NEWS
Review: 'Vivaldi triumphs in the NZSO’s Italian celebration'
Brett Mitchell led the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in an Italian-themed program at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington on Saturday, May 12.
WELLINGTON — Middle C has published a review of Brett Mitchell's Italian-themed program with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, presented at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington on Saturday, May 12:
What a boringly predictable world it would be if everything in it turned out as one anticipated! I sat pondering this earth-shattering truism during the interval of Saturday evening’s NZSO concert in the wake of the most inspiring and life-enhancing performance of Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” I’ve heard since...the 1970s. Just as that performance blew away the cobwebs and reinvented the work for its time, so did Angelo Xiang Yu’s absolutely riveting playing of the solo violin part and the NZSO players’ galvanic response do much the same for me on this occasion.
I listened to the thistledown-like opening, and straightaway pricked up my ears at its wind-blown, spontaneous-sounding quality, replete with inflections of phrasing and dynamics that suggested the musicians seemed to really “care” about the music.
Both Angelo Xiang Yu and conductor Brett Mitchell readily encouraged the playing’s “pictorial” effects suggested by the music’s different episodes. The playing and its “engagement factor” simply went from strength to strength throughout each of the remaining concerti....
The spectacular opening of Respighi’s Pini di Roma (Pines of Rome), had plenty of impact, conductor Brett Mitchell keeping the music’s pulses steady, thus allowing the players space in which to generate plenty of weight of tone, and flood the ambiences with that barely-contained sense of excitement suggested by the opening Pines of the Villa Borghese. As the tempi quickened, everything came together in a great torrent of sound, as overwhelming in its insistence as tantalising in its sudden disappearance, leaving a vast, resonating space of darkness and mystery. Conductor and players here enabled those spaces to be filled with properly subterranean sounds of breath-taking quality, as if the earth itself was softly resonating with its own music...
For this performance the NZSO enjoyed the sterling services of a number of players from the Wellington Brass Band, whose body of tone with that of the full orchestra’s at the piece’s climax had an almost apocalyptic effect. As he’d done throughout, Brett Mitchell controlled both momentums and dynamics with great tactical and musical skill, holding the legions in check until they actually swung into view in the mind’s eye, and came among us, amid scenes of incredible splendour and awe. Respighi actually wanted the ground beneath his army’s feet to tremble with the excitement of it all, and conductor and players triumphantly achieved that impression over the piece’s last few tumultuous bars.
To read the complete review, please click here.
Review: 'Spectacular centenary concert for Leonard Bernstein from the NZSO'
Brett Mitchell led the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's centennial celebration of Leonard Bernstein.
WELLINGTON — Middle C has published a review of Brett Mitchell's 'Bernstein At 100' concert with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, presented at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington on Friday, May 11:
American conductor Brett Mitchell who I’d heard in a lively, Broadway-style interview on Upbeat at midday, entered and immediately launched into a startling performance of Dance of the Great Lover, the first of the three dances from On the Town which rather astonished me for the super-raunchy, trumpet-attacks from nowhere, then throaty trombones, cutting clarinets. There was nothing symphonically genteel about it and Mitchell exclaimed at its end, “the NZSO can swing!” I have sometimes dismissed remarks from conductors tackling this genre of American music, that the orchestra has a great feeling for its brazen energy, the rhythms and attack, as if the entire band had served its musical apprenticeship on Broadway. Here such praise seemed totally justified.
The Symphonic Dances from West Side Story is a more standard concert work that captures the vitality, violence, anger and occasional calm lyricism (‘Somewhere’ and the Finale) of the score and the orchestra’s playing exhibited all those characteristics with tremendous energy and unflagging precision. Finger-clicking, a shrill whistle... Nowhere more vividly than in the riotous ‘Mambo’ where the only missing element was the dancers.
To read the complete review, please click here.
Preview: 'Grunge, classical music and Leonard Bernstein'
Brett Mitchell will lead the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's upcoming 'Bernstein At 100' concerts in Wellington and Auckland. (Photo by Peter Lockley)
WELLINGTON — Brett Mitchell joined host Zoë George in the Radio New Zealand studios to discuss his upcoming 'Bernstein At 100' concerts with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, presented at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington on Friday, May 11, and Auckland Town Hall on Friday, May 18. Hear the complete interview below, or read more.
Classical music, grunge, and musical theatre all have something in common – Leonard Bernstein according to effervescent conductor Brett Mitchell.
Brett is in the country to conduct the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra’s Bernstein at 100 and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons concerts in Wellington and Auckland over the next two weekends.
He says what mattered to Bernstein was the quality of the music, not the genre and he embraced everything during his 50 year career. As a result many in America and around the globe embraced him, according to Brett.
West Side Story is arguably one of his most famous works. It combined jazz, cha cha, and mambo and reflected New York in the 1950s. “For me that’s part of his legacy – his willingness to embrace all different aspects of music available to him,” Brett says.
Brett says he knew of Bernstein’s music before he realised how big a deal he was. It was in 1990, when Bernstein died, that Brett started to understand the composer’s reach.
Brett Mitchell at the Radio New Zealand studios on Tuesday, May 8. (Photo by Tom Cardy)
Bernstein’s music has been described as the sound of New York, and Brett agrees. “There’s an energy about it. It sounds distinctly American. That is not French music. That is not German music. It’s not Percy Granger! It could only come from America.”
“We call America the melting pot… and what is West Side Story if not a melting pot of musical cultures.”
That melting pot is also reflected in Bernstein’s On The Town which follows the adventures of three navy sailors on shore leave through New York City during 40s wartime. Bernstein was 26 when he wrote it and included not only stories about boys having fun, but themes around female empowerment. “He was always at the forefront of things,” Brett says. “He was young and progressive. It’s not hard to figure out why in a show about three sailors on shore leave, there’s a fair amount of feminism in there. As it should be!”
Brett, who was also a jazz pianist before he picked up the baton, says ‘Some Other Time’ from On The Town became a favourite to play. He is thrilled the NZSO are performing it this week.
Only one or two other musicians have had such an effect on Brett. “His is the towering figure of American 20th century classical music,” he says. “He broke down the barriers… and the boundaries.”
Just before Leonard Bernstein died he was awarded a lifetime Grammy award. That had a monumental effect on Brett. “Well here’s this high-brow classical musician who’s hanging with Michael Jackson, Tina Turner and pop musicians I was growing up with,” Brett says.
“I remember him saying ‘listen - there are better and worse Mozart symphonies. There are better and worse Schubert songs. There are better and worse Beatles songs’.
“All that mattered was the quality of the music.”
Preview: 'Is it time to reassess the legacy of one of the great musical figures of the 20th century?'
Leonard Bernstein at the piano. Brett Mitchell will lead two concerts celebrating Bernstein's centennial with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra this month in Wellington and Auckland. (Photo by Getty Images)
WELLINGTON — The New Zealand Herald has published a preview of Brett Mitchell's upcoming 'Bernstein At 100' concerts with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, presented at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington on Friday, May 11, and Auckland Town Hall on Friday, May 18.
Leonard Bernstein broke the rules, dared us to follow him, and was so profoundly musical that the results sounded right, even when they were wrong.
Conductor Brett Mitchell, who leads the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in two concerts to celebrate what would have been Bernstein's 100th birthday, has an example from "Lenny the composer".
Mitchell points to one of Bernstein's most famous compositions, the song Maria from West Side Story, which opens with a tritone. Also referred to as "a devil in music", a tritone is a dissonant interval between two notes and was used regularly in avant garde music of the early 20th century.
"What pop song opens with a tritone?" asks Mitchell. "Bernstein knew how to push the boundaries in terms of complexity and yet find his way into the wider culture. We all take Maria for granted now."
Ironically, Bernstein the composer came to see West Side Story, his masterpiece packed with songs still recognised and loved today, as a millstone, the work that defined him until his death in 1990.
"I think there's a perception that West Side Story is 'only' a Broadway show," says Mitchell, "as though there's some qualitative difference in whether it's performed on West 42nd Street in Times Square [ie, Broadway] or West 57th Street where Carnegie Hall is."
The NZSO concert, which also features sometime Postmodern Jukebox vocalist Morgan James, steers closer to Broadway than Carnegie Hall. It includes music from West Side Story, On the Town and the jazzy operetta Candide, recently in Auckland as part of the arts festival.
To read the complete preview, please click here.
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra concerts celebrate Leonard Bernstein and 'The Four Seasons'
Brett Mitchell will lead the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in four performances in Wellington (May 11-12) and Auckland (May 18-19). (Photo by Jeff Nelson)
WELLINGTON — Scoop has published a preview of Brett Mitchell's upcoming performances with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra celebrates a giant of 20th-century music and one of the most popular works ever written for violin in two back-to-back concerts in Wellington and Auckland in May.
Bernstein at 100 marks the centenary of legendary American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, best known for the musical West Side Story. The Four Seasons will feature Vivaldi’s intoxicating concerti for violin, performed by acclaimed violinist Angelo Xiang Yu.
Both concerts will be conducted by American Brett Mitchell, Music Director of the Colorado Symphony, who has been hailed for his compelling performances of innovative and eclectic programmes.
Bernstein at 100 features American singer Morgan James, a talented Broadway star who is at home across genres. The concert will include the Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront, dances from the musicals On the Town and West Side Story, alongside "Dream with Me" from Peter Pan and "Glitter and Be Gay" from Candide.
“When you think about American music in the 20th century, it’s impossible not to think of Leonard Bernstein,” Mitchell has said.
“It’s amazing to me to think Bernstein was music director of the New York Philharmonic from 1958 to 1969. It was literally the year before he started that they released West Side Story, which is one of the great Broadway hits of all time. You’ve got somebody that really was every bit as comfortable in the Broadway world as he was in the classical, orchestral world.”
Bernstein at 100 is performed on 11 May and The Four Seasons on 12 May in Wellington. The following week Bernstein at 100 is performed on 18 May and The Four Seasons on 19 May in Auckland.
To read the complete preview, please click here.
Debut: Mahler 5 at the Strings Music Festival
Brett Mitchell will close the Strings Music Festival's 2018 season with a performance of Gustav Mahler's Fifth Symphony at the Strings Pavilion in Steamboat Springs, CO.
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, CO — Brett Mitchell will make his debut with the Strings Music Festival on its 2018 season finale on Saturday, August 4, the organization has announced. Mr. Mitchell will conduct Gustav Mahler's Fifth Symphony with members of the The Cleveland Orchestra; Pittsburgh, Houston, and National symphonies; Metropolitan, Chicago Lyric, and San Francisco opera orchestras; and the New York and Los Angeles philharmonics.
For more information, please read "Your 2018 Guide To Colorado’s Summer Classical Music Festivals" from Colorado Public Radio Classical.
Brett Mitchell returns to the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra
INDIANAPOLIS — Brett Mitchell will return to the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra to lead several performances at their summer home of Conner Prairie on July 6 and 7, 2018, the organization has announced. The program will be:
COPLAND - Music for Movies
MOZART - Violin Concerto No. 5 ("Turkish")
William Hagen, violin
BEETHOVEN - Symphony No. 7
For more information, please click here.
Colorado Symphony to bring 'RhapsodyRock' to the Fillmore
Brett Mitchell will lead a performance of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with pianist Natasha Paremski at the Colorado Symphony's 2018 Ball. (Photo by Peter Lockley)
DENVER — 303 Magazine has published an interview with Music Director Brett Mitchell about the Colorado Symphony's 2018 Ball, presented on Saturday, April 28.
303 Magazine: This event is very exciting and imperative for the Symphony’s annual funding. Last year's Ball raised over $1 million. What are the major goals for this year’s fundraising?
Brett Mitchell: The biggest focus this year (and every year) are our education initiatives that bring kids into the concert hall and bring outreach programs to them. These big fundraising events make these kinds of community engagement events possible.
303: The night is also about shedding light on the outstanding contributions that have been made to the Symphony in the last year, otherwise known as the recipients of the prestigious Margaret Phipps Award. Can you tell us what makes your personally excited about United Airlines being the recipient?
BWM: While I first moved to Denver last summer, it took my wife around eight months before she joined me. I can’t tell you how many times I heard Rhapsody in Blue during the United flights back and forth between Denver and Cleveland, so we're are thrilled to honor them.
303: If the event is successful, what can we expect from the Symphony in 2018?
BWM: We joke that if these events are as successful as we’d like, then we wouldn’t need them anymore! What a successful night will really enable us to do is to dream even bigger in the future, to expand what we can do in the 2019/2020 season and beyond.
303: For those who have never attended a Symphony event, what can we tell them that they might not know?
BWM: The biggest misperception I hear from people who haven't come to the orchestra before is, “But I’m just a regular guy.” Well, I and everyone playing on stage are all just regular guys and gals, too. This is not an elitist art form. If I—a guy who grew up on grunge music like Nirvana in Seattle—can fall in love with Beethoven and make a career of it, then everybody has an "in." If I can fall in love with this music, so can you.
To read the complete preview, please click here.
Denver Style Magazine: 'Drinks with Brett Mitchell, Music Director of the Colorado Symphony'
DENVER — Denver Style Magazine has published an off-the-podium feature about Brett Mitchell during his first season as Music Director of the Colorado Symphony.
Photo by Noah Berg
The Colorado Symphony has been going through a bit of a rebirth recently.... At the helm of this rebirth now is music director Brett Mitchell, who began his tenure in September of 2017. New to Denver, Brett’s led the Cleveland and Houston symphonies prior to heading west and landing in Denver. Brett met us at the new FNG to share more about his off-stage persona.
What’s the one item you regret throwing away or not buying?
I had a little bit of an “Eat Pray Love” moment right after I turned 30 when I decided to take a trip to Japan alone. I’m a big Superman fan, and brought three designs of the S-Shield with the intent of getting it tattooed on my left delt, but never followed through. Would have been a great commemoration of my trip, and I’ve regretted not getting it ever since.
What are you always telling yourself?
Go to bed! I’m a night owl and a workaholic, but I always try to get at least 7 hours of sleep a night. That’s tricky, because I also have a rule that I have to be up at least 3 hours before I’m in front of anyone - anything less than that, and I’m just not quite at 100%.
Photo by Noah Berg
What is your not so secret indulgence?
My dad bought me a watch when I was 7 years old to commemorate a special occasion, and I’ve been a diehard watch guy ever since. As I’ve advanced in my career, I’ve been able to buy increasingly nicer watches, partly because I spend way more time on Hodinkee than I probably should.
What do you wear that makes you feel the most confident?
BWM: There’s something about the ritual of suiting up before a concert and walking onstage wearing all black that I really love. People pay good money to come see the Colorado Symphony, and it’s not enough for us to sound good - we have to look good, too.
If you had more time, what would you do with it?
Three things: 1) Run for office. 2) Act. 3) Read more.
'Gods and Monsters: The Musical Journey of Wagner's Ring Cycle'
CLEVELAND — Brett Mitchell has created, written, and presented a new television special about Richard Wagner's music for the Ring Cycle, produced by ideastream in Cleveland. In Gods and Monsters: The Musical Journey of Wagner's Ring Cycle, Mr. Mitchell demonstrates at the piano how Wagner crafted and combined leitmotifs to tell one of the greatest stories of all time. Watch the program above.
Preview: 'The Ring without Words' with the CIM Orchestra
CLEVELAND — Cleveland Scene has published a brief preview of Brett Mitchell's upcoming performance with the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra:
Former Cleveland Orchestra associate conductor Brett Mitchell will return to town to lead the CIM Orchestra in the late Lorin Maazel’s The Ring Without Words, a compact, user-friendly, no-singers-in-sight version of Richard Wagner’s cycle of four operas based on old Norse Legends. The free concert takes place on Wednesday, March 28 at 8:00 pm in Kulas Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Can’t make it to the performance? It’ll be broadcast live over WCLV, 104.9 FM.
To read the complete preview, please click here.
Video: Brett Mitchell discusses John Williams's score for 'Star Wars'
Brett Mitchell in the Colorado Public Radio studios. (Photo by CPR/Monica Vischer)
DENVER — Before leading the Colorado Symphony in performances of the score of Star Wars: A New Hope this weekend, Brett Mitchell sat down with David Rutherford in the Colorado Public Radio Performance Studio to explore some of the highlights of John Williams's iconic soundtrack.
Mr. Mitchell talked about the discussions between Williams and director George Lucas that helped spawn some of the most memorable film music in history, and he showed how Williams used musical themes to represent different characters like Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Darth Vader.
Watch the conversation in the video below, or read the article from Colorado Public Radio: "Watch: John Williams' Music For 'Star Wars' Is Brilliant In Ways You Never Realized."
Debut with the Minnesota Orchestra
MINNEAPOLIS — Brett Mitchell will make his subscription debut with the Minnesota Orchestra on November 15, 16, and 17, 2018, as part of the orchestra's 2018-19 season, the organization has announced. The program will be:
PUTS - Inspiring Beethoven
SHOSTAKOVICH - Cello Concerto No. 2
Anthony Ross, cello
BEETHOVEN - Symphony No. 7
For more information, please click here.
Preview: Minnesota Orchestra's 2018-19 season includes Brett Mitchell's debut
Brett Mitchell will make his debut with the Minnesota Orchestra in a program of Puts, Shostakovich, and Beethoven in Orchestra Hall on November 15, 16, and 17, 2018.
ST. PAUL, MN — The St. Paul Pioneer Press has published an article about the Minnesota Orchestra's newly announced 2018-19 season, which will feature Brett Mitchell's debut on the orchestra's classical series.
Conductor Brett Mitchell makes his Minnesota Orchestra debut for a bill that includes Dmitri Shostakovich’s Second Cello Concerto [with Principal Cello Anthony Ross] and works by Ludwig van Beethoven and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts, who directs the orchestra’s Composer Institute (Nov. 15-17).
Read the article: "Minnesota Orchestra’s season includes an all-American fest, rapper Dessa, ‘Star Wars’ and yoga"
Audio: Brett Mitchell previews the Colorado Symphony's 2018-19 season on KOA NewsRadio
Music Director Brett Mitchell spoke with KOA NewsRadio about the Colorado Symphony's 2018-19 season. (Photo by Peter Lockley)
DENVER — Brett Mitchell spoke with Ed Greene, host of "KOA Q&A" on KOA NewsRadio, about the Colorado Symphony's newly announced 2018-19 season, Mitchell's second as Music Director. To hear this interview, please click here.
Season Announcement: "Cleveland Orchestra stocks 2018-19 season with new, unusual and ambitious music"
Brett Mitchell will return to Severance Hall to lead The Cleveland Orchestra's 2018-19 season finale. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
CLEVELAND — The Plain Dealer has published an article about The Cleveland Orchestra's newly announced 2018-19 season, which features Brett Mitchell's return to the Severance Hall stage. Mr. Mitchell will lead three performances of George Gershwin's An American in Paris—accompanying the classic 1951 film—on May 30, 31, and June 1, 2019, the orchestra's season finale weekend.
Mr. Mitchell served on The Cleveland Orchestra's conducting staff from 2013 to 2017, first as Assistant Conductor (2013-15), then as Associate Conductor (2015-17). These performances mark Mr. Mitchell's second return to the orchestra since his departure to become Music Director of the Colorado Symphony in 2017.
Read the article: "Cleveland Orchestra stocks 2018-19 season with new, unusual and ambitious music"
Brett Mitchell returns to The Cleveland Orchestra
Brett Mitchell will lead The Cleveland Orchestra's 2018-19 season finale in Severance Hall. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
CLEVELAND — Brett Mitchell will return to Severance Hall to lead The Cleveland Orchestra's 2018-19 subscription season finale, the organization has announced. Mr. Mitchell will lead three performances of George Gershwin's An American in Paris—accompanying the classic 1951 film—on May 30, 31, and June 1, 2019.
Mr. Mitchell served on The Cleveland Orchestra's conducting staff from 2013 to 2017, first as Assistant Conductor (2013-15), then as Associate Conductor (2015-17). These performances mark Mr. Mitchell's second return to the orchestra since his departure to become Music Director of the Colorado Symphony in 2017.
For more information about these performances, please click here.
Colorado Symphony announces its 2018-19 season, Brett Mitchell's second as Music Director
DENVER — The Colorado Symphony has announced its 2018-19 season, which marks Brett Mitchell's second as Music Director. Over the course of the season, Mr. Mitchell will lead the orchestra in ten classical subscription weeks and half a dozen other special projects.
Demonstrating his deep commitment to American music, Mr. Mitchell will conduct works by twenty American composers over the course of the Colorado Symphony's 2018-19 season. After opening the season with a world premiere by the orchestra's principal timpanist, William Hill, Mr. Mitchell will lead works by an additional ten living American composers: John Adams, John Williams, Matthew Jackfert, Randol Alan Bass, Jennifer Higdon, Joseph Schwantner, Mason Bates, Kevin Puts, Missy Mazzoli, and Adam Schoenberg. Mr. Mitchell will also lead nine works by previous generations of American composers: Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland, Bernard Herrmann, Peter Lieberson, David Diamond, Leonard Bernstein, and Charles Ives.
Additional highlights of Mr. Mitchell's second season as Music Director of the Colorado Symphony include:
Benjamin Britten's War Requiem (Nov. 2-4), in commemoration of the November 11, 1918 Armistice that signaled the end of World War I
Itzhak Perlman plays the Beethoven Violin Concerto (Jan. 10). Also on the program: Jennifer Higdon's Fanfare Ritmico and Ginastera's Variaciones concertantates.
Subscription performances of Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2, Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World"), Brahms's Symphony No. 4, Ravel's orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, and Orff's Carmina Burana
Mr. Mitchell will collaborate with the following soloists during the Colorado Symphony's 2018-19 season:
Jeremy Denk plays Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 25 (Sep. 14-16)
Joyce Yang plays Gershwin's Concerto in F (Sep. 28-30)
Actor Damon Gupton narrates Copland's Lincoln Portrait and Joseph Schwantner's New Morning for the World (Daybreak of Freedom) (Jan. 18-20)
Mezzo-soprano Kelly O'Connor sings Peter Lieberson's Neruda Songs (Feb. 14-17)
Joshua Roman plays Mason Bates's Cello Concerto (Mar. 1-3)
Augustin Hadelich plays the Barber Violin Concerto (Mar. 29-31)
Colorado Symphony principal oboist Peter Cooper plays Kevin Puts's Oboe Concerto (Apr. 12-14)
Conrad Tao plays Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major (May 10-12)
Mr. Mitchell will lead several other special programs throughout the season, including:
An Evening with Leslie Odom, Jr. (Oct. 13)
Home Alone (complete film with John Williams's score performed live, Nov. 23)
A Classical Christmas (Dec. 7-8)
New Year's Eve (Dec. 31)
Amadeus (complete film with Mozart's music performed live, Jan. 25-26)
Season Announcement: "A Peek At The Colorado Symphony's 2018-19 Schedule"
Music Director Brett Mitchell and the Colorado Symphony. (Photo by Brandon Marshall)
DENVER — Colorado Public Radio Classical has published a story about the Colorado Symphony's newly announced 2018-19 season, which will mark Brett Mitchell's second as Music Director:
The Colorado Symphony announced its plans for the 2018-19 season today. The lineup features masterworks, a smattering of pops concerts, and concerts by legendary violinists Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman.
There’s also a healthy dose of music by living composers—one of Music Director Brett Mitchell’s passions—including Jennifer Higdon, Mason Bates, and John Adams.
Here’s a look at some of the highlights:
Sept. 14-16: The opening weekend program includes Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 and a new piece by composer and Colorado Symphony timpanist William Hill.
Sept. 28-30: The orchestra performs George Gershwin’s Concerto in F with pianist Joyce Yang. The program also includes Duke Ellington’s “Three Black Kings” and John Adams’ “City Noir.”
Nov. 2-4: The symphony marks the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I with a performance of Benjamin Britten’s "War Requiem" with the Colorado Symphony Chorus and Colorado Children’s Chorale.
Jan. 10, 2019: Violinist Itzhak Perlman makes an appearance with the symphony, playing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto.
March 1-3: The symphony plays two pieces by composer Mason Bates, including a Cello Concerto with cellist Joshua Roman. The program includes Symphony No. 7 by Beethoven.
May 24-26: The season ends with a performance of Carl Orff’s powerful “Carmina Burana,” with help from the Colorado Symphony Chorus and Colorado Children’s Chorale.
To read the complete article, please click here.
Video: Bringing Music to Life
DENVER — Brett Mitchell has filmed a promotional video for Bringing Music to Life, a Denver-based not-for-profit that enriches the lives of Colorado children and their communities by collecting, repairing, and distributing donated musical instruments to schools and music programs, providing children who otherwise might not have the opportunity with the benefits that come from learning to play.