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<\/p>\n I turn down a dirt road off Highway 128, the serpentine Scenic Byway along the Colorado River that ends in Moab, Utah. Eroded red sandstone cliffs jut out of the landscape; a rock formation known as the Priest and Nuns looms on the right. It\u2019s the kind of road I\u2019ve traveled for years here on my way to mountain-biking trails.<\/p>\n Fifteen minutes later, I\u2019m standing on a shaded patio, sipping a glass of ros\u00e9 and chatting with virtuoso jazz pianist Marcus Roberts, the evening\u2019s performer, and Jamie Bernstein (daughter of Leonard). Later on, about 75 of us gather in a ranch house living room as Roberts sits at the Steinway grand to play a program of some of his own compositions, as well as works by Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. I listen, rapt, from about 20 feet away. He ends with a majestic performance of Gershwin\u2019s \u201cRhapsody in Blue.\u201d After the concert, we all feast alfresco on an outstanding farm-to-table dinner.<\/p>\n Living in Aspen, I\u2019ve enjoyed access to a remarkable slate of cultural experiences, but the Moab Music Festival is something else. Held annually from late August through early September, it offers 20 classical, New Yorkers Michael Barrett (he\u2019s a conductor and pianist) and Leslie Tomkins (she\u2019s a violist) started the festival in 1993, a time when Moab\u2019s economy was transitioning from uranium mining to outdoor recreation. The couple had discovered the town a couple of years prior, as they were also thinking about forming their own music fest. \u201cThere was a perfect moment, when we were sitting at Arches National Park, watching a thunderstorm on the horizon, and a double rainbow appeared,\u201d recalls Barrett. \u201cLeslie said, \u2018Let\u2019s make the music festival here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n From the outset, Moab\u2019s striking natural landscape has been a fest hallmark. \u201cWhat makes us so unique is how we\u2019ve been able to marry beautiful music-making with these extraordinary places,\u201d says Barrett. <\/span><\/p>\n While a handful of concerts take place inside the historic Star Hall, most are held outside, some in local parks or at riverside guest lodges. More-intrepid concertgoers head out with a naturalist guide on half-hour hikes to a wilderness venue where the musicians play. Most inspired are the three afternoon concerts held in a tucked-away grotto along the Colorado. And a pair of multiday guided raft trips bookend the schedule, complete with performers (and their carefully packed instruments) on board.<\/p>\n The breadth of artists matches the range of venues. Barrett brings in leading musicians he knows personally. \u201cWhether they\u2019re a fiddle player or a classical pianist or a Latin trumpet player, these people are at the tippy top of their fields,\u201d he says. This year\u2019s performances, for example, include vocal group Take 6; an evening of Beethoven and Chopin; traditional fiddle music; and Tony Award-nominated soprano Lauren Worsham with pianist Kyle Jarrow (he wrote the book for Broadway\u2019s SpongeBob SquarePants<\/em>).<\/p>\n A grotto concert Image:\u00a0 Richard Bowditch<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The day after the Marcus Roberts concert, I board a modified school bus for the drive to the river, where we take jet boats to a sandstone grotto for an all-Bach program. After a mellow 40-minute ride, we disembark and walk through a leafy tunnel before popping out into the grotto. About 100 folding chairs are set up on the sand floor, as well as, improbably, a grand piano. Striated rock walls embrace the venue, soaring some 200 feet above. \u201cIt\u2019s like a holy site for me,\u201d says Barrett. \u201cI want the concerts here to be extra special.\u201d Like all of the grotto performances, this one begins with a full minute of silence before the music commences. As a pianist and flautist play Bach\u2019s Sonata in B Minor, the purity of sound within the natural amphitheater is nothing short of astonishing. When the audience claps, the gentle noise is like raindrops pitter-pattering onto the desert floor.<\/p>\n At the post-concert reception, I ask violinist Ayano Ninomiya what it\u2019s like to play in this unusual setting. \u201cIt\u2019s so still that you can hear every little thing\u2014it makes you listen better,\u201d she says, before adding, \u201cIt\u2019s so magical here. There\u2019s nothing like it.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Aspen-Sojourner-text.png\")
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<\/p>\nViolinist Tessa Lark performs in Moab.\u00a0 Image: Richard Bowditch<\/a><\/h5>\n<\/header>\n
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\n<\/span>jazz, and Americana concerts in incredible settings\u2014a riverside grotto, a hike-to meadow, a stunning private home\u2014with unparalleled intimacy. (Not to mention: the ticket for the Roberts evening, cocktail party and dinner included, was $250\u2014a relative steal compared to prices in Aspen.)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/sagacity\/image\/upload\/c_crop,h_717,w_1080,x_0,y_0\/c_limit,dpr_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_80,w_1080\/Moab-2011-Grotto_0060_v1_persp-5-web_opjbx9.jpg\")
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