by Susan Elliott Editor, Special Reports
With this Special Report, we are returning to a time-honored Musical America tradition of previewing summer festivals. We’re taking a slightly different approach than in the past: the information has been provided by the festivals themselves, as submitted in answers to questionnaires we emailed to our list, culled mostly from the North American and International Festival Listings in the 2014 Musical America Directory. In addition to our request for dates, contacts, and ticket-price ranges, we asked about the coming season’s highlights, which, having poured over them all, I can say with confidence point to a robust summer season for classical music. We edited for space only; otherwise, wherever possible, we left respondents’ answers intact.
You’ll note that there are a few TBAs from festivals that assemble their schedules relatively late in the game. We will add them to MusicalAmerica.com as they arrive. We launch the issue with a three-way interview led by our Chicago-based correspondent Wynne Delacoma, between Martin T:son [yes, that’s how it’s spelled] Engstroem, founder and executive director of the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, and Alan Fletcher, president and CEO of the Aspen Music Festival and School in Colorado. We chose these two because their respective operations have so much in common—both are professional presenters and at the same time training programs for young artists, both have turned seasonal ski results into thriving, year-round tourist destinations.
Our next Special Report, in June, will be devoted to music publishing. We’ll be examining the good, the bad, and the ugly aspects of recent developments, so stay tuned. In the meantime, we hope our Summer Festivals Guide helps you selectively savor the sounds of summer. Regards, Susan Elliott Editor, Special Reports
http://www.musicalamerica.com/specialreports/FESTIVALS_2014.pdf
