Sun Valley Music Festival Unveils 2026 Winter Season

The Sun Valley Music Festival has unveiled its eighth Winter Season, March 19-21, 2026, featuring guest curator and violinist Benjamin Beilman. Beilman last appeared with the Festival Orchestra and Music Director Alasdair Neale in 2018, performing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor.

An accomplished chamber musician, Beilman will join forces with Festival Orchestra musicians in a program featuring Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring Suite, John Adams's Road Movies, and Vivaldi's popular Four Seasons. The program opens with a piece for solo violin titled Sanguineum, written for Beilman by Gabriella Smith.

"I'm thrilled to welcome back Benjamin Beilman the Music Festival, this time as both performer in and curator of the Winter Season's program," said Neale. "He is an immensely versatile and thoughtful musician who is as comfortably at home in the 18th century as he is in the 21st, as you'll see from the fascinating and varied program he's assembled."

The program will be performed on March 19, 20, and 21, at the Argyros Performing Arts Center, in Ketchum, at 7 p.m. (the lobby opens at 6 p.m., and doors open at 6:30 p.m.). The concerts are about two hours long, including an intermission. As always, admission is free, but reservations are required. Information on attending the performances is below.

On Wednesday, March 18, at 5:30 p.m., the Sun Valley Music Festival will present "Upbeat with Alasdair," featuring Neale and Beilman in conversation. The event will be held at The Community Library in Ketchum and livestreamed on the Festival's website. Reservations to attend will open to the public through The Community Library's calendar on Wednesday, March 4, at 9 a.m. During the week, Beilman and Winter Festival musicians will also interact with local students, offering demonstrations, coaching, and master classes.

Winter Season admission is free, but space is limited and reservations are required:

• Concert reservations are limited to two per household for one of the three performances.
• Public concert reservations begin Wednesday, February 18, 2026, at 9 a.m. at svmusicfestival.org.
• Festival donors at the Patron ($6,000) level and up may make concert reservations early, beginning Wednesday, February 11, 2026, at 9 a.m., by calling the Festival office at 208.622.5607.
• Reservations for "Upbeat with Alasdair" open to the public through The Community Library's calendar at https://thecommunitylibrary.libcal.com/event/15583152 on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at 9 a.m.

For the latest news and information on the Sun Valley Music Festival and the Winter Season, including reservations and details on attending, visit the Festival website at svmusicfestival.org or sign up for e-news at svmusicfestival.org/subscribe.

Sun Valley Music Festival: Winter Season

March 19-21, 2026
Featuring Benjamin Beilman in concert with Alasdair Neale and Festival Musicians
The Argyros Performing Arts Center in Ketchum, 7 p.m. (Doors open at 6:30 p.m.)

• Thursday, March 19, 2026, at 7:00 PM
• Friday, March 20, 2026, at 7:00 PM
• Saturday, March 21, 2026, at 7:00 PM

Alasdair Neale, Music Director and Conductor
Benjamin Beilman, Curator and Violin

GABRIELLA SMITH: Sanguineum
Benjamin Beilman - violin

AARON COPLAND: Suite from Appalachian Spring (original version for 13 Instruments)
Alasdair Neale - conductor
Catherine Payne - flute
Jerry Simas - clarinet
Tariq Masri - bassoon
Peter Grunberg - piano
Jeremy Constant, Erin Schreiber, Mayumi Masri, Alicia Yang - violin
Adam Smyla, Chris Tantillo - viola
Amos Yang, Eric Gaenslen - cello
Stephen Tramontozzi - double bass

JOHN ADAMS: Road Movies
Benjamin Beilman - violin
Peter Grunberg - piano

ANTONIO VIVALDI: Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons), Op.8, Nos. 1-4

La primavera (Spring): Allegro - Largo e pianissimo sempre - Allegro pastorale
L'estate (Summer): Allegro non molto - Adagio e piano - Presto
L'autunno (Autumn): Allegro - Adagio molto - Allegro
L'inverno (Winter): Allegro non molto - Largo - Allegro

Benjamin Beilman - solo violin
Jeremy Constant, Erin Schreiber, Mayumi Masri, Alicia Yang - violin
Adam Smyla, Chris Tantillo - viola
Amos Yang, Eric Gaenslen - cello
Stephen Tramontozzi - double bass
Jonathan Dimmock - harpsichord

About the Sun Valley Music Festival
The Sun Valley Music Festival's mission is to enrich, inspire, and instill in our community a lifelong love of classical music through extraordinary free concerts and education programs. Festival programs provide opportunities for people from all walks of life to listen, learn, and play. Now in its 42nd year, it is the largest privately supported, free-admission orchestra in the United States.

Over 100 world-class musicians from North America's most distinguished orchestras, including the San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and Houston Symphony, comprise the Festival Orchestra. Summer Season concerts are held in July and August at the spectacular R.E. Holding Sun Valley Pavilion, in the mountain resort town of Sun Valley, Idaho. Winter Season concerts are held in February or March at the Argyros Performing Arts Center in nearby Ketchum, Idaho, which is adjacent to Bald Mountain, Sun Valley Resort's primary ski area. Internationally-renowned guest artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Gautier Capuçon, Midori, Emanuel Ax, Audra McDonald, Joshua Bell, Yefim Bronfman, Kristin Chenoweth, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet have performed with the Festival.