The Colorado Symphony will make a rare appearance outside Boettcher Concert Hall in 2008-09, performing in Boulder under the auspices of the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Artist Series.
“We’ve been talking to the dean’s office about this for about four years, and we’ve looked for ways that we could make it financially feasible and fit into the different calendars and all that, and we finally got it together,” said Doug Adams, the symphony’s president and chief executive officer.
The symphony will appear Jan. 15, 2009, in CU-Boulder’s Macky Auditorium, with music director Jeffrey Kahane and guest cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and will perform such works as Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 and Osvaldo Golijov’s “Azul.”
The program is a highlight among the 10 performances in the just-announced 2008- 09 season of the Artist Series, a performing-arts series administered by CU-Boulder’s College of Music.
The Colorado Symphony tours regionally in the summer, Adams said, and it is making more of an effort during its fall-spring season to perform outside its main venue — Boettcher Concert Hall in the Denver Performing Arts Complex.
“This is part of our desire to get out of the concert hall and be in front of different audiences, nothing more complicated than that,” he said.
Adams said the symphony is sensitive to the potential of infringing on the Boulder Philharmonic’s audiences, but he does not believe its visit will have any adverse effect on the neighboring orchestra.
In keeping with past practice, Joan Braun, CU Concerts’ executive director, sought to assemble a varied mix of offerings, with the musical styles alone ranging from Portuguese Fado star Mariza to the Soweto Gospel Choir.
“We do continue to put together a very wide-ranging, eclectic series with a lot of variety to it and, so far, it seems to be something that many of our patrons respond to,” Braun said.
For the first time in its history, the Artist Series, which has focused only on music and dance, has included a theatrical production on its lineup. On Feb. 2, 2009, it will present L.A. Theatre Works in a performance of the “The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial.”
The radio-play-style production, with a cast of eight respected stage and screen actors, is based on the famous “Scopes Monkey Trial” in 1925, a watershed moment in the continuing evolution vs. creationism conflict.
Another highlight of the classical offerings will be a visit by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields as part of its 50th anniversary tour. The London-based ensemble, one of the most recorded orchestras in the world, will be led by famed violinist Julia Fischer.
Season tickets will go on sale Monday, and single tickets will be available Aug. 18. Call 303-492-8008 or visit .
