Colorado Symphony Orchestra: a classical blast
Published: May 23, 2009
The Colorado Symphony Orchestra showcases such superstars as pianist Lang Lang and Yo-Yo Ma while playing all the great works of classical music that you might expect from a major symphonic orchestra. But the orchestra delivers much more.
Past performances have included Mozart's Overture to The Magic Flute, Verdi's Requiem and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 — known as the "Emperor." Season after season, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra has drawn upwards of 200,000 devoted patrons to Denver's Boettcher Concert Hall, part of the vast Denver Performing Arts Complex.
The repertoire goes beyond classical music. The Colorado Symphony Orchestra's sponsors various programs such as the Pops, Family, Holiday and Summer Parks Concerts.
You might enjoy the CSO Rocks Series, which has featured the music of Elton John and other rock stars, as well as an "Evening of Frank Sinatra" and special guest Burt Bacharach performing "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head." The Colorado Symphony Orchestra provides a twist on film in its "CSO Goes To The Movies" performances: While the classic musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein and others are projected onto the big screen, the orchestra accompanies the movies live.
Recently, orchestra musicians conceived the Play It Forward Program: Small chamber ensembles go into public places such as hospices, shelters and hospitals to perform for free. It has been a very classy way to bring live music to people in order to encourage and support them through difficult times.
Usually, though, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra plays in the Boettcher Concert Hall. Built in 1978, Boettcher Concert Hall was the nation's first symphony hall in the round — a design that places 80 percent of its 2,679 seats within 65 feet of the stage! It features acoustic reflectors and curtains, which allow the entire hall to be tuned for specific performances.
Boettcher Concert Hall is only part of the huge Denver Performing Arts Complex, the second-largest arts complex in the world, after the Lincoln Center in New York. Located in downtown Denver on a four-block, 12-acre site, "The Plex" houses 10 performance spaces, all under the umbrella of a single, 80-foot-high glass roof. Plays and Broadway shows make their way into spaces such as the Buell, Ricketson and Jones Theatres, while the Ellie Caulkins Opera House stages performances of the internationally acclaimed Opera Colorado and the Colorado Ballet.
- by David Zindell, Denver Reporter for HelloMetro
(Click to leave a message)
