The Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra opens its 53rd season, Bravo Boulder, with a program, entitled Heroic Portraits, on September 11, 7:30 p.m., at Macky Auditorium on the CU campus. Michael Butterman, entering his fifth season as music director with the Boulder Phil, will be conducting.
In a colorful and creative synthesis of music and art, this opening concert honors heroes from America’s past and Boulder’s present, and features multimedia presentations of Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, and those in our history and in Boulder’s community who take on the daily struggles for freedom, justice, and equality.As a tribute to the season that honors Boulder, its spirit, and its creativity, the concert opens with Bravo! Colorado, a work by American composer Jeff Tyzik that celebrates the Colorado mountains, meadows, and its whitewater rivers and streams. An orchestral suite for strings, piano, harp, and percussion, this work was composed in memory of Gerald R. Ford and premiered by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in Vail, during the summer 2007. Tyzik is the principal pops conductor with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and a colleague of Michael Butterman’s, also with the Rochester Phil as principal conductor for education and outreach.
The program then focuses on the heroes, some highly recognized while others anonymous and unknown. These unknown heroes are the ones whom Aaron Copland had in mind as he wrote his iconic Fanfare for the Common Man, premiered in 1943. The Boulder Phil is joined by James Westwater, a nationally celebrated photochoreographer, in a world premiere that exquisitely sets this noble fanfare to a stunning multimedia presentation that honors Boulder’s civic heroes on three large screens arrayed above the stage. The work coincides perfectly with the concert date, September 11, now deemed a National Day of Service and Remembrance.
The Boulder Phil closes the first half with Aaron Copland’s moving Lincoln Portrait, premiered in 1942, and narrated by Boulder’s own Bill Mooney, a professional actor and storyteller with deep roots in Boulder. Westwater’s visual counterpart, entitled “The Eternal Struggle,” is a magnificent presentation of historic photographs from the Civil War era that explores both the context of Lincoln’s life and work, as well as our country’s ongoing struggle with issues of race, equal justice and equal opportunity.
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, “Eroica” (heroic), rounds out the evening that celebrates heroes from all walks of life and different points in history. Completed in 1804 and not publicly performed until 1805, it is a work of great length, almost twice as long as most symphonies, and of great energy, passion, and triumph. As an advocate for human rights, freedom and political self-determination, Beethoven had initially intended to dedicate this work to Napoleon Bonaparte, who seemed to be the champion of the common man in his struggle with the tyrannical forces of the oppressive ruling class. When hearing of Napoleon’s egotistical and domineering nature as he ascended the throne, Beethoven is said to have angrily scratched out the dedication to Napoleon on the symphony’s title page—replacing it simply with “Eroica”—to the memory of a great man.
The Boulder Phil season continues on Friday, October 29, 2010, with Cirque de la Symphonie, where the circus meets the symphony on stage in a magical performance that includes aerial fliers, acrobats, contortionists, jugglers, and dancers.
Tickets for these concerts are available online at www.boulderphil.org and by calling 303-444-7328, x-2.
Source: http://www.americantowns.com/co/boulder/news/boulder-philharmonic-orchestra-presents-opening-night-heroic-portraits-970136
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