Author: Marc Shulgold Special to The Denver Gazette
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Bill Hill: carrying a steady beat into retirement
Over in a corner of Bill Hill’s living room sits a battered old marching drum. Nowadays, his 2-year-old granddaughter Roselyn loves to give it a whack. Grampa did the same – back when he was 4 years old. “Drumming was just something I always loved to do,” he said in his resonant North Carolinian drawl.…
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Lang Lang to headline 2025-26 Colorado Symphony season
In announcing its 2025-26 season, the Colorado Symphony has finally cemented its long-running relationship with Peter Oundjian. The Toronto-born conductor now steps on the podium as (drum roll) music director. Oundjian has held titles here dating back to 2003 — starting as the orchestra’s principal guest conductor, then moving up to principal conductor. At last, he…
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Opera Colorado cautiously optimistic about its future
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How are things with Opera Colorado, as its current roller-coaster season continues its bumpy ride? That depends. At first glance, it doesn’t look good, as departing general and artistic director Greg Carpenter acknowledges. “The budget for this season began at $7.6 million, but we found that was not sustainable, so we had to make changes,”…
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Colorado Ballet presents an erotic ballet about a legendary lover
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Casanova. The name echoes through the ages. Even today, a notorious ladies man earns that nickname from jealous buddies. But the remarkable life of Giacomo Casanova (1725-98) was about more than a few hundred amorous conquests, noted his English biographer Ian Kelly. “He wrote 42 books, eight opera libretti (texts), he spoke six languages, traveled…
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An American composer finds her roots in Peru
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Gabriela Lena Frank knows who she is. It just takes a while for the Berkeley-based composer to put it into words. During a video interview, she defined herself as “a hearing-impaired, multi-racial Latina, daughter of a South American immigrant, daughter of a Jewish man.” But that’s only part of the story. Her mother is actually…
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Central City Opera comes bouncing back
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Last season, Central City Opera was a mess. Troubles with the union, a threatened walk-out by stage directors, a mid-season departure by the executive director. A mess. But the three productions made it through. The news is good this year, said Scott Finlay, president and CEO. And he has the numbers to prove it, as…
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Hair’s the thing: Two braided tales of ‘Samson and Delilah’
Here’s some quirky timing that’s too delicious to ignore: Over at the glitzy downtown Ellie Caulkins Opera House this weekend, the Biblical spectacle of Samson and Delilah will unfold with a cast of seasoned opera singers and, in a famous orgy scene, a barely clad group of slithering dancers. At the same time, squeezed into…
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Colorado Ballet’s jazzy work about mountain climbing
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A long, exhausting day of rehearsal had finally ended at Colorado Ballet’s upstairs studio in the Santa Fe arts district, as a couple dozen dancers gathered their belongings and caught their breaths. But instead of heading right for the showers, they assembled around the diminutive young woman who had just spent the last few hours…
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Central City Opera’s new artistic director
Following a tumultuous 2023 summer season, it’s perhaps with a sense of relief that Central City Opera administrators view the hiring this week of Alison Moritz as artistic director as “a pivotal moment” in the company’s history. So said board Chair Sonny Wiegand — and Moritz agreed. “We want to bring the (Central City) Opera House…
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Jekyll and Hyde as a Ballet? A Strange Case Indeed
Val Caniparoli has always been a fan of film noir. “I loved those dark, scary stories,” the renowned choreographer recalled. “They always stayed in my mind. Years later, when it came to things like Jekyll and Hyde, I knew I could do it.” Wait. Did he mean turning it into a ballet? Yes he did.…