BY KAREN BOSSICK
The Grammy-winning, genre-defying Time for Three will perform a new triple concerto written for them by composer Mason Bates.
Pianist Gabriela Martinez will make her debut with the Sun Valley Music Festival performing “Tumblebird Contrails,” which she wrote while listening to the hallucinatory sounds of keening gulls, pounding surf, approaching waves while backpacking in Point Reyes.
And Jacomo Bairos, artistic director of Miami’s groundbreaking Nu Deco Ensemble, will conduct a Latin Pops concert on Pops Night that Music Director Alasdair Neale promises will have people dancing in the aisle when the Sun Valley Music Festival stages its 41st summer season from July 28 to Aug. 21 at the Sun Valley Pavilion.
The all-star Festival Orchestra, featuring the finest musicians from orchestras throughout North America, will also perform with world renowned French cellist Gautier Capucon and Russian pianist Olga Kern, who became a U.S. citizen in 2016.
“I’m so excited at the prospect of the season ahead of us,” said Neale. “Our stellar guest lineup includes return appearances by Time for Three and Gautier Capuçon, as well as debuts by pianists Gabriela Martinez and Olga Kern. The orchestra shines in all-Ravel and all-Strauss programs designed to show the sumptuous range of color of a full symphony orchestra.
“In addition, we have the first-ever Sun Valley performances of Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony and Schumann’s Fourth Symphony, the latter led by Stephanie Childress, who returns for her third season as associate conductor.”
Time for Three, a string trio that has endeared themselves to the Sun Valley audience since they first appeared with the symphony more than a decade ago, will perform Mason Bates’ “Silicon Hymnal,” which was co-commissioned by the Music Festival. It is, Bates said, “an electro-acoustic book of songs.”
The Franco-British conductor Stephanie Childress will lead several performances, including Haydn’s Symphony No. 80, Schumann’s Symphony No. 4, Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloe Suite No. 2,” and Gabriela Smith’s “Tumblebird Contrails.”
The season finale will feature Richard Strauss’s “Death and Transfiguration,” which depicts a dying artist, the thoughts of his life passing through his head as he awaits his longed-for transfiguration, as well as Strauss’s suite from “Der Rosenkavalier.”
Pianist Gabriela Martinez will open the season with Mozart’s popular Piano Concerto No. 20, followed by Mozart’s “Haffner” symphony. Martinez will also join Festival Orchestra musicians in performing Brahms’s Piano Quartet No. 1 in G. minor.
Gautier Capucon, meanwhile, will return to Sun Valley to perform Elgar’s haunting Cello concerto and Schubert’s Cello Quintet.
Olga Kern, the only woman to have won the gold Medal in the Van Cliburn International Piano competition in more than 30 years, will make her Sun Valley debut performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Beethoven’s “Ghost” Trio.
Additional programs feature Anna Clyne’s Within Her Arms, a beautiful ode to the composer’s mother; Arturo Marquez’s rhythmic Danzon No. 2; and Reena Esmail’s Testament. The Music Festival celebrates Ravel’s 150th birthday with a program offering two of his Miroirs (La vallée des cloches and Alborada del gracioso), Valses nobles et sentimentales, and his Suite No. 2 from Daphnis et Chloé.
Now in its 41st year, the Sun Valley Music Festival is the largest privately supported, free-admission orchestra in the United States.
Details about the Gala fundraiser on Wednesday, Aug. 6, which raises money so that the other concerts can be offered free of charge, will be announced in February.
Information about the Sun Valley Music Festival Music Institute, now in its 27th year, can be found at https://www.svmusicfestival.org/summer-programs.
The Music Institute, held during the summer symphony season, provides orchestral instrument, voice and piano programs for students in grades 2-12 from Aug. 4-8. College undergraduates and exceptional high school students studying piano, strings and voice can participate in the Advanced Chamber Program July 28-Aug. 9.
The workshops are taught by Festival musicians, conductors and guest artists, including Gabriela Martinez and members of Time for Three. Thanks to the generosity of Music Festival donors, students pay only nominal registration and materials fees.
Sun Valley Music Festival: 41st Summer Season, 2025
(All concerts will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Sun Valley Pavilion.)
Opening Night with Gabriela Martinez
Monday, July 28
Alasdair Neale, Conductor
Gabriela Martinez, Piano
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K. 466
Mozart: Symphony No. 35 in D Major, K. 385, “Haffner”
Haydn and Stamitz
Festival Chamber Orchestra
Tuesday, July 29
Alasdair Neale, Conductor
Adam Smyla, Viola
Stephanie Childress, Conductor
Stamitz: Viola Concerto in D Major, Op. 1
Haydn: Symphony No. 80 in D Minor
Gabriela Martinez and Festival Musicians play Brahms
Chamber Concert
Thursday, July 31
Gabriela Martinez, Piano
Hanna Ji, Violin
Chris Tantillo, Viola
Bjorn Ranheim, Cello
Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25
Beethoven 4 and Anna Clyne
Festival Chamber Orchestra
Friday, August 1
Alasdair Neale, Conductor
Clyne: Within Her Arms
Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B-Flat Major, Op. 60
Time for Three Plays Mason Bates
Festival Orchestra
Monday, August 4
Alasdair Neale, Conductor
Time for Three
Berlioz: Roman Carnival Overture
Bates: Silicon Hymnal (co-commissioned by the Sun Valley Music Festival)
Festival Orchestra—Gala Benefit Concert
Wednesday, August 6
Guest artist to be announced
Schuman, Beethoven, and Marquez
Festival Orchestra
Thursday, August 7
Alasdair Neale, Conductor
Polina Sedukh, Violin
Stephanie Childress, Conductor
Marquez: Danzon No. 2
Beethoven: Romance No. 2 in F Major, Op. 50
Schumann: Symphony No. 4 in D Minor, Op. 120
An Evening of Ravel followed by Lawn Party
Festival Orchestra
Sunday, August 10
Alasdair Neale, Conductor
Stephanie Childress, Conductor
Ravel: Excerpts from Miroirs
Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2
Gautier Capuçon plays Elgar
Festival Orchestra
Tuesday, August 12
Alasdair Neale, Conductor
Gautier Capuçon, Cello
Smith: Tumblebird Contrails
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85
Brahms Symphony No. 4
Festival Orchestra
Wednesday, August 13
Alasdair Neale, Conductor
Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E Minor
Gautier Capuçon and Festival Musicians play Schubert
Chamber Concert
Thursday, August 14
Juliana Athayde, Violin
Kristin Ahlstrom, Violin
Marylène Gingras-Roy, Viola
Gautier Capuçon, Cello
Amos Yang, Cello
Schubert: String Quintet in C Major, Op. posth. 163
Festival Orchestra Pops Night: Latin-Inspired Dance Music with Jacomo Bairos
Saturday, August 16
Alasdair Neale, Conductor
Jacomo Bairos, Conductor
Olga Kern plays Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2
Festival Orchestra
Sunday, August 17
Alasdair Neale, Conductor
Olga Kern, Piano
Esmail: Testament
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18
Olga Kern and Festival Musicians play Beethoven
Chamber Concert
Monday, August 18
Olga Kern, Piano
Dylan Naroff, Violin
Si-Yan Darren Li, Cello
Beethoven: Trio in D Major for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 70, No. 1, “Ghost”
Season Finale: An Evening with Richard Strauss
Festival Orchestra
Thursday, August 21
Alasdair Neale, Conductor
R. Strauss: Death and Transfiguration, Op. 24
R. Strauss: Suite from Der Rosenkavalier