By Peter Alexander

Duo pianists Anderson & Roe. Photo by Lisa-marie Mazzucco.

It sounds just like Boulder: “a mixture of cheeky irreverence and sophistication, elegant and raucous.”

It’s actually conductor Michael Butterman describing the first piece of the Boulder Philharmonic’s 2016-17 season. The opening concert, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Boulder and 2 p.m. Sunday in Denver, will begin with Francis Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos.

You may not know the concerto, but Butterman is pretty sure Boulder audiences will enjoy it. “There’s a real joie de vivre about the outer movements,” he says. “The middle movement, though, is a testament to the surpassing beauty that can be conveyed through utter simplicity.”

Soloists for the concerto will be the duo pianists Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe. After the Poulenc, Roe will return to the stage alone to perform Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, one of the most-familiar, and most-beloved works in the piano-and-orchestra repertoire. The program concludes with Tchaikovsky’s tuneful but little performed Symphony No. 2 (“Little Russian”).

Anderson and Roe have made a name for themselves among duo pianists by reaching beyond the classical repertoire and audiences to embrace popular styles as well. They have posted a number of adventurous videos on their web page, including music by Taylor Swift and Coldplay, alongside arrangements of music from Star Wars, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, and pieces by Mozart, Stockhausen and Schubert.

“Both of us are just fascinated by the whole realm of music,” Roe says.

Read more at Boulder Weekly.

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Anderson & Roe. Photo by Lisa-marie Mazzucco.

Boulder Philharmonic, Michael Butterman, music director
Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe, duo pianists
7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8
Mack Auditorium, Boulder

2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 9
Pinnacle Performing Arts Complex, 1001 W. 84th Ave., Denver

POULENC   Concerto for Two Pianos
Anderson and Roe, duo pianists

RACHMANINOFF   Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini
Elizabeth Joy Roe, piano

TCHAIKOVSKY   Symphony No. 2 (“Little Russian”)

Tickets