by Rachel Herrington | Mar 5, 2024
Door time: 6:00 PM
Show time: 6:30 PM
Welcome back, Festival favorite Olga Kern! Fresh off a celebration of Rachmaninoff’s 150th anniversary, Kern performs his Second Piano Concerto — a success from its inception, this memorable concerto’s themes that have been borrowed by countless films, Sinatra songs, and more. After intermission, Colorado Public Radio’s Kabin Thomas narrates the outlandish tale of Peer Gynt, a hopeless yarn-spinner who lies and sneaks his way through many misadventures and ultimately learns his lesson. Audiences will immediately recognize Grieg’s music, including the unforgettable “In the Hall of the Mountain King” and “Morning Mood.” Guest conductor Rune Bergmann leads this crowd-pleasing program, which opens with Vivian Fung’s inspirational Prayer.
Artists:
Rune Bergmann, conductor
Olga Kern, piano
Program:
Vivian Fung, Prayer (2020)
Sergei Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 18
Edvard Grieg, Suites from Peer Gynt
by Rachel Herrington | Mar 5, 2024
Door time: 7:00 PM
Show time: 7:30 PM
Welcome back, Festival favorite Olga Kern! Fresh off a celebration of Rachmaninoff’s 150th anniversary, Kern performs his Second Piano Concerto — a success from its inception, this memorable concerto’s themes that have been borrowed by countless films, Sinatra songs, and more. After intermission, Colorado Public Radio’s Kabin Thomas narrates the outlandish tale of Peer Gynt, a hopeless yarn-spinner who lies and sneaks his way through many misadventures and ultimately learns his lesson. Audiences will immediately recognize Grieg’s music, including the unforgettable “In the Hall of the Mountain King” and “Morning Mood.” Guest conductor Rune Bergmann leads this crowd-pleasing program, which opens with Vivian Fung’s inspirational Prayer.
Artists:
Rune Bergmann, conductor
Olga Kern, piano
Program:
Vivian Fung, Prayer (2020)
Sergei Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 18
Edvard Grieg, Suites from Peer Gynt
by Rachel Herrington | Mar 5, 2024
Door time: 7:00 PM
Show time: 7:30 PM
The Robert Mann Chamber Music Series continues by highlighting musicians from the Festival’s own ranks. One of the most beloved works ever written for wind quintet is this music by Carl Nielsen; he composed his Wind Quintet with five friends in mind, and this warmth, as well as the personality of each instrument, shines through. Schubert’s sublime and romantic C major String Quartet is regarded as one of the greatest string quartets of any era.
Artists:
Colorado Music Festival musicians
Program:
Carl Nielsen, Wind Quintet, Op. 43
Franz Schubert, String Quintet in C Major, Op. 163, D. 956
by Rachel Herrington | Mar 5, 2024
Door time: 6:00 PM
Show time: 6:30 PM
“Look, how brightly the universe shines! Splendour falls on everything around…” Schoenberg’s chromatic and stunningly beautiful Transfigured Night draws inspiration from a poem about a woman harboring a dark secret and the man who loves her enough to forgive her. 2024 marks Schoenberg’s 150th birthday, as well as Bruckner’s 200th; this program continues the anniversary celebrations with some of the best-loved of Bruckner’s music, his Fourth Symphony. The hunt is on in this “Romantic” Symphony, which begins with daybreak and puts the horn section to work during its lively “Hunting of the Hare.” Music Director Peter Oundjian calls this inspired concert “the most beautiful program of the summer.”
Artists:
Peter Oundjian, conductor
Program:
Arnold Schoenberg, Verklärte Nacht (“Transfigured Night”), Op. 4
Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 4, Romantic
200th Anniversary
by Rachel Herrington | Mar 5, 2024
Door time: 6:00 PM
Show time: 6:30 PM
Famous for inciting a riot at its 1913 premiere due to its cutting-edge compositional techniques, Stravinsky’s Rite represents “the mystery and great surge of creative power of Spring.” BBC Music Magazine has praised violinist Vadim Gluzman’s performance of Prokofiev’s acerbic Second Violin Concerto as “a thing of great beauty.” This exuberant program opens with a spirited Short Ride in a Fast Machine, of which composer John Adams asks, “You know how it is when someone asks you to ride in a terrific sports car, and then you wish you hadn’t?”
Artists:
Peter Oundjian, conductor
Vadim Gluzman, violin
Program:
John Adams, Short Ride in a Fast Machine (1986)
Sergei Prokofiev, Violin Concerto No. 2
Igor Stravinsky, Rite of Spring
