STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK
PHOTOS BY RAE DEVITO
The Sun Valley Music Festival orchestra will perform Anna Clyne’s new “Woman of the Mountain” piece when the full orchestra convenes tonight.
The orchestra will perform the 23-minute orchestral composition at 6:30 p.m. tonight—Monday, Aug. 3—at the Sun Valley Pavilion. Admission is free.
The piece was co-commissioned by the Sun Valley Music Festival and the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. It premiered in April, performed by the Jacksonville Symphony.
Clyne said that the composition evokes a woman’s journey through the natural world seeking love on the way to the mountain top. It draws on Irish folklore and the traditional song Sliabh na m Ban, or “Mountain of the Women.’
The symphony will follow that up with Igor Stravinsky’s familiar “Suite from The Firebird.” It is based on a Russian folk tale with the Firebird being a mystical bird whose feathers glow of blazing gold. The Firebird comes to the rescue of Prince Ivan when he is taken by the sinter Kastchei and his beasts.
Sun Valley Music Director Alasdair Neale said it was hearing the huge thunderclap that launches the piece’s infernal dance that inspired him to devote his life to music.
TUESDAY, Aug. 4
Stephanie Childress returns to conduct the orchestra in Edward Elgar’s”Enigma Variations.” The piece offers 14 variations on a theme, each representing a musical portrait of one of Elgar’s friends.
THURSDAY, Aug. 6
Sutton Foster, a two-time Tony Award-winning Broadway singer will be the star of the 2026 Gala Concert. The Gala Concert is the Sun Valley Music Festival’s only ticketed event, the proceeds ensuring the Sun Valley Music Festival can continue to be the largest privately supported, admission-free classical music festival in North America
FRIDAY, Aug. 7
Don’t schedule that Friday evening dinner party too early because the Music Institute Summer Students will present their Evening Concert. And they’re every bit as engaging as the Festival Orchestra.
The evening concert at 6:30 p.m. will feature advanced Chamber Singers, Piano Ensembles, Opera Scenes, the Advanced Chamber Orchestra and the Sun Valley Youth Orchestra.
A 3 p.m. concert will feature intermediate and beginning students and ensembles who make up the Prelude String Orchestra, Prelude Choir, Concert Choir, Piano Duets, Concert Band and Phlharmonia Orchestra.