The summer season is winding down and orchestras all over the world are gearing up for a busy fall.

For me, most of August was spent in Aspen, Colorado. Having been a student there from 1964, I have certainly seen not only the city, but the School and Festival change dramatically. What were once small, intimate and quiet entities are now players on the world stage. During the course of nine weeks, one can see and hear most of the great artists of our time.

Greetings from Aspen, Colorado! It is lovely here, as usual, but with a bit more rain that expected.

July turned out to be a very exciting month. In my position as Principal Guest Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl (a Guinness record for length of titled position), I spend almost three weeks in Los Angeles. This was my hometown and the Bowl was where my father performed for many years. So it is always a treat to return to the orchestra I grew up with.

The month of June has been quite exciting for me. First, we wrapped up the subscription season of the NSO with the premiere of a harp concerto. The soloist was the orchestra’s principal harpist, Dotian Levalier, who played with great feeling and panache. The piece is by Mark Adamo, who is primarily known as an opera composer. The lyrical elements would certainly bear out his reputation in this field, but his use of the orchestra was outstanding, and I believe many harpists will want to take up the work.

The following week saw the conclusion of the eighth National Conducting Institute. The four conductors who debuted with the orchestra each showed flair and talent. It still amazes me that different musicians can stand before the orchestra and each one produces his or her own sound. The more individual the conductor, the more personal that sound can be. It also provides the players with a keener understanding of the inner workings of the conductor’s art.

Two years have past since we launched this site providing immediate access to an array of information pertaining to my concerts, recordings and activities, yet it does not seem complete without your first finding a greeting or note of welcome from me. So, here’s my first try at it.

Let me thank all of you who have visited. This is the place to look when you want to find out where I will be performing. For the most part, it is accurate. The venues, programs and soloists are all here. And when there is some news, we share it with you as soon as possible.