Aspen Music Festival and School

About the Experience

This past summer, I used Benenson Award funding to attend the Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS), where I studied violin in the Orchestra/Instrumental Program from June to August 2025. Over the course of eight weeks, I had the privilege of learning from and performing alongside some of the world’s most distinguished artists in an environment that was both rigorous and inspiring.

I studied violin privately with Professor Cornelia Heard, Valere Blair Potter Professor of Violin at Vanderbilt University, and participated in chamber music coachings with Professor David Halen, concertmaster of the St. Louis Symphony. Our regular rehearsals, averaging 3 to 4 hours each day, were supplemented by weekly private lessons, coachings, and open masterclasses. AMFS fostered not only technical growth, but also pushed me to explore my own interpretive voice, providing a level of immersion that far exceeded anything I had experienced previously.

Orchestral performance formed the core of the program. I performed regularly in the Klein Music Tent as a member of the Aspen Chamber Symphony under an extraordinary roster of conductors including Vasily Petrenko, Dame Jane Glover, Ryan Bancroft, Matthias Pintscher, and Paul-Boris Kertsman. Our repertoire included major works such as Brahms’s Symphony No. 3 and Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4, Schubert’s Symphony No. 9, Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1, and Stravinsky’s Symphony in C. In addition, I performed in opera productions of Mozart’s Così fan tutte, conducted by Patrick Summers and directed by Renée Fleming, and Puccini’s La bohème, conducted by Enrique Mazzola and directed by Katherine M. Carter.

These performances also offered the remarkable opportunity to collaborate with world-class soloists, including Lise de la Salle, Jeremy Denk, and Sheku Kanneh-Mason, in wide-ranging repertoire that included both traditional works and new music. I performed contemporary pieces like Gabriella Smith’s Tumblebird Contrails and Anna Clyne’s Piano Concerto ATLAS, the latter of which, along with Schubert’s Ninth, was recorded and is now streaming on medici.tv. I also took part in a film music concert featuring selections by John Williams and other composers for the screen. I gained so much from the breadth of music that I had the privilege of performing.

AMFS was a transformative experience. With near-daily concerts, I was constantly exposed to new ideas, interpretations, and standards of excellence. This immersive environment profoundly shaped my development as a violinist and deepened my artistic perspective. I am incredibly grateful to the Benenson family for the support that allowed me to take part in such a meaningful and formative summer.