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May 1, 2024

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Season closing events in Boulder and Longmont

Programs feature piano quartet, acrobatics and film music

By Peter Alexander May 1 at 4:38 p.m.

The Boulder Piano Quartet presents it’s final concert of the 2023-24 season Friday featuring music by Dvořák and the 19th-century French musical prodigy Mélanie Hélène Bonis Domange, known as Mel Bonis (7 p.m. May 3 at the Academy University Hill; further details below).

This will be the fourth and final performance this concert season to feature a guest violinist with the Quartet, appearing in place of their former violinist Chas Wetherbee, who died in 2023. The guest violinist for this performance will be Hilary Castle Green. 

Mel Bonis

This program is the second time that the Boulder Quartet has played music by Bonis, who is virtually unknown in the United States. About a year ago in May 2023, they played her Second Piano Quartet. This year they are playing her First Quartet in B-flat major.

Born in 1858, Bonis taught herself to play piano and entered the Paris Conservatory at 16. She was in the same class with Debussy, and studied composition with Cesar Franck. At the time women were not expected to be composers, and Bonis was urged by her parents to marry an older businessman. Because he didn’t like music, she gave up composing for a number of years. 

Later she met a former classmate who encouraged her and connected her with publishers, which led her to begin writing music again. She wrote the First Piano Quartet soon after, in 1901. When the composer Camille Saint-Saëns heard the Quartet, he is supposed to have said “I never thought a woman could write such music.” After her husband died in 1918, Bonis devoted herself to music.

Dvořák won the Australian State Prize for composition—in effect a grant to allow artists the time for creative work—in 1875. At 34 years of age he was still relatively unknown to the larger musical world, even though he had written four symphonies, seven string quartets, three operas, and other works. During that year he wrote a number of larger pieces, including his Symphony No. 5, his Serenade for Strings and the Piano Quartet No. 1 in D major. 

The Quartet is in the standard classical chamber-music structure of three movements, arranged fast, slow, fast. Unlike other quartets of the time, the piano is not placed separate from, or against the strings, as if it were a chamber concerto. Instead the four parts are more fully integrated. Though only three movements, the Quartet is an expansive work. It was not performed for nearly five years, however, having its premiere in Prague in 1880. 

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Boulder Piano Quartet: Matthew Dane, viola, Thomas Heinrich, cello, and David Korevaar, piano, with guest violin Hilary Castle Green

  • Mel Bonis: Piano Quartet No. 1 in B-flat major
  • Dvořák: Piano Quartet No. 1 in D major, op. 23

7 p.m. Friday, May 3, Academy Chapel Hall, Academy University Hill
Admission free with advance reservations

# # # # #

The Boulder Philharmonic will continue its relationship with the performing group Cirque de la Symphonie with two performances Saturday in Macky Auditorium (2 and 7:30 p.m. May 4; details below).

Classical music’s answer to Cirque du Soleil, Cirque de la Symphonie presents aerialists, jugglers, ribbon dancers, acrobats, contortionists and other acts to the accompaniment of classical music performed live on stage. Macky Auditorium will be especially rigged for the aerial acts, and the front of the stage reserved for other performers. The performance of selected short classics will be conducted by Renee Gilliland, associate director of orchestras at CU Boulder.

Renee Gilliland

This will be the fifth time that the Boulder Phil has hosted Cirque de la Symphonie at Macky. Their last previous appearance was in 2018. While limited tickets are still available for both scheduled performances Saturday, previous Cirque performances have sold out.

Gilliland earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in orchestral conducting and literature from CU Boulder, a Master of Music in viola performance with an outside area in conducting from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and a Bachelor of Music in music education and certificate of violin performance from the University of Texas at Austin Butler School of Music. She was also awarded an Artist Diploma in orchestral conducting from the University of Denver where she was assistant conductor of the Lamont School of Music Symphony and Opera Theater orchestras.

She was formerly music director of the CU Anschutz Medical Orchestra and associate conductor of the Denver Philharmonic.

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“Cirque Returns”
Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, Renee Gilliland, conductor
With Cirque de la Symphonie

  • Dvořák: Carnival Overture, op. 92 (orchestra only)
  • Ary Barroso: Aquarela do Brasil
  • Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F Major, III. Poco Allegretto
  • Bizet: Carmen Suite No. 1, Les Toreadores
    —Carmen Suite No. 2, Danse Bohème
  • Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 in A major (“Italian”), IV. Saltarello (orchestra only)
  • Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol, Scena e canto gitano
    —Fandango asturiano
  • Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake Suite, Danse des petits cygnes
  • Mikhail Glinka: Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila (orchestra only)
  • Rimsky-Korsakov: The Snow Maiden Suite, Danse des Bouffons
  • Leroy Anderson: Bugler’s Holiday
  • Smetana: The Bartered Bride, “Dance of the Comedians” (orchestra only)
  • Johann Strauss, Jr.: “Thunder and Lightning” Polka
  • Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake Suite, Valse
  • Bizet: Carmen Suite No. 1, Les Toreadores

2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 4
Macky Auditorium

TICKETS

NOTE: Indications of which pieces are played by the orchestra alone without Cirque performance added 5/2.

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The Longmont Symphony Orchestra (LSO) concludes its 2023-24 concert season Saturday (May 4) with “A Tribute to John Williams,” featuring the music of one of Hollywood’s greatest film composers.

John Williams

The Pops Concert, at 7 p.m. in Longmont’s Vance Brand Civic Auditorium, will be under the direction of the LSO’s music director, Elliot Moore. The program will include music from the soundtracks for Star Wars, Jurassic Park, E.T. and Harry Potter, among other popular films.

With more than 1100 tickets already sold, there are only a few seats left at time of posting. Because of the size of crowd expected, the LSO advises attendees to arrive early. Overflow parking from the Skyline High School lot will be available at the Timberline School lot,  on Mountain View Avenue.

# # # # #

Tribute to John Williams
Longmont Symphony Orchestra, Elliot Moore, conductor

  • Music of John Williams

7 p.m. Saturday, May 4
Vance Brand Civic Auditorium, Longmont

Limited seats available HERE

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April 17, 2024

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Grace Notes: Short Operas and Beethoven Symphonies

Boulder Opera’s “Operatizers,” Boulder and Longmont symphonies’ Beethoven 3 and 9

By Peter Alexander April 17 at 4:30 p.m.

The Boulder Symphony will present Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3—known as the “Eroica”—along with Grieg’s Piano Concerto and the “Lullaby” for string orchestra by George Gershwin Friday evening (7:30 p.m. April 19; details below).

Devin Patrick Hughes will conduct. Soloist for the Grieg Concerto will be Canadian pianist Lorraine Min, who has toured and performed extensively in North and South America, Europe and Asia. 

Originally written as a composition exercise on the piano, Gershwin’s “Lullaby” was arranged by the composer for string quartet. He later incorporated the tune into his 1922 musical, Blue Monday. The show was not a success, and it was not until 1967 that it became better known in performances by the Juilliard String Quartet. Today, performances by full orchestral string sections are common.

Grieg composed his Piano Concerto over the summer of 1868, during a vacation in the village of Søllerød, now part of København, Denmark. Although Grieg was never fully satisfied with the score, the concerto has remained one of his most popular pieces. A review of the premiere praised the concerto as “all Norway in its infinite variety and unity,” and fancifully described the  second movement as “a lonely mountain-girt tarn that lies dreaming of infinity.”

Beethoven’s Third Symphony is one of those musical works that are often described as a turning point in music history. It is nearly twice as long as any previous symphony, and indeed heroic in scope and feeling.

Beethoven’s title page to his Third Symphony, with “Bonaparte” forcefully scratched out

When he wrote it, Beethoven famously titled the symphony “Bonaparte” in honor of Napoleon, but scratched out the dedication in his manuscript when the French general crowned himself emperor. It was published in 1806 with the title “Heroic Symphony . . . composed to celebrate the memory of a great man.”

In place of a traditional slow introduction, Beethoven starts the symphony with two brash chords and spins out a lengthy movement starting with only the notes of the tonic E-flat chord. The second movement is an intense funeral march, a much more dramatic and powerful movement than his audience would have expected. In place of the normal minuet, Beethoven composed a rambunctious scherzo. 

In these first three movement, the realm of the symphony has been expanded. The finale is more typical of the times, a set of variations on a theme from Beethoven’s ballet The Creatures of Prometheus. But even here, the number of variations, a fugue on the theme and a section of development represent an extension beyond the normal variation finale of the time. Again, Beethoven expanded the scope of the symphony.

# # # # #

Boulder Symphony, Devin Patrick Hughes, conductor
With Lorraine Min, piano

  • Gershwin: “Lullaby” for string orchestra
  • Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor
  • Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, op. 55 (“Eroica”)

7:30 p.m. Friday, April 19
Grace Commons Church

TICKETS

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Boulder Opera opens the door on “North American storytelling” with “Operatizers,” a program of five short operas by composers from American master Samuel Barber to contemporary operatic star composer Jake Heggie to Ft. Collins-based composer/songwriter Ilan Blanck.

Subjects of the opera include a parody of television soap operas to various meditations on modern love. Performances Saturday and Sunday (7 p.m. April 20 and 3 p.m. April 21 at the Diary Arts Center) will feature a “Maestro’s Reception” at intermission where audience members can meet cast members and directors and ask questions about the productions. 

Composer Ilan Blanck

The five operas and their plots are described on the Boulder Opera Web page:

  • Avow by Mark Adamo imagines a conflicted bride, her avid mother, the haunted groom, the ghost of his father, and a celebrant who really should make better efforts to remember which ceremony he’s performing.
  • At the Statue of Venus by Jake Heggie tells the story of an attractive woman waiting in a museum by the statue of the goddess of love to meet a man she has never seen before. Will he like her? Will she like him? We all know Mr. Right doesn’t exist – or does he?
  • A Hand of Bridge by Samuel Barber consists of two unhappily married couples playing a hand of bridge, during which each character has a brief aria expressing his or her inner desires.
  • Gallantry by Douglas Moore is parody of hospital soap operas with commercial interruptions.
  • Spare Room with a Shag Rug by lan Blanck is written in English and Spanish, plus a touch of Yiddish, paying homage to the composer’s own Mexican-Jewish heritage.

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“Operatizers”
Boulder Opera Company

  • Mark Adamo: Avow
  • Jake Heggie: At the Statue of Venus
  • Samuel Barber: A Hand of Bridge
  • Douglas Moore: Gallantry
  • Ilan Blanck: Spare Room with a Shag Rug

7 p.m. Saturday, April 20
3 p.m. Sunday, April 21
Dairy Arts Center

TICKETS, including add-on tickets for the Maestro’s Reception at intermission

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The Longmont Symphony Orchestra (LSO) and conductor Elliot Moore conclude their cycle of all nine Beethoven symphonies Saturday (7 p.m. Vance Brand Civic Auditorium; details below) with the massive Ninth Symphony, one of the symphonic icons of the 19th century.

The Longmont Chorale joins the LSO for this performance. Soloists will be soprano Dawna Rae Warren, mezzo-soprano Gloria Palermo, tenor Javier Abreu and bass-baritone Michael Leyte-Vidal. The LSO has performed the full Beethoven cycle over the past five seasons, starting in April, 2018.

Vaughan Williams wrote his Serenade to Music, based on a text by Shakespeare, as a tribute to conductor Henry Wood. Scored for orchestra and 16 vocal soloists, it was later arranged for orchestra with four soloists and chorus. Since the first performance in 1938, it has been loved by singers and audiences both for the sheer beauty of the vocal writing and the harmonies.

Elliot Moore

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the first by a major composer with chorus in addition to orchestra, is one of the most performed and most loved works in the classical repertoire. It was composed in 1822-24, and first performed in Vienna May 7, 1824. 

The orchestra was led by Austrian composer and violinist Michael Umlauf with Beethoven, stone deaf by that time, standing at his side. In one famous anecdote, the composer was unable to hear the cheers of the audience at the end of the performance and the alto soloist, Caroline Ungar, had to take him by the hand and turn him around to see the enthusiasm of the listeners.

The choral last movement uses a text by German poet Friedrich Schiller that celebrates the brotherhood of men: “All men shall become brothers, wherever the gentle wings [of joy] hover. . . . Every creature drinks in joy at nature’s breast.” Because of this message of universal love, the symphony has been performed for many special occasions in history, including the original opening Wagner’s Bayreuth Festspielhaus (festival hall) and for its reopening after World War II, in 1989 to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall, and for the opening of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Japan, and other ceremonial occasions.

Performances of the Ninth Symphony are almost always considered special occasions, and almost always sell out. In addition to its popularity, the symphony has influenced composers from Dvořák to Bartók, and especially the symphonies by the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner.

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Beethoven Cycle: Symphony No. 9
Longmont Symphony, Elliot Moore, conductor
With the Longmont Chorale, Nathan Wubbena, conductor 
Soprano Dawna Rae Warren, mezzo-soprano Gloria Palermo, tenor Javier Abreu and bass-baritone Michael Leyte-Vidal

  • Vaughan Williams: Serenade to Music
  • Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor (“Choral”)

7 p.m. Saturday, April 20
Vance Brand Civic Auditorium

TICKETS (Note: This concert is close to selling out. Availability of tickets cannot be guaranteed.)

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March 13, 2024

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Longmont Symphony’s Mahler performance is SOLD OUT

“Mahler at the Museum,” Saturday, March 16

By Peter Alexander March 13 at 5:25 p.m.

The Longmont Symphony and conductor Elliot Moore will present the last of their concerts at the Longmont Museum’s Stewart Auditorium for the 2023–24 season, a sold-out “Mahler at the Museum” performance, Saturday (March 16).

The program features a chamber version of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde for orchestra with alto (or baritone) and tenor soloists. Based on German translations of Chinese poems, the score was completed in 1909, near the end of the composer’s life. Although Mahler called it “A Symphony for Tenor, Alto (or baritone) Voice and Orchestra,” he did not give it a number as a symphony, supposedly because he feared that when he wrote his Ninth it would be his last symphony, as had been the case with Beethoven. 

Ironically, his next symphony, Number 9, was in fact the last symphony he completed.

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“Mahler at the Museum”
Longmont Symphony, Elliot Moore, conductor
With Abigail Nims, mezzo-soprano, and Matthew Plenk, tenor

  • Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde (chamber version)

7 p.m. Saturday, March 16
Stewart Auditorium, Longmont Museum

SOLD OUT

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Grace Notes: Chamber Music in Boulder, Tchaikovsky in Boulder and Longmont

Piano trios, Tchaikovsky 5 and two Romantic piano concertos on programs

By Peter Alexander Feb. 13 at 2:38 p.m.

The Boulder Symphony will be the first of two area orchestras to perform Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony this weekend, as part of a program Friday and Saturday (Feb. 16 and 17; details below) that also features Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto played by Chinese pianist Jialin Yao.

The program opens with Conga del Fuego Nuevo (“New fire” conga) by Mexican composer Arturo Marquez. The son of a Mexican mariachi musician, Marquez studied in Mexico and the United States, where he earned an MFA in composition at the California Institute of Fine Arts. A Cuban carnival dance, the conga was the source of the “conga line” made popular in the U.S. by Xavier Cougat and other bandleaders.

Jialin Yao

Currently a student at the Juilliard School of Music, Yao won the 2023 International Keyboard Odyssiad® and Festival Competition. Boulder Symphony’s conductor, Devin Patrick Hughes, was quoted in the concert press release: “Jialin is a rockstar! He plays the Rachmaninoff 3 . . .  with ease, soulfulness, and a virtuosity that rivals any of the great pianists.”

Rachmaninoff wrote his Third Piano Concerto, considered one of the most virtuosic and challenging piano concertos, in 1909 and played the first performance in New York later that year. The initial reception was mixed at best, but Rachmaninoff gave a more successful second performance the following January conducted by Gustav Mahler. Today the concerto is widely accepted as one of the greatest and most demanding works in the piano repertoire. 

The work that audiences can hear twice this weekend, Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, was composed over the summer of 1888. In spite of powerful emotional currents, the composer did not give the symphony any program or explicit personal meaning. After the first performances, he wrote in a letter “I have come to the conclusion that [the symphony] is a failure. There is something repellent in it . . . which the public instinctively recognizes.”

In spite of that conclusion, the Fifth Symphony has become on of Tchaikovsky’s most performed orchestra works. The coincidence of two performances, by two different orchestras on the front range in a single weekend, is an indication of how successful the symphony has been with both conductors and audiences. 

The Boulder Symphony will also play the Symphony on Sunday as part of its GLOW Project, free concerts designed for people with dementia, neurological and developmental disabilities. That performance will consist of only the symphony, played with no intermission and lasting approximately 45 minutes. 

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Boulder Symphony, Devin Patrick Hughes, conductor
With Jialin Yao, piano

  • Arturo Marquez: Conga del Fuego Nuevo (“New fire” conga)
  • Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor
  • Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor

7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 16 and 17
Gordon Gamm Auditorium, Dairy Arts Center

TICKETS

GLOW Concert
Boulder Symphony, Devin Patrick Hughes, conductor

  • Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor

2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 18
Gordon Gamm Auditorium, Dairy Arts Center

REGISTRATION

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The weekend’s second performance of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony will be provided by the Longmont Symphony (LSO)and conductor Elliot Moore (7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17; details below).

The program, which includes Tchaikovsky’s Fantasy Overture Romeo and Juliet and the Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor played by Marika Bournaki, is billed as “Portrait of a Composer.” This is an annual series for the LSO and Moore, providing an opportunity to focus on the life and works of a single composer who is part of the orchestral tradition.

Marika Bournaki

Bournaki teaches piano as a faculty member of Shenandoah University in Winchester, Va. She was born in Montreal—leading to her being dubbed “the Celine Dion of classical”—and received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School of Music. She was the subject of an award-winning documentary film, “I Am Not a Rockstar,” that covered her musical studies, staring when she was 12 and first took lessons at Juilliard, through the age of 20.

She has performed extensively with regional orchestras in the United States and Canada as well as in Switzerland, Russia and Romania. She is also an active chamber musician who has performed at Bargemusic in Brooklyn and the Cape Cod music festival, among other venues. Her educational activities have included programs that bring music to underserved populations in Canada.

Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto had its premiere in 1875 in Boston played by Hans von Bülow. Nikolai Rubinstein, for whom it had been written, was first critical of the piece leading to the first performance being given outside of Russia. Rubinstein later changed his mind about the concerto, and performed it widely. 

Today it is one of the most popular piano concertos. In addition to frequent appearances on orchestral programs, it was used as the sporting anthem for the Russian Olympic Committee at the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, during the time that Russian athletes were banned from appearing under the Russian national flag. American pianist Van Cliburn famously won the 1958 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow playing the concerto.

Almost as popular as the Piano Concerto, Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet is one of several works by the composer inspired by Shakespeare. After a stormy beginning, the music breaks into a soaring love theme that has been used in films and television, from The Three Musketeers to SpongeBob SquarePants. 

The concert concludes with the Fifth Symphony, one of four by two different organizations over the weekend—yet another testament to Tchaikovsky’s place in the orchestral repertoire and in the hearts of audiences.

* * * * *

Tchaikovsky: A Portrait
Longmont Symphony Orchestra, Elliot Moore, conductor
With Marika Bournaki, piano

  • Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture
    —Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor
    —Symphony No. 5 in E minor

7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17
Vance Brand Civic Auditorium

TICKETS

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The Boulder Chamber Orchestra (BCO) will present their current artist-in-residence, pianist Hsing-Ay Hsu, in a program of piano trios, played with members of the orchestra.

The concert, Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (Feb. 17; details below), is the third in the BCO’s series of mini-chamber concerts of the 2023–24 concert season. The fourth mini-chamber concert, featuring works including trios for clarinet, cello and piano, will be at 7:30 pm. April 6. (See the BCO Web Page for details.)

Hsing-Ay Hsu

Born in China, Hsu has studied at Juilliard, the Yale School of Music, the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, and the Aspen and Tanglewood festivals. A Steinway artist, she won the silver medal of the William Kapell International Piano Competition and first prize of the Ima Hogg National Competition, as well as several artist grants and fellowships. She taught at the CU College of Music, where she was artistic director of the Pendulum New Music Series.

The piano trio emerged as a distinct genre out of domestic music-making in the early classical era, when it was known as an “accompanied piano sonata.” Originally, the piano part was written for women, who were thought to have time for practice, with men—who were not expected to master instruments—playing violin and cello parts to reinforce the melody and bass line of the piano part. 

It was Mozart who first created piano trios with three equal parts, starting around 1780, followed by Beethoven. By the time that Brahms wrote his second and third piano trios, in the late 19th century, it had become a recognized chamber music genre.

* * * * *

Mini-Chamber Concert 3: Triptych of Trios
Hsing-Ay Hsu, piano, and members of the BCO

  • J.S. Bach: Trio Sonata in G major, S1039 (arr. from trio sonata for two flutes and continuo)
  • Mozart: Piano Trio in G major, K564
  • Brahms: Piano Trio No. 3 in C minor, op. 101

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17
Boulder Seventh-Day Adventist Church, 345 Mapleton Avenue

TICKETS

NOTE: Corrections were made on Feb. 13, clarifying details of the performances and correcting typos in the original story.

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January 16, 2024

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GRACE NOTES: Children and Chamber Music

LSO family concert, BCO mini-chamber concert Saturday

By Peter Alexander Jan. 16 at 9:35 p.m.

The Longmont Symphony Orchestra will introduce local families to musical animals including a bouncing kangaroo and a brilliant bat Saturday (4 p.m. Jan. 20) when they present the Wild Symphony by Dan Brown.

Yes, that’s the Dan Brown who wrote The da Vinci Code and other New York Times best-selling thrillers. The performance, under the direction of Elliot Moore, will feature Longmont native vocalist and attorney Cameron Grant as narrator. Wild Symphony has an accompanying children’s book, with colorful illustrations by Susan Batori.

The son of a math teacher and a church organist, Brown learned piano as a child and composed music before he wrote books. He says that he wrote the book to share his love of music with children. Each of the animals in the orchestra conducted by “Maestro Mouse” is associated with an instrument, and together they tell a story that includes portraits of the different animals and anagram puzzles on each page of the book. Among the 20 animals in the score are clumsy kittens, an anxious ostrich, dancing boars and busy beetles. 

A graduate of Niwot High School, Grant studied singing at Colorado College and sang with the Aspen Opera Theater, Colorado Symphony and Colorado Music Festival. After getting a law degree, he returned to Longmont where he practices in the field of real estate law.

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Longmont Symphony Orchestra, Elliot Moore conductor,
with Cameron Grant, narrator

  • Dan Brown: Wild Symphony

4 p.m. Saturday, Jan 20
Vance Brand Civic Auditorium

TICKETS

The Boulder Chamber Orchestra (BCO) will present pianist Adam Żukiewicz, associate professor of piano at the University of Northern Colorado, in the second of their Mini-Chamber concerts of the 2023–24 season.

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Titled “Adam Żukiewicz and Friends,” the concert will feature Żukiewicz playing quartets for piano and strings by Mozart and Brahms with members of the BCO, as well as Bartók’s popular Romanian Dances in their arrangement for piano and violin. The performance will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday (Jan. 20) at the Boulder Seventh-Day Adventist Church. (See below for tickets.)

Adam Żukiewicz

A native of Poland, Żukiewicz has studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, and holds a doctorate from the University of Toronto, where he also served on the faculty. He won first prize both the 2011 Canada Trust Music Competition and the 2012 Shean Piano Competition in Canada, and was a medalist at several other contests. Since 2018 he has been a judge for the Steinway Piano Competition.

Mozart’s Piano Quartet in the turbulent key of G minor, one of the earliest works for that ensemble, was commissioned by the Viennese publisher Hoffmeister for sale to amateurs. Believing the work Mozart wrote was too difficult for amateur players, Hoffmeister canceled the rest of the order. Nevertheless, Mozart wrote another piano quartet several months later. 

When Brahms wrote his Piano Quartet in G minor nearly 100 years after Mozart’s Quartet in the same key, the quartet for piano and strings was a more established genre, even if not as common as string quartets and piano trios. The quartet is best known for its rousing “Rondo alla Zingarese” (Gypsy rondo) finale.

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Boulder Chamber Orchestra Mini-chamber 2: Adam Żukiewicz and Friends
Members of the Boulder Chamber Orchestra with Adam Żukiewicz, piano

  • Mozart: Quartet in G minor for piano and strings, K478
  • Brahms: Quartet in G minor for piano and strings, op. 25
  • Bartók: Romanian Dances for piano and violin

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20
Boulder Adventist Church

TICKETS

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GRACE NOTES: Holiday performances everywhere

Popular themes of the 2023 Holidays include the solstice and music of the Baroque

By Peter Alexander Nov. 29 at 2:41 p.m.

The Longmont Symphony and Boulder Ballet start their 2023 series of Nutcracker  performances Saturday afternoon (1 p.m. Dec. 2) at Vance Brand Civic Auditorium with their annual “Gentle Nutcracker.” 

A shortened, sensory-friendly performance designed for neurodiverse individuals, their families and caregivers, the “Gentle Nutcracker” is approximately 90 minutes in length. 

That special presentation will be followed by two full performances Saturday and Sunday of Tchaikovsky’s beloved ballet, with the Christmas party, the Nutcracker Prince, “The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” and all the other features that have made both the music and the ballet a Holiday favorite (4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2 and 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 3; details below).

NOTE At the time of writing, there are only a few seats left, mostly in the balcony. There is no guarantee that tickets will be available by the time this story appears.

– – –

Longmont Symphony Orchestra, Elliot Moore, conductor
Boulder Ballet

“Gentle Nutcracker”

1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2 NOW SOLD OUT
Vance Brand Civic Auditorium

TICKETS

Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker Ballet

4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2
2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 3
Vance Brand Civic Auditorium

TICKETS

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Conductor Cynthia Katsarelis and the Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra will present the Christmas portion of Handel’s Messiah Saturday (7:30 p.m. Dec. 2) at Mountain View Methodist Church (details below).

In addition to the Christmas section, chorus and orchestra will perform the much loved “Hallelujah” chorus from Messiah. The program opens with “Adoration” by Florence Price and Mozart’s Divertimento in D major, K136.

The Christmas portion of Messiah is one of three major divisions of the work. It comprises 21 separate movements including the opening Overture, choruses including “For unto us a Child is Born” and “Glory to God,” recitatives, and arias for soprano, tenor and bass soloists. Pro Musica will be joined by the Boulder Chamber Chorale and soloists Jennifer Bird-Arvidsson, soprano; Nicole Asel, alto; Steven Soph, tenor; and Ashraf Sewailam, bass.

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Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra, Cynthia Katsarelis, conductor
With the Boulder Chamber Chorale and Jennifer Bird-Arvidsson, soprano; Nicole Asel, alto; Steven Soph, tenor; and Ashraf Sewailam, bass

  • Florence Price: Adoration
  • W.A. Mozart: Divertimento in D major, K136 
  • G.F. Handel: Messiah, Part I
  • —“Hallelujah” chorus

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2
Mountain View Methodist Church, 355 Ponca Place, Boulder

TICKETS

* * * * *

The CU College of Music presents its annual Holiday Festival this coming weekend, Friday through Sunday in Macky Auditorium (Dec. 8–10; details below).

One of the most popular Holiday events in Boulder, the Holiday Festival features numerous ensembles from the College of Music, each presenting their own selections. Featured groups in this year’s program are the Chamber singers, the Holiday Festival Chorus made up of singers from several groups in the college, the Holiday Festival Orchestra, the Trombone Choir, Holiday Festival Brass, Holiday Festival Jazz, and the West African Highlife Ensemble.

NOTE: At the time of writing, there are limited tickets available for the four performances of the Holiday Festival program. Performances generally sell out, so interested persons should check the CU Presents Web page for availability.

– – –

Holiday Festival, Donald McKinney, artistic director
CU College of Music Ensembles

Chamber Singers, Leila Heil, conductor
Noelle Romberger, graduate conductor

Holiday Festival Chorus
Galen Darrough, Raul Dominguez and Jessie Flasschoen, conductors 
Jun Young Na and Noelle Romberger, graduate conductors

Holiday Festival Orchestra, Gary Lewis, music director 
With Donald McKinney and Nelio Zamorano, conductors

Trombone Choir, Sterling Tanner, conductor

Holiday Festival Jazz, Brad Goode, director

Holiday Festival Brass, Lauren Milbourn, conductor

West African Highlife Ensemble, Maputo Mensah, director

7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 8
1 and 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9
4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 10
Macky Auditorium

TICKETS

* * * * *

Cellist Charles Lee, the principal cellist of the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, will join Ars Nova Singers and conductor Tom Morgan for “Evergreen,” the latest edition of their annual celebration of the winter solstice.

The program will be presented four times, once in Longmont (Saturday, Dec. 9), once in Denver (Sunday, Dec. 10) and twice in Boulder (Thursday and Friday, Dec. 14 and 15; times and locations below). The program includes music by the medieval Benedictine abyss Hildegard Bingen, the English Renaissance master William Byrd, and the north German early Baroque composer Heironymus Praetorius. 

Not to be confused with his better known younger contemporary Michael Praetorius, Heironymus is known for his elaborate multi-voices motets. Also on the program are more contemporary works by the living composers Eriks Esenvalds, Jocelyn Hagan and Taylor Scott Davis. 

In a written news release, Morgan sets the stage for this concert timed to nearly coincide with the solstice, writing: “Dark and light, motion and stasis, intimate and universal, deeply familiar and refreshingly new—our season searches for the balance point in all of these, through the power and majesty of the human voice.”

– – –
Ars Nova Singers, Tom Morgan, director
With Charles Lee, cello

“Evergreen”

  • Hildegard of Bingen: O frondens virga
  • Two 15th century English carols
  • Heoronymus Praetorius: In dulci jubilo (à 8)
  • William Byrd: O magnum mysterium
  • Ola Gjeilo: Serenity (O Magnum mysterium)
  • Andrea Casarrubios: Caminante
  • Taylor Scott Davis: Solstice
  • Eriks Esenvalds: Rivers of Light
  • Jocelyn Hagen: Mother’s Song
  • Dan Forrest: The Sun Never Says
  • Michael Head: The Little Road to Bethlehem
  • Arrangements of Holiday songs by Tom Morgan, Joanna Forbes, Alexander L’Estrange and others

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9
United Church of Christ, 1500 9th Ave., Longmont

12:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 10
St. Paul Lutheran Church, 1660 Grant. St., Denver

7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 14 and Friday, Dec. 15
Mountain View United Methodist Church, 355 Ponca Place, Boulder

TICKETS

* * * * *

CU Presents will round out the university’s holiday performances with Christmas with the Canadian Brass at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 13 in Macky Auditorium.

The Canadian Brass generally announce their program from the stage. Nonetheless, the Christmas set list is more predictable and will likely feature some Canadian Brass favorites, including “Ding Dong Merrily on High,” evergreen Holiday music including “White Christmas” and “Carol of the Bells,” and jazzy arrangements including “Glenn Miller Christmas.”

Founded in 1970, the Canadian Brass has been a recognized and esteemed part of the musical scene for more than 50 years. Touring world-wide, they have made the repertoire of chamber music for brass, and specifically brass quintets, widely appreciated. 

There is still one original member of the quintet, tubist Chuck Dellenbach, while other members have joined over the years. The most recent addition, making her Canadian Brass debut this year, is trumpet player Ashley Hall-Tighe, who first met the members of the Canadian Brass in 2001 as a student in their chamber music residency at the Music Academy of the West.

With more than 10 Christmas albums, the Canadian Brass are especially well known for their holiday performances. Their total recording history currently totals more than 130 albums and more than 2 million sold worldwide.

NOTE: At the time of writing, there are limited tickets available.

– – –

Canadian Brass

“Christmas with the Canadian Brass”

  • Program to be announced from the stage may include:
  • “Ding Dong Merrily on High” (arr. Henderson)
  • Gabrieli: Canzona per sonare No. 4
  • “White Christmas” (arr. Henderson)
  • Mykola Leondovich: “Carol of the Bells” (arr. McNeff)
  • Vince Guaraldi: “Christmas Time is Here” (arr. Ridenour)
  • Glenn Miller: “Glenn Miller Christmas” (arr. Dedrick)

7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 13
Macky Auditorium

TICKETS

* * * * *

The Longmont Symphony will look back to the 18th century for Candlelight: A Baroque Christmas at 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16, in Vance Brand Civic Auditorium.

Under the direction of Elliot Moore, the featured work on the program will be the Gloria of Antonio Vivaldi. Composed around 1715, it is one of the Venetian composer’s most frequently performed works. Its 12 movements, divisions of the “Gloria” text from the Catholic Mass ordinary, call for chorus, orchestra, and soprano and alto soloists.

Celebrating the holiday season, the Candlelight Concert has long been a part of the Longmont Symphony’s season. There will be candles again this year, although the orchestra has announced that they will be battery-operated this year, rather than relying on a flame.

– – –

Longmont Symphony and Chorus, Elliot Moore, conductor

“Candlelight: A Baroque Christmas”

  • Corelli: Concerto Grosso
  • Handel: “Rejoice greatly” from Messiah
  • Scarlatti: Christmas Cantata for soprano and strings
  • Vivaldi: Gloria

4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16
Vance Brand Civic Auditorium

TICKETS

* * * * *

All the choirs of the Boulder Chorale and Boulder Children’s Chorale will join together to present “Season of Light,” their annual concert of music for the holidays, Saturday and Sunday (Dec. 16 and 17; details below).

The concert title refers to the tradition found in many different cultures to use light to counteract the dark of winter and forecast the return of the light in the weeks to come. In the words of the Boulder Chorale’s press information, the program “traces the history and development of many of the world’s most endearing holiday customs, all of which involve lighting up the winter season—from the burning Yule log, sparkling Christmas tree lights and candles in windows, to the lighting of luminaries (often called luminarias) in the American Southwest and the traditional ritual of the Hanukkah menorah.”

Tickets are available both at the door and through the Boulder Chorale Web page. The Sunday performance will also be presented through live streaming, available at the same Web page.

– – –

Boulder Chorale, Vicki Burrichter, artistic director
With Boulder Children’s Chorales, Nathan Wubbena, artistic director

“Season of Light”

Children’s Chorale Bel Canto
Nathan Wubbena, conductor

  • John Rutter: “Angels’ Carol”
  • Flory Jagoda: “Ocho Kandelikas” (arr. Joshua Jacobson)

Children’s Chorale Volante
Kiimberly Dunninger, conductor

  • Franklin J. Willis: “Be the Light “
  • Robert Cohen and Ronald Cadmus: “The Joy of Simple Things”

Chamber Chorale
Vicki Burrichter, conductor

  • John Newell: “Light of Heaven” (text based on the Buddhist vajra guru mantra)

Chamber Choir, Bel Canto and Volante
Nathan Wubbena, conductor

  • Ryan Main: “Go! Said the Star”

Children’s Choir Piccolini
Melody Sebald, conductor

  • “Winter Canon” (arr. Andy Beck)
  • John Henry Hopkins Jr.: “We Three Kings”

Children’s Choir Prima Voce
Anna Robinson, conductor

  • Ruth Ann Schram: “Winter Solstice”
  • “This Little Light of Mine” (arr. Masa Fukuda)

Concert Chorale
Vicki Burrichter, conductor

  • Enya and Nicky Ryan: “Amid the Falling Snow” (words by Roma Ryan, arr. Audry Snyder)
  • Craig Carnahan: “Dancing on the Edges of Time” (words by Rabindranath Tagore)
  • Stephanie K. Andrews : “On Compassion” (words by the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso)

Combined Choirs
Kim Dunninger and Vicki Burrichter, conductors

  • Benji Pasek and Justin Paul: “Do a Little Good” (from Spirited)
  • Franz Gruber/David Kantor: “Night of Silence” (includes “Silent Night”; arr. Nathan Wubbena; Spanish text by Cynthia Garcia-Barrera)

4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 16 and 17
First United Methodist Church, 1421 Spruce St., Boulder

TICKETS

* * * * *

The Boulder Chamber Orchestra will combine its holiday celebration with the music of Beethoven in a program featuring pianist Adam Zukiewicz.

Their “Holidays Celebration with Beethoven” will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16 in the Boulder Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Zukiewicz will perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the orchestra and conductor Bahmann Saless. 

Other works on the program are Mozart’s Overture to The Marriage of Figaro, conducted by Nadia Artman; Chocolats Symphoniques (Symphonic chocolates) by Maxime Goulet; and the world premiere of the Concerto for Flute and Orchestra by Sylvie Bodrova with the BCO’s principal flutist Cobus DuToit as soloist. 

Part of the reason for combining the holiday music with Beethoven is that the composer’s birthday is believed to be Dec. 16. The date is not certain, since the only documents record his baptism on Dec. 17, but the birthday is traditionally observed on Dec. 16. That would make Dec. 16, the date of the concert, the 253rd anniversary of his birth.

As it happens, the full 2023–24 season has three of Beethoven’s five piano concertos listed. the Third Concerto was played by Petar Klasan Sept. 1, and the Concerto No. 5 (“Emperor:) will be performed with the BCO by  Jennifer Hayghe Feb 3 (7:30 p.m., Boulder Seventh-Day Adventist Church).

Goulet’s Chocolats Symphoniques was previously performed by the BCO on their holidays concert in 2021. The work’s four movements refer to four different flavors of chocolate: “Caramel Chocolate,” “Dark Chocolate,” “Mint Chocolate” and “Coffee-infused Chocolate.”

– – –

Boulder Chamber Orchestra, Bahman Saless, conductor
With Cobus DuTois, flute, and Adam Zukiewicz, piano
Nadia Artman, conductor

“Holidays Celebration with Beethoven”

  • Mozart: Overture to The Marriage of Figaro
  • Maxime Goulet: Chocolats Symphoniques (Symphonic chocolates)
  • Sylvie Bodorova: Concerto for Flute and Orchestra (world premiere)
  • Beethoven: Concerto No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16
Boulder Seventh-Day Adventist Church, 345 Mapleton Avenue

TICKETS  

* * * * *

The Boulder Bach Festival (BBF) will present “Handel’s Messiah Reimagined” in their very own version, based on an edition created by music director Zachary Carrettin.

Messiah will be performed by a string orchestra from the BBF’s Compass Resonance (CORE) Ensemble with harpsichord and chamber organ continuo and a 16-voice choir. Five featured solo singers will also perform within the chorus. The entire performance will be presented without conductor.

The program also incudes two a cappella vocal works and a violin concerto b Antonio Vivaldi. The concerto will be played by BBF’s artistic director, Zachary Carrettin, with Baroque guitar continuo played by Keith Barnhart.

– – –

Boulder Bach Festival CORE ensemble
Mara Riley, soprano; Sarah Moyer, soprano; Claire McCahan, mezzo-soprano;
Daniel Hutchings, tenor; and Adam Ewing, baritone
With Zachary Carrettin, violin, and Keith Barnhart, Baroque guitar

“A Baroque Christmas: Handel’s Messiah Reimagined”

4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17

Gordon Gamm Theater, Dairy Arts Center, Boulder

TICKETS  

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November 16, 2023

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GRACE NOTES: Orchestras in Boulder and Longmont, Sphere Ensemble at BPL

Guest cellists thrive, while Sphere does “90s Retro”

By Peter Alexander November 16 at 10:25 p.m.

Erin Patterson, principal cellist of the Boulder Symphony will step forward as soloist with the orchestra Friday evening for a concert under director Devin Patrick Hughes.

Patterson will play Dance for cello and orchestra by English composer Anna Clyne. Other works on the program will be Sibelius’s Finlandia and the Symphony No. 2 in E minor by Rachmaninoff.

Erin Patterson

Currently serving as composer-in-residence with the Helsinki Philharmonic in Finland, Clyne has written a long list of orchestra, chamber, vocal and choral works. She currently lives and works in New York City. Her Dance, essentially a concerto for cello and orchestra, is a five-movement work, based on a five-line poem by Rumi:
Dance when you’re broken open.
Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off.
Dance in the middle of the fighting.
Dance in your blood.
Dance when you’re perfectly free.

Both other works on the program and staples of the orchestral repertoire. Written in 1899, Finlandia remains the best known of Sibelius’s works for orchestra. As musical protest against Russian control of Finland, for many years the score had to be performed under other names to bypass Russian censorship.

Composed in 1906–07, Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony was an important milestone for the composer. The 1897 premiere of his First Symphony had been a failure. Rachmaninoff became depressed after the performance, and doubted his abilities as a composer. For his Second Symphony, he moved to Dresden, Germany, to have time for composing away from Russia, which was in turmoil during the pre-Revolutionary era. After completing and extensive revision of the score, he was able to present the symphony in St. Petersburg in January, 1908.

The performance was a great success, and the symphony won an award for the composer. This event restored Rachmaninoff’s confidence, and the Second Symphony, while subject to considerable later revisions, has remained one of his most popular compositions.

# # # # #

Boulder Symphony, Devin Patrick Hughes, conductor
With Erin Patterson, cello

  • Sibelius: Finlandia
  • Anna Clyne: Dance for cello and orchestra (Colorado premiere)
  • Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2 in E minor, op. 27

7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 17
Grace Commons Church

TICKETS 

# # # # #

The Longmont Symphony also features a cello soloist for their concert Saturday evening. Clancy Newman, who is a composer as well as cellist, will perform Schelomo, Hebrew Rhapsody for cello and orchestra with the LSO and conductor Elliot Moore at
7 p.m. in Vance Brand Civic Auditorium.

Clancy Newman

Other works on the program will be Beethoven’s Overture to Coriolan and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5.

Born to Australian parents in Albany, New York, Newman won the International Naumburg Competition in 2001 and an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2004. In addition to his solo performances around the world, he has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Musicians form Marlboro. His most original compositional project is “Pop-Unpopped,” in which he has written solo cello caprices based on the top pop song every  month for a year. 

Composed in 1915–16, Schelomo (Solomon) was the final work of Bloch’s Jewish Cycle of works that drew on Jewish folk and synagogue melodies and rhythms of the Hebrew language. Written for solo cello and orchestra, Schelomo is the best known of these works, and is today considered a standard piece in the cello repertoire. It is written in a single movement that encompasses three interrelated sections.

When he wrote his Fifth Symphony in 1937, Shostakovich was under a cloud of suspicion caused by the brutal criticism of his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. A review of the opera putatively dictated by Stalin himself was titled “Muddle Instead of Music” and suggested that “things could end very badly” for the composer if he did not change aesthetic directions.

Shostakovich clearly considered the symphony a reply, deferentially subtitling it “A Soviet Artist’s Responses to Just Criticism.” The symphony’s premiere received 30-minute ovation, no doubt responding to the bold, brassy and triumphalist final movement. Whether the finale was a serious artistic statement, or a parody of the vulgar taste of Stalin and his retinue of followers, has been widely debated. In any case, the symphony has remained popular with concert audiences world wide.

# # # # #

Longmont Symphony Orchestra
Elliot Moore, conductor
With Clancy Newman, cello

  • Beethoven: Overture to Coriolan
  • Ernest Bloch: Shelomo, Hebrew Rhapsody for cello and orchestra
  • Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5, op. 47

7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 18
Vance Brand Civic Auditorium

TICKETS

# # # # #

Colorado’s Sphere Ensemble, a Denver-based ensemble of 14 string players, will give a musical tour of the ‘90s from five different centuries, with performances at the Boulder Public Library Canyon Theater (7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 18) and the Savoy in Denver (2700 Arapahoe St. 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 19; details and tickets below).

The creative program, titled “90s Retro” without specifying a century, has arrangements for the Sphere instrumentation of music form the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic and contemporary eras. This is keeping with Sphere’s approach to programming, which typically includes arrangements made by members of the group.

Sphere Ensemble

As part of the presentation of the music from the ‘90s of different centuries, Sphere ties the music to prominent events form the same years. For example, the opera Alcide, for which Marina Marais wrote the Overture that Sphere will perform, was written in the same year as the Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon invented Champagne, 1793. This was one year after the Salem with trials and the year Mt. Etna in Sicily erupted.

Just over a century later, in 1796 the British pianist/singer/composer Maria Hester Park wrote a Sonata in C that Sphere has arranged for the concert. Around the same time, Napoleon Bonaparte was appointed commander of the French army in Italy and John Adams was elected the second president of the United States. With such details, Sphere gives context to the music they will perform.

# # # # #

“90s Retro”
Sphere Ensemble

  • Josquin des Prez: “Nymphes des bois” (Nymphs of the woods; 1497)
  • John Dowland: “Can She Excuse my Wrongs” (1597)
  • Marin Marais: Overture to Alcide (1693)
  • Maria Hester Park: Sonata in C (1796)
  • Teresa Carreño: Serenade for Strings (1895)
  • Chen Yi: Romance and Dance for strings (1995)
  • “90s Pop Radio,” arr. Sphere

7:30 p.m Saturday, Nov. 18
Boulder Public Library Canyon Theater

5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 19
The Savoy, 2700 Arapahoe St., Denver

TICKETS for in-person attendance and Livestream.

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Longmont Symphony opens their season Saturday shooting for the stars

Exhilarating fanfare, a new harp concerto and Holst’s Planets form the program 

By Peter Alexander Oct. 5 at 3 p.m.

The Longmont Symphony Orchestra (LSO) and conductor Elliot Moore will open their fall concert series Saturday evening with a concert titled “Shoot for the Stars” (7 p.m., Vance Brand Civic Auditorium; details below).

Longmont Symphony and conductor Elliot Moore

The program’s title comes not from music about literal stars, but other astronomical bodies: The Planets, Holst’s suite that portrays in music the mythical and astrological character of seven of the planets in our solar system. While the opening movement, “Mars, the Bringer of War,” is the most popular of the seven, it is later movements in the cycle that best reflect the composer’s fascination with mysticism and astrology—especially the last three, “Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age,” “Uranus, the Magician” and “Neptune, the Mystic.”

The ending of the final movement is especially haunting, as an unaccompanied, wordless female chorus sings music of uncertain tonality. They get softer and softer as a door between them and the stage is slowly closed, and finally they vanish into silence.

Rachel Starr Ellins

Soloist for the concert will be harpist Rachel Starr Ellins, who has been principal harp with the LSO since 1996. Second harpist and first-call substitute with the Colorado Symphony, she has taught at CSU and maintains her own harp studio. She will play Harp of Ages by Michael Daugherty, a concerto that was commissioned by the Colorado Symphony and premiered earlier this year. 

An exploration of the history of the harp, Harp of Ages comprises seven movements, each based on a harpist of history or legend. These range from the Greek lyric post Sappho to Uhura on the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek to the Biblical David and Harpo Marx. Stops along the way include a Mexican convent and an Irish wedding. Known for his fluency in contemporary pop dooms, Daugherty even indulges in the blues at one point.

John Adams. Photo by Deborah O’Grady

The concert will open with Short Ride in a Fast Machine, a fanfare by American composer John Adams that was written in 1986 for the Pittsburgh Symphony. An energetic and at times frenzied composition, it quickly became popular as a concert opener and was in fact the most frequently performed orchestral work by a living American composer during the 1990s. To this day, its insistent woodblock, excited brass chords and pulsing polyrhythms make it just about the most exhilarating way there is to open a concert—or a concert season.

Tickets for the full season, as well as Friday’s concert are available on the LSO Web page. You may see the fall concerts listed below.

# # # # #

Longmont Symphony Orchestra
Fall 2023 Concerts

“Shoot for the Stars”
Longmont Symphony, Elliot Moore conductor
With Rachel Starr Ellins, harp

  • John Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine
  • Michael Daugherty: Harp of Ages
  • Gustav Holst: The Planets

7 p.m. Saturday Oct.  7
Vance Brand Civic Auditorium

“Mahler at the Museum” I—SOLD OUT
Longmont Symphony, Elliot Moore, conductor
With Ekaterina Kotcherguina, soprano

  • Mark Crawford: The Social Dilemma Suite (World Premiere)
  • Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in G major

7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21
Stewart Auditorium, Longmont Museum

“Shostakovich No. 5″
Longmont Symphony, Elliot Moore conductor
With Clancy Newman, cello

  • Beethoven: Overture to Coriolan
  • Ernest Bloch: Schelomo, Hebrew Rhapsody for cello and orchestra
  • Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5

7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 18
Vance Brand Civic Auditorium

The Nutcracker
Longmont Symphony, Elliot Moore, conductor
With Boulder Ballet, Ben Needham-Wood, artistic director

“Gentle Nutcracker”
Shortened, sensory-friendly performance of the Nutcracker ballet
1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2
Vance Brand Civic Auditorium

Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker Ballet
4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2
2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 3
Vance Brand Civic Auditorium

“Candlelight: A Baroque Christmas”
Longmont Symphony, Elliot Moore, conductor

  • Vivaldi: Gloria
  • Other Christmas music form the Baroque era

4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16
Vance Brand Civic Auditorium

Tickets for all LSO concerts may be purchased through the orchestra’s WEB PAGE.

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April 13, 2023

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Longmont Symphony recognizes Mental Health Awareness and Pride months

“Beautiful Minds—Darkness and Light” includes world premiere April 15

By Peter Alexander April 13 at 10:05 p.m.

Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony, known as the “Pathétique,” appears frequently on orchestral programs. But conductor Elliot Moore and the Longmont Symphony will turn this standard piece of programming in to a little bit of a statement for their next concert, Saturday (7:30 p.m. April 15; full details below) in Vance Brand Civic Auditorium.

The program features two works: the “Pathétique” and the world premiere of a new work by composer Tyler Harrison commissioned by the LSO. Harrison’s Symphony No. 3, subtitled “The Garden of Tears,” was planned as an answer to Tchaikovsky’s final and most emotionally wrought symphony. The programming has been announced by the orchestra as recognizing “Mental Health Awareness Month” (May 1-30) and “Pride Month” (June 1–30).

It is well known that Tchaikovsky was gay, and in 19th-century Russia he necessarily suffered both legal and emotional trauma as a result. It has even been suggested that his death, soon after the completion of the symphony, was a suicide because of his homosexuality being revealed. While that remains speculative, there is no doubt that the composer suffered personal anguish throughout his life. 

The Longmont Symphony Web page states that the two works “take a look at musical expressions of mental health and identity struggles from two similar voices, separated by a century.” But ultimately, Harrison’s symphony has a more optimistic character than Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique.” Harrison wrote of his music, “The garden of life thrives on the tears that water it, but it is laughter that ultimately defines its beauty.”

Tyler Harrison

# # # # # 

“Beautiful Minds—Darkness and Light”
Longmont Symphony Orchestra, Elliot Moore, conductor

  • Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique”
  • Tyler Harrison: Symphony No. 3, “The Garden of Tears” (LSO commission; World Premiere)

7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 15
Vance Brand Civic Auditorium

TICKETS

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Grace Notes: Nation of Immigrants and Made in America

Boulder Chorale and the Longmont Symphony both strike American theme

By Peter Alexander March 15 at 1:43 p.m.

Taking inspiration from former president Obama’s description of America as “a nation of immigrants,” the Boulder Chorale will present a concert celebrating many of the cultures that have contributed to our national identity.

The concert, to be presented at 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the First Methodist Church in Boulder (March 18 and 19), will be under the direction of Vicki Burrichter, artistic director of the Chorale. Violinist Leena Waite will play “Requiem for Ukraine” by Igor Loboda, and other guest artists will perform music from cultures around the world that have merged on the American continent.

Leena Waite

The program opens with an homage to America’s original inhabitants. “River of Living Waters” by Karen Marrolli, the director of music ministries at a Methodist church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is based on a Lacquiparlé Dakota melody. That is followed by two songs from Great Britain that describe the journey from the old world to the new: “The Parting Glass” and “The Water is Wide.”

Other cultures celebrated in the program include those of India and China in Asia, and Mexico and Brazil in Latin America. The tour of cultures ends with music of Broadway by Leonard Bernstein, “Take Care of This House,” which is a reminder that Americans should, as Burrichter writes in her program notes, “work together to care for our collective home.” And finally a spiritual that remembers the enslaved people of our continent, Moses Hogan’s “My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord.”

“Not all of us have come here by choice,” Burrichter writes. “We hope that ending our concert with a spiritual shows our deep respect for . . . . (African-Americans’) innumerable contributions to American culture and life.”

# # # # #

“A Nation of Immigrants”
Boulder Chorale, Vicki Burrichter, conductor
With Leena Waite, violin
Ensemble of world musicians

Program includes:

  • Karen Marrolli: “Rivers of Living Water” (Lacquiparlé Dakota melody)
  • Traditional Scottish, arr. Desmond Early: “The Parting Glass”
  • Traditional British, arr. Craig Helala Johnson: “The Water is Wide”
  • Igor Loboda: “Requiem for Ukraine”
  • Leonard Bernstein: “Take Care of This House” from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
  • Moses Hogan: “My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord”
  • Additional repertoire from India, China, England, Mexico, and Brazil

4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, March 18 and 19
First United Methodist Church, Boulder

TICKETS

 # # # # #

The Longmont Symphony will present the second of two concerts in the current season focusing on American music over the coming weekend, with performances Saturday and Sunday (March 18 and 19; details below) in the Stewart Auditorium of the Longmont Museum.

Titled “The Art of Influence—America: Part II” the program features works that reflect some of the influences that have shaped the sound of American music. Under the direction of conductor Elliot Moore, the orchestra will present the Colorado premiere of Cover the Walls by Ursula Kwong-Brown, Gershwin’s Lullaby, and Aron Copland’s jazzy Clarinet Concerto with soloist Jason Shafer. The program will be filled out by Maurice Ravel’s tribute to the French Baroque tradition, Le Tombeau de Couperin (The tomb of Couperin).

The versatile Kwong-Brown describes herself as “a composer, sound designer and arts technologist” who also is active as research scientist and political activist. A 2010 honors graduate of Columbia University in music and biology, she has had works performed across the United States and overseas. Her catalog includes music for orchestra, chamber ensembles, vocal and choral works, as well as sound design for dance and theater.

Jason Shafer

A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Shafer is principal clarinet of the  Colorado Symphony and a member of the adjunct faculty at the University of Northern Colorado. He previously appeared with the LSO in 2021, when he performed Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto. Aaron Copland’s Concerto was commissioned by Benny Goodman, who played the premiere with the NBC Symphony and conductor Fritz Reiner. If not exactly a reflection of Goodman’s jazz style, the concerto is a tribute to his virtuosity.

Originally composed for piano and later orchestrated by the composer, Ravel’s Tombeau de Couperin was written during the difficult years of World War I. Described by the composer as an homage “less to Couperin himself than to French music of the eighteenth century” generally, the colorful orchestral suite includes movements titled Prélude, Forlane, Menuet and Rigaudon. 

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“Made in American 2: The Art of Influence”
Longmont Symphony Orchestra, Elliot Moore, conductor
With Jason Shafer, clarinet

  • Ursula Kwong-Brown: Cover the Walls (Colorado premiere)
  • Copland: Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra with Harp and Piano
  • Gershwin:Lullaby
  • Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin (The Grave of Couperin)

7 p.m. Saturday, March 18, and 4 p.m. Sunday, March 19
Stewart Auditorium, Longmont Museum

TICKETS