Pinocchio, Winter reveries, Messiah and Swingin’ Brass
By Peter Alexander Dec. 10 at 2:50 p.m.
Boulder Opera Company will present four performances of The Adventures of Pinocchio by English composer Jonathan Dove over the coming weekend (Dec. 14 and 15; details below).
Based on the familiar book by Italian author Carlo Collodi, Dove’s one-hour opera tells the story of the wooden puppet who becomes a boy in 20 brief scenes that range from Gepetto’s hut to the Blue Fairy’s cottage, Funland and the inside of a big fish. Described by Boulder Opera as “A magical opera for all ages,” The Adventures of Pinocchio will be accompanied by an ensemble orchestra led by music director Mario Barbosa, and stage directed by Zane Alcorn.
In the company’s press release, Alcorn is quoted saying “Pinocchio is is a coming-of age story meant to subtly teach children how selfishness will always harm you. Whenever Pinocchio makes a selfish choice like skipping school, lying or going to Funland, he is punished rather quickly, but when he helps the community and saves this father, this leads to the ultimate reward, becoming a real boy.”
The moral of the story is, he says, “those who help others help themselves.”
Dove is highly regarded composer of operas, choral works and instrumental music. His opera Flight, based on the real-life experiences of a refugee trapped in the Charles DeGaulle Airport in Paris for 18 years, has been widely performed around the world, including a premiere at the Glyndebourne Festival, at the Opera theatre of St. Louis, Des Moines Metro Opera, Seattle Opera and the Museum of Flight in Washington, D.C.
The Adventures of Pinocchio was commissioned by Opera North and Sadler’s Wells and first performed in Leeds, U.K., Dec. 21, 2007. It has subsequently been performed by Minnesota Opera as well as companies in Germany, South Korea and Russia.
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Boulder Opera
Mario Barbosa, conductor, and Zane Alcorn, stage director
- Jonathan Dove: The Adventures of Pinocchio
2 and 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14
1 and 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 15
eTown Hall
All the constituent groups of the Boulder Chorale will come together to perform “Winter Reverie,” this year’s edition of their annual Holidays program, Saturday and Sunday in Boulder (Dec. 14 and 15; details below).
Also appearing with the Chorale will be the Boulder Philharmonic String Quartet: Yenlik Weiss and Reagan Kane, violin; Lee Anderson, viola; and Kimberlee Hanto, cello.
In addition to the full Concert Chorale and the adult Chamber Chorale, the performance will feature all four age groups from the Boulder Children’s Chorale: Bel Canto, Volante, Prima Voce and Piccolini. They will each sing alone and together, including a concluding piece with the full adult Concert Chorale.
The program opens with the combined children’s groups performing an arrangement of Leroy Anderson’s evergreen Holiday favorite, “Sleigh Ride.” Other performances by the children’s groups include the Jewish traditional song “Maoz Tzur,” “Winter Dreams’ by the prolific composer PINKZEBRA, and the youngest singers performing “Chrissimas Day” with auxiliary percussion accompaniment.
The adult Chamber Chorale will perform Morten Lauridsen’s setting of the James Agee text “Sure on this Shining Night” and the Magnificat setting of Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds. In addition to traditional holiday numbers, the program also features works by CU faculty member Daniel Kellog and Norwegian composer Ole Gjeilo. The program concludes with the combined adult and children’s ensembles performing in English and Spanish David Kantor’s “Night of Silence/Noche de Silencio,” which incorporates the familiar carol “Silent Night.” Audience members will be invited to sing along.
The director of the adult choirs and co-artistic director of the Boulder Chorale is Vicki Burrichter. Guest director for this concert is Larisa Dreger. Co-artistic director Nathan Wubbena is director of the Children’s Chorale and leads Bel Canto, the oldest children’s group. Directors of the other children’s groups are Anna Robinson, Prima Voce; Larisa Dreger, Volante; and Melody Sebald, Piccolini.
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“Winter Reverie”
Boulder Chorale and children’s chorales, Vicki Burrichter and Nathan Wubbena, co-artistic directors
With the Boulder Philharmonic String Quartet and collaborative pianists Susan Olenwine, Caitlin Strickland, Matthew Sebald, Margaret Schraff and Joanna Lynden
- Leroy Anderson: “Sleigh Ride” (arr. Hawley Ades)
- Jewish Traditional: “Maoz Tzur” (arr. Matt Podd)
- Mary Donnelly and George L.O. Strid: “Winter’s Beauty”
- Christina Witten Thomas: “Snow Song”
- PINKZEBRA: “Winter Dreams”
- Morten Lauridsen: “Sure on This Shining Night”
- Ēriks Ešenvalds: Magnificat
- English Traditional: “Chrissimas Day” (arr. Shirley W. McRae)
- Irish Traditional: “Frosty Weather” (arr. Margaret Scharff)
- French Traditional: “Pat-a-Pan” (arr. Andy Beck)
- Andrew Parr: “Winter’s Stillness”
- Jewish Traditional: “Hanerot Halalu: These Chanukah lights we kindle” (arr. Becky Slage Mayo)
- Daniel Kellog: “Sim Shalom
- Ola Gjeilo: “Ecce Novum”
— “Tundra” - David Kantor: “Night of Silence” (arr. Nathan Wubbena)
3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14 and 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 15
First United Methodist Church, Boulder
Livestream 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 15
In person and livestream TICKETS
The Longmont Symphony Orchestra (LSO) will perform Handel’s Messiah for their annual Holiday “Candlelight Concert” on Saturday (4 p.m. Dec. 14), in the Vance Brand Civic Auditorium. Elliot Moore will conduct.
A longstanding seasonal offering from the LSO, the “Candlelight Concert” has presented Handel’s oratorio in some years, including 2019 and 2022. The latter year also featured a Messiah singalong for audience members to sing the popular choral numbers with the LSO. In other years they have offered “A Baroque Christmas” or other Holiday-themed performances.
Although not strictly a Christmas piece, since the entire oratorio goes through the Easter story and the Resurrection, Messiah is undoubtedly one of the most popular pieces of the Christmas season. The first section tells the Christmas story in music that has touched audiences since the first performance in Dublin in 1742.
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Candlelight Concert
Longmont Symphony Orchestra and Longmont Chorale, Elliot Moore, conductor
With Julianne Davis, soprano; Elijah English, countertenor; Charles Moore, tenor; and Andy Konopak, bass-baritone
- Handel: Messiah
4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14
Vance Brand Civic Auditorium
The Boston Brass brings their Holiday show, “Christmas Bells are Swingin’,” to Macky Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14. They will be joined for the performance by the Brass All-Stars Big Band, an ensemble recruited by the Boston Brass from local musicians, including members of the CU College of Music Faculty.
Founded in 1986, the Boston Brass performs brass quintet arrangements of classical music and jazz standards as well as original works for brass. They have toured throughout the United States and to more than 30 countries world wide. In addition to they quintet performances, they also perform with orchestras, bands and jazz bands.
Their numerous recordings include one released in 2007 with the same title as their Macky program—“Christmas Bells are Swingin’”—recorded with the Syracuse University Wind ensemble. Pieces on both the CD and the Macky concert program include arrangements of three dances from The Nutcracker, the Sousa-carol blend “Jingle Bells Forever,” and Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas.”
Other works on the concert program are Stan Kenton’s arrangement of “Joy to the World” and several familiar Christmas Carols, including “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” “Angels We Have Heard on High,” and “The Holy and the Ivy.”
The Boston Brass’s latest album, titled “Joe’s Tango,” features the world premiere of Five Cities Concerto by Jorge Machain. Recorded with the University of Nevada-Las Vegas Wind Orchestra, the album also features New York Philharmonic trombonist Joe Alessi performing with the Boston brass.
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“Christmas Bells are Swingin’”
Boston Brass and Brass All-Stars Big Band
- Anon.: “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” (arr. Ralph Carmichael)
- John Henry Hopkins, Jr.: “We Three Kings of Orient Are” (arr. Carmichael)
- Traditional: “Angels We Have Heard on High” (arr. Carmichael)
- Tchaikovsky: Dances from The Nutcracker (arr. J.D.Shaw)
- Robert W. Smith: “Jingle Bells Forever” (arr. Shaw)
- “The Grinch” (arr. William Russell)
- “Ho, Ho, Ho” (arr. Rick DeJonge)
- Traditional: The Twelve Days of Christmas (arr. Carmichael)
- Leroy Anderson: “Sleigh Ride” (arr. Shaw)
- Jack Rollins: “Frosty the Snowman” (arr. Shaw)
- Franz Xaver Gruber: “Silent Night” (arr. Chris Castellanos)
- Anon.: “Good King Wenceslas” (arr. Carmichael)
- Henry Gauntlett: “Once in Royal David’s City” (arr. Carmichael)
- Traditional: “The Holly and the Ivy” (arr. Carmichael)
- David Cutler: “Faithful”
- Irving Berlin: “White Christmas” (arr. Shaw)
- Anon.: “Greensleeves” (arr. Shaw)
7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14
Macky Auditorium
Sharps & Flatirons 