Colorado Symphony Returns to Boettcher for 2021/22 Classics Season

After being nomadic for the past fifteen months, the Colorado Symphony will return to Boettcher Concert Hall beginning in September as part of its 2021/22 Classics Season with seventeen titles across forty-nine concerts.

The upcoming season will include appearances by Principal Guest Conductor Peter Oundjian, as well as concert weekends with former Colorado Symphony music directors Marin Alsop and Andrew Litton and former principal guest conductor Douglas Boyd. Resident conductor Christopher Dragon will also lead the orchestra in two Classics concert weekends.

In addition to revered symphonic works by Mahler, Beethoven, Berlioz, Holst and more, the orchestra will perform pieces by female composers Clarise Assad, Gabriela Lena Frank, Joan Towers, Jessie Montgomery and Florence Price. For the opening weekend, September 17 to 19, Grammy-winning pianist Emanuel Ax joins Oundjian and the orchestra on Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto in a program with Barber’s Adagio for Strings and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (arranged by Ravel).

Other guests for the season are violinists Karen Gomyo and Simone Porter, pianists Natasha Paremski, Joyce Yang, Ingrid Fliter and Awadagin Pratt, and saxophonist Steven Banks.

“Well over a full calendar year will have passed since we have been able to entertain our patrons with live music in Boettcher Concert Hall,” says Jerome H. Kern, Colorado Symphony CEO and board chair, in a statement. “While it feels like ages, we have by no means let the music stop, bringing dozens of virtual and socially distanced in-person performances to our community throughout the COVID-19 health pandemic. Now, as we emerge from eighteen months of health and safety restrictions, we are elated to present a return season that showcases the virtuosity, skill and musicianship of Colorado’s only full-time professional orchestra. This season will have been worth the wait, and we can’t wait to welcome patrons back into our home this fall.”

Colorado Symphony Chief Artistic Officer Anthony Pierce says that "while the past fifteen months have been remarkably difficult for so many, including performing arts organizations around the world, I’m incredibly proud that when the need was most dire, the Colorado Symphony rose to the occasion, providing virtual and physically distanced live performances throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As we look ahead to the return of normal in-hall operations, we’re excited to build on the successes we’ve enjoyed over the past decade by coming out of this pandemic with renewed energy and purpose," Pierce continues. "This season will be a true celebration for our musicians and patrons alike, providing live symphonic music and shared concert experiences that will be thrilling for people of all ages.”

Subscription tickets for the 2021/22 season and customizable packages are on sale now, along with flex passes, which offer six ticket vouchers that guests can use for best-available seats to any concert in the season, redeemable one week before the selected program.

Single tickets to all concerts go on sale Wednesday, September 1, with a separate announcement to precede the date. For concert descriptions and ticket information, visit the coloradosymphony.org or call the box office at 303-623-7876.

2021/22 Classics Season at a Glance:

September 17-19, 2021: Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 with Emanuel Ax
October 1-3, 2021: Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 “From The New World”
October 15-17, 2021: Brahms's Symphony No. 1 conducted By Christopher Dragon
November 5-7, 2021: Beethoven's Symphony No. 7
November 19-21, 2021: Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 with Natasha Paremski
December 3-5, 2021: Elgar Enigma's Variations
January 7-9, 2022: Marin Alsop
January 21-23, 2022: Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5
February 11-13, 2022: Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique conducted by Douglas Boyd
February 25-27, 2022: Beethoven's Symphony No. 5
March 11-13, 2022: Respighi's Pines of Rome
March 25-27, 2022: Holst's The Planets conducted by Peter Oundjian
April 8-10, 2022: Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2
April 16, 2022: Mahler's Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection”
April 29 – May 1, 2022: Schumann's Piano Concerto with Ingrid Fliter
May 13-15, 2022: Mahler's Symphony No. 5
May 27-29, 2022: Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Colorado Symphony & Chorus