern Morocco.

The day does have some musical significance. For one thing, Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots was premiered on Feb. 29, 1836, in Paris to overwhelming success. For another, it’s a major plot device in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance. And there are musical birthdays: Ja Rule (1976), Dinah Shore (1916), Jimmy Dorsey (1904), and most importantly for our purposes, February 29, 2008, is the 54th actual birthday of Gioachino Rossini (1792). It’s not a milestone birthday, but if your birthday only comes around every four years, you celebrate what you can when you can, and Rossini was the kind of guy who would enjoy a good party.

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Today’s grammar lesson comes courtesy of Germany’s Berlin Classics label. As part of their “~moods” series, this album entitled Lay Down and Listen is a compilation of mellow music to help you be “in harmony with classical music.” How can you and your music be in harmony when you know the imperative in the title takes an object and it’s not there? The producers obviously meant “Lie Down and Listen,” which uses the imperative form of the intransitive verb “to lie,” meaning to be in a horizontal position, as opposed to “to lay,” which is a transitive verb meaning to place something in a horizontal position. If incorrect English grammar just sets you on edge, take a deep breath, and try listening to one of the other titles in the series to help calm your nerves, such as Trust in Tranquility or Unfold Your Mind.

In early February, Deutsche Grammophon is releasing a new recording of a semi-staged performance of Leos Janácek’s opera The Excursions of Mr. Broucek, with Jirí Belohlávek conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Singers. The standard reasons for giving this seldom performed opera a chance are that it’s by the master composer of Czech opera; it has a lot of comedy — usually the domain of operetta and musicals, not ultra-serious 20th century operas — and finally, this particular recording is based on a new critical edition of the score. But a not so standard reason for trying this out is the element of science fiction/fantasy in it. (Janácek would go on to write The Makropulos Case, which has a Twilight Zone-ish twist to it and was based on a story by Karel Capek, author of the play R.U.R.) The Excursions of Mr. Broucek tells the story of one man’s fantasies, a little bit like James Thurber’s Walter Mitty, a little bit like Baron Munchausen, or in the opera realm, The Tales of Hoffmann and Hary Janos.

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PBS’ Masterpiece Theatre is having a Jane Austen fest this winter, beginning January 13, showing film versions of all six of her completed novels and a drama about her life. Austen was known to be a music lover, perhaps more than anyone else in her family. Her life coincides with the time when structured musical education was available to a much wider audience than ever before and pianos began to be sold to anyone and everyone. Music-making was one of the required accomplishments of a proper young lady of marriageable age, and many of her most odious characters show no taste or talent for music. Before all the swooning and the insults and offenses to bourgeois sensibilities begins, here’s a primer on the types of music you’ll encounter in her stories and some of the musical names frequently associated with her life.

“Yes, yes, we will have a pianoforte, as good a one as can be got for thirty guineas, and I will practise country dances, that we may have some amusement for our nephews and nieces, when we have the pleasure of their company.” — Jane Austen writing to her sister, Dec. 27, 1808.

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