On January 28, Pro Musica welcomes cellist Meta Weiss to the stage for Haydn’s lively Cello Concerto in C. Haydn was the inspiration for the piece that begins the program, Entr’acte by Caroline Shaw. Ms. Shaw wrote the piece in 2011 after hearing a performance of one of Haydn’s op. 77 string quartets, music that she said “suddenly takes you to the other side of Alice’s looking glass, in a kind of absurd, subtle, technicolor transition.” The program ends with Mozart’s Symphony No. 29, one of the last pieces he wrote before striking out on his own in Vienna.
Event Type: Concert
Apotheosis of the Dance
The first concert of the season spotlights Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement. As the first African American female composer to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra, Price was well known in the 1930s and 1940s. Her music is enjoying a much-deserved resurgence in recent years, and Pro Musica is proud to present the regional premiere of this concerto with soloist Jennifer Hayghe. Its lively dance forms, including a juba, pair well with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, often called the “apotheosis of the dance.” The concert kicks off with the world premiere of The Hill of Three Wishes by Ben Morris, the 2021 CU Composition Competition Winner.
“Escape to Hope” – Fort Collins Symphony
The Fort Collins Symphony closes its season with a concert featuring three magnificent and hopeful works. Emmy-nominated American composer Michael Abels wrote Global Warming to describe the warming of international relations in 1990. The composition explores the similarities he heard in the music of various cultures. Claude Debussy’s Nocturnes was inspired by symbolist poet Henri de Régnier and conjures images of clouds, festivals, and enchanting sirens. The season closes with Ukrainian composer Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5, which he wrote to glorify “the grandeur of the human spirit.”
Tickets: $25-67 adult, $10 student/child, $25 livestream
“Escape to Reflection” – Fort Collins Symphony
The Fort Collins Symphony performs an all-strings program featuring music of remembrance and reflection.
This performance features Nigerian composer Chief Olufela Obafunmilayo “Fela” Sowande’s nostalgic African Suite. Living American composer Aaron Jay Kernis’ Elegy (for those we lost) was
written in memory of the victims of Covid-19. In 1937, Benjamin Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge was written as a character portrait of his revered teacher. Antonio Vivaldi’s bold Concerto Grosso, Op. 3, No. 11 is a virtuoso work for three string players and orchestra.
Tickets: $25-67 adult, $10 student/child, $25 livestream
“Flash Cadillac”
The group has been thrilling audiences for over 50 years. They have appeared in movies, in performances throughout the State of Colorado and elsewhere in the country. They’ve also been inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame. This concert is included in a season membership that includes five varied concerts for a total of $60. A limited number of tickets for this concert will be available at the door for $20. First come, first serve. Show starts at 7 p.m. For additional information, check our website.
Central City Plein Air Festival
Central City Plein Air Festival
Friday, September 23 – Sunday, September 25
Observe artists at work, and enjoy free activities for the whole family! Specially selected artists from across the country travel to Central City this September to paint the incomparable Colorado scenery and historic atmosphere. On Saturday and Sunday, Central City Opera singers will perform at a ticketed Music & Art Concert in The Martin Foundry at 212 Eureka St, Central City, CO 80427.
The festival culminates in an exhibition and sale, where paintings created during the event are displayed and available for purchase. More info at http://centralcitypleinair.org
MUSIC & ART: PLEIN AIR IN CONCERT
Saturday, September 24 & Sunday, September 25
3:00 – 4:00 pm | The Martin Foundry, 212 Eureka St, Central City, CO 80427
$15: Buy at https://centralcityopera.org/2022-plein-air-concerts/
PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION by Modest Mussorgsky
The composition is based on pictures by the artist, architect, and designer Viktor Hartmann and will feature two pianos.
CAMILLE CLAUDEL: INTO THE FIRE by Jake Heggie
A Song Cycle for mezzo-soprano and string quartet with texts by Gene Scheer based on the life and work of French sculptor Camille Claudel, a student and lover of Rodin.
Music in the Grapevines with STRAY GRASS
Stray Grass will close out the Music in the Grapevines summer season with its “handcrafted acoustic Americana” on Wednesday, Sept. 7, on the lawn of Two Rivers Winery. Gates open at 6 pm, music starts at 7 pm, so you can enjoy a picnic dinner. Wine is available from Two Rivers by the glass or bottle. Tickets in advance are $15 online – artcenterguild.org, at the Art Center of Western Colorado (7th & Orchard) and the Winery (2087 Broadway). At the gate, $20. All proceeds benefit The Art Center.
Patrick Dethlefs | Ismay
Melding the experience of taming wild horses, escaping wildfires, and birthing lambs with the mystical soundscape that nature inspires, Ismay has sharpened their musical craft over the last decade while living and working on their family ranch in Northern California. With Songs of Sonoma Mountain, their debut full length album recorded in the family barn and released in 2020, Ismay realized a contemplative vision blending field recordings and intricate melodies with live, inventive composition. In the wake of Songs of Sonoma Mountain, Ismay has developed the sound further, letting their singular melodies breathe, interact, and come to fruition through a full band groove with psychedelic color in upcoming releases. Ismay represents the collaborative work driven by singer songwriter Avery Hellman, who grew up backstage at their grandfather’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, where they were inspired early on by artists such as Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, and Hazel Dickens.
The Vandoliers
Vandoliers are a uniquely Texas band, distilling the Lone Star State’s vast and diverse musical identity into a raucous, breakneck vibe that’s all their own. After spending much of the last three years furiously writing and recording music, this Dallas-Fort Worth six-piece is back with The Vandoliers, a new album that proves these rowdy, rollicking country punks are tighter, more cohesive and more sonically compelling than ever.
John Moreland | SG Goodman
John Moreland doesn’t have the answers, and he’s not sure anyone does. But he’s still curious, basking in the comfort of a question, and along the way, those of us listening feel moved to ask our own. “I don’t ever want to sound like I have answers, because I don’t,” he says. “These songs are all questions. Everything I write is just trying to figure stuff out.”