Boulder Philharmonic opens 2015–16 season with two soloists

By Peter Alexander

Pianist Gabriela Montero. Photo by Shelley Mosman

The Boulder Philharmonic’s 2015–16 season is titled “Reflections: The Spirit of Boulder,” but the orchestra will open the season by telling stories.

The season’s opening concert under music director Michael Butterman will be at 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 13, in Macky Auditorium — a departure from the orchestra’s standard 7:30 p.m. Saturday concert dates.

The program will feature music that tells stories, two soloists with their own stories, and one great concerto that is a story in itself. Butterman will conduct Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite; The Storyteller for violin and orchestra, inspired by Japanese folk tales and written by Korine Fujiwara for the orchestra’s concertmaster, Charles Wetherbee; and Rachmaninoff ’s Piano Concerto No. 2, the piece that salvaged the composer’s career, performed with pianist Gabriela Montero, who has been acclaimed both as “an exciting pianist” (The New York Times) and for her “spectacular improvisation” (Cincinnati Enquirer).

That’s a lot of stories for one concert.

Read more in Boulder Weekly.

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Concertmaster Charles Wetherbee

Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra: Opening Night
Michael Butterman, director, with
Charles Wetherbee, violin, and Gabriela Montero, piano

Ravel: Mother Goose Suite
Korine Fujiwara: The Storyteller for violin and orchestra
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2

7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 13 (Note the time and day)
CU Macky Auditorium

Tickets.