Colorado Symphony Orchestra Upcoming Concerts Feature Beatles, Broadway, Baroque and Beethoven!

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Colorado Symphony Orchestra have a full month of concerts planned in May featuring everything from the Baroque music of Bach, Handel and Purcell to the up-tempo tunes of the Beatles and Broadway. The final concert of the month has Principal Conductor Jeffery Kahane's with the CSO performing Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the CSO Chorus. There is a little something for everyone and a broad spectrum of styles.

MAY 1 (SAT 7:30)

The Music of the Beatles: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

CSO Pops

Jeans ‘n Classics | CSO Chorus

A CSO favorite, Jeans ‘n Classics perform the music of the Beatles’ St. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, an album considered to be one of the most influential of all time. The program also includes other favorite Beatles classics. Need we say more?

“The fuller orchestration of last night's rendition added sinuous themes to the performance, which also featured an incandescent guitar solo by Rik Emmett that drew a spontaneous standing ovation from the audience. By playing the album in its entirety -- to the vocal appreciation of the audience -- the talented performers paid a fitting tribute to Abbey Road and its unique musical odyssey, by embarking upon an eminently enjoyable musical journey of their own. – Kitchener-Waterloo Record, Ontario, Canada

MAY 5 (WED 7:00)

Cinco de Mayo Celebration Concert Scott O’Neil, associate conductor | Jose Luis Duval, tenor | Jeff Nevin, arranger/trumpet

Mariachi “Sol de Mi Tierra” · Juventino Romero, director

Bryant Webster School “Mariachi Juvenil” · Pam Li, director Fiesta Colorado Dance Company · Jeanette Trujillo Lucero, director

MAY 7 (FRI 7:30)

Broadway Rocks! From Phantom to Dreamgirls – CSO Pops

Scott O’Neil, associate conductor

Starring Vocalists Susan Egan, Capathia Jenkins, Hugh Panaro and Doug LaBrecque

Join the CSO and four of Broadway’s best singers for great moments from hit musicals including Phantom of the Opera, Tommy, Rent, The Lion King, Mamma Mia, Jekyll and Hyde, The Wiz, Hairspray, Chess, Jesus Christ Superstar and Dreamgirls.

“…in “Sooner or Later” from the movie Dick Tracy, [Susan Egan’s] charisma and captivating vocal style immediately impressed. Her multi-faceted characterizations from leading roles in Broadway's Thoroughly Modern Millie and Cabaret were electrifying. But Egan's most memorable moment came as the reticent bride singing “Getting Married Today” from Company. She sang Stephen Sondheim's lightning quick lyrics with an auctioneer's skill, and her reaction to contributions from an oblivious bridegroom (Maguire) and pious church soprano (Lisa Vroman) were priceless.” – Salt Lake Tribune

MAY 14-16 (FRI 7:30, SAT 7:30 & SUN 2:30)

Baroque Masterpieces – CSO Masterworks

Nicholas Kraemer, conductor and harpsichord

Concert Preludes and TalkBack*

PURCELL Suite from The Fairy Queen

HANDEL Concerto grosso No. 2 ♦ BACH Orchestral Suite No. 3

CORELLI Concerto grosso No. 6 ♦ HANDEL Music for the Royal Fireworks

British early music conductor and harpsichordist Nicholas Kraemer leads the orchestra in a program of Baroque classics and favorites including Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3, which contains Bach’s famous Air in G, Purcell’s Suite from The Fairy Queen, Concerti grosso by Handel and Corelli, and Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks.

“We know from Nicholas Kraemer's work with Chicago 's Music of the Baroque these past several seasons that he knows his way around the 17th and 18th Century orchestral repertory so well that it doesn't matter whether period or modern instruments are used -- the music lives, breathes and dances just as stylishly.” – Chicago Tribune
“… the triumph of Nicholas Kraemer, an early music expert making his Berlin Philharmonic début. He produced a light, radiating sound from the harpsichord, directing elegantly and precisely. The effect was like shining a torch into the darkness of mankind.” – Der Tagesspiegel

MAY 21-22 (FRI 7:30, SAT 7:30)

Marvin Hamlisch: SOCK HOP FIFTIES! – CSO Pops

Marvin Hamlisch, principal pops conductor

Get your poodle skirts ready and your saddle shoes buffed because we are going to rock around the clock with the greatest hits from the 1950s! Marvin Hamlisch conducts the CSO with special guest stars Jimmy Beaumont and the Skyliners singing their hits “Since I Don’t Have You,” “This I Swear” and many more! All are invited to come dressed up in the spirit of the 50s, poodle skirts and all!

“That's how much Pittsburghers love their oldies, and they packed the theater twice on "Jimmy Beaumont and the Skyliners Day," as decreed by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl…The Skyliners, sporting blinding white suits with gold trim and rhinestones, capped a three-hour show with a 13-song set that displayed the group's range, from the heavenly modern ballads of Donna Groom to Dick Muse's bubbly "Nip Sip." Beaumont unselfishly showed off the rest of his group, as well as his ability to sing the backup bass parts. Beaumont took the lead for a few Skyliners standards in the mold of "Since I Don't Have You" and then laid it all out there in the finale, putting all of his being into hitting the high notes on that 1959 classic.” – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

MAY 23 (SUN 2:30*)

Enchantment Theatre Company Presents Scheherazade!

CSO Family Series

Scott O’Neil, associate conductor

Enchantment Theatre Company presents Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. Join the CSO as Scheherazade tells her one-thousand-and-one stories in order to heal her King and save his kingdom. Through these fantastic tales – using masks, puppets, magic and more – the King experiences adventures both great and small, and discovers his true capacity to love.

*Pre-concert activities at 1:00

"Enchantment Theatre adds a beautiful visual narrative to Scheherazade, Rimsky-Korsakov's stirring orchestral music. The audience was mesmerized by both." – Joan Katz Napoli, The Cleveland Orchestra

MAY 28-30 (FRI 7:30, SAT 7:30 & SUN 2:30)

Beethoven Symphony No. 9, Adams On The Transmigration of Souls

CSO Masterworks

Jeffrey Kahane, music director

Charlotte Dobbs, soprano | Barbara Rearick, mezzo-soprano

Benjamin Butterfield, tenor | Robert Gardner, baritone

CSO Chorus · Duain Wolfe, director | Colorado Children’s Chorale

Concert Preludes and TalkBack*

JOHN ADAMS On the Transmigration of Souls ♦

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9

Widely regarded as Beethoven’s finest masterpiece and one of the most well-known in Western classical repertoire, Symphony No. 9 marks the first time that a composer used vocals in a symphonic piece. The Colorado Symphony Chorus and soloists proclaim Beethoven’s celebratory setting of “Ode to Joy” in the final movement. Also included in this monumental program is John Adams’ tribute to those who lots their lives on 9/11, On The Transmigration of Souls. In both pieces, the human voice proclaims the universal notions of love, light, joy and brotherhood – boldly announcing triumph over darkness and sorrow.

“My desire in writing this piece is to achieve in musical terms the same sort of feeling one gets upon entering one of those old, majestic cathedrals in France or Italy . When you walk into the Chartres Cathedral, for example, you experience an immediate sense of something otherworldly. You feel you are in the presence of many souls, generations upon generations of them, and you sense their collected energy as if they were all congregated or clustered in that one spot…you feel very much alone with your thoughts and you find them focused in a most extraordinary and spiritual way.” – John Adams speaking about On the Transmigration of Souls

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