In Saturday’s (8/6) Boulder Daily Camera (Colorado), Wes Blomster writes, “It takes some digging in the memory to recall the great orchestras that once played in the Denver region. In 1956 I heard the Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan in Denver in what was then a sports arena (now the Buell). In later years the Philadelphia Orchestra touched down here … I’m not out to lament what once was, but rather to express gratitude for what is—thanks to the Vail Valley Music Festival.” Blomster comments on the “remarkable number of concerts with the formidable pianist Anne-Marie McDermott at the keyboard”; McDermott began her tenure as artistic director at the three-week festival this summer. “Two weeks ago I attended the opening concerts of the New York Philharmonic. Earlier in the summer I heard the Dallas Symphony, after which the Philadelphia Orchestra returned to Vail. How Vail does it is beyond me. Obviously, great community support is part of it—think only of providing housing for all those musicians! A local ‘friends’ organization has grown up around each of the orchestras with individuals donating up to $30,000 per summer to make the residencies possible.… Lawn seating is a mere $23, and almost always concerts are sold out. Music again becomes the communal experience that it was intended to be.”
Posted August 8, 2011
