A Note From
Alan Fletcher
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A summer of Enchantment at the Aspen Music Festival and School has begun! I hope you enjoyed the first two weeks of concerts and recitals and are as excited about the coming weeks of beautiful music-making as I am.
We are so appreciative of all those who have given generously to the AMFS's Where Dreams Begin Campaign. With your support, we successfully reached our capital goal and completed the construction of our beautifully renovated Matthew and Carolyn Bucksbaum Campus. We are also close to completing our endowment goal of $40 million. With additional permanent funding, we will have the support
to be innovative and a catalyst for change in the world of music, while drawing on and respecting its great traditions. We welcome gifts to the Campaign in support of student financial aid and endowed scholarships in honor of our world-class artist-faculty.
Thank you for investing in the future of classical music. Your support of the Where Dreams Begin Campaign supports our mission, which is to be an unsurpassed summer institution of classical music education, performances, and presentations.
Alan Fletcher
President and CEO
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To discuss an opportunity further, please contact Lenor Leeds, Interim Vice President for Development, at [email protected]
or 970-205-5062.
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225 Music School Road
Aspen, CO 81611
970-925-3254 administration
970-925-9042 box office
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Donor Recognition Wall on Campus
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Board Chair Bob Hurst, President and CEO Alan Fletcher, lead donor Kay Bucksbaum, and AMFS Music Committee Chair Jonathan Haas reveal the Donor Recognition Wall
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On July 3rd,
we unveiled the Donor Recognition Wall, designed by Harry Teague, to celebrate and thank donors who have given $25,000 and more in capital and endowed gifts to the AMFS. This also serves to celebrate the completion of the capital portion of the
Where Dreams Begin
Campaign.
Upon the completion of the Campaign, a display of all who have contributed funds will join the wall. Please visit us in the Gordon Hardy Building
on Campus this summer to view the display!
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Making a Difference in Students' lives
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In 2017, applications for our summer season broke yet another record, with more than 2,500 young musicians vying to be part of the Class of 2017 at the AMFS. On June 21 and 22, the successful group of 642 students arrived in Aspen for an unforgettable summer.
The AMFS provides student financial aid to 72% of the student body, totaling $2.775 million in assistance, of which more than half comes from funds established in our endowment by donors.
During registration, our students expressed appreciation to their scholarship donors in the form of handwritten letters to their benefactors.
One letter, written by 19-year-old clarinetist Phillip Solomon, recipient of the both the Clow-Odén and Maestro's Circle Scholarships, is too delightful not to share in part:
Ladies and gentlemen,
As I write this letter, my wrist is shaking with excitement. I arrived in Aspen last night, and as I contemplate my words, my mind is overflowing with anticipation of the tremendous potential this summer holds for me. I have dreamed of attending the AMFS for years, and thanks to your generosity and dedication, my dream has come true!
-Phillip
To support student financial aid, or to get in touch this summer with your 2017 scholarship recipient, please contact Olivia Homewood,
Where Dreams Begin
Campaign Assistant at 970-205-5069 or
[email protected]
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Meet Dorothy DeLay Fellowship winner Zeynep Alpan
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Enjoy a portion of this interview with Alpan by Olivia Homewood:
With her signature ponytail piled high atop her head, and standing barely over five feet tall, you may not recognize 22-year-old Zeynep Alpan as the violin phenom she truly is. At the Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra concert on July 5th at the Benedict Music Tent - the showcase concert for the 2017 Dorothy DeLay Fellowship winner - Alpan played Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major, K. 218 with technique, grace, and self-awareness far beyond her years (or stature), receiving a standing ovation from the crowd - and a large bouquet from an adoring young admirer.
A bright future lies ahead for Turkish-American Alpan, including the beginning of her master's program at Juilliard in the fall, recording her first CD with a Turkish music label in 2018, and a national tour with the Presidential Symphony of Turkey in the spring of 2019. Still, she continually returns to Aspen to breathe, escape the hustle of New York City, practice solo rep with her long-time teacher Naoko Tanaka (a former student of Miss Dorothy DeLay), attend the many weekly concerts and master classes, and even instruct four students of her own through the AMFS P.A.L.S. program.
I sat down with Alpan following her APO performance to ask her about her choice of instrument, how her teachers have influenced her playing, and learned of her fascinating introduction to the violin.
OH:
Do you remember how you felt your first summer in Aspen?
ZA:
When I got into Aspen the first time I was very excited and very nervous! I always remembered hearing about Aspen as being one of the best festivals in the world, and because of that I wasn't sure if I would get in or not at such a young age. I think I was fifteen my first summer and it was the first time I ever did a big festival or was ever gone from home for two months!
OH:
How has receiving financial aid made a difference in your musical career?
ZA:
I'm just becoming financially independent from my parents. I'm very fortunate, I have working parents who make good salaries because they are both doctors. But it is scary to be an adult! I have to go to school and take on loans. Getting financial aid for a summer program is very important because it does make or break it. People have the school year to worry about [paying for], and it's expensive to come here too if you don't have the support. Financial aid takes the worry away and you can just come here to do what you came here to do: to make music and really further yourself in the musical world.
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Funds Honoring Dorothy DeLay and the Legacy of AMFS Artist-Faculty
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Photo credit: Charles Abbott
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This summer, we celebrate the 100th birthday of Dorothy DeLay, one of Aspen's most beloved teachers and a prime example of the AMFS's prestigious artist-faculty. Students repeatedly share that they choose to attend the AMFS for the opportunity to learn from, and often perform alongside, our superb artist-faculty.
The Dorothy DeLay Fellowship was created in 2002 in memory of Miss DeLay by a small group of admirers. Today, the draw from the existing endowed fund does not provide enough to cover the expenses of the Fellowship.
A gift of any amount to the Dorothy DeLay Fellowship, or to the Where Dreams Begin Campaign in the form of a full or partial scholarship supports the AMFS in perpetuity. Gifts in memory or in honor of our world-class faculty make it possible for the finest musicians from around the world, like Zeynep Alpan, to attend a summer in Aspen.
Give a gift today to honor Miss DeLay in this auspicious year, or to honor another beloved faculty member, by contacting Lenor Leeds, Interim VP for Development at 970-205-5062 or
[email protected].
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The Aspen Music Festival and School is thankful to all supporters of the
Where Dreams Begin Campaign for the development of the Bucksbaum Campus, additional student scholarships, the expansion of artist-faculty support, and the ability to pursue transformative artistic experiences.
Special thanks to our recent supporters of the
Where Dreams Begin
Campaign:
Anonymous Donor (3)
Michael Behrendt and Ivan Cassar
Barbara Berkman
Deborah and Gabriel Brener
Carol and David Clemons
James R. Custer, M.D.
Rebecca Donelson and Robert Blattberg
Susan and James Dubin
Kay and Tom Dunton
Nancy and Mike Estrada
Julia and Michael Fink
Nancy Swift Furlotti
Jan and Ronald Greenberg
Bunny and John Harrison
Vicki and Thomas Horwich
Carlton J. Hunke
Sandy and Charles Israel
Virginia Weckstrom Kantor and Paul Kantor
Kathryn A. King
Linda Lee
Nancy Manderson
Joelle McDonough
Suzanne and Taber Meyers
Janyce and Richard Peck
Constance Rudick
Harriet Silverman
Shelly and Pete Thigpen
MaryAnn and Ray Tittle
Ruth and Bob Wade
Wendy Weisbard
Lynn Asbury and John Wronosky
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