The Colorado Symphony has honed something of a split personality over the past decade, and the strategy has served the 102-year-old organization well.
On one hand, it has kept up tradition. The orchestra continues to produce annual subscription seasons programmed around the writings of classical composers who have defined the genre for hundreds of years now. There is still a lot Mozart coming from the stage at Boettcher Concert Hall, plus Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and, of course, Mahler, a favorite of current music director Peter Oundjian.
But the orchestra has, as many of its younger patrons know, also developed a sizable audience for alternative fare, regularly presenting concerts that employ its talented players to perform the trendy music of today. The ensemble draws sizable crowds to shows centered around soundtracks from hit movies — like this weekend’s “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” — and to events that use the orchestra as a sort of backup band for pop acts.
That effort has, most notably, featured neo-folk singer-songwriter Gregory Alan Isakov centerstage. The Colorado-based musician, who has an international following, has collaborated with the orchestra on concerts at Boettcher, and the pairing has two shows on the calendar at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in September.
Those pop shows draw large crowds, and the revenues help the non-profit orchestra’s bottom line — a big assist in a time when many classical operations are ailing due to aging audiences. The strategy keeps the ensemble vital to multiple generations and allows it to seize a few special opportunities along the way.
The most important of those, at the moment anyway, is a trip the orchestra will make to New York City later this month, and which it will celebrate in advance with a public concert Jan. 27 here in Denver.
The Manhattan mini-tour starts on Jan. 30 and 31 with consecutive concerts supporting Isakov at Radio City Music Hall. Both are already sold out.
It finishes with a one-night-only performance on Feb. 1 with classical superstar Itzhak Perlman at Carnegie Hall. As of Friday, only a handful of the theater’s 2,800 seats were still available online for that concert, programmed around John Williams’ “Theme from Schindler’s List” and Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.”
The orchestra is not exactly the headliner for either event — Isakov and Perlman are the obvious crowd-pleasers — but the trip does give the players a chance to show off the skills that locals know and admire them for in front of a wider audience.
“Carnegie Hall is the Super Bowl of our industry,” president and CEO Daniel Wachter said in an interview last week. “That’s the most prestigious stage in classical music.”
For many Colorado Symphony musicians, it will be the first time performing at the legendary theater, something that classical musicians of all stripes dream of accomplishing during their careers. Not every violinist or clarinetist gets the chance — orchestras do not tour like they did in the 20th century — but Wachter believes the local ensemble members have earned it with their good work here.
“We’re not doing this tp make money,” he said. Instead, it is “a little bit of a motivator, for morale building.”
And, he noted, it plays to the orchestra’s strength, developed through the last several years, of being able to pivot between hard-core classical and serious pop.
Wachter also sees it as a way for the Colorado Symphony to get some experience playing outside of Boettcher Concert Hall — something that will come in handy during the 2028-29 season when the orchestra will likely have to move out while that venue goes through significant infrastructure renovation.
The details of the construction project are not fully in place, Wachter said. It could take as long as 15 months, and the price tag could be in the “$120 million-ish” range. The city-owned theater is 47 years old and has never had a serious makeover.
The orchestra will need to raise about $15 million for the project. The rest of the money is likely to come from the city. Denver voters approved $20 million for the work through the Vibrant Denver ballot measure in November. Plus, there is additional money left over from a previous 2008 ballot initiative that was never used.
No plans are in place for where the musicians will play while they are without a home, but Wachter sees that as an opportunity, allowing the ensemble to appear throughout the state and even beyond.
“With this tour, we want to open opportunities for national or international travel,” he said.
There will be a temporary performance space in the city, as well, to serve customers in Denver. The location has not been decided, though the organization will need to raise money to fund that, too.
That local audience is also in mind for the “New York City Tour Sendoff Concert” planned for Jan. 27 at Boettcher. The Colorado Symphony added the special event to its schedule to give regulars a sample of what audiences at Carnegie Hall will hear five nights later.
The Denver show will feature the same program, though instead of Itzhak Perlman, in-house violinists Yumi Hwang-Williams, Claude Sim and Kate Arndt will take the spotlight.
The concert is bargain-priced at just $26 for a general admission ticket.
“I think we’re shaping up pretty well to have a good party and a good celebration,” Wachter said.
IF YOU GO
The Colorado Symphony’s “New York City Tour Sendoff Concert” takes place at 7 p.m. on Jan. 27 at Boettcher Concert Hall in the Denver Performing Arts complex. General admission tickets cost $26. Info: 303-623-7876 or .
