New Article – Aspen Times

A full circle moment: Aaron Larget-Caplan 

Link: https://www.aspentimes.com/news/aspen-music-festival-winter-music-recitals/

Aspen Music Festival and School also supports teachers and students across Roaring Fork Valley. This includes in-school enrichment and its Musical Connections program, which provided outreach by inviting esteemed musician Aaron Larget-Caplan to visit the school this month.

Acclaimed guitarist, composer, and Colorado-based musician Aaron Larget-Caplan returned to Basalt and Carbondale from Dec. 8-9 to work with the students by leading workshops and assemblies as part of Music Connections outreach.

For Larget-Caplan, who attended Colorado Rocky Mountain School, Basalt Middle School, Carbondale Community School, Waldorf School on the Roaring Fork, and Carbondale Middle School, these visits “pay it forward.” He traces it back to a similar school visit he experienced in his youth. 

“Growing up in Denver, I remember when the Denver Symphony came to my elementary school. I played the clarinet. He performed a Brahms Sonata, and I thought, ‘Wow.’ When I heard this, I didn’t know this existed, and music really saved my life as a teenager. It improved all my grades, discipline, how I think, and how I learn,” Larget-Caplan said.

Now, as a concert guitarist, he has performed across the U.S., Europe, Russia, and Taiwan. He’s premiered more than 120 solo and chamber works, soloed with orchestras, and led commissioning projects. He has also received multiple awards and held prestigious residencies at the Banff Centre and John Cage Trust at Bard College.

He added, “As soon as I was a halfway decent musician, whenever I came back to Colorado, I wanted to make sure that these kids heard this and had opportunities to hear music.”

He’s also determined to demystify the world of music for young learners.

“You don’t have to be a professional with music,” he said. “There are so many paths. This is not something our society is very warm to unless you’re famous, and I refuse to accept that.”

For more information, visit aspenmusicfestival.com/events/winter-music-2026 or Aaron Larget-Caplan.

Aspen Music Festival and School’s Musical Connections program brings musical experiences to Roaring Fork Schools.Jennika Ingram/Courtesy photo

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