NEWS
Brett Mitchell leads Beethoven 9 at Red Rocks
DENVER — CPR Classical has published a preview of classical music events around Colorado during summer 2020, including Brett Mitchell’s performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Colorado Symphony and Chorus at Red Rocks, which the station dubs “the classical event of the summer.”
Some of the world’s best classical musicians come to Colorado each summer to perform at music festivals across the state. Free, family-friendly, and ticketed events abound, so get out your calendar and start dreaming about all the inspiring music coming to Colorado in 2020.
July 26, 2020 - Okay, this is not part of a festival, but the music and venue make this the classical event of the summer. The Colorado Symphony celebrates Beethoven's 250th birth anniversary with perhaps the largest force of musicians yet to perform at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, complete with full orchestra, a chorus of over a hundred voices plus soloists under Music Director Brett Mitchell. The spectacle is sure to be an awesome match for the beautiful view of Denver under a first quarter moon, should Beethoven's gloriously thunderous majesty not provoke the heavens during the course of the night.
To read the complete preview, please click here.
Debut: Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra
Brett Mitchell will make his debut with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra during the 2020-21 season on a program featuring works of Brahms, Mozart, and Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto with Karen Gomyo.
FORT WORTH — The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra has announced that Brett Mitchell will make his subscription debut with the orchestra at Bass Performance Hall on October 30, 31, and November 1, 2020. The program will be:
BRAHMS - Tragic Overture
SHOSTAKOVICH - Violin Concerto No. 1
Karen Gomyo, violin
MOZART - Symphony No. 41, “Jupiter”
The Dallas Morning News has published an article about the orchestra’s season announcement:
With a music director search ongoing, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2020-21 concert season. Miguel Harth-Bedoya, who has led the orchestra for 20 years, is stepping down at the end of this season with the title of music director laureate.
Guest conductors this season presumably are being scrutinized as potential successors. Unless there’s an announcement in the meantime, that could also be true of next season’s guests.
The highest-visibility names for next season are Patrick Summers, artistic and music director of Houston Grand Opera, and Brett Mitchell, music director of the Colorado Symphony.
To read an additional article from Theater Jones about the orchestra’s 2020-21 season, please click here.
Brett Mitchell on the podium for New Year's Eve with the Colorado Symphony
DENVER — The Gazette (Colorado Springs) has published a preview of various New Year’s Eve celebrations in and around the Denver metropolitan area, highlighting Brett Mitchell’s fourth New Year’s Eve program with the Colorado Symphony. Complete details are as follows:
“A Night in Vienna” by Colorado Symphony
When: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday
Where: Boettcher Concert Hall, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 1400 Curtis St., Denver
Price: $20 to $94; 877-292-7979, coloradosymphony.org
The early concert means you can take in some classical music and still close 2019 out on the town. The Colorado Symphony will present a program of waltzes and marches. Music Director Brett Mitchell will conduct.
On the program, Mr. Mitchell will lead works by Johann Strauss II, Richard Strauss, Mahler, and Tchaikovsky. For more information, please click here.
Audio: 'Holiday Memories with Brett Mitchell'
2-year-old Brett Mitchell with his grandfather, Bill Benson, on Christmas 1981. (Photo by Lori Mitchell)
DENVER — Colorado Public Radio has just announced a two-hour holiday special featuring Brett Mitchell discussing his favorite music and memories of the season with host Monika Vischer. Holiday Memories with Brett Mitchell will air five times on CPR Classical throughout the month of December (all times Mountain):
Monday, Dec. 2 at 2 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 8 at 12 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 10 a.m.
Saturday, Dec. 21 at 9 a.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 25 at 3 p.m.
To hear this program, listen in Denver by tuning to 88.1 FM, or stream it worldwide at cpr.org/classical.
8-year-old Brett Mitchell on Christmas 1987. (Photo by Roy Mitchell)
Audio: 'From Björk to Black Holes: Kevin Puts and Brett Mitchell on Classical Composition in the 21st Century'
Composer Kevin Puts and conductor Brett Mitchell in the Colorado Public Radio Performance Studio (Photo by Nick Dobreff)
DENVER — From Colorado Public Radio:
CPR’s Monika Vischer welcomed two old friends to the CPR Performance Studio: Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts and Colorado Symphony Music Director Brett Mitchell. Taking turns at the piano, they investigated the mystical process of composing: turning inspiration into music.
Puts won the Pulitzer Prize in Music for his 2011 opera, Silent Night, about the famous "Christmas Truce" of 1914. He talked about his influences, from Beethoven to Björk. He then demonstrated on the spot on our 9-foot Steinway how he’d go about writing a brand new work.
Mitchell and the Colorado Symphony present the Colorado premiere of Puts' piece, The Brightness of Light, with soprano Renée Fleming and baritone Rod Gilfry on November 15th and 17th. The inspiration behind this piece: intimate letters between artist Georgia O’Keeffe and her husband Alfred Stieglitz.
To hear this story, please click here.
Conductor Brett Mitchell and composer Kevin Puts (Photo by Monika Vischer)
Video: Brett Mitchell discusses his surprise appearance this weekend with the Amarillo Symphony
Brett Mitchell speaks with Andy Justus about this weekend’s concerts with the Amarillo Symphony.
AMARILLO — Brett Mitchell sat down with anchor Andy Justus on this afternoon’s episode of Studio 4, a daily newsmagazine on NBC’s Amarillo affiliate, to discuss his surprise appearance this weekend with the Amarillo Symphony in a program of Bach, Mozart, and Schumann. To watch this interview, please click here.
BREAKING: Brett Mitchell steps in at the Amarillo Symphony
Brett Mitchell will lead the Amarillo Symphony in works of Bach, Mozart, and Schumann at the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts on October 18 and 19.
AMARILLO — Brett Mitchell will step in to lead the Amarillo Symphony’s subscription performances on October 18 and 19 at the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts. The program remains unchanged:
BACH (arr. Stokowski) - Mein Jesu
MOZART - Piano Concerto No. 19 in F major, K. 459
Jeremy Denk, piano
SCHUMANN - Symphony No. 4
For more information, please click here.
Audio: Brett Mitchell discusses 'The Legacy of John Williams'
Brett Mitchell is the featured guest on the most recent episode of The Legacy of John Williams, a podcast that “celebrates and promotes the cultural and aesthetic importance” of the music of the great American composer:
One of the missions of The Legacy of John Williams is to spotlight how much the music of the Maestro inspired legions of people to become talented musicians. As it’s often already told, a lot of youngsters fell in love with John Williams’ music after hearing it in films like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Superman, Jurassic Park and, more recently, the Harry Potter series. But, after being captivated by the incredible sound of the symphony orchestra accompanying those magical movies, many of those youngsters decided also to learn to play an instrument and begin serious study to become professional musicians.
Talented American conductor Brett Mitchell is certainly one of them, and his successful career is proof of how much influential John Williams has been (and continues to be) in building a new generation of classical musicians, conductors and composers….
Brett Mitchell leads the Colorado Symphony in a performance of Star Wars: A New Hope – In Concert in March 2018. (Photo by Brandon Marshall)
Born in 1979 in Seattle…he fell in love with the music of John Williams already as a kid, while watching films such as Star Wars, E.T. and Superman. He pertains to that generation of people who were very young when the popularity of the composer exploded world-wide, influencing young minds: “It’s really impossible to overestimate how influential John Williams is on my career”, says Brett at the beginning of our conversation. This genuine love led him to become not only a successful conductor, but also an enthusiastic ambassador of a wide-eyed attitude toward Williams’ music, and film music repertoire in general. Over the course of his career, he conducted a lot of John Williams’ music (both film and concert works, including rare pieces like Celebrate Discovery, Soundings!, and Air and Simple Gifts), and also live-to-picture concerts of John Williams’ classics like Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., Jaws, and Jurassic Park.
Brett Mitchell addresses the audience before a performance of Jurassic Park – In Concert with the Colorado Symphony in May 2018. (Photo by Brandon Marshall)
In this wide-ranging conversation, Brett talks about how much the music of John Williams played a crucial role in his artistic and personal life. We also talk about the challenges of conducting live-to-picture concerts, the differences between film and concert works, the importance of John Williams in the history of American music, and Brett’s attitude when preparing and programming a concert program.
Listen via the audio player above, or hear the episode on The Legacy of John Williams’s website.
Feature: "The Colorado Symphony goes all-in on movie scores"
Brett Mitchell leads the Colorado Symphony in John Williams’s score for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back at the 1STBANK Center in Broomfield, CO in March 2019. (Photo by Brandon Marshall)
DENVER — The Denver Post has published a feature about the Colorado Symphony’s ever-expanding slate of live film score offerings, including an interview with Brett Mitchell, who leads several film projects with the orchestra each season:
The Colorado Symphony would have been crazy not to note the trend, if not fully embrace it, said music director Brett Mitchell.
“We have at least a half-dozen films in our 2019-2020 season, which is impressive for a classical-performance genre that didn’t even exist a decade ago,” said Mitchell, who conducted the March 23 “[The] Empire [Strikes Back]” show…
Brett Mitchell leads the Colorado Symphony in John Williams’s score for Jurassic Park at Boettcher Concert Hall in Denver, CO in May 2018. (Photo by Brandon Marshall)
“I’ve probably done 20 to 25 films over the course of my career, but it’s totally different than learning a Mahler symphony or a Strauss tone poem,” Mitchell said. “In those projects, you have complete control. With film projects, your hands are tied. If you get a little behind, the movie’s not going to wait for you, so that’s why I spend about a month prepping for it.” …
Mitchell and his other conductors start with digital practice files that allow them to instantly remove dialogue, sound effects and the score as needed during the rehearsal process. The laser blasts, lightsabers and dialogue that the audience hears during a performance must perfectly match the timing of the musical performance, or else the symphony risks shattering the illusion of a cohesive, if obviously hybrid, cinematic experience.
It’s “a staggering amount of new music to learn and play,” as Colorado Symphony associate conductor Christopher Dragon told The Denver Post earlier this year… Mitchell similarly estimated that the score to “Empire” covered 80 percent of the film’s 2-hour, 7-minute runtime. That allows little break for the versatile players, who may be performing a different classical score or pop collaboration the very next day at a venue like Red Rocks Amphitheatre…
Brett Mitchell leads the Colorado Symphony in John Williams’s score for Star Wars: A New Hope at the 1STBANK Center in Broomfield, CO in March 2018. (Photo by Brandon Marshall)
The symphony does not collect data on how many movie-score attendees eventually become subscribers. But without any exposure to orchestral music, those people stand no chance of becoming a patron. And the natural marriage of film and music — Mitchell cited movies such as 1940’s “Fantasia” and the 1977 “Star Wars” as formative experiences in his lifelong pursuit of classical music — makes the decision to embrace these hybrids that much easier…
“Scores for series like ‘Star Wars’ are this generation’s Ring Cycle,” Mitchell said, referring to Wagner’s acclaimed, oft-performed orchestral standard. “John Williams has spent literally half of his long life creating music for these films, including the ninth episode coming out in December. They’re grand, romantic, artistic statements. And we’re just getting started here, because we’re moving on to ‘Return of the Jedi’ next.”
To read the complete article, please click here.
Review: Impressive San Francisco Symphony debuts by conductor and soloist
Brett Mitchell collaborated with violinist Blake Pouliot on his San Francisco Symphony debut at Davis Symphony Hall.
The Rehearsal Studio (San Francisco) has published a review of Brett Mitchell’s performance last night with the San Francisco Symphony:
As previously announced, the two “serious” concerts being performed by the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) as part of the Summer with the Symphony events at Davies Symphony Hall are both introducing new conductors and new soloists. At the first of those two concerts last night, the conductor was Brett Mitchell, currently Music Director of the Colorado Symphony. His soloist was the young Canadian violinist Blake Pouliot….
Mitchell framed the Mendelssohn [Violin] concerto with two selections by Hector Berlioz, both enjoying the same level of general familiarity as the concerto. The second half of the program consisted entirely of the Opus 14 “Symphonie fantastique” (fantastical symphony), while the “overture” for the program was the “Marche hongroise” (Hungarian march) from the Opus 24 “légende dramatique” (dramatic legend), La damnation de Faust (the damnation of Faust). Opus 14 was given a solid interpretation, accounting for the many expressive techniques that Berlioz conjured up to plumb the depths of a deranged (possibly through drugs) mind. What was important was that Mitchell never overplayed his hand, giving free rein to the rhetoric while keeping the vast instrumental resources strictly under control in the service of that rhetoric.
The real surprise came with the “overture.” In the overall plan of Opus 24, this almost serves as “incidental music” between the vocal selections that unfold the Faust narrative. However, Berlioz’ treatment of orchestral resources was never “incidental.” In this case the principal theme unfolds above a polyphony of different textures emerging from the different sections of the orchestra. (The last time I heard this music was when the San Francisco Opera presented a staged version of Opus 24; and, sadly, all of that polyphony got lost in the orchestra pit.) Mitchell clearly knew how many details were in play in this score, and he knew how to make every one of them stand out in its contribution to the intricacies of the entirety.
Mitchell is definitely a conductor to watch; and hopefully he will return to Davies during the “primary portion” of a coming season.
To read the complete review, please click here.
Audio: Brett Mitchell leads the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra on 'Performance Today'
Brett Mitchell leads the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (Houston) in the world premiere of Jim Stephenson’s ROCOmotive.
Today’s episode of Performance Today (American Public Media) features the world premiere recording of Jim Stephenson’s ROCOmotive, performed by the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (Houston) with guest conductor Brett Mitchell in February 2019. To listen to this performance, please click here.
Preview: 2019 Hollywood Bowl Summer Season Celebrates Oscar-Winning Films
WeAreMovieGeeks.com has published a preview of the Hollywood Bowl’s 2019 summer season, including Brett Mitchell’s upcoming debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic:
On Thursday, September 12, the LA Phil, conducted by Brett Mitchell, presents the digitally-restored An American in Paris, winner of six Academy Awards including Best Picture, featuring a treasure trove of Gershwin classics.
To read the complete preview, please click here.
Preview: 'Apollo 11 fever! How Colorado is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moon landing'
Buzz Aldrin plants the U.S. flag on the surface of the moon, July 1969. (Photo by Neil Armstrong)
DENVER — The Denver Post has published a preview of Brett Mitchell’s upcoming performance with the Colorado Symphony commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing:
Americans are fired up for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, which arrives on July 20. And Colorado, with its wealth of aerospace institutions and growing legacy in the industry, will be one of the epicenters for the celebration….
As part of its “Lunar Landing 50th Anniversary Celebration,” Colorado Symphony music director Brett Mitchell will lead a night of live music from composer John Williams (featuring selections from not only “Star Wars” but “E.T.” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”) and contemporary American composers Mason Bates and James Beckel, all accompanied by archival footage from the moon landing and other visuals.
To read the complete preview, please click here.
Preview: 'Lunar Landing 50th Anniversary Celebration touches down July 20'
Buzz Aldrin on the surface of the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. (Photo by Neil Armstrong)
DENVER — The Sentinel (Colorado) has published a preview of Brett Mitchell’s upcoming performance with the Colorado Symphony commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing:
Mission Control…the Eagle has landed…in Denver. On July 20, the Colorado Symphony will present the Lunar Landing 50th Anniversary Celebration at Boettcher Concert Hall. Music Director Brett Mitchell will conduct the Colorado Symphony with music from the iconic John Williams, including selections from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Wars and E.T. Former NASA astronaut Richard Hieb — a veteran of three space shuttle missions and a graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder — will serve as narrator [for James Beckel’s From the Earth to the Moon and Beyond (2018)].
Mason Bates’s Passage (2017)—featuring mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke—will round out the program.
To read the complete preview, please click here.
To read an additional preview in the Los Angeles Times, please click here.
Preview: 'Summer Heats Up at the San Francisco Symphony'
SAN FRANCISCO — SFGate has published a preview of the San Francisco Symphony’s upcoming summer season, featuring Brett Mitchell’s debut with the orchestra on Thursday, July 18:
Those looking for a more traditional night of classical music at the SF Symphony should look no further than the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto at the SF Symphony. Conductor Brett Mitchell will lead the SF Symphony in an exhilarating concert of the masterworks, before one of today’s most promising violinists, Canadian Blake Pouliot, will perform the Violin Concerto to what is sure to be a captive audience.
Also on the program are Berlioz’s Hungarian March from The Damnation of Faust and Symphonie fantastique.
To read the complete preview, please click here.
Review: Cleveland Orchestra bids adieu to season with enchanting ‘An American in Paris’
Brett Mitchell conducts The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
CLEVELAND — The Plain Dealer has published a review of Brett Mitchell’s performances this weekend with The Cleveland Orchestra:
It’s got Gershwin. It’s got dancing. It’s got Mitchell. On a Cleveland Orchestra season finale, one couldn’t ask for anything more.
No weighty symphonies or concertos on this occasion. Instead, Thursday night at Severance Hall, the orchestra wrapped the year with a film: the award-winning 1951 classic “An American in Paris”….
Make no mistake: this was no walk in the park for the Cleveland Orchestra. For the audience, “An American in Paris” may have been a pleasant way to end a season, but for the orchestra and conductor, Colorado Symphony director (and former Cleveland associate conductor) Brett Mitchell, Thursday’s project entailed two solid hours of vigilant hard work lining up brisk music with the lips of singers and the feet of dancers in lavish tap and ballet numbers….
Nice. Wonderful. Marvelous. These players and their colleagues exemplified every one of the Gershwin brothers’ favorite adjectives. They again made it great to be a music-lover in Cleveland.
To read the complete review, please click here.
Video: 'An American in Paris' with The Cleveland Orchestra
CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Orchestra has published several behind-the-scenes videos previewing their upcoming performances of the classic 1951 film ‘An American in Paris’ led by guest conductor Brett Mitchell.
In the first video, Mr. Mitchell explores the methods and challenges of syncing a live orchestra in 2019 with singing and dancing in a film made almost 70 years ago:
Preview: Brett Mitchell returns to The Cleveland Orchestra
Brett Mitchell will return to The Cleveland Orchestra to lead their 2018-19 season finale. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
CLEVELAND — Cleveland Scene has published a preview of Brett Mitchell’s upcoming return to The Cleveland Orchestra to lead their 2018-19 Severance Hall season finale:
The Cleveland Orchestra has two programs left in its regular season… Former associate conductor Brett Mitchell returns to lead the Orchestra in Gershwin’s score to An American in Paris on Thursday, May 30 at 7:30 pm, Friday, May 31 at 8:00 pm, and Saturday, June 1 at 8:00 pm. Meanwhile, the 1951 film inspired by Gershwin’s 1928 orchestral piece will be shown on the big screen, starring Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant, and others.
To read the complete preview, please click here.
Preview: Colorado Symphony season finale
DENVER — Westword has included this weekend’s Colorado Symphony performances on this week’s list of “The 21 Best Events in Denver”:
Medieval poetry and modern composition clash with glorious bombast in Carmina Burana, a scenic cantata that sounds every bit as grand in the concert hall as it does on the soundtrack to cinematic epics like Excalibur. Adapted from a collection of satirical verses mostly written by Goliard monks in the twelfth century, Carl Orff's masterpiece retains its source materials' timeless warnings against lust, gluttony and the caprices of fortune while evoking the horrors of the German composer's experience as a survivor of both world wars. Join the Colorado Symphony's Brett Mitchell and Duain Wolfe along with Colorado Children's Chorale artistic director Deborah DeSantis for three rousing performances of Carmina Burana, plus Adam Schoenberg's American Symphony, at Boettcher Concert Hall in the Denver Performing Arts Complex.
To read the complete preview, please click here.
Debut: San Francisco Symphony
Brett Mitchell will make his debut with the San Francisco Symphony in July 2019 on a program featuring violinist Blake Pouliot.
SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Symphony has announced that Brett Mitchell will make his debut with the orchestra at their home of Davies Symphony Hall on Thursday, July 18. The program will be:
BERLIOZ - Hungarian March from The Damnation of Faust
MENDELSSOHN - Violin Concerto
Blake Pouliot, violin
BERLIOZ - Symphonie fantastique
For more information, please click here.
