Arrival at Snowmass Village. Hotel Check-in 4 pm. Orientation at 4:45 pm, dinner, and evening ticketed concert. The Festival Concert schedule and names of guest artists is attached in the information packet or can be found at: www.aspenmusicfestival.com.

Note: The 2013 Aspen Music Festival and School season theme is "Conscience and Beauty". The concerts and musical repertoire will focus on the artist as citizen, the composers role in society, and reflections of the social conscience through transcendent and beautiful music. The Festival founded in 1949, is an internationally renowned classical music festival that presents music in an intimate, small-town setting. It is a training ground for young adult musicians.

Afternoon: **IMPORTANT NOTE: Please arrive on Wednesday by 4 p.m. Orientation and Welcome Lecture will occur at 4:45 pm. Dinner will be served early and a ticketed concert will be attended after dinner. Due to tickets and transportation, persons arriving late may miss the concert.

Dinner: Buffet dinner at hotel

Evening: After dinner attend a ticketed concert in the Benedict Music Tent or Harris Concert Hall featuring world renowned guest artist musicians. Specific concert artists and musical selections can be found attached to the packet and at: www.aspenmusicfestival.com

Lodging: The Stonebridge Inn

Meals Included: Dinner

Morning lecture on Festival Theme, Composers, and featured Artists; afternoon tour of the Aspen Music School Campus; evening attend ticketed concert

Note: The Festival and School was founded by Elizabeth and Walter Paepcke of Chicago and is rooted in the lofty idea that it is the combination of art and nature that fosters the growth of the human spirit. This guiding principle still informs every aspect of the organization. Substantial artistic collaboration was provided by Henri Temianka and his Paganini Quartet during the formative years.[

Breakfast: Full buffet breakfast at hotel

Morning: This morning will feature a lecture by our faculty in residence discussing last night's performance and the next two performances. We will learn and discuss how the festival theme relates to the performances, learn about the composers and the featured guest artists. Hotel Conference Room

Lunch: Special lunch on hotel deck grill

Afternoon: Docent led tour of the Aspen Music School Campus, a former silver mine located in a beautifully landscaped and natural mountain valley. For music students, the program provides a combination of classroom and performance experiences. A broad curriculum includes playing in an orchestra, individual lessons, master classes, and recitals. Seven hundred and fifty young musicians attend the School from throughout the United States and the world. Almost 40 nations are represented, including Australia, China, Iceland, Mexico, Sweden, and Venezuela. The average age is 23.

Dinner: Buffet dinner at hotel; time will be adjusted to reflect evening concert schedule.

Evening: After dinner attend a ticketed concert in the Benedict Music Tent or Harris Concert Hall featuring world renowned guest artist musicians. Specific concert artists and musical selections will be announced and updated on this website as they become available. More than 350 classical music events take place in eight weeks every summer, from July to August, including performances by four on-site orchestras, chamber music, opera, contemporary music, children's events, lectures, and discussions. There are up to 8 events a day and more than 100,000 patrons participate.

Lodging: The Stonebridge Inn

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Field trip with geologist to Maroon Bells Lake, Backstage Tour of the Aspen Music Festival Performance Halls; lecture by our faculty in residence; evening attend ticketed concert

Note: The Music Festival Performance Venues shares the park like campus with the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. Chicago industrialist Walter Paepcke and his wife, Elizabeth, invited intellectuals, artists and philosophers to convene in 1949 for the fledgling Institute honoring the 200th birthday of humanist Johann van Goethe. The Institute became a permanent location and fostered the creation of the annual Aspen Music Festival, Aspen Ideas Festival, and Aspen Design Festival.

Breakfast: Full buffet breakfast at hotel

Morning: After breakfast we depart trip with an expert geologist to Maroon Bells Lake (9,580') providing one of the most memorable and photographed scenes in the Rockies. The lake occupies a basin that was sculpted by Ice-Age glaciers and later dammed by landslide and rockfall debris from the steep slopes above the valley floor. After a short lecture, we will walk around the lake or sit and enjoy the scenery.

Lunch: We depart Maroon Lake for the Aspen Music Festival Performance Campus where we enjoy a box lunch. Following lunch, docents will lead us on a special backstage tour of the Benedict Music Tent and Harris Concert Hall. The award-winning Benedict Music Tent is the world's first concert facility that combines the openness and romance of a tent with the acoustic integrity of a concert hall. A permanent structure, the Benedict Music Tent seats 2,050 and offers stellar acoustics and gorgeous mountain atmosphere. The Tent, designed by renowned architect Harry Teague, made its debut in 2000. Adjacent to the Tent, the 500-seat Harris Concert Hall provides an intimate and acoustically pristine venue for chamber music performances. Remarkably, 80% of the hall is below ground. This warm, woody hall - once compared to being "inside a cello" - was proclaimed "the Carnegie of the Rockies" by the Denver Post when it opened in 1993.

Afternoon: Returning to the hotel, the second lecture by our faculty in residence will review last night's performance and preview the next performances. We will continue to discuss how the festival theme relates to the performances, learn about the composers and the featured guest artists. Hotel Conference Room

Dinner: Dinner tonight is on your own to discover restaurants in Snowmass Village.

Evening: Tonight's major ticketed concert will be attended featuring the Aspen Chamber Orchestra with world class guest artists. Specific concert artists and musical selections will be announced and updated on this website as they become available. The master teacher/apprentice relationship, the foundation of music education, finds full expression at the School. Aspen students have the unusual opportunity to perform as orchestra members with some of the world’s finest musicians, under the leadership of world-renowned conductors. Musicians of all ages learn from their instructors not only in the classroom, but also as they perform side-by-side with them in the Aspen Festival Orchestra, the Aspen Chamber Symphony, the Aspen Concert Orchestra, and in chamber music throughout the summer. Conductors also have an opportunity to lead an orchestra in the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen.

Lodging: The Stonebridge Inn

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch

Opera Scenes Master Class in historic Wheeler Opera House, free time in downtown Aspen and hotel; evening attend ticketed concert.

Note: Aspen was founded as a mining camp during the 1880's Silver Boom and named for the abundance of aspen trees in the area. The Panic of 1893 led to a collapse in the silver market, and the city began a half-century during which its population steadily declined, reaching less than a thousand by 1930. Aspen's fortunes reversed following World War II when Aspen Mountain was developed into a ski resort. Now booming again with winter and summer attractions, the town's resident population is 6,658.

Breakfast: Full buffet breakfast at hotel

Morning: This morning we visit the historic Wheeler Opera House in downtown Aspen for a ticketed Opera Master Class performance. Built in 1889, the Wheeler House is magnificently preserved and serves as a beautiful venue for opera and all other performances. The Opera Scenes Master Class is a favorite performance of our program featuring aspiring artists in operatic roles with on the spot critiques.

Lunch: Lunch today is on own in the historic downtown of Aspen, one block from the Wheeler Opera House.

Afternoon: After plenty of time for lunch and to explore the historic downtown, we return to our hotel for a rest or time to enjoy the beautiful outdoor pool and spa.

Dinner: Buffet dinner at hotel; time will be adjusted to reflect evening concert schedule.

Evening: After dinner attend a ticketed concert in the Benedict Music Tent or Harris Concert Hall featuring world renowned guest artist musicians. Specific concert artists and musical selections will be announced and updated on this website as they become available. . Alumni of the AMFS fill important professional music positions around the world, performing in top-tier orchestras, opera houses, and teaching on music school faculties. Joshua Bell, Sarah Chang, James Conlon, Lynn Harrell, Renée Fleming, Lawrence Foster, James Levine, Cho-Liang Lin, Robert McDuffie, Susanne Mentzer, Shlomo Mintz, Itzhak Perlman, Leonard Slatkin, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Philip Glass, Bright Sheng, Augusta Read Thomas, William Bolcom, Dawn Upshaw, and Kalil Wilson are among those whose careers have roots at the Aspen Music Festival and School.

Lodging: The Stonebridge Inn

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Lecture by our faculty in residence; guided Victorian neighborhoods; pre-concert lecture by the Orchestra Conductor; followed by ticketed concert

Note: Robert Spano is one of the brightest and most imaginative conductors of his generation. As music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, he has enriched and expanded its repertoire and elevated the ensemble to new levels of international prominence. In 2012, Mr. Spano became music director of the Aspen Music Festival and School and named a Fellow of the Aspen Institute as part of the Harman-Eisner Artist-in-Residence Program. Mr. Spano also leads the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen.

Breakfast: Full buffet breakfast at hotel

Morning: This morning the third lecture by our faculty in residence will again review last night's performance and preview the concluding performance this afternoon. We will continue to discuss how the festival theme relates to the performances, learn about the composers and the featured guest artists. Hotel Conference Room

Lunch: Buffet lunch in the hotel. Following lunch, we travel to the Hotel Jerome for a look at the historic hotel and then take a leisurely guided walk through the beautiful Victorian era neighborhoods. We end our tour at the Music Festival Performance Hall. Built in 1889 at the height of Colorado’s silver boom by Jerome B. Wheeler, co-owner of Macy’s department store, Hotel Jerome was then considered a modern marvel – one of the first buildings west of the Mississippi River to be fully lit by electricity.

Afternoon: After a short rest or time for exploration of the beautifully landscaped Festival Grounds, we will attend a pre-concert lecture by the Orchestra Conductor. This afternoon's major ticketed concert will feature the full Aspen Festival Orchestra with world class guest artists. Specific concert artists and musical selections will be announced and updated on this website as they become available

Dinner: Buffet closing dinner at hotel following the concert.

Evening: Time for farewells, reflection, and packing for morning departures.

Lodging: The Stonebridge Inn

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Depart From: Independent departures after breakfast

Breakfast: Full buffet breakfast at hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast