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Feb. 20 - March 15
Oct. 3-26
May 1-24
Music Director Michael Butterman
Music Director of four American orchestras and a sought-after guest conductor, Michael Butterman is acclaimed for his creative artistry and innovative programming. Foundational to his dynamic career is a deep commitment to audience development and community engagement. He is the Music Director of the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, which he has led to national prominence, resulting in an invitation to open the Kennedy Center’s inaugural SHIFT Festival of American Orchestras in 2017, as well as the Shreveport Symphony, which has experienced an unprecedented era of artistic growth under his leadership. Beginning in 2022, Mr. Butterman assumed the role of Music Director of the Williamsburg Symphony and Lancaster Symphony orchestras, as well. A passionate advocate for music education, Mr. Butterman recently completed a 19-year association with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra as their Principal Conductor for Education and Community Engagement. Concurrently he enjoyed a 15-year tenure with the Jacksonville Symphony, first as Associate, and then as Resident Conductor. He is also the founding Music Director of the Pennsylvania Philharmonic, an orchestra uniquely devoted to introducing orchestra music to young people.
As a guest conductor, Mr. Butterman has led many of the country’s preeminent ensembles, including the Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony, Detroit Symphony and Houston Symphony. Other recent appearances include performances with the Fort Worth Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Asheville Lyric Opera and Victoria Symphony (British Columbia). Summer appearances include Tanglewood, the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Colorado Music Festival, and the Wintergreen Music Festival in Virginia. This season, he returns for a fourth time to conduct Cuba’s renowned Havana Chamber Orchestra.
Michael Butterman’s work has been featured in more than three dozen nationwide broadcasts on public radio’s Performance Today. He can be heard on two CDs recorded for the Newport Classics label and on an album in which he conducts the Rochester Philharmonic and collaborates with actor John Lithgow. A new recording on the Reference Recordings label featuring the Boulder Philharmonic and Aldo López-Gavilán is set to be released in late 2025.
PHOTO BY MOLLY SCHLACHTER.
VIOLIN 1
Concertmaster
Becky Roser & Ron Stewart
Virginia Newton
Stephanie Bork
Boulder Phil Orchestra Roster
CELLO
Ryan Jacobsen, Chas Wetherbee Endowed
Annamaria Karacson, Assistant Concertmaster
Rinat Erlichman
Christopher Leonard
Gyöngyvér Petheö
Heidi & Jerry Lynch
Veronica Sawarynski
Marion Thurnauer & Alex Trifunac
Takanori Sugishita
Luana Rubin
Malva Tarasewicz
Pamela Walker
Yenlik Weiss
VIOLIN 2
Zachary Ragent, Principal
Leah Mohling, Assistant Principal
Hilary Castle-Green
Regan Kane
Isaac Kay
Victoria Martinez
Kina Ono
Susie Peek
Autumn Pepper
Robyn Sosa
VIOLA
Margaret Dyer Harris, Principal
Patricia Butler
Vacant, Assistant Principal
Aniel Cabán
Matthew Diekman
Nancy Clairmont & Bob Braudes
Claire Figel
Nancy McNeill
Stephanie Mientka
Allyson Stibbards
Charles Lee, Principal
Christine & Wayne Itano
Andrew Kolb, Assistant Principal
Charles Barnard
Sara Fierer
Joey Howe
Amanda Laborete
Yoriko Morita
Margot & Chris Brauchli
Erin Patterson
Eleanor Wells
BASS
David Crowe, Principal
Lin & Matthew Hawkins
Brian Knott, Assistant Principal
Lin & Matthew Hawkins
Ernie Glock
Hunter Hawkins
Isaiah Holt
John St. Cyr
FLUTE
Wonpyo Lee, Principal
Pamela Dennis & Jim Semborski
Elizabeth Sadilek
Laurie Hathorn
Olga Shilaeva, Piccolo
Paul Weber
OBOE
Sarah Bierhaus, Principal
Eleanor & Harry Poehlmann
Brittany Bonner
Grace Stringfellow
CLARINET
Kellan Toohey, Principal
Margaret & Rodolfo Perez
Michelle Orman
Vacant, Bass Clarinet
BASSOON
Francisco Delgado, Principal in Memory of Joan Ringoen
Joshua Sechan
Wendy La Touche, Contrabassoon
HORN
Michael Yopp, Principal
Ruth Irvin and the late Richard Irvin
Devon Park, Associate Principal
DeAunn Davis, Assistant & Utility
Andrew Miller
Jeffrey Rubin
Alan Davis
Daniel Skib
TRUMPET
Leslie Scarpino, Principal
Nicky Wolman & David Fulker
Noah Lambert
Vacant
TROMBONE
Bron Wright, Principal
Nancy Clairmont & Bob Braudes
Owen Homayoun
Jeremy Van Hoy, Bass Trombone
TUBA
James Andrus, Principal
TIMPANI
Douglas William Walter, Principal
Constance Holden & TK Smith
PERCUSSION
Mike Tetreault, Principal
Vacant, Assistant Principal
Nena Lorenz Wright
HARP
Kathleen Wychulis, Principal
PIANO
Vacant
In memoriam Ruth C. Kahn
PERSONNEL MANAGER
Bron Wright
Members of string sections are listed alphabetically following titled players.
* On leave this season
Interested in sponsoring a musician? Give us a call at 303-449-1343.
Thank You to Our Partners
The Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra recognizes those who have made or pledged transformative and lasting gifts. These people are planting seeds for the future that will sustain the music for future generations, at the same time enhancing and enriching our current programs. Thank you!
Grace & Gordon Gamm Endowment Fund
SeiSolo
Sydney & Robert Anderson
Margot & Christopher Brauchli
Patricia Butler
Erma Mantey
Jayne & Stephen Miller
Eleanor & Harry Poehlmann
Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra Legacy Circle
Nancy Clairmont & Robert Braudes
Pamela Dennis & Jim Semborski
Jerry Gilland
Margaret & Rodolfo Perez
Becky Roser & Ron Stewart
Lynn Streeter
Nicky Wolman & David Fulker
C. Khan
Judy & Steve Knapp
Karyn Sawyer
Lynn Streeter
Nicky Wolman & David Fulker
Ruth
Boulder Phil Staff and Board
Carlos Simon
GRACE AND GORDON GAMM OPENING NIGHT
HINDEMITH & BRAHMS
Michael Butterman, Music Director
Jonathan Biss, piano
September 14, 2025, 4:00 PM
Macky Auditorium
The Block (b.1986)
Paul Hindemith
Mathis der Maler (1895-1963)
I. Engel-Konzert (Angelic concert)
II. Grablegung (Entombment)
III. Versuchung des heiligen Antonius (The temptation of Saint Anthony)
INTERMISSION
Brahms
Piano Concerto No.2 (1770-1827)
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Allegro appassionato
III. Andante
IV. Allegretto grazioso
Special Thanks to our Featured Sponsors:
Courtesy recording provided by Galle Studios.
Program and artists subject to change. There may be professional photographers and recording crew present during our performances. All other photography or recording of any kind is strictly prohibited.
HINDEMITH & BRAHMS
ABOUT THE ARTIST
JONATHAN BISS, PIANO
“One can immerse oneself in the greatest music of the past and work to ensure that the present and future are more just, and so much richer for it.”
— Jonathan Biss
Praised as “a superb pianist and also an eloquent and insightful music writer” (The Boston Globe) with “impeccable taste and a formidable technique” (The New Yorker), Jonathan Biss is a worldrenowned educator and critically-acclaimed author, and has appeared internationally as a soloist with the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics, the Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco Symphonies, and the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras as well as the London Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw, the Philharmonia, and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, among many other ensembles. Biss is also Co-Artistic Director alongside Mitsuko Uchida at the Marlboro Music Festival, where he has spent fifteen summers.
In the 2023-24 season, Biss returns to perform with the Saint Louis Symphony and Stéphane Dénève, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Ramón Tebar, and the Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Seguin at Carnegie Hall. Throughout the season, Biss will present a new project that pairs solo piano works by Schubert with new compositions by Alvin Singleton, Tyson Gholston Davis, and Tyshawn Sorey at San Francisco Performances, Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner museum, among many others. Biss continues his collaboration with Mitsuko Uchida featuring Schubert’s music for piano 4-hands at Carnegie Hall and more. He will also appear with the Brentano Quartet at Chamber Music Detroit, Club the Royal Conservatory of Toronto, and more.
PROGRAM
NOTES by Trudi Wright, Ph.D.
The Block by Carlos Simon (b.1986)
“The Block” is a short orchestral study based on the late visual art of Romare Bearden. Most of Bearden’s work reflects African American culture in urban cities as well as the rural American south. Although Bearden was born in Charlotte, NC, he spent his most of his life in Harlem, New York. With its vibrant artistic
community, this piece aims to highlight the rich energy and joyous sceneries that Harlem expressed as it was the hotbed for African American culture.
“The Block” is comprised of six paintings that highlight different buildings (church, barbershop, nightclub, etc.) in Harlem on one block. Bearden’s paintings incorporate various mediums including watercolors, graphite, and metallic papers. In the same way, this musical piece explores various musical textures which highlight the vibrant scenery and energy that a block on Harlem or any urban city exhibits.
Mathis der Maler Symphony by Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)
What is an artist’s role in society? This is the question Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) asked with his brilliant work, Mathis der Maler, which exists as both an opera and a symphony. When the National Socialists rose to power in 1933 Germany, Hindemith, as he had done throughout his career, used his music to work through the socio-political complications of the time. The subject of the opera (and symphony) is loosely based on the life of Renaissance artist Matthias Grünewald (c. 14701528) and the images of his unique Isenheim Alterpiece, which are now on view at the Musée d’Unterlinden in Colmar, France.
While writing the symphony, at the request of the Berlin Philharmonic’s conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, Hindemith also worked out the premise of the opera (which would not be premiered until 1938). The plot finds Grunewald in an internal struggle between his life as a court painter and the ongoing peasants’ fight for justice. He leaves his comfortable position to join the cause, but is repelled by the violence of the peasant revolt. While resting in the woods, he dreams that he is St. Anthony, the main character in two of the Isenheim Alterpiece panels. In a scene based on one of the panels, St. Paul the Hermit tells Grunewald/St. Anthony that it was wrong of him to turn his back on his God-given artistic talent and that he must humbly offer his gifts to the world. With these new-found insights, Grunewald returns home to frenetically paint, and finishes his life in a draining creative burst.
The symphony received a triumphant premiere on March 12, 1934, and is comprised of three movements. The first, “Angelic Concert,” which becomes the opera’s overture, is a scene of angels serenading Mary and baby Jesus. It quotes the Medieval melody, “Es sungen drei Engel” (Three angels were
HINDEMITH & BRAHMS
singing). The movement follows the practice of sampling (the borrowing of musical fragments) as in the rap music of today. Hindemith uses this borrowed tune to layer meaning into the music. Besides its obvious connections to the painting’s subject matter, perhaps Hindemith wanted to bring modern audiences closer to an imagined angel song of someone from Grunewald’s time and place. The second and third movements, like the first, are based on Grunewald’s panels.
The success of the symphony, with its subversive storyline and modern sound, led the National Socialists to attack Hindemith in the press. Subsequently, Hindemith hatched a politically naïve plan to have Furtwängler write an article about him (the famous “Der Fall Hindemith”), speak up for him at an audience with Hitler, and invite Hitler to one of Hindemith’s composition classes. The plan failed and the popular article caught the attention of Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister, who publicly vilified Hindemith—calling him a “dud,” a “charlatan,” and an “atonal noise-maker.” In reaction, Furtwängler resigned all his positions (only to reconcile with the National Socialist Party in 1935), while Hindemith took an indefinite leave from his teaching position in Berlin, as he secretly prepared to emigrate. He and his wife permanently left Germany in 1938 and Hindemith gained US citizenship in 1940.
Beyond the Note: Do you want to see Grunewald’s Isenheim Alterpiece before booking your trip to France? There are detailed images on the Musée d’Unterlinden website!
Piano Concerto no. 2, Opus 83, Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Aristo Sham’s performance of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 on June 6, 2025, during the final round of the Seventeenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, won him this year’s gold medal. In an interview during the competition, with an emotional catch in his throat, Sham says of the concerto, “It is the work of a man who has been through so much…who is both looking back and looking forward and has so much love and life to give. It is…the king of piano concertos. It has everything. There’s anger, elation, joy, peace, playfulness, angst…ambition. It’s really a symphony with piano.” Brahms only wrote two piano concertos during his lifetime and they could not be more different. The first, written when he was only twenty-five, was composed as a direct response to the attempted suicide of his friend and mentor, Robert Schumann. Unsurprisingly, it is dramatic, impulsive, and stormy. The
second was written twenty-two years later at the height of his career. It features a more mature style and, as far as historians know, is not inspired by any specific event: important to note because writers of the Romantic Period (1820-1900) began formulating distinctions between instrumental works of the time. These distinctions included those between program music (music that conveys a story, idea, or theme, which can be explained by words in a program); and absolute music (like the music of Brahms, which offers an idealized play of sound and form). This concerto took three years to write, premiering in 1881, and could not be more different in character than the first. It begins with the horn; a hallmark of the Brahms sound and representative of the hunting call found in the woods—a magical place in Romantic-era Germany. The movement continues with sudden shifts of character to represent the struggle. All will not be easy, even though the piece begins in a calm way. Of the second movement, Brahms told his close friend and fellow composer Clara Schumann that it was, “nothing more than a tiny, tiny scherzo.” (a sprightly humorous instrumental movement commonly in quick triple time.) Brahms was famously sarcastic and sardonic about his own music so readers can’t take this sentence seriously. It is, however, humorous to think about him offering this description, only to listen to the most dramatic movement of the work. The scherzo is followed by an exquisite, song-like, nocturnal slow movement. Listen to the opening cello theme, which is passed around the orchestra. This tune is the basis for the entire movement and becomes one of Brahms’s most haunting art songs, “Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer” (Ever gentler grows my slumber). The final movement, a rondo, where the opening section repeatedly returns, has been described as a movement with “gracious relaxation.” This, however, is not how the concerto ends. Brahms concludes his tour de force with a dramatic orchestral crescendo and a thunderous finale, thus closing the “king of concertos.”
Beyond the Note: If you are an audience member who likes to experience a performance while reading the musical score, check out “The Cliburn Score and Sound,” for Aristo Sham’s Final Round Recital of Brahm’s Piano Concerto no. 2. It is easy to find on YouTube!
Malek Jandali
STRAUSS & SHOSTAKOVICH
Michael Butterman, Music Director
Heidi Melton, soprano
November 2, 2025, 4:00 PM
Macky Auditorium
Sponsored by Marion and Alex Thurnauer
Phoenix in Exile (b.1972)
Richard Strauss
Four Last Songs (1864-1949)
I. Frühling
II. September
III. Beim Schlafengehen
IV. Im Abendrot INTERMISSION
Dmitri Shostakovich
Symphony No.10 (1906-1975)
I. Moderato
II. Allegro
III. Allegretto
IV. Andante – Allegro
Special Thanks to our Featured Sponsors:
Susan Litt
Courtesy recording provided by Galle Studios
Four Last Songs by Strauss presented under license from Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers, copyright owners. Symphony No.10 by Shostakovich presented under license from G. Schirmer Inc. and Associated Music Publishers, copyright owners.
Program and artists subject to change. There may be professional photographers and recording crew present during our performances. All other photography or recording of any kind is strictly prohibited.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
HEIDI MELTON, SOPRANO
STRAUSS & SHOSTAKOVICH
Heidi Melton, acclaimed for her “big gleaming soprano” (The New York Times) and hailed by La Presse as “the Wagnerian voice we have been waiting for since Flagstad and Nilsson,” has established herself as one of the leading dramatic sopranos of her generation. Known for her interpretations of the works of Wagner, Strauss, and other late Romantic composers, she is a frequent guest at the world’s foremost opera houses and concert halls. In the 25/26 season she performs Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder with both the Littleton Symphony Orchestra and the Boulder Philharmonic.
Ms. Melton has appeared with many of the world’s major opera companies, including The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Oper Frankfurt, Opernhaus Zürich, Canadian Opera Company, English National Opera, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Opéra National de Bordeaux, Bayreuther Festspiele, Seattle Opera, and Teatro La Fenice.
On the concert stage, she has appeared with the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Tonkünstler Orchestra (Vienna), Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, Hong Kong Philharmonic, New World Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, and Colorado Springs Philharmonic.
A graduate of the Eastman School of Music and the Curtis Institute of Music, Melton is a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Sara Tucker Award, and the Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition. Ms. Melton proudly shares her expertise with Turn The Spotlight, a foundation working to identify, nurture, and empower leaders – and in turn, to illuminate the path to a more equitable future in the arts.
PROGRAM NOTES
Phoenix in Exile, Malek Jandali (b.1972)
Phoenix in Exile was composed in New York City and recorded in London on May 21, 2014 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. World-renowned composer and pianist Malek Jandali is a proud Syrian and his unique personal voice is heard with even greater clarity and definition in this work, speaking in a tone steeped in the ardor of his will and the aspiring idealism of his echoes.
As the oboe introduces the main melody, we hear the piercing cry of the Phoenix’s lament. In his search for freedom, he is exiled from his beloved homeland to seek a peaceful refuge. The strings interrupt the bird’s cry, depicting howling winds and clouds scudding across the sky. As the Phoenix flies up and away, a cloud of birds of all shapes and sizes rises up from the earth and flies behind him, singing together. The solo violin finale is the cry of the Phoenix as he continues on his journey alone to fulfill his destiny and rise again from the ashes. Beyond its musical richness, Phoenix in Exile carries an urgent cultural message. In echoing UNESCO’s call to safeguard the endangered heritage of Mesopotamia and the broader Arab world, Jandali uses his music to advocate for preservation through creation. “As an American composer and a musician with a mission, it is my duty to preserve and present this rich heritage of my beloved homeland,” he states, “to tell the world that we are part of you and contributing to the modernity of classical music.”
Jandali’s prolific output includes eight symphonies, seven concertos, a full opera, a musical, and a variety of tone poems and symphonic dances. His recent album ‘Concertos’, featuring the Clarinet Concerto written for New York Philharmonic principal clarinetist Anthony McGill, was selected among the ‘Best of Classical Music of 2024’ by The Washington Post.
Ultimately, Phoenix in Exile is both a celebration and a plea—a celebration of unity through art, and a plea for memory, peace, and the shared humanity that music so powerfully expresses. “We must be light when the world is dark,” Jandali reminds us, “and it is always better to be together in a symphony for peace.”
Frühling (Hesse)
In twilit caverns
I dreamed long of your trees and blue skies, your fragrance and birdsong.
Now you lie revealed in glistening splendour, bathed in light like a miracle before me.
You know me once more; you beckon me tenderly My whole body trembles at your divine presence.
STRAUSS & SHOSTAKOVICH
Beim Schlafengehen (Hesse)
Now that I feel the tiredness of the day, my deep longing shall welcome the starlit night as a weary child does.
Hands, cease your toiling, head, forget about thinking, for all my senses now are longing to sink themselves in slumber.
And the unguarded spirit wants to float on free wings, so that in the magic circle of the night it may live deeply and a thousandfold.
Four Last Songs, Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Richard Strauss composed more than two hundred songs throughout his long career, from the 14-measure “Weihnachtslied” of December 1870 to the orchestral songs now known as the Vier letzte Lieder. Political and social upheaval brought severe challenges to Strauss in his later years. Four Last Songs was the last composition he completed before his death. Strauss had for a few brief years accepted a position as the president of the Reichsmusikkammer, which controlled musical life under Hitler. He was fired due to his support of his librettist Stefan Zweig. The postwar years brought multiple attacks on him for not leaving Nazi Germany. They also brought the tensions of denazification hearings and financial distress as his assets were frozen by the Allies. Strauss neither gave the orchestral songs a collective title nor a specified order. The last of the songs is dedicated to Ernst Roth who later co-edited a catalog of Strauss’s works. Roth’s memoirs and published correspondence does indicate Strauss’s mood immediately after the war: “I always returned deeply depressed from my frequent visits to Strauss. Something must be done to rescue Strauss form his end-ofthe-world mood…”
The central theme that manages to weave itself through the late songs is the approach and ultimate acceptance of death. The cycle interlocks time cycles of seasons and times of day. In
September (Hesse)
The garden is in mourning. Cool falls the rain upon the flowers.
Summer shudders, quietly to its end.
Leaf after golden leaf drops down from the high acacia tree. Summer smiles, surprised and weary upon the dying dream of this garden.
Yet still it lingers by the roses, longing for rest.
Then slowly closes its great weary eyes.
Im Abendrot (Eichendorff )
Through trouble and joy we have walked hand in hand; we can rest from our wanderings now, above the peaceful countryside.
The valleys fall away around us, the sky is already darkening, Only a pair of larks still rise dreamily into the scented air. Come here, and let them fly For soon it will be time to sleep and we must not lose our way in this solitude.
O broad, contented peace!
So deep in the sunset glow, How exhausted we are with our wanderings — can this then be death?
the first two songs, Frühling and September, spring passes in autumn, while Beim Schlafengehen day passes into night. Im Abendrot closes both cycles as winter and dusk.
Strauss had selected Kirsten Flagstad to give the world premiere. They first worked together in 1934 when she sang the soprano part in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Strauss as conductor. The premiere took place on May 22, 1950, the four songs were presented in the following order: Bein Schlafengehn, September, Frühling, and Im Abendrot. The order was later revised by Dr. Ernst Roth.
Symphony No. 10 in E Minor, Op.93, Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
For more than half of his artistic life, Dmitri Shostakovich lived under the tyranny of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Stalin had cracked down on Shostakovich twice (the first in 1936, which condemned him for writing “muddle instead of music, ” and most severely in 1948) the composer stayed relatively quiet. Following the surrender of Germany in May of 1945, Shostakovich announced that he would write his Ninth Symphony, a “Victory Symphony” with a grand “apotheosis.” Stalin anticipated that the new work would emulate Beethoven’s Ninth (1824), an epic work that concludes with a triumphant choral finale. Stalin expected the finale of the new work to sing his praises. Instead, Shostakovich’s
STRAUSS & SHOSTAKOVICH
Ninth Symphony emerged as a satirical (and at times acerbic) 25-minute composition with conventional orchestral forces. Stalin viewed the Ninth Symphony as a personal insult and was furious. In Testimony: the Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich, the composer (as related by his friend and student, Solomon Volkov) offered these comments about the circumstances surrounding the composition of the Ninth Symphony: ”...I confess that I gave hope to the leader and the teacher’s dreams. I announced that I was writing an apotheosis. I was trying to get them off my back but it turned against me...I couldn’t write an apotheosis to Stalin, I simply couldn’t. I knew what I was in for when I wrote the Ninth. Joseph Stalin died on March 5, 1953. In the summer and autumn of that year, Shostakovich returned to symphonic composition for the first time since 1945. The Tenth Symphony received its premiere on December 17, 1953. Evgeny Mravinsky, the composer’s longtime friend and musical champion, conducted the Leningrad Philharmonic.
Whereas Shostakovich refused to offer a public explanation of the meaning of the Tenth Symphony, in Volkov’s Testimony he was more forthcoming: “But I did depict Stalin in my next Symphony, the Tenth. I wrote it right after Stalin’s death, and no one yet has guessed what the Symphony is about. It’s about Stalin and the Stalin years. The second part, the scherzo, is about Stalin, roughly speaking. Of course, there are many other things in it, but that’s the basis.”
In the Tenth Symphony, Shostakovich employs a device found in several of his compositions—a motif based on the notes D-Eb-C-B, which, in German musical notation, is D-S-C-H, a musical representation of the composer (D. Schostakowitsch). In the course of the Tenth Symphony, this “Shostakovich” motif confronts and ultimately defeats the “Stalin” music. Regardless of the work’s extra-musical associations, Shostakovich’s Tenth represents the welcome resurrection of a brilliant symphonic composer and dramatist, at the height of his powers. He had also fitted this motto into other works as a defiant voice. His Violin Concerto, the String Quartets Opus 4, Opus 83 and Symphony No. 5 all contain the initials. The practice of transcribing words into musical letters actually began in the Baroque period when composers (including J.S. Bach) included their names or other people into their musical works.
For his part, Shostakovich explained to the Union of Composers in March and April of 1954 when asked if Opus
93 had a program. “I wanted to convey human feelings and passions. Let them listen and decide for themselves,” Shostakovich said. Within a year the symphony had successful foreign premieres in New York and London.
Chas Wetherbee Endowed Concertmaster Chair Fund
Co-chaired by the generosity of Wolman-Fulker Artful Humanity Fund and Becky Roser & Ron Stewart
The Boulder Phil wishes to recognize and honor Chas Wetherbee, Concertmaster of the Boulder Phil from 2014 to 2023. Chas Wetherbee exemplified the qualities of a Concertmaster with his extremely high level of performance, extensive knowledge, and love of the repertoire and the art form. Chas raised the standard of the orchestra and was a role model through his active role as a leader, mentor, and teacher in the community. His mindset was one of exploration and innovation and his contributions extend far and wide. Join us today and create a lasting legacy with the Chas Wetherbee Concertmaster Chair.
Boulder Phil Music Director Michael Butterman: “His presence was transformative. Chas brought out the best in everyone by modeling technical and artistic excellence, combined with professionalism and a deep devotion to the cause of sharing music widely and expanding the reach of classical music. Most important, he radiated generosity, kindness and a selfless spirit that anyone in his presence could feel. The impact of his legacy is impossible to overstate.”
For information, please contact mimi@boulderphil.org or call 303-449-0916
$50,000+
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SCFD
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$10,000+
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$5,000+
Anonymous
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Ruth Irvin and the late Richard Irvin
Jane Kellogg and John Cowdrey in memory of William and Elizabeth Kellogg
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SUPPORTERS
Recognizing the support of gifts received July 1, 2024 to July 1, 2025
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$2,500+
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Anonymous
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$500+
Ken Aiken in memory of Irene Kurzweil
Peter Aweida in memory of Gail Aweida
Roshmi & Jaydip Bhaumik
Alan Boyer
Amy Britton
Cherilynn Cathey
Joan Cleland
Margot Crowe
Ellen Dale & Buddy Kring
Warren DeHaan
Claire & Art Figel
Hazel’s Beverage World
Johnson Foundation of the Rockies
Joyce & Jerry Laiserin in memory of Mel Gallant
Judith Auer & George Lawrence
Peggy Lemone & Peter Gilman
Judy & Alan Megibow
Brenda Mehos in memory of Rich Irvin
Francine & Robert Myers
Newton Family Fund
Richard Nishikawa & Kathleen Miller
Molly Parrish
Richard And Joan Ringoen Family Foundation
William Roettker
Jane & Leo Schumacher in memory of Peter Angell
Charles Samson
Marianne Van Pelt
Shelby & Nicholas Vanderborgh
Dr Celia & John Waterhouse
Pamela Walker
Sophie & Jack Walker
Kathy & Ed Wittman
$250+
Anonymous
Patricia Angell
B Town Wine & Spirits
Catherine Bickell
Sondra Bland & Bob Spencer
Sally & Alexander Bracken
Karen Connolly
Barbara Fahey in memory of
Mark Fahey
Nancy & Robert Fierer
Andrew Gettelman
Gino & Sue Grampp
Mark Halperin
Janice Harvey
Stephanie & Kyle Heckman
Jeannette & David Hillery
Holly & Steve Hultgren
Vitaliy Katsenelson
Eileen Kintsch
Robb & Amy Krenz
Aspen McArthur
Janet & Hunter McDaniel
Anne-Laurie McRee
Lily & Robert Moment
Jean & Scott Nelson in memory of Rich Irvin
Barbara & Irwin Neulight
Martha Olson
Linda & Christopher Paris
Jim Pendleton
Mary Scarpino
Glen & Bonnie Strand
Paul Weber
Rena & Raymond Wells
Kathy & Ed Wittman
Wendy & Richard Wolf
In-kind:
Margot Crowe
Marilyn Gallant
Stefan & Anjali Maus
Susan Olenwine & Frank
Palermo
Mary Williams Fine Arts
Nicky Wolman & David Fulker
2025-26 FEATURED EVENTS
September-April
Takács Quartet
Sept. 26
Aristo Sham
2025 Cliburn Competition Gold Medalist
Oct. 24 and 26
Dead Man Walking
Jan. 23
Ruckus Early Music with Keir GoGwilt
March 11
Danù
March 28
Bang on a Can All-Stars
April 16-19
The Cunning Little Vixen
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