The National Repertory Orchestra (NRO) is thrilled to announce the 2023 Summer Music Festival “Music Lives Here!” with Music Director Michael Stern, June 24 through August 12, 2023.
Founded in 1960 in Estes Park, Colorado, by Walter Charles, the NRO will celebrate its 30th year in Breckenridge. This season, the orchestra will welcome 80 young professional musicians along with extraordinary guest conductors JoAnn Falletta, Jeffrey Kahane, Ken-David Masur, Tania Miller, Jason Seber and Carl Topilow, NRO Music Director Laureate.
The programming thread artistically explores The Immigrant Experience and how it has enhanced the nation. “The importance of new and diverse voices in the United States cannot be understated,” said Michael Stern, NRO Music Director. “Composers like Bartók, Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff (who will have a 150th birthday on April 1) left their native countries to seek refuge, creative opportunity and artistic freedom. In turn, they influenced generations of composers, right up to our time, several of whom we will feature this summer at the festival.”
To pay homage to The Immigrant Experience, the NRO will perform the world-premiere commission Transplanted Seeds. “We have the privilege to play a new work by my good friend, composer Chen Yi,” said Stern. “At the request of our Board of Trustees President Pam Piper Yeung, and in honor of her husband, Dr. Kai Yeung, Chen Yi has created a musical journey, especially for the NRO. Transplanted Seeds became the impetus for our 2023 season theme, incorporating the significance of musicians coming to America.”