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GRACE NOTES: From Brahms to Taylor Swift | Sharps & Flatirons
Mini Chamber concert in Boulder and Groovin’ in Longmont By Peter Alexander Nov. 19 at 11:40 p.m. The Boulder Chamber Orchestra (BCO)will present “Mini-Chamber 2,” the second of its chamber music programs for the 2024–25 season, Saturday (7:30 p.m. Nov. 23; details below). The program features guest pianist Adam Żukiewicz performing quintets for piano and…
“Evening of Romance” in Vance Brand Auditorium | Sharps & Flatirons
Longmont Symphony hosts violinist Andrew Sords Saturday By Peter Alexander Nov. 14 at 9:24 p.m. The Longmont Symphony Orchestra (LSO) returns to its long-time home venue, Vance Brand Civic Auditorium at Skyline High School, at 7 p.m. Saturday (Nov. 16; details below) for their second concert of the 2024–25 season. Conductor Elliot Moore with the…
Seicento introduces new director with Handel oratorio | Sharps & Flatirons
Coreen Duffy will conduct ‘Judas Maccabeus’ Friday-Sunday By Peter Alexander Nov. 13 at 5:55 p.m. Seicento Baroque Ensemble is starting the concert season with a new conductor and a Handel oratorio that is likely new for many in the audience. Coreen Duffy, newly hired as Seicento’s artistic director and as director of choral activities at…
“Guitar Masterworks” program comes to Boulder | Sharps & Flatirons
Spanish virtuoso Pablo Sáinz-Villegas plays at Macky Saturday By Peter Alexander Nov. 7 at 2:25 p.m. Pablo Sáinz-Villegas, a classical guitarist from Logroño, La Roja, near the Basque Country in Northeastern Spain, will perform a program of “Guitar Masterworks” as part of the CU Presents Artist Series in Macky Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Saturday (Nov.…
Moons and planets in Macky Auditorium | Sharps & Flatirons
Boulder Phil to premiere a new work about the solar system Sunday By Peter Alexander Nov. 6 at 2:55 p.m. Gustav Holst’s seven-movement orchestral suite The Planets is one of the best known and most popular pieces in the orchestral repertoire. But did you know there is a new piece about the moons in our…
GRACE NOTE: Boulder Phil’s “Brass and Booze” at Planet Bluegrass | Sharps & Flatirons
Orchestra’s “Shift” series of informal concerts continues Wednesday By Peter Alexander Nov. 4 at 1:32 p.m. The Boulder Philharmonic will present “Brass and Booze,” their third “Shift” concert presenting their musicians in unusual venues and smaller groups, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 6, at Planet Bluegrass in Lyons. “We wanted to reach out into some…
Central City Opera announces 2025 season | Sharps & Flatirons
A barber, a regional first and a Broadway show By Peter Alexander Oct. 31 at 2:20 p.m. The Central City Opera (CCO) has announced its 2025 summer season—or at least two thirds of it. As in recent years, there will be two operas and a Broadway musical performed in the historic opera house in Central…
Quartet Intergra will perform on Takács series at CU | Sharps & Flatirons
Prize-winning quartet from Japan will play Haydn, Ligeti and Brahms By Peter Alexander Oct. 30 at 4:55 p.m. Quartet Integra, the 2024 guest ensemble on the Takács Quartet’s campus concert series at CU Boulder, will perform in Grusin Music Hall Sunday afternoon and Monday evening (4 p.m. Nov. 3 and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 4; details…
GRACE NOTES: Curiosity entertains while the Baroque blooms | Sharps & Flatirons
Boulder Symphony celebrates Día de los Muertos; BCO presents Vivaldi and Pergolesi By Peter Alexander Oct. 29 at 9:40 p.m. “The Creative Spirit,” the Fall Curiosity Concert of the Boulder Symphony, will be presented Saturday (3 p.m. Nov. 2) at Grace Commons. The Boulder Symphony and director Devin Patrick Hughes will present two Curiosity Concerts…
GRACE NOTES: Peace and Halloween fun on the program | Sharps & Flatirons
Boulder Concert Chorale and Boulder Phil perform weekend concerts By Peter Alexander Oct. 24 at 2 p.m. The Boulder Concert Chorale will present a work celebrating peace, with texts from more than a dozen authors, to start its 2024–25 season. The concert, at 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26, at the First United Methodist Church in…
Eklund Opera presents renewed, colorful Hansel and Gretel | Sharps & Flatirons
Fairytale opera takes the stage at Macky Friday and Sunday By Peter Alexander Oct. 23 at 1:50 p.m. In 1890, the German composer Englebert Humperdinck was asked by his sister, Adelheid Wette, to write some folk-style songs for a Christmas play she was creating for her children. Their little family play was performed at Christmas,…
GRACE NOTES: Chamber music from the Baroque to 20th century | Sharps & Flatirons
Events presented by The Academy, Boulder Bach and Boulder Chamber Orchestra By Peter Alexander Oct. 16 at 10:33 a.m. The Academy, University Hill will present pianist Eugene Gaub and violinist Nancy McFarland Gaub performing in their Chapel Hall Friday evening (7 p.m. Oct. 18; details below). Their performance of works by Beethoven and César Franck…
GRACE NOTES: Two quartets and Americana Redefined | Sharps & Flatirons
Piano Quartet has new violinist, Takács has surprise pieces and Boulder Phil has a new series By Peter Alexander Oct. 8 at 11 a.m. The Boulder Piano Quartet returns to The Academy in Boulder for a concert featuring the music of Mozart alongside the much less familia Russian-Swiss composer Paul Juon. The concert at 7…
New and familiar works from the Boulder Chamber Orchestra | Sharps & Flatirons
BCO launches 20th anniversary season that will take them to Carnegie Hall By Peter Alexander Oct. 1 at 2:50 p.m. About 20 years ago, Bahman Saless was standing in a church basement, getting ready to conduct his first concert ever. “We started with just an idea, and I had never conducted before. We only had…
GRACE NOTES: Opening nights, orchestral and choral | Sharps & Flatirons
Longmont Symphony, Ars Nova Singers launch 2024-25 seasons By Peter Alexander Oct. 1 at 4:55 p.m. The Longmont Symphony Orchestra (LSO)and conductor Elliot Moore open “Sound in Motion,” their 2024–25 concert season, Saturday evening (7 p.m. Oct. 5; details below) with two American works and a orchestral showpiece. Breaking from the pattern of previous seasons,…
Boulder Symphony presents “America-Centric” concerts | Sharps & Flatirons
Symphony by Florence Price is the “American anchor” of programs Saturday and Sunday By Peter Alexander Sept. 25 at 11:25 a.m. The Boulder Symphony opens a new season this weekend with what conductor Devin Patrick Hughes calls “a very America-centric concert.” Performances at the Gordon Gamm Theater of the Dairy Arts Center will be at…
Grace Notes: Bach, Timbres, Sphere and a Groove | Sharps & Flatirons
Programs outside the norm, from the 18th to the 21st centuries By Peter Alexander Sept. 18 at 10:05 p.m. The Boulder Bach Festival (BBF) and guest artists will take audiences back to 18th-century Venice in a program entitled “Anonimo Veneziano” (Anonymous Venetian) 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder. The…
Takács String Quartet celebrates its 50th season | Sharps & Flatirons
Mutual respect, love of music and supportive audiences inspire the players By Peter Alexander Sept. 12 at 9:14 p.m. Fifty years is a long time in any job, but that is the landmark that András Fejér, cellist of the world renowned Takács Quartet, is approaching as the quartet enters its fiftieth season, András Fejér The…
Boulder Phil opens season with guest conductor | Sharps & Flatirons
Boulder native Francesco Lecce-Chong subs for Michael Butterman By Peter Alexander Sept. 5 at 9 p.m. The Boulder Philharmonic opens its 2024–25 season Sunday afternoon in Macky Auditorium (4 p.m. Sept. 8) with music by Tchaikovsky and Mendlessohn. Sixteen-year-old rising musical star Amaryn Olmeda will be the soloist for Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. The concert will…
A notice to readers | Sharps & Flatirons
A much needed two-week vacation By Peter Alexander Aug. 19 at 11:20 a.m. This has been a busy summer. I don't know how it was at your house, but for me, the combination of family events, summer performances to play and attend, and the unexpected home repairs to attend to has filled my days. Filled…
A premiere and two comedies at Santa Fe | Sharps & Flatirons
Reviews of The Righteous, Der Rosenkavalier and L’elisir d’amore By Peter Alexander Aug. 14 at 10:25 p.m. The Santa Fe Opera premiere of The Righteous, a new opera by Gregory Spears to a libretto by Tracy K. Smith that I saw Aug. 7, offered some memorable singing, a skillful and expressive orchestral score, fine direction…
Time shifting at the Santa Fe Opera | Sharps & Flatirons
Reviews of La Traviata and Don Giovanni By Peter Alexander Aug. 12 at 11:10 p.m. Opera productions seem to go through trends. That was certainly the case at the Santa Fe Opera this summer: of the five productions, only one—the world premiere of The Righteous by Gregory Spears, set in the 1980s—remained in the time…
CMF final weekend opens with terrific performances | Sharps & Flatirons
Kevin Puts, Tchaikovsky, Dvořák will be featured again tomorrow By Peter Alexander Aug. 2 at 12:15 a.m. The Colorado Music Festival launched into it final weekend of the 2024 season last night (Aug. 1) with a program that had all the Hallmarks of the CMF under Music Director Peter Oundjian. There was a piece by…
New work and a familiar potboiler at CMF | Sharps & Flatirons
Pianist Awadagin Pratt, Scheherazade make an impression with CMF Orchestra By Peter Alexander July 26 at 12:15 a.m. The Colorado Music Festival orchestra presented an intriguing program last night (July 24), combining a new piece for piano and strings, played by a striking individual soloist, and a dramatic reading of Rimsky-Korsakov’s colorful tone poem, Scheherazade.…
Rare and well done in Central City | Sharps & Flatirons
Kurt Weill’s seldom seen Street Scene has it all—music, dance, drama By Peter Alexander July 23 at 3:20 p.m. Anyone who loves Broadway theater, drama, bluesy musical numbers and zippy dance routines needs to go into the mountains. Central City Opera’s production of Street Scene by the German-American composer Kurt Weill has all that and…
Brilliant concert of all-women composers at CMF | Sharps & Flatirons
Premiere by Gabriela Lena Frank, Concerto by Joan Tower showcase the Festival Orchestra By Peter Alexander July 22 at 12:15 a.m. The Colorado Music Festival Orchestra and conductor Peter Oundjian hit the jackpot last night (July 21) with a program of three pieces by women composers. All three works, by Florence Price, Gabriela Lena Franck…
Colorado Music Festival continues July 23 to August 4 | Sharps & Flatirons
Guest soloists and a Mahler symphony bring 2024 festival to a close By Peter Alexander July 18 at 3:20 p.m. The remaining two weeks of the Colorado Music Festival (CMF) will see a series of guest artists—soloists, conductors and chamber musicians—and culminate with a Mahler symphony. Peter Oundjian, artistic director of the Colorado Music Festival.…
Two operas worth a trip into the mountains | Sharps & Flatirons
Pirates and desperados at Central City Opera By Peter Alexander July 16 at 3:48 p.m. Central City Opera’s performance of Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance (July 13) started with a delightful, well nuanced reading of the Overture, and from there went from one entertaining moment to another. The Pirates of Penzance holding Frederic, the…
Quirky, delicious and profound program at CMF | Sharps & Flatirons
Quintets by Nielsen and Schubert on chamber series By Peter Alexander July 17 at 12:15 a.m. Last night’s chamber music concert at the Colorado Music Festival (July 16) offered the kind of program that makes the festival such a valuable cultural asset. The program comprised two quintets, both treasures of the chamber repertoire, one of…
Central City Opera cancels one performance | Sharps & Flatirons
Saturday’s opening night of Kurt Weill’s Street Scene canceled due to illness By Peter Alexander July 10 at 5:20 p.m. Central City Opera has announced that Saturday’s opening of their production of Kurt Weill’s “American Opera” Street Scene (July 13) would be canceled due to illness. A statement released by the company today (July 10)…
Colorado Music Festival opens 2024 summer season Friday | Sharps & Flatirons
Commissioned premiere and birthday celebrations are early highlights By Peter Alexander July 1 at 6:27 p.m. Peter Oundjian at Chautauqua. Peter Oundjian, artistic director of the Colorado Music Festival (CMF), is brimming with excitement for the coming summer concert season. “I love every program because I programmed them all!” he says. Nevertheless, when pressed he…
Central City offers three works first performed in New York | Sharps & Flatirons
Pirates of Penzance, Girl of the Golden West and Street Scene on this summer’s bill By Peter Alexander June 25 at 4:02 p.m. Central City Opera opens its 2024 festival season Saturday with a staple, not of the grand opera house, but of the English light-opera stage: Gilbert and Sullivan’s delightful and sometimes silly Pirates…
Two new resources for music parents and audiences | Sharps & Flatirons
A Web page packed with info, and a music camp for kids By Peter Alexander June 20 at 2:20 p.m. Stephanie Bonjack wanted to support her son’s interest in music. “I wanted to know what are the opportunities for my son, and for kids in general in this region,” she says. “And I'm not the…
“Popular Entertainment” anchors 2024 CU NOW | Sharps & Flatirons
Gene Scheer and Bill Van Horn conjure a musical play from an 18th-century sequel By Peter Alexander June 12 at 11:50 p.m. “If it’s a success, write a sequel!” That’s the commentary of theater veteran Bill Van Horn, who is helping turn just such a sequel from the 18th century into a modern-day operetta—or “popular…
Ars Nova presents new works in “Shared Visions” | Sharps & Flatirons
Composers set poems that were in turn inspired by visual artworks By Peter Alexander June 4 at 11:20 a.m. Boulder’s Ars Nova Singers will present “Shared Visions,” a unique concert bringing together works by Colorado visual artists, poets and composers, this coming weekend. Violinist Alex Gonzalez Performances will be Friday in Longmont, Saturday in Denver…
MahlerFest 2024 explores connections | Sharps & Flatirons
Mountains, friendship, and wide-ranging influences celebrated By Peter Alexander May 14 at 1 p.m. Colorado MahlerFest 2024 comes to Boulder this week, but it might offer a little more than you expect. Founded in 1988 to bring Mahler’s music to Boulder and the Front Range, in recent years it has expanded its programming way beyond…
Boulder Chamber Orchestra presents student soloists | Sharps & Flatirons
Teachers Association Concerto competition winners will perform with BCO Saturday By Peter Alexander May 8 at 3:30 p.m. The Boulder Chamber Orchestra (BCO) will present winners of the 2024 Colorado Music Teachers Association (CMSTA) Concerto Competition on a concert program Saturday (May 11; details below). Conductor Bahman Saless with the Boulder Chamber Orchestra The winners…
Effective, powerful Samson et Delilah at Opera Colorado | Sharps & Flatirons
Production opened Saturday, continues next week May 7, 10, 12 By Peter Alexander May 6 at 12:10 p.m. Opera Colorado opened an effective and at times powerful production of Saint-Saens’s Samson et Delilah Saturday (May 4) at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in Denver. The final production of 2023–24 season, Samson et Delilah will run…
Opera Colorado presents Saint-Saëns’ “Samson et Delilah” | Sharps & Flatirons
The opera is based on, and different from, the familiar Biblical story By Peter Alexander May 2 at 4:30 p.m. The Biblical story of Samson’s betrayal by Delilah, and his violent revenge, is one of the best known dramatic tales from the Old Testament. It has been dramatized many times in film and music. One…
Season closing events in Boulder and Longmont | Sharps & Flatirons
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…