Among the many surprises in the 38th Music in the Mountains Festival, is the quiet way new music and new musicians slip into fairly conventional programming. Take “Vitality,” the shimmering opener at last Sunday’s concert by the 30-year-old American composer Gala Flagello. The 6-minute work served as a mini overture and awakened the audience with its luminous beauty.
The first full-orchestra concert of the season then stepped into a Romantic-era pool of light. Conductor Guillermo Figueroa welcomed violinist Hina Khuong-Huu to solo in Lalo’s “Symphonie espagnole in D minor.” Premiered in 1875, the 40-minute work was first performed by the famous virtuoso of the day, Pablo de Sarasate. A century and a half later, Khuong-Huu brought the masterpiece alive again.
If you go
WHAT: “Bouquet of Sound,” Music in the Mountains Festival Orchestra, Conductor Maurice Cohn, works by Mazzoli, Haydn, Copland, Falla.
WHEN: 5 p.m. Sunday. Pre-concert lecture: 4 p.m.
WHERE: Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College, Center of Southwest Studies, 1000 Rim Drive.
TICKETS: $50/$70.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.musicinthemountains.com or call 385-6820.
After intermission, Figueroa led the orchestra in Brahms’ majestic Symphony No. 2 in D minor – from memory. It’s hard to conceive of any human brain that could scroll through that massive score without notes of any kind. Figueroa conducted with both verve and ease. He seems to be at the peak of his powers. So, it is sad that he’s concluding his final MiTM season.
The world turns, and younger generations follow. This Sunday, the festival will welcome the only guest conductor in the classical season: Maurice Cohn. At 29, Cohn may be the youngest to lead the festival orchestra in its 38-year history.
Cohn currently holds several leadership roles. He’s assistant conductor of the Dallas Symphony, music director of the West Virginia Symphony, and conductor and artistic partner of Camerata Notturna, a chamber orchestra based in New York City.
“Making music is one of the most fundamentally human things we do,” he said. “I feel very lucky to spend my life surrounded by brilliant colleagues who are fully committed to their craft.”
Cohn has multiple degrees, beginning with a bachelor’s in math and history from Oberlin College. That morphed into another Oberlin bachelor’s degree in musical performance (cello). Then he went on to the Eastman School of Music, where he earned a master’s in conducting.
Cohn’s three-year association with the Dallas Symphony implies that he knows many of the musicians who make up the Festival Orchestra. It’s also likely he knows Greg Hustis, which might explain Cohn’s invitation to Durango. For decades, Hustis, the wizard behind the MiTM curtain, has connected world-class musicians to our summer stage.
“Greg and Angie Beach (MiTM executive director) reached out to me last year to be a guest conductor,” Cohn said. “I was very honored to be asked. I knew about MiTM because of my relationship with the Dallas Symphony, and I am thrilled to be part of this summer’s season.”
Cohn will open Sunday’s concert with a short work by another young composer: Missy Mazzoli, 44.
“She is an incredible musician and part of a group of composers defining the ‘American’ sound of the 21st century,” Cohn said. “The first piece, ‘These Worlds in Us,’ is dedicated to her father, who was a soldier during the Vietnam War. The title comes from James Tate’s poem ‘The Lost Pilot,’ in which Tate remembers his own father’s service in World War II.”
The concert will continue with three highly spirited works by Haydn, Copland and Falla.
“The program was put together collaboratively with Greg and Angie and truly offers something for everybody,” Cohn said. “Copland helped define the American sound of the 20th century.”
It seemed a good choice, Cohn indicated, to be on a program with Mazzoli’s new American work.
Cohn’s sojourn with MiTM won’t be a first Colorado experience, he said. For many summers, he participated in the Aspen Music Festival, “where I went first as a cello student, then as a conducting fellow, and most recently as the assistant conductor for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Colorado is an amazing place to make music.”
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
