Set in the awe-inspiring majesty of the Colorado Rockies, the Aspen Music Festival and School has carried on the vision of creativity and education that started with the 1949 Goethe Bicentennial Convocation.



Elizabeth and Walter Paepcke of Chicago launched the two-week celebration in Aspen that brought figures such as Albert Schweitzer, Arthur Rubinstein, and many other noted individuals for lectures, symposia, and concerts. Uniting the intersecting worlds of ideas, art, and natural beauty, this event started something special: fostering the growth of the human spirit through the melding of art and nature.



Today, nearly sixty years later, the AMFS continues pursuing that ideal. Music Director David Zinman presides over the eight-week summer festival of more than 350 events - including orchestral concerts, chamber music, opera, contemporary music, master classes, lectures, and kids' programs. Each day brings concerts to the 2,050-seat Benedict Music Tent (an acoustically superior and award-winning permanent structure that opened in 2000), the beautifully restored Victorian Wheeler Opera House, the exceptional Harris Concert Hall, as well as in churches and other halls around Aspen. Many events are free, and other tickets range up to $80. Lawn seating is always free.



The Festival and School continues to develop both in its scope and reputation. The 2007 season saw the inauguration of a free big-screen opera simulcast in Wagner Park. And in the near future major construction will begin on the redevelopment of the Castle Creek Campus, as designed by renowned architect Harry Teague.



Aspen continues to bring the brightest young musicians together with the classical music world's foremost instructors. More than 600 students and 200 artist-faculty come each year, as the Festival and School gathers musical influences from far and wide to create a unique hub of innovation and exploration through rich instrumental and vocal programs and so much more.