New video by artist Gary Kelley will accompany The Planets by Gustav Holst

By Peter Alexander

The Boulder Philharmonic calls their 2018–19 season “Open Space,” and they will begin their classical programming Saturday (Oct. 13) focusing on the openest space of all. Under the title “Infinite Space,” they will perform music about stars and astronomers and planets.

Artwork by Gary Kelley for The New Live, from “The Planets Re-imagined”

You might guess one of the pieces: The Planets by Gustav Holst, one of the best loved and most programmed pieces for orchestra. The other two are completely new to Boulder audiences, having both been written in this century: Jessie Montgomery’s Starburst and James Stephenson’s Celestial Suite.

“To take something well loved and surround it with music that is a discovery for people—that is the formula we have followed for a while,” Michael Butterman, the Boulder Phil’s music director says.

Holst’s Planets will be accompanied by a video, “The Planets Re-imagined,” created by artist Gary Kelley, who is known for his posters and illustrations, and The New Live, a company specializing in multimedia productions for the concert stage.

Kelley created more than 25 separate images, from large oil paintings to small illustrations, that are combined in video imagery. The subject of the images is World War I and the time after the war, rather than the physical planets themselves.

Read more in Boulder Weekly.

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“Infinite Space”
Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Butterman, conductor

Jessie Montgomery: Starburst
James Stephenson: Celestial Suite
Gustav Holst: The Planets

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13
Macky Auditorium, Boulder

2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 14
Pinnacle Performing Arts Center, Denver (without video projections for The Planets)

Tickets

Related events:

“Meet the Planets” Musical Hike
Dave Sutherland, leader
7:15 p.m. Oct. 11 CANCELED (weather)
7:15 p.m. Oct. 12 and Monday, Oct. 15 (weather permitting; clear skies are forecast))
Boulder Valley Ranch Trailhead
Free

Free Pre-Concert Talk
Hosted by CPR’s Marilyn Cooley with Michael Butterman, astronomer Kyle KremerandDavid Brainof CU’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
6:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13
Macky Auditorium