NEWS
Feature: "One Orchestra, Three Weeks, Four Living Composers"
Brett Mitchell with the Colorado Symphony during his inaugural concert as Music Director on September 9, 2017. (Photo by Brandon Marshall)
DENVER — Brett Mitchell's focus on contemporary American music during his inaugural season as Music Director of the Colorado Symphony is the focus of a new article by Teddy Niedermaier.
In September 2017, the Colorado Symphony opened its season by featuring four living composers in a span of three consecutive weeks. This was a bold and auspicious move for Brett Mitchell, the orchestra's new Music Director. It's also welcome news for composers and musicians alike who would like to see more contemporary offerings on symphony programs. Here's what they played:
Sept. 9 (concert featuring Renée Fleming): Peter Boyer, New Beginnings (2000)
Sept. 15-17 (official opening weekend): Kevin Puts, Millennium Canons (2001) & Mason Bates, The B-Sides: Five Pieces for Orchestra (2009) (The composer participated in these performances)
Sept. 22-24: Missy Mazzoli, These Worlds in Us (2006)
Such programming flies in the face of recent statistics showing that major American orchestras devote relatively little time to newer compositions. A survey of 22 large American orchestras in 2014-2015 showed that only 11.4% of programmed pieces were by living composers that season, and in 2015-2016 that number remained essentially constant at 12%...
"A lot of great art...in 21st-century America"
In the Colorado Symphony's 2017-2018 season brochure, Brett Mitchell writes, "The opening weekend of our Classics series pairs Beethoven's immortal Fifth Symphony with two contemporary American works I think you'll really love." In this pairing, Mitchell's inclusion of new music goes far beyond tokenism--or the idea that orchestras play new music here and there merely out of "obligation" or to maintain the appearance of being modern and relevant. For Mitchell, the Puts-Bates-Beethoven lineup bore specific, meaningful connections: the driving rhythms in Bates's B-Sides evoked the opening of Beethoven's Fifth, whereas the fanfares in Puts's Millennium Canons echoed its triumphant finale.
Bates's B-sides, a five-movement, 23-minute commission from the San Francisco Symphony, is a major work modeled after Schoenberg's iconic Five Pieces for Orchestra, op. 16. This inclusion too bucks a trend which states that new compositions must be relegated to "overture" status--ancillary, peripheral exercises to be wrapped up before the main "meat" of an orchestral program. In interviews played during the live Colorado Public Radio broadcast of the Sept. 15 opener, Mitchell again emphasized the interconnectedness of the Puts, Bates, and Beethoven works, placing the composers on equal footing as if they were musical colleagues having a conversation. These connections resonated with Jeffrey Nytch in his review titled "A New Beginning at the Colorado Symphony":
This program, pairing Beethoven’s Fifth with a first half of works by Kevin Puts and Mason Bates, presents a coherent package. Puts and Bates complemented the Beethoven – just as Beethoven retroactively complemented Puts and Bates. This wasn’t cynical programming; this was thoughtful programming that gave every piece on the docket an equal role in service to the whole.
The vision behind this was that of the Colorado Symphony’s new Music Director, Brett Mitchell, and it’s a vision that plays out over the course of the entire season. In concert after concert we see not just a mix of canonical standards with lesser-known classics (or a refreshing number of new works), but a pairing of old and new that illuminates both. Such is certainly the case in this opening concert, where the vibrance of Kevin Puts’ Millennium Canons foreshadows the brass fanfares of the Beethoven finale, and where the pulsing rhythms of Mason Bates’ The B-Sides set us up for the insistent drive of that famous 4-note motive that not only opens the Fifth but spins its way through the entire symphony like a 19th-century version of a techno beat.
The following week in Denver brought Missy Mazzoli's These Worlds in Us, winner of the 2007 ASCAP Young Composer Award, paired with Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and Tchaikovsky's epic Fifth Symphony. While this program more neatly fits the typical overture-concerto-symphony format, Mitchell addressed the audience from the podium to reinforce his belief in the importance of new music. "There's a lot of great art being created in 21st-century America, and we hope to share some of that with you," he said, adding that he hoped to "pique your interest" and "pique your curiosity" throughout the season. And here too there were thoughtful musical connections, as the haunting lyricism and E tonality of the Mazzoli foreshadowed the dark E minor opening of the Tchaikovsky.
A Broad Landscape
The programming of new music by American orchestras should reflect the broad, diverse musical landscape of contemporary composition in the United States. And by playing the four composers listed above, the Colorado Symphony has begun to paint a vivid picture of that diversity. Composer Peter Boyer, whose New Beginnings was commissioned by the Kalamazoo Symphony, has achieved considerable success in the arenas of concert music and film music. Kevin Puts, a St. Louis native, is now the Director of the Minnesota Orchestra Composer's Institute, a crucial training ground for emerging orchestral composers. Missy Mazzoli has already forged her reputation as an important voice in American opera with the successful premiere of Breaking the Waves in Philadelphia last year. And Mason Bates, former composer-in-residence with the Chicago Symphony, is a DJ who has incorporated electronica into many of his large orchestral works; he too has broken into opera this year with The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs for the Santa Fe Opera.
In these four composers alone we glimpse an exciting cross-section of sounds, styles, and genres. While it's not a complete picture, we can take the Colorado Symphony's recent programming as a healthy sign that 21st-century orchestral music is vibrant, diverse, relevant, and deserving of a prominent place in American concert halls.
To read the complete article, please click here.
Feature: "Know Your Art: Symphony Conductor Brett Mitchell"
Brett Mitchell at home in Denver in September 2017. (Photo by Jeff Nelson)
DENVER — Denver Life Magazine has published a feature about Brett Mitchell, coinciding with his first season as Music Director of the Colorado Symphony:
If he hadn’t found his calling in music, Brett Mitchell—the 38-year-old Seattle native who assumes command of the Colorado Symphony this fall as the organization’s fourth music director—might have made a decent cult leader in another life. He’s self-assured, charming and prone to expounding on the virtues of classical music with such single-minded fervor that, listening to him, one feels the urge to run out, buy a bassoon or cello and start logging practice hours. He also has a knack for leading large groups of passionate people—a talent that has made him one of the most successful and sought-after young conductors in the country. In his short career, he has served as associate conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, assistant conductor of the Houston Symphony and assistant conductor of the Orchestre National de France, as well as a handful of other equally impressive titles. Now he’s bringing his considerable ability to Denver, kicking off his four-year tenure with a season featuring a diverse array of performances—from Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” to the score of “Jurassic Park.” We sat down with Mitchell to ask about life on the conductor’s podium.
Did you grow up with classical music? Actually, no. I come from a family of a lot of wonderful people, none of whom are musicians. When I was growing up, we didn’t really have classical music in the house. The only thing we had was an LP of (Vladimir) Horowitz and a cassette with “The Nutcracker Suite” by Tchaikovsky on one side, and “Peter and the Wolf” by Prokofiev on the other. That was it.
So you discovered classical music on your own? Exactly. I was in high school when I started composing and conducting. During my sophomore year, the high school band took a trip to Disneyland, where we saw a nighttime show called “Fantasmic!” At the time, the sheet music for that show hadn’t been released, but my band director, whom I’m still very close with, said she wanted to play some of those songs. She knew I had a good ear, so as we were going through the show, she had me write down the music that I was hearing on a paper towel. Then I bought the CD, and over that summer, between my sophomore and junior years, I transcribed the music and arranged it for my high school band. It was at that point that the band director said, “Why don’t you just conduct it yourself?” I was 16. It was the first performance I ever conducted, October of 1995. I still remember standing backstage, shaking like a leaf.
Then you studied music in college? Correct. I got my composition degree at Western Washington University because I thought I wanted to score films. About halfway through college, I decided I wanted to conduct instead of compose. When you’re a composer, most of what you do is alone. Being a conductor, you get to work with your colleagues in the orchestra, the chorus, and then you get to play for thousands of people. It’s much more social. That’s why I made the switch. The solitary part of being a composer just didn’t do it for me.
What abilities does a conductor need? Communication skills, definitely. Group psychology is an enormous part of it. Leadership, of course. If you looked at my bookshelf at home, most of what you would find would be music books and books on leadership.
What about the people who say, “Classical music is boring—it’s not for me”? Part of the issue is that when people think of classical music, they think of music by—and I mean this with love in my heart—Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann. And that music actually takes a little bit more effort to get inside of, because it gets played on classical radio like background music. Now take Mahler, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky—those boys weren’t writing background music. Their music is intended to grab you by the throat. So when people say, “Oh, classical music is boring,” it may just be that their entrée into classical music was not the best. Frankly, Bach and Haydn and Mozart wrote a lot of music that was designed to be background music; it was music for rich people to eat dinner by. But that’s not the kind of thing I’m interested in programming and conducting.
How do you hope to make the Colorado Symphony’s 2017-18 season unique? It’s really important in life—whether you’re on a date or conducting an orchestra—that people be themselves. There’s nothing worse than pretending to be somebody you’re not. So long as I remain genuine and authentic in who I am, I think I’ll bring something new to the table.
What drives you, artistically and professionally? When I was a little boy, during the days I had a caretaker named Janet who looked after me. One morning, my mom was getting ready to take me to Janet’s house, and we were listening to the radio. A song came on that I’d never heard, and it hit me really hard. “Do we have a record of this?” I asked her. This was around 1982. She told me we did, so I said, “I want to play this song for Janet. It’s so pretty.” Rather than argue with a 3-year-old, which is never a winning strategy, my mom drove us to Janet’s house and we sat together, the three of us, grouped around the record player, and listened to Barry Manilow’s “Mandy.” I was as happy as could be. I tell this story a lot because I feel it illustrates exactly what I do today. I find music that I love, and I share it with people. Whether that’s two people in a living room in Seattle in 1982, or 10,000 people at Red Rocks in 2018, it doesn’t matter to me. I do what I do because I feel impelled to share the music I love.
To read the complete article, please click here.
Brett Mitchell featured on Denver 8 TV's "ArtScene"
DENVER — Brett Mitchell is featured in the latest episode of Denver 8 TV's ArtScene, discussing his musical background and upcoming projects during his inaugural season as Music Director of the Colorado Symphony. To watch this story, please click the video above. Mr. Mitchell's segment begins at 20:04.
Feature: "Colorado Symphony's new music director is ready to rock"
Seattle-born Brett Mitchell, the new 38-year-old music director for the Colorado Symphony, was raised on grunge before discovering his love for all things symphonic—and we do mean all things. (Photo by Peter Lockley)
DENVER — Denver Metro Media has published a feature about Brett Mitchell on the eve of his first performances as Music Director of the Colorado Symphony:
Brett Mitchell remembers the day he discovered the genius of Ludwig van Beethoven.
It was 1994 while watching the biopic Immortal Beloved with his mother. As actor Gary Oldman pantomimed one of the great piano sonatas, 15-year-old Mitchell grew puzzled, then aghast.
“Mom, they stole this melody from Billy Joel. How are they getting away with this?” the high school freshman whispered in quiet desperation.
Within a few hours, the truth had sunk in.
It was Joel who had nicked the tune from Beethoven, not the other way around. The 20th-century piano man had some years earlier transformed the German composer’s exquisite “Sonata Pathétique” into a lamenting tribute to 1950s doo-wop in a 1983 hit song called “This Night.”
Like countless devotees before him, the newly enlightened Mitchell would soon scour the life work of Beethoven, whose tortured life, he discovered, was in frequent contrast to the sheer beauty of the composer’s wide-ranging work.
“Beethoven kind of stands for this great moral searching,” Mitchell explained. “Now, he’s a huge part of my life, every bit as much as Kurt Cobain was 25 years ago.”
Today, the 38-year-old Seattle-born musical director for the Colorado Symphony still stands at the intersection of classical and pop, as well as its varied crossroads at video games, movies, rock and roll, and who knows what else....
Like his recent CSO predecessors, the new Generation-X conductor is determined to bring “longhair” music to everyone—yes, including those with hipster beards. The millennial ticket-buying generation will soon constitute half the nation’s workforce and half of its expendable income.
“Millennials tend to not be so insistent about putting things into boxes,” Mitchell said, noting the symphony’s ongoing genre surfing. “Classical music doesn’t actually mean anything. That’s kind of a nonsense term we use to cover a lot of stuff. The opposite of classical, whatever the hell that means, is pops, whatever the hell that means.”
This year, it means not only upcoming homages to Beethoven and George Gershwin and collaborations with classical vocalist Renée Fleming and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, but also tributes to Ella Fitzgerald and Prince, a concert with eclectic banjoist Bela Fleck, live accompaniment to a screening of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, and a special performance dedicated to the music of video games.
Tell Tchaikovsky the news, but break it to him gently.
Born in Seattle in 1979, Mitchell came of age when new wave was already old and his city of birth was delivering a newer child called grunge. [Remember the dollar bill dangling in front of the swimming infant on the cover of Nirvana’s Nevermind?]
“I heard a very tortured soul who was trying to work through things in a very public way,” Mitchell said of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain. “When I started listening to Beethoven, honestly, I heard the exact same thing.”
Although rooted in the Baby-Boom rock of his parents and the 90s rock that permeated his hometown, Mitchell somehow found his calling in symphonic music, first in the movie soundtracks of John Williams, which would act as his bridge from pop to classical and set him off on his quest.
Before landing in the Mile High City, Mitchell held conducting positions with symphonies in Saginaw, Michigan, Cleveland and Houston, having studied conducting at the University of Texas in Austin. He held an assistant-conductor post with the Orchestre National de France and had a litany of guest shots across the United States and Europe prior to settling down in Denver this year.
Although Mitchell has yet to hit 40, that is not so unusual for a conductor, he says. Keep in mind, when the legendary Leonard Bernstein took the reins at the New York Philharmonic in 1958, he was only a couple years older than Mitchell is now. Even so, Mitchell sees his relative youth as a benefit.
“I’m sure that doesn’t hurt in terms of reaching out to younger audience members,” he said. “But what really helps is the fact that I’ve been evangelizing for classical music in a way that I hope makes it relatable to anybody and everybody.”
Mitchell points out that even someone as revered as Bernstein was no stick in the mud when it came to music. The conductor-composer was a sort of ambassador between classical and other genres and in 1967 hosted CBS’s Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution, in which Bernstein introduced the “establishment” to the likes of Brian Wilson, Roger McGuinn and Janis Ian.
“[Bernstein] would listen to The Beatles’ Revolver with his kids. The only discrimination was the quality of music they would listen to,” Mitchell said. “We approach it very much the same way in our house and I think Lenny was really a light that led the way for a lot of the rest of us.”
To read the complete article, please click here.
Feature: "Colorado Symphony’s new music director leads bold drive to grow audience"
DENVER — The Denver Business Journal has published a feature on Brett Mitchell as he prepares to begin his first season as Music Director of the Colorado Symphony:
Brett Mitchell is the new music director of the Colorado Symphony. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
Denver’s new Colorado Symphony music director wants you to know he’s a regular guy.
Brett Mitchell, 38, is a sports fan. The Seattle native is eager to root for the Broncos (“unless they’re playing the Seahawks,” he whispers). He and his wife are foodies and hikers. He was excited about Jay-Z’s latest release. He programs concerts with a ear for what his nonmusical family members would like.
The maestro (“I’m just Brett”) is gregarious and optimistic, ready to do whatever needs doing to boost the symphony’s profile and cash flow. His enthusiasm is contagious.
Just a regular guy with a baton.
He served four seasons as associate conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, a title held by only four previous conductors in the Orchestra’s 100-year history. Here Mitchell succeeds Andrew Litton, who will continue to serve as Colorado Symphony’s principal guest conductor through this season.
The two-decades-younger Mitchell said some of the differences between the two won’t be immediately discernible, but, “I’m my own kind of leader.”
Beneath the regular-guy exterior is a fast-rising young star whose rapid ascent at the world-renowned Cleveland Orchestra was followed by a whirlwind tryout and leap to Denver. Mitchell is also a sometime composer (with a degree in composing from Western Washington University). His wife, Angela Mitchell, is a public radio host/interviewer as well as a classically trained soprano.
Mitchell’s praise for the “fabulous” Colorado orchestra is abundant. He now faces the impossible job description: As music director, he must have artistic excellence combined with marketing and fundraising skills, a reverence for the classics as well as new, experimental works, and a knack forpleasing traditionalists as well as for drawing in younger, more diverse audiences....
“A big leap forward”
[Colorado Symphony CEO and board co-chair Jerry] Kern sees Mitchell’s arrival as “a big leap forward as opposed to inching along and trying to break even.” For the young conductor, “he understands it’s an enormous opportunity to begin to build a major reputation.”
“It takes years to figure out where a new music director is taking an orchestra,” Mitchell said. “The things you will notice right away are the programming... Look at kinds of repertoire I like to program, you’ll see more of that contemporary American voice.”
For his opening weekend, Sept. 15, he has paired Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 (“who doesn’t like a Beethoven 5?”) with works by two American composers in their early 40s: Kevin Puts (Millennium Canons) and electronica soloist Mason Bates (The B-Sides: Five Pieces for Orchestra).
Mitchell rapturously explains his thinking: the Puts Millennium Canons represents “a triumphant opening to my tenure, and, more important, a perfect analog to the finale of Beethoven 5… it’s all about the rhythmic drive.
“And then, whose music is more about rhythm than anybody? Mason Bates. He lives a double life, composer by day, DJ in San Francisco by night. On The B-Sides, five little pieces for orchestra that incorporate electronica, Mason will do all of that stuff live. Then listen to the rhythmic drive of Beethoven 5 on the second half … what makes Beethoven 5 fly? By the finale, it’s so rhythmically driving, that glorious C major finale is nothing but celebratory. And now you’ve come up with AN EVENING!”
In other words, he said, “My goal is to give the audience reason to come to the concert. Because, I’ve got Spotify like everybody else. I could listen in my living room with my glass of wine, with my wife, and not put pants on…”
It’s all about the experience....
Mitchell finds it remarkable that the Cleveland Orchestra has sustained its status as one of the elite ensembles in world even as the population of Cleveland has declined. “That’s one hell of a testament. In Denver, there is so much growth, as our Realtor keeps telling us— every time I hear that I think we gotta buy a house— but lots of people are coming here. Part of my job is to capitalize on that.”
The couple is living a few steps from the concert hall for now. Mitchell’s four-year contract requires him to live here at least half the year.
While some music directors balk at the idea of chatting up potential sponsors over cocktails, Mitchell is all in.
“As music director,” Mitchell said, “I am the face of the organization and I understand that.” It’s a more immersive role than the European orchestra’s designation of principal conductor. “The whole reason we have to raise money is because of my crazy ideas.”
Just a regular guy with a baton and some crazy ideas.
To read the complete article, please click here (subscription required).
Feature: Brett Mitchell appears on Denver arts magazine
Colorado Symphony music director Brett Mitchell during the taping "In Focus with Eden Lane" at Boettcher Concert Hall in downtown Denver. (Photo by Eden Lane)
DENVER — On the eve of his first season as Music Director of the Colorado Symphony, Brett Mitchell appears on the current episode of "In Focus with Eden Lane," a local arts program produced by Colorado Public Television. Watch the complete episode below.
Profile: "Meet the Colorado Symphony’s New Maestro"
DENVER — 5280 Magazine has published a profile of Brett Mitchell as he assumes the music directorship of the Colorado Symphony:
Brett Mitchell assumes the role of Music Director of the Colorado Symphony on July 1, 2017. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
Growing up in Seattle, the Colorado Symphony’s new music director didn’t listen to a single Beethoven piece until high school. He was too busy rocking out to Kurt Cobain. Brett Mitchell, 38, officially takes over as the symphony’s new conductor when the 2017-18 season kicks off on July 1. Every bit a product of his era, Mitchell’s musical tastes formed while listening to ’90s Seattle grunge bands and iconic scores from films like Raiders of the Lost Ark (not to mention his parents’ Beatles records). That affinity for pop culture and relatability is just what the Colorado Symphony has been seeking.
In recent years, the group has catered to younger audiences with programs like its well attended Movie at the Symphony series (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and La La Land are in the lineup this year) and Red Rocks concert accompaniments. Now, with a bona fide Star Wars and Game of Thrones fan holding the baton, the symphony hopes to bring in even more newcomers. “If we have all these other things in common, I bet I can get you excited about the orchestra, even if you don’t think it’s for you,” Mitchell says.
The black sheep of his otherwise nonmusical family, Mitchell started playing piano at age six and conducted his first concert when he was 16 at Lynnwood High School. Around that time, Mitchell made the connection that his rock idol, Cobain, patron saint of the Seattle ’90s music scene, was a sort of modern-day version of Beethoven. The two were “both these rebels leading tortured lives,” Mitchell says. (Like Cobain, Beethoven was known for suffering bouts of depression and challenging authority.) When Mitchell entered college, he knew he wanted to pursue a career in music, regardless of genre. After completing degrees in composition and conducting, he advanced to assistant conductor roles with groups like the Houston Symphony, the French National Orchestra, and the Cleveland Orchestra (his latest post).
This summer, as Mitchell and his wife, Angela, settle in the Mile High City, he’ll be infusing the Colorado Symphony’s new programming with classical takes on popular culture—and nothing appears to be off-limits. The upcoming season includes a performance of the music from The Legend of Zelda video game, alongside more familiar fare like the symphony’s annual All Beethoven weekend in December. And if a little teen spirit sneaks in this year, well, you’ll know who to thank.
To read the complete article, please click here.
Profile: "Texas Music Festival’s Brett Mitchell loves football, just like you"
HOUSTON — Houstonia Magazine has published a profile of Brett Mitchell in advance of his concerts this weekend with the Texas Music Festival:
This week’s guest conductor brings a decidedly everyman vibe to the conductor’s podium for a performance of Elgar’s Enigma Variations. (Photo by Peter Lockley)
“The only way I can be helpful to an orchestra is if I’m actually listening,” says 37-year-old, Seattle-born conductor Brett Mitchell, who led over 100 performances as assistant conductor of the Houston Symphony before becoming associate conductor of the internationally renowned Cleveland Orchestra. “So much of being a leader is about listening. And that’s just as true in a board meeting in corporate America as it is on the podium in front of an orchestra.”
Before heading north to Denver with his wife Angela to begin his tenure as music director of the Colorado Symphony for its 2017-18 season, Mitchell is in Houston this week to lead the Texas Music Festival Orchestra in performances of Finnish conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen’s sprawling L.A. Variations (1997), a concerto featuring this year’s Cynthia Woods Mitchell Young Artist Competition winner, and Edward Elgar’s lush and haunting Variations on an Original Theme, better known as the Enigma Variations. It’s the kind of program Mitchell loves: an engaging mix of the classical and the contemporary.
“I am big on contemporary American music,” Mitchell says. “It’s one of the reasons why I’m so bound to the composer’s message in the score, because I know what it’s like to look at an empty piece of staff paper and try got put some notes on that thing . . . it’s not easy! So if I can help my colleagues say what they need to say, that’s awesome.”
“Having these two sets of orchestral variations on the program, each written about 100 years apart at either end of the 20th century is very interesting to me,” says Mitchell, who will be conducting L.A. Variations for the first time. “It’s not in our blood the way the Elgar piece is. But by the end of the week, it will be.”
The TMF orchestra is made up of pre-professional musicians from all over the world, each chosen through a rigorous audition process to come to Houston and study and perform with some of classical music’s most celebrated conductors, faculty and performers. For Mitchell, who has appeared as a guest conductor with orchestras across the country and served as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, preparing for a performance with young musicians isn’t all that different from working with a seasoned professional orchestra.
“The piece is the piece,” Mitchell says matter-of-factly. “If we’re going to do the Enigma Variations, we’re gonna do the Enigma Variations. The ensemble is kind of incidental to that.”
“Part of working with a young orchestra is letting them know you have these high standards,” he continues. “But how you inspire them to get there is telling them you believe in them, that they are better than they think they are and can do more as a group of musicians than any of us can do by ourselves.”
Audiences at the Texas Music Festival will no doubt appreciate Mitchell’s warm, down-to-earth demeanor, which serves him well in his roles as a conductor of major orchestras, advocate for contemporary composition and a mentor to younger musicians.
“I have many of the same tastes and inclinations as my peers,” says Mitchell, whose résumé includes appearing as a contestant on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. “Each fall I get beside myself when the NFL comes back. I was so excited when season six of Veep premiered a couple months ago. I just happen to have this sliver of something that I do, that I have chosen to make my life’s work, which is classical music.”
To read the complete profile, please click here.
Feature: "Brett Mitchell to lead his final COYO concert on May 12 at Severance Hall"
Brett Mitchell will lead his final concert as Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra on Friday, May 12 at Severance Hall. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
Cleveland Classical has published a feature about Brett Mitchell on the eve of his final concert as Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra:
“I don’t know where four seasons went,” Brett Mitchell said by telephone. On Friday, May 12 at 8:00 pm in Severance Hall, Mitchell will conduct his final concert as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra before relocating to Denver to become music director of the Colorado Symphony. The program will include works by Joan Tower, Sergei Prokofiev, and Maurice Ravel.
Friday’s concert will be performance number 29 for Mitchell. He said there is something to be proud of in all of them, although the accomplishment of which he is most proud goes beyond the music. “It is the sense of family that we have built. What I find most rewarding is when I compliment someone or a section during rehearsal, the automatic response from the rest of the orchestra is to shuffle their feet and cheer.”
Mitchell recalled that following COYO’s tour to China, he reminded his players that there are no great achievements in life that can be accomplished on their own. They need their colleagues and their colleagues need them. “It’s not only about the individual, it’s everyone wanting to make their colleagues look as good as humanly possible. It’s about playing supportively so that your colleague has their moment to shine.”
Even though two of the works on Friday’s concert were programmed long before Mitchell’s new position was ever discussed, it could not have been planned any better to send him off. “Programming American contemporary music is an enormous part of who I am. It could not be more perfect than to open the concert with Joan Tower’s Made in America.”
In addition to Tower’s work being a great composition, Mitchell feels it is important to program music written by women, especially when working with young people. “It’s important to remember that COYO is comprised of 50% young men and 50% young women..."
Mitchell will literally be going out with a bang with a performance of Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5, the first of the composer’s symphonies to be performed by the ensemble. “I have been thinking about this because there are two ways to end a work loudly — either with a long last note, or in tempo with a big final short one like this piece. I think the loud short note is going to be good for me and the orchestra because if there were a fermata on that final bar, it would give me the opportunity to reflect and savor the moment. And the symphony would last another five minutes because I wouldn’t want to let it go. But this ending provides a great lesson for all of us. When the time comes, the time comes — it’s over and we need to move on to our next things.”
To read the complete article, please click here.
Feature: "Cleveland Orchestra associate conductor Brett Mitchell says farewell this Friday"
Cool Cleveland has published a feature about Brett Mitchell on the eve of his final performance as Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra:
Photo by Roger Mastroianni
Just over four years ago, Brett Mitchell and his then-fiancée, Angela, packed up their home in Houston and moved to Cleveland. While picking up their first round of groceries in University Heights, they told the cashier they were new in town. The cashier asked why they moved here. Brett said he was the new assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra.
“The Cleveland Orchestra?” the cashier said. “Oh my god, that’s awesome!”
Mitchell was stunned.
“I’ve never lived anywhere that takes such pride in their orchestra like Cleveland,” he said.
In July, Mitchell will say goodbye to Cleveland and replace Andrew Litton as music director of the Colorado Symphony. And this Friday, Mitchell will lead the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO) in their last concert of the season.
“I will never have another relationship with an orchestra like I do with COYO,” he said over the phone.
For Mitchell, leading some of the best young musicians in the country has had its share of rewards and challenges. Unlike most professional orchestras, youth orchestras have a high turnover rate.
“We have these kids for a maximum of six years. Once you’re done with high school, that’s it,” he said. “If somebody wins a job in the Cleveland Orchestra at the age of 28, they may well be there four decades later.”
Keeping a certain standard of excellence while adjusting to a constantly changing roster of players is a challenge every youth orchestra faces. But it’s a challenge that, when met, yields high returns.
“If you can do it like we have, then it becomes one of the most rewarding things,” Mitchell said. When players move on, he gets to watch some of them pursue careers as professional musicians.
“But it’s hard on a personal level,” he said. “It’s like saying goodbye to anybody.”
Unlike the young players he’s mentored for the last four years, Mitchell didn’t hear a live orchestra until his late teens.
“Like a lot of people born in 1979, I’m sure I’m not alone in saying the first orchestral music I ever heard was coming out of a TV,” he said. “It was Star Wars, and it was Superman, and it was Indiana Jones and it was E.T.”
Mitchell’s musical upbringing is also unconventional when compared to that of his peers.
“I know a lot of my colleagues began their musical journey when they were three years old playing ‘Twinkle, Twinkle’ on their violin. I wasn’t doing that.”
Instead, Mitchell was listening to the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Elton John and Billy Joel.
“It was the pop music of my parents’ generation that I grew up around.”
Mitchell grew up in Seattle. Later, after winning his first job, he became close with the conductor of his hometown symphony, the legendary Gerard Schwarz.
“Every time I would go home to Seattle to visit my family, I would get together with Gerry at his house on Queen Anne Hill, which was wonderful. I learned a ton from him,” Mitchell said.
During his long tenure as conductor of the Seattle Symphony, Schwarz was a champion of composers like Walter Piston, Alan Hovhanness, Paul Creston, Peter Mennin and David Diamond. He programmed and recorded American music that most American orchestras, for whatever reason, won’t even touch.
In a way, Mitchell, whose first season with the Colorado Symphony will include the likes of Kevin Puts, Missy Mazzoli and Mason Bates, could be the next great champion for contemporary American orchestral music....
Still, there’s no denying Mitchell will soon be leading an orchestra that, as he puts it, doesn’t “just think outside the box, but will actually go outside the box.” ...
As the music director, Mitchell sees his mission as a simple one: “We have to give people a reason to not stay at home.”
“I could put on a recording of Karajan and Berlin doing Beethoven 9, and I don’t have to put on pants and I could open a bottle of wine in my kitchen, and it’s an amazing, glorious sound,” he said.
But what you can’t get at home, said Mitchell, are thoughtful musical combinations that move you in unexpected ways.
“I love playing Beethoven,” he said. “But I think it’s a hell of a lot more effective if you play it in the context of what the Beethovens of today are trying to do.”
Mitchell recalls a concert he did with Colorado back in January.
“I programmed Kevin Puts’ second symphony. And then we took a little intermission, and then we did Beethoven 9.”
Juxtaposing the “Ode to Joy” with a present-day symphony written in response to 9/11? You can’t buy that off the record store shelf.
Things seem to happen quickly for Mitchell in the music world. Just two years into his tenure with the Cleveland Orchestra, he was promoted from assistant conductor to associate conductor. He was only the fifth person in the organization’s nearly 100 years to hold that title.
Mitchell’s audition for the Colorado Symphony was no exception. Last July, he flew to Denver to conduct a season preview concert that featured an eclectic mix of classical and pops repertoire.
“It was actually the perfect program for a music director audition,” he recalled.
Mitchell not only had immediate chemistry with the orchestra, but with the management and the audience.
The next afternoon, the symphony board chair called Mitchell to offer him the job.
“I think it was seeing me be able to work with the orchestra on all of this very different kind of repertoire” that impressed them, he said....
This Friday, Mitchell will lead COYO in a challenging program of Joan Tower, Maurice Ravel and Sergei Prokofiev. Mitchell has conducted Prokofiev’s fifth symphony a number of times, but he’s energized by the fact that it’s new and fresh to these young musicians.
“I have to remind myself it’s not just another Prokofiev 5,” Mitchell said. “This is the first time these kids are ever playing this piece. For some of them, it’s the first time they’ve ever played any music by Prokofiev. And it’s a hell of a first dive into the pool.”
Mitchell doesn’t start his new job in Denver until July 1st. But Friday’s concert will be a bittersweet occasion.
“As great as professional orchestras are, there’s something about working with young musicians exploring this music for the first time,” he said.
“You can never recapture that.”
To read the complete article, please click here.
Video: "Brett Mitchell reflects on his time in Cleveland"
Brett Mitchell speaks with WCLV Classical 104.9's Bill O'Connell on this week's episode of WVIZ/PBS's Applause.
This week's episode of Applause, a local arts magazine produced by WVIZ/PBS in Cleveland, features a story about Brett Mitchell's four seasons with The Cleveland Orchestra and his upcoming tenure with the Colorado Symphony, and includes a sit-down interview with Mr. Mitchell and WCLV Classical 104.9's Bill O'Connell. To watch this video, please click here.
Feature: "From Beethoven to Prince: New Colorado Symphony director hooked on classics"
Conductor Brett Mitchell is the new Colorado Symphony music director. (Photo by Peter Lockley)
KUNC Public Radio has published a feature about Brett Mitchell's upcoming tenure as Music Director of the Colorado Symphony:
At 37, Brett Mitchell is one of the youngest music directors in the Colorado Symphony’s history. He’s tied with Marin Alsop, who led the symphony from 1993 to 2005. But Mitchell is walking into a better situation than Alsop: the symphony’s first budget surplus in its 28 years.
So there’s a little pressure to make his upcoming debut season stand out.
Mitchell’s response: Challenge accepted.
“I think we’re in the business of taking risks,” said Mitchell, who is currently wrapping up contracts as the associate conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra and the music director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra.
That’s why for the Colorado Symphony’s 2017-2018 season Mitchell’s youth is perhaps showing.... For his season debut in September, he’s pairing Beethoven’s classic Symphony No. 5 with works by two living composers, including composer-by-day/electronica-artist-by-night Mason Bates.
“Part of the way that we keep audiences and donors and sponsors engaged is by showing them that we’re not becoming ossified,” he said. “We’re not set in our ways. We are taking risks.”
Interview Highlights With Brett Mitchell
On His Non-traditional Musical Inspirations
“I started playing piano when I was a kid but I wasn’t playing Mozart, I was playing Billy Joel and Barry Manilow and Elton John and Simon & Garfunkel and Beatles and all of that. Because what I grew up listening to -- at least up until high school -- was the pop music that my parents listened to (…) So I tend to be, I think more than your average conductor let’s say, I tend to be a little more understanding of people for whom going to an orchestral concert is a foreign experience. It can feel very daunting. It can feel very intimidating.”
On The Next Big Thing For Symphonies
“I think you’re going to start seeing more kind of mixed media performances like (film and video game soundtracks) without so much emphasis on: come to the concert hall, sit down, conductor comes out, bows, turns around, conducts the orchestra, turns back around, bows, leaves, everybody gets up and leaves the theater. I think it’s going to become a much more interactive experience, and I for one look forward to that.”
To read the complete feature and listen to Mr. Mitchell's interview, please click here.
Feature: "Brett Mitchell reflects on his time in Cleveland"
Photo by Roger Mastroianni
Brett Mitchell recently spoke with WCLV Classical 104.9's Bill O'Connell about his four-season tenure with The Cleveland Orchestra, which concludes in September 2017 when Mr. Mitchell assumes the post of Music Director of the Colorado Symphony. To listen to this feature, please click here.
Feature: "Brett Mitchell set to leave Cleveland Orchestra for Denver"
Brett Mitchell is the subject of a feature on WCPN's ‘The Sound of Applause.’ (Photo by Peter Lockley)
NPR's Cleveland affiliate, 90.3 WCPN, has published a feature about Brett Mitchell as he prepares to conclude his tenure as Associate Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra and begin as Music Director of the Colorado Symphony:
Brett Mitchell has spent four seasons with the Cleveland Orchestra, initially as assistant and then associate conductor. He also is music director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO). The Seattle native has led dozens of orchestra performances in Severance Hall, Blossom Music Center, on tour, concerts in the community, film music programs and the popular holiday concert series. But arguably his most important role during this time has been as mentor to student musicians.
"Ninety-five percent of cities in this country would kill to have a professional orchestra that plays as well as COYO. They blow me away every single weekend. It's very inspiring to me as now somebody who can be a mentor to them," Mitchell said.
COYO manager Lauren Generette says Mitchell is an inspiration to the young musicians.
"They often jot down quotes during rehearsal of things they want to remember. He does make it fun and memorable for them at the same time I think," Generette said.
Joan Katz Napoli is the director of education and community programs for the Cleveland Orchestra. She says: "He has quite the unique ability to communicate with audiences of all kinds and making them feel a part of the concert experience. He really conveys his passion for the music and at the same time he sprinkles his remarks with a terrific sense of humor."
In 2014 Mitchell was scheduled to lead a weekend COYO concert when he got a call from the orchestra alerting him that he had to step in for music director Franz Welser-Most to lead a complicated piece, Benjamin Britten's "Spring Symphony."
"[It's] an enormous work for chorus and children's chorus and orchestra and three vocal soloists," Mitchell said. "There's, I'm not kidding, a cow horn that's called for in the piece. Thank goodness I studied it as hard as I did because there was no opportunity to rehearse. It was a period of 72 hours that I will not forget in my career."
Challenges like these have led Mitchell to cherish his time leading the Cleveland Orchestra as associate conductor.
"The way I'm able to listen now, the finesse with which I'm able to hear things that I simply would not have heard had I not been around this orchestra the last four years. It impacts my work not only with the Cleveland Orchestra but with COYO and every orchestra I guest conduct. It has unquestionably made me a better musician," Mitchell said.
So when Colorado Symphony CEO Jerome H. Kern was looking for a conductor to become music director of that orchestra in Denver, Cleveland Orchestra musician Michael Sachs pointed him to Mitchell.
"Our principal trumpet called Cleveland's principal trumpet and said, 'we're looking at this other person.' The fella said, 'you don't want that other person, you want Brett Mitchell.' It was love at first sight. The musicians loved him, the audience loved him," Kern said.
Mitchell met the Colorado Symphony's criteria, and then some.
"The way we measure performance of guest conductors who come through is on a scale of one through 10. Brett scored in excess of nine. In the history of our doing this we have never had anyone score that high," Kern said.
As Mitchell prepares for his final slate of concerts in Northeast Ohio before joining the Colorado Symphony in the fall, COYO violist Sam Rosenthal expresses a sentiment that both orchestra musicians and audiences here in Cleveland share.
"It's been great to work with him and we're all really going to miss him," Rosenthal said.
Mitchell steps into the role as number one with the Colorado Symphony September 9, when he begins his new job as music director in Denver.
This weekend he leads the Cleveland Orchestra in a series of concerts of Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland compositions at Severance Hall. Brett Mitchell's final concert as the Cleveland Orchestra's associate conductor takes place over Labor Day weekend when he leads the orchestra in John Williams' score from the film "E.T."
To read and listen to the complete feature, please click here.
"Cleveland Orchestra spends day nurturing future listeners and musicians in South Florida"
Brett Mitchell leads a feedback session with members of The Cleveland Orchestra after reading new works by six student composers at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music. (Photo by Zachary Lewis)
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) has published an article about several of The Cleveland Orchestra's educational initiatives during their 2017 Miami residency, including several events led by Brett Mitchell on Tuesday, January 31:
Brett Mitchell leads members of The Cleveland Orchestra in reading sessions of new works by six student composers at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music. (Photo by Zachary Lewis)
The day began at Coral Reef High School, a "mega" magnet school in Southwest Miami. There, associate conductor Brett Mitchell and a large group of players took part in a "side by side" rehearsal with members of the school's student orchestra.
No watered-down fare here. With help from their professional mentors, the students performed excerpts from the very repertoire the Cleveland Orchestra itself has been playing of late: Sibelius' Symphony No. 2 and Mendelssohn's "The Hebrides" Overture.
Most of the instruction took the form of private conversations between Cleveland Orchestra members and Coral Reef students. Those are always the meat of "side by side" rehearsals.
Still, Mitchell had a few words of wisdom for the group as a whole. Rehearsing the Sibelius, he noted that great musicians are also expert listeners, and know when and how to yield to a colleague (in this case, a flute) who belongs in the foreground.
"It's not about how softly you play," Mitchell explained. "It's about how transparently you can play."
Shortly thereafter, Mitchell and four other members of the orchestra made their way north to Coral Gables, to the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. There, in keeping with a now decade-long tradition, the musicians played through and commented on six new works by student composers.
For the six young artists in question, it was a momentous occasion. Any performance, for a budding author of music, is a rare treat. But a performance by a quartet from the Cleveland Orchestra, with live feedback? Possibly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
To read the complete article, please click here.
"Cleveland Orchestra gets right down to business on first full day of Indiana University residency"
Brett Mitchell leads The Cleveland Orchestra and Indiana University orchestras in Richard Strauss's ‘Death and Transfiguration’ on Wednesday, January 18. (Photo by Justin Holden)
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) has published a story about The Cleveland Orchestra's residency at Indiana University, the first of three stops on their 2017 Midwest Tour:
A sizable portion of the group finished up at 8:30 p.m., after an evening side-by-side rehearsal with student musicians. Over this impactful event, associate conductor Brett Mitchell presided efficiently, leading the large combined orchestra through Strauss' "Death and Transfiguration" while also giving the Cleveland musicians time to work with students in their sections individually.
To read the complete story, please click here.
Feature: "Colorado Symphony Looks Up — and Sees More Challenges"
Colorado Symphony Music Director Designate Brett Mitchell (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
The Colorado Symphony finally posted a budget surplus for the first time in its history. It’s back from the brink of death, with a growing multi-million-dollar endowment and a raft of new and returning corporate sponsors. It’s got a peppy new music director designate....
Now the musical directorship will transfer to the present associate conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, 37-year-old Brett Mitchell, who takes up the position formally on July 1, 2017. Is Mitchell the kind of committed, charismatic leader the symphony needs?
[CEO Jerome] Kern is a staunch supporter, of course. “When you look at a guy like Brett Mitchell, who’s committed to spending no less than 25 weeks a year in Denver, to move here with his wife, well, we haven’t had that since Marin Alsop,” he says.
“It’s not my first rodeo,” says Mitchell, who’s currently braving Denver’s insane housing market. In a short span of years, the conductor has accumulated a significant amount of experience, ranging from opera to leading the Cleveland Orchestra’s Youth Orchestra. He’s excited about the challenge ahead, praises the musicians (“They’ve been doing their part in this place for so long that it’s a labor of love”) and looks forward to conducting the full range of concert offerings.
“Hey,” the Seattle native says, “I am not the guy who did nothing but listen to Mozart growing up.” He confesses to playing a little alto sax à la David Sanborn – “Hey, it was the '80s!” – but he didn’t really feel the impulse to conduct until his freshman year in college.
“At first I thought I would be a band teacher,” he says. “Mr. Holland’s Opus.” Once he determined his career path, he studied extensively with such prominent conductors as Alsop, Kurt Masur and Lorin Maazel. However, he doesn’t disdain the popular fare.
“I think that, having been a staff conductor, I’ve played just about every kind of music there is for orchestra, and I love it all,” Mitchell continues. “I want to do the pop shows and the movies. My interest is to appear on every series, not just the masterworks. Those works need to be performed with the enthusiasm they deserve because they mean something. I mean, John Williams [composer of Star Wars et al.] was my intro to orchestra. That’s a gateway. Developing a broad footprint, having enormous diversity and variety — those are gateways.
“With an audience, you need to develop relatability," he goes on. "If you are doing the same thing over and over again, people can shut you out. The way that we have it is not as a museum, but as part of a continuum. How do you make music that opens ears in a new way that doesn’t make it intimidating? We want to be responsive, not reactive. We’re not dumbing down anything at all. The presentation is managed differently, and there’s more salesmanship to it. We’re just trying to have fun and share these extraordinary experiences.”
To read the complete article, please click here.
Audio: Brett Mitchell discusses John Williams and the Colorado Symphony
Brett Mitchell is featured in the current episode of Comic Book Central, discussing the music of John Williams immediately following his performance of selections from Superman with The Cleveland Orchestra. From his studio at Severance Hall, Mr. Mitchell also speaks about his upcoming appointment as Music Director of the Colorado Symphony.
To listen to or download this episode, please click here; Mr. Mitchell's interview begins at 9:45.
Video: Brett Mitchell takes The Cleveland Orchestra into community schools
CMSD News (Cleveland Metropolitan School District) has produced a video about Brett Mitchell's recent education program—called "The Sounds of the Orchestra"—presented with The Cleveland Orchestra at the East Professional Center. The video includes footage of the performance and a post-concert interview with Mr. Mitchell.
To view this video on Facebook, please click here. To view this video on Twitter, please click here.
Preview: "A super preview of 'Superman at the Symphony' with conductor Brett Mitchell"
Brett Mitchell is featured in the current episode of Comic Book Central, discussing John Williams's score for Superman in advance of his performance of selections from the score with The Cleveland Orchestra on Sunday, October 30 at Severance Hall.
To listen to or download this episode, please click here. For more information about this performance, please click here.