Sounds of America The Scene

Ravel’s Boléro. These programmes bookend an all-American evening that gives a nod to Hollywood with selections from Bernstein’s On the Town and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, featuring his fellow Venezuelan musician, the pianist Gabriela Montero. www.hollywoodbowl.com

MAssAchusetts Tanglewood Music Festival Ariadne auf Naxos (August 1 to 4) Yo-Yo Ma (August 1 and 8) Bernarda Fink (August 5) Hilary Hahn (August 7) Alisa Weilerstein (August 13) Dawn Upshaw (August 20) Beethoven: Symphony No 9 (August 29) Much has been made of conductor James Levine’s health issues this year, particularly as they pertain to his work with the Metropolitan Opera and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In anticipation of an eventual and inevitable retirement both companies are courting replacements. Levine is still slated to lead a few engagements at Tanglewood, including a performance of Ariadne auf Naxos.

However, it’s the roster of guest conductors and performers that make this year’s festival shine — and make it difficult to pick just one standout. Divine Argentine mezzo-soprano

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Bernarda Fink sings Granados at Tanglewood www.gramophone.co.uk

Bernarda Fink gives a recital of works by Schumann, Granados and Rodrigo with dexterous pianist Anthony Spiri. Yo-Yo Ma displays his multifarious talents with Elgar’s Cello Concerto and a separate concert with his Silk Road Ensemble. The exciting young Korean conductor Shi-Yeon Shung leads Hilary Hahn in Sibelius’s scintillating Violin Concerto. Finally, no less than Kurt Masur sweeps in for the end of the season to conduct Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with a joyful quartet of soloists in Nicole Cabell, Marietta Simpson, Marcus Haddock and John Relyea. www.bso.org cALiforNiA Music@Menlo David Finckel and Wu Han (August 3) Spanish Inspirations (August 10) Dvořák’s America (August 13) Cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han have a lion’s share of accolades to their names: he’s one-fourth of the Emerson String Quartet, she’s an accomplished chamber pianist in her own right. They also share duties as artistic directors of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the founding artistic directors of California’s summer chamber series Music@Menlo. Seeing this dynamic duo perform together is still a treat:

yuja Wang wows audiences in Aspen

Finckel and Wu Han are intrinsically attuned to one another in the concert hall and take their performances to a higher plane. Unsurprisingly, these concerts are often quick to sell out, especially when the programme is Beethoven’s complete cello and piano sonatas.

A sultry mezzo-soprano with a voluminous voice, Sasha Cooke also lights up Music@Menlo’s programming this month in a diverse pair of concerts. In one is Falla’s Siete Cançiones populares Españolas, the other features selected spirituals and cabaret songs by Henry T Burleigh and William Bolcom for a recital focused on Dvořák’s America. Given Cooke’s fast-rising career at the Met, the opportunity to catch her in a more intimate setting is not one to pass up. www.musicatmenlo.org coLorAdo Aspen Music Festival Jean-Yves Thibaudet (August 5) Yuja Wang (August 14) Two pianists poised for greatness scale the heights in Colorado’s famous ski-town this month as part of the Aspen Music Festival. French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet made a splash earlier this year with a recording of Gershwin’s Piano Concerto and Rhapsody

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