Arapahoe Philharmonic Announces 2017–2018 Season

For Immediate Release: July 31, 2017 Contact: Erin Acheson, Executive Director 303-781-1892 | erin@arapahoe-phil.org Arapahoe Philharmonic Announces 2017–2018 Concert Season, “Dramatic Convergences” Littleton, CO – The Arapahoe Philharmonic (AP), under the direction of Devin Patrick Hughes, announces its 2017–2018 concert season titled “Dramatic Convergences.” The six-concert subscription series, held September through May, includes a number of audience favorites: Holst’s Planets, Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, Brahms’s First Symphony, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Dvorák’s Symphony No. 8. Film music will take center stage in a program of selections from Alien, Star Wars, Star Trek and other popular movies. Soprano soloist Lauren Sawyer is featured in Richard Strauss’s transformational Four Last Songs. Pianist Jamie Shaak performs Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1. AP principal players Jason Richard Olney and Daniel Nester are featured soloists with the AP Sinfonietta in Copland’s Clarinet Concerto and Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto, respectively. Winners of our T. Gordon Parks Concerto Competition and Vincent C. LaGuardia, Jr. Conducting Competition will also be showcased, and we will present the world premiere of a new work commissioned by the AP from Composer-in-Residence Jonathan Bingham. In the spring, we present two performances of our second AP Sinfonietta program, a semi-staged production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. The second concert will include members of the Civic Youth Orchestra, based in Highlands Ranch, in a one-hour condensed production of the opera perfect for families. Composers are well-known to “borrow” from their predecessors and colleagues. We will explore this concept in this year’s Children’s Discovery Concert, Steal This Concert: A Lesson in Musical Borrowing and Imitation. The annual children’s concert attracts nearly 1,000 students and teachers from across the metro area for an educational and entertaining classical music experience geared to children in 3rd through 5th grades. A very limited number of tickets will be available to patrons for this weekday morning performance. Season ticket packages, offering discounted pricing and a number of additional benefits, are available. Pricing and benefits are outlined on our website at www.arapahoe-phil.org/events/buy-tickets/. We’re offering a new ticket package this season to young adults age 18 to 35. This “Pay Your Age” package includes four tickets to be used at any of our concerts for the cost of the purchaser’s age. It’s priced to entice and give maximum flexibility to young professional classical music lovers in the region. Some restrictions, which are outlined on our website, do apply. Single tickets are also available now for all performances. Hear Maestro Hughes speak about the season in our video introduction: https://youtu.be/4PY-skB81Ig THE FULL 2017–2018 SEASON: DRAMATIC CONVERGENCES All concerts at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Pre-concert talks offered at 6:45 p.m. before most concerts. Visit our website for venue information. The Arapahoe Philharmonic is grateful for its season sponsors: Scientific and Cultural Facilities District and Colorado Creative Industries. Destiny Fulfilled - Saturday, September 16, 2017: Richard Strauss: Four Last Songs Soloist: Lauren Sawyer, soprano; Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 Of God and Men - Saturday, October 21, 2017: Gustav Holst: The Planets; Jonathan Bingham: World Premiere Commission; Silent auction at 6:30 p.m. AP Sinfonietta: From Austria to America - Friday, November 10, 2017 Sunday, November 12, 2017 (2:30 p.m.): Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36; Aaron Copland: Clarinet Concerto Soloist: Jason Richard Olney, clarinet; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Bassoon Concerto Soloist: Daniel Nester, bassoon Not part of the subscription package. Season ticket holders may purchase discounted tickets to AP Sinfonietta concerts. Nutcracker - Saturday, December 16, 2017: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker (complete); Sing-Along Favorites Bohemian Rhapsodies - Saturday, February 10, 2018: Antonín Dvorák: Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88; Mason Bates: Warehouse Medicine, from The B-Sides; Winner of the T. Gordon Parks Concerto Competition A Night at the Movies: Final Frontier - Saturday, March 10, 2018: Music from Alien, Star Wars, E.T. and Star Trek; Guest Conductor for select piece(s): Winner of the Vincent C. LaGuardia, Jr. Conducting Competition Children’s Discovery Concert - Wednesday, April 10, 2018 (10:00 a.m.): “Steal This Concert: A Lesson in Musical Borrowing and Imitation” with narrators Not part of the subscription package. All tickets $5. AP Sinfonietta: The Magic Flute - Saturday, April 21, 2018 Sunday, April 22, 2018 (2:30 p.m. one-hour family presentation): Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The Magic Flute (semi-staged) Not part of the subscription package. Season ticket holders may purchase discounted tickets to AP Sinfonietta concerts. Order and Chaos - Saturday, May 19, 2018: Johannes Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 Soloist: Jamie Shaak, piano; Igor Stravinsky: Rite of Spring Download the 2017–2018 Season Brochure: https://www.arapahoe-phil.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/17-18-Season-Brochure.pdf About the Arapahoe Philharmonic Founded in 1953, the Arapahoe Philharmonic is among the longest established, continuously operating musical resources in Colorado. The organization is dedicated to providing the highest degree of musical excellence and cultural enrichment to the region and engaging area youth in educational opportunities promoting an interest in classical music. The orchestra’s musicians are primarily volunteers playing for the love of music, with a core of compensated section principals who provide technical leadership and support the excellence of performance. Concerts feature repertoire spanning the centuries, from the great masters to composers of the current day. The Philharmonic is invested in future generations, presenting an annual children's concert, sponsoring outreach to schools, working with area student honor orchestras, sponsoring a Play-In for high school students to work side-by-side with experienced Arapahoe Philharmonic players, coaching the Civic Youth Orchestra in partnership with Avanti Music Academy in Highlands Ranch, and presenting three collegiate-level competitions, the T. Gordon Parks Concerto Competition and the Vincent C. LaGuardia, Jr. Conducting and Composition Competitions. About the Music Director Devin Patrick Hughes is highly regarded for his exhilarating score interpretations, advocacy for music accessibility and promotion of music of our time. He is concurrently serving as Music Director and Conductor of the Arapahoe Philharmonic and Boulder Symphony, and has established himself as a musical leader in the region through previous positions with the Santa Fe Youth Symphony Association, Denver Young Artists Orchestra, Denver Philharmonic Orchestra and Denver Contemporary Chamber Players. In 2010, Hughes was the only American selected with eleven other finalists in the Arturo Toscanini International Conducting Competition in Parma, Italy. He was recently selected from hundreds of his peers across the globe to compete in the 2017 Solti International Conducting Competition in Hungary. Hughes was a conducting fellow at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen and has conducted ensembles across North America and Europe, including the Winnipeg Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Green Bay Symphony and Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini. More information may be found at www.devinpatrickhughes.com. # # #