“Breaking down barriers between the orchestra and its audience through children’s programs and school engagements,” Hughes hopes to “foster this generation’s love for classical music, sharing the transformative power of music’s emotional resonance.”
Whether he is conducting his version of the Three B’s, Beethoven, Brahms, & Brittany, Hughes substitutes contemporary American composer Brittany Green for Bach, or Epic Love: From Shakespeare to Superheroes, which includes Verdi’s La Traviata alongside Rogers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma, Hughes is ever innovating to bring his beloved symphonic music to the masses.
Watching a flower bloom on Sesame Street to the strains of Vivaldi is how Devin Patrick Hughes recalls his first musical epiphany, at age three. His affinity for the symphonic model blossomed in college where he organized his first orchestra while studying music and pre-med. He would go on to co-found the Boulder Symphony—one among a cadre of young conductors carrying their craft forward in new, innovative ways. He spoke with us about the resonance of music, and its power to uplift a community and transform lives.
Conductor Devin Patrick Hughes and musicians from the Boulder Symphony perform Conni Ellisor’s Tres Danzas de Video on 9News’s Colorado & Company. Hughes discusses the upcoming Fidget Concert for a neurodiverse audience including those with developmental and intellectual disabilities, along with the upcoming West Side Story performance, Boulder Symphony Music Academy, and the upcoming July 4 Spectacular.
“One of the things that the orchestra has not done as much of in the past is new music and world premieres,” said Devin Patrick Hughes, the organization’s third music director and conductor.
“I think people have been saying classical music is dying for the past 100 years, but it’s not like that at all,” Hughes said. “It’s an incredibly vibrant art form. We go into schools and give free tickets for any kid who’s a music student to come into the concert.”
Symphonic music, both new and old, can stir our souls in ways that I believe no other music is capable. One of the most exciting aspects of orchestral music is that it was not created in a vacuum. Composers like Beethoven and Dvořák were common folks who worked their butts off and reacted to the events, culture, and dilemmas of their times by creating art that would continue to influence societies and stir our souls centuries after their deaths. In our times composers like Caroline Shaw and Mason Bates reflect and reimagine life today, where we are, and where we’re going with their musical visions.
I think some people would just assume if you’ve got a creative individual, a composer, a writer, that the wonderful thing about these people is that they can create, they can produce something out of nothing. I would argue, most of us folks who consider ourselves creative, are sculpting down from something that already exists virtually in our imagination. You cut away all these things. It’s all about what you don’t want: you cut away, cut away, cut away. And then what you have left is your art.
Soon your would-be musical phenom will have a chance to train with a real professional from the Boulder Symphony.
The lessons, provided by orchestra members, create revenue both for musicians and the symphony. They are available to anyone over the age of 4, but are mainly catered to school-aged kids and teens.
Hughes said the academy can serve to build upon skills that students learn as part of the school band or other musical activities.
The academy is designed to “give younger musicians an all encompassing experience,” he said. “… If a kid decides they want to become a musician or a music teacher, that’s one of the greatest things we can see evolve from the students we work with.”
While 2020 presented numerous obstacles for arts organizations, Boulder Symphony managed to deliver several in-person performances.
“This will be a symphonic concert, the same great composers, the same great performers, with one exception — about half of the orchestra will be sitting this one out,” said Devin Patrick Hughes, conductor of Boulder Symphony. “The only performers this week are our string players and then our solo harpist, Hillary Schefter. This is for the safety of all participants, so we can ensure everyone will be masked and not playing particle-dispersing instruments — winds, brass, et cetera.”
No holiday would be complete without a proper soundtrack and Boulder Symphony has teamed up with the Arts in the Park series to offer a Fourth of July show featuring nostalgic favorites and fresh works with plenty of edge.
“We’re so thrilled to bring to life Gregory’s ‘Dream N. the Hood,’ for rapper and orchestra,” Hughes said. “The piece features extended techniques — paperclips rattling on the violin string, glissandos imitating a siren, playing behind the bridge on strings, musicians’ improvisations — that we come to expect from Gregory’s art, but also it carries a message of oneness, equality and liberty, with the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.”
I am so excited today to be speaking with the globetrotting mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung. One of the most exciting artists of her generation, Michelle appears frequently with the world’s top orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sao Paulo Symphony, and the Concertgebouw orchestra.
I’m excited to share with you my interview with the fantastic composer and educator Edgar Girtain. I had a blast recording this interview, and I’m sure you’ll get a kick out Edgar’s passions and insights. I wanted to give all my listeners a heads up on this episode that there is some more colorful language and a depiction of a historical murder during the show. So if you have kids in the room or may find this content at all offensive, you may want make necessary adjustments. That being said, I hope you enjoy the interview!
The highly regarded maestro Devin Patrick Hughes is Music Director and Conductor of the Boulder Symphony and Arapahoe Philharmonic, and Arts & Culture Commissioner for the City of Boulder. The maestro’s mission is to make symphonic music more universally assessable to all walks of life. Using his platform to showcase new music created by minority demographics, he incorporates diversity by targeting people who don’t know they love symphonic music. Hughes can also be heard on One Symphony, a new podcast amplifying the voices of composers and other artistic entrepreneurs.
