BY KAREN BOSSICK

Award-winning violinist Benjamin Beilman, who has been praised by the New York Times for performances that are “muscular with a glint of violence,” will perform at and curate the Sun Valley Music Festival’s eighth Winter Season.

The season will be held March 19-21, 2026, at The Argyros Center for the Performing Arts in Ketchum.

Beilman will join forces with the Sun Valley Festival orchestra to perform Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring Suite,” John Adam’s “Road Movies” and Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons.” He will also perform a solo violinist piece titled “Sanguineum” written for him by Gabriella Smith.

Beilman last performed with the Festival Orchestra in 2018, performing Mendelssohn’s “Violin Concerto in E minor.”

“I’m thrilled to welcome back Benjamin Beilman to the Music Festival, this time as both performer in and curator of the Winter Season’s program,” said Alasdair Neale, Sun Valley Music Festival music director. “He is an immensely versatile and thoughtful musician who is as comfortably at home in the 18th century as he is in the 21st, as you’ll see from the fascinating and varied program he’s assembled.”

The two-hour program will start at 7 p.m. each of the nights, with the program the same each night.

Admission is free, but reservations are required and will become available at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, at https://www.svmusicfestival.org/. Patrons who donate $6,000 or more to the Sun Valley Music Festival for the 2026 season may make reservations beginning Wednesday, Feb. 11.

Additionally, the Sun Valley Music Festival will present “Upbeat with Alasdair,” featuring Neale and Beilman in conversation at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 18. The program will be held at The Community Library in Ketchum and livestreamed on the Festival’s website and at The Community Library’s website at https://vimeo.com/event/5598390.

Reservations to attend Upbeat with Alasdair will open to the public on Wednesday, March 4, on The Community Library’s calendar at https://thecommunitylibrary.libcal.com/event/15583152.

Beilman and Winter Festival musicians will also meet with local students during the week they are in Ketchum, offering music demonstrations, coaching and master classes.

Other performers performing during the Winter Festival, in addition to Beilman, are: Catherine Payne – flute; Jerry Simas – clarinet; Tariq Masri – bassoon; Peter Grunberg – piano; Jeremy Constant, Erin Schreiber, Mayumi Masri, Alicia Yang – violin; Adam Smyla, Chris Tantillo – viola; Amos Yang, Eric Gaenslen – cello, and Stephen Tramontozzi – double bass.

 IF YOU GO…

Concert reservations are limited to two per household for one of the three performances.

Public concert reservations begin Wednesday, February 18, 2026, at 9 a.m. at svmusicfestival.org.

Festival donors at the Patron ($6,000) level and up may make concert reservations early, beginning Wednesday, February 11, 2026, at 9 a.m., by calling the Festival office at 208.622.5607.

Reservations for “Upbeat with Alasdair” open to the public through The Community Library’s calendar at https://thecommunitylibrary.libcal.com/event/15583152 on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at 9 a.m.

The Sun Valley Music Festival brings together more than a hundred world-class musicians from North America’s most distinguished orchestras for three weeks in July and August to perform at the R.E. Holding Sun Valley Pavilion. Now in its 42nd year, it is the largest privately supported, free-admission orchestra in the United States.

Past guests have included Yo-Yo Ma, Audra McDonald, Joshua Bell and Kristin Chenoweth.

The Festival also offers year-round and Summer Music Institute programs providing tuition-free instruction for string, piano, and voice students of all skill levels — from elementary through high school.