The Mumbai blasts have made a huge impact on India - not only has tourism taken a plunge, but also the hearts of the zillions of music fans across the country have been broken.

Live Earth India, which was scheduled to take place in Mumbai, India on December 7th, has been cancelled because of security fears after last week's terrorist attacks that left almost two hundred dead and hundreds more injured.

According to reports, the concert was designed to highlight environmental concerns and India's Light a Billion Lives solar energy program.

Bon Jovi and other booked acts were quick to cancel travel plans when the violence erupted, which prompted organizers to call off the sold-out charity event.

A British artist, Amar Dhanjan, who was booked to perform, thought cancellation was the right thing to do, "It's just not important compared to what's happening there right now."

Its a very disappointing turn of events, because Live Earth is a massive program that is enjoyed by a kajillion viewers in India. For now, there is the Anoushka Shanker - Jethro Tull jam to look forward too.

Aspen festival shortened a week

Alan Fletcher makes no attempt to sidestep the most obvious fact about the 2010 edition of the Aspen Music Festival: It's one week shorter than usual.

This summer's season will run eight weeks instead of nine — July 1 through Aug. 22 — and that trim inevitably means a reduction in the overall number of concerts, master classes and other offerings.

But even with the change, the festival will still include more than 350 events in 2010, and Fletcher, the festival's president and chief executive, believes the lineup ranks among Aspen's best ever.

"I'm certain the audience is going to experience it as just jam-packed with great stuff, and so there can be no sense of, 'Well, it's a tough time, and things are

Tony Award winner Audra McDonald makes her debut at the Aspen Music Festival on July 24. (Michael Wilson )

Discussions about shortening the season began a couple of years ago, in part because students and teachers at the festival's respected school complained that nine weeks meant almost no time off between Aspen and the regular school year.

Last year's recession only added more financial pressure to pare the season, a move that will result in about $500,000 in net savings once lost income and expense cuts are figured.

Festival leaders chose to start a week later, because the festival has typically sold about 1,500 single tickets during the first week of the season at the end June compared to 5,000 a week in August.

Despite the shorter duration, Aspen's 2010 lineup will look familiar to festival regulars, with the typical mix of familiar artists and newcomers and bedrock repertory and contemporary works.

Among the guest artists making their Aspen debut are renowned soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, Broadway star Audra McDonald, violinist Leila Josefowicz and cellist Sol Gabetta.

Gabetta, who will appear with the Aspen Chamber Symphony on July 30, was born in Argentina in 1981, the daughter of French and Russian parents. In 2004, as winner of the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award, she performed with the Vienna Philharmonic at the Lucerne Festival.

"She's just a firecracker," Fletcher said.

Josefowicz will join guest conductor Edo de Waart and the Aspen Chamber Symphony on Aug. 20 for a performance of British composer Thomas Adès' 2005 violin concerto — "Concentric Paths," Op. 23.

David Zinman, the festival's internationally known music director, returns for his 13th season. He will lead four concerts, including a performance of Gustav Mahler's towering Symphony No. 9 on July 11.

As usual, the Aspen Opera Theater Center, the festival's pre-professional training program, will present three productions in Aspen's historic Wheeler Opera House.

This season the center will become just the second company anywhere to produce the complete trilogy of past and present operas based on Beaumarchais' plays featuring the barber, Figaro, and his merry band of fellow characters.

The lineup will be: Gioachino Rossini's "The Barber of Seville" (July 15, 17 and 19), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro (July 31, Aug. 2 and Aug. 4) and John Corigliano's "The Ghosts of Versailles."

"I think people will really like the progression, seeing the characters meet, fall in love, fall out of love and then die," Fletcher said.

Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com

Ten highlights of the 2010 Aspen Music Festival

July 1, Emerson String Quartet.

July 7, All-Brahms program. Gil Shaham, violin; Lynn Harrell, cello, and Akira Eguchi, piano.

July 22, U.S. Premiere, Philip Glass' Violin Concerto No. 2, "American Four Seasons." Robert McDuffie, violin.

July 24, Audra McDonald, soprano

July 31, Jeffrey Kahane, piano.

Aug. 5, "Rhapsody in Blue." Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano.

Aug. 18, Edgar Meyer, bass, Bela Fleck, banjo and Zakir Hussain, percussion.

Aug. 19 and 21, John Corigliano's "The Ghosts of Versailles." Aspen Opera Theater Center.

Aug. 20, Thomas Adès' "Concentric Paths." Aspen Chamber Symphony, Edo de Waart, conductor. Leila Josefowicz, violin.

Aug. 22, Aspen Festival Orchestra, David Zinman, conductor. Isabel Bayrakdarian, soprano and Stephen Powell, baritone.

Ticket information: 970-925-9042 or aspenmusicfestival.com