I love making the orchestra relatable to anyone I meet. I discovered the symphony at the age of 3, and at all the most difficult times in my life, it has given me connection to a greater purpose, a unified world. Music tells us that through anything we face, we are not alone. This is why my life’s work has been centered around sharing this with as many as possible.
Through the work with my amazing orchestras, Boulder Symphony & Music Academy, and Arapahoe Philharmonic: Symphony of the Rockies, I have been fortunate to reach thousands of kids per season with our Discovery and Curiosity concert, where the students get to participate in the plot, songs, dance, and characters in a way that no other orchestra provides. This lays a foundation for participating in culture and the arts for their entire lives.
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.
The Grace Commons Choir will present their annual Christmas Concert with a wonderful variety of seasonal musical selections. They will be joined by musicians from Boulder Symphony, Boulder Symphony Music Academy and conductor Devin Patrick Hughes.
My guest today is the highly-regarded Maestro Devin Patrick Hughes, music director and conductor of the Boulder Symphony and Arapahoe Philharmonic and Arts and Culture Commissioner for the City of Boulder. Throughout his career Hughes shared foundations that nurture the development of young performers, composers, and conductors.
Serving as a guest clinician for school districts across Colorado, the Maestro’s mission is to make symphonic music more universally accessible 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.
In response to Covid-19, Hughes has created multiple programs connecting orchestras to their communities. Partnering with organizations such as Balfour Senior Assisted Living and Community Food Share to produce performances and dinners for both virtually and live. Hughes can be heard on One Symphony, a new podcast amplifying the voices of composers and other artistic entrepreneurs.
“Our goal is to offer an environment in which students of diverse backgrounds and ages have the opportunity to explore their unique musical talents and to bring the best of themselves, their creativity and their intellectual skills to their music and life,” Hughes said.
In addition to money going to support music lessons, Hughes is dedicated to using funds to secure aspiring musicians a chance to partake in the offerings regardless of income. “A portion of all money raised on Colorado Gives Day will go toward the scholarship fund at BSMA,” Hughes said. “As with our orchestra programs, we do not want financial hardship to be a reason someone cannot participate in BSMA.”
“One of the coolest things about arts and cultural organizations in the United States is that we’re supported and owned directly by the voters and taxpayers,” Hughes said. “The people of Colorado have shown time and time again that they want and need the arts in their lives. We are so fortunate to live in a city that values culture and arts and every year Colorado Gives Day proves that.”
The symphony orchestra. Classical instruments. Mozart. Beethoven. Haydn. These are things we are familiar with but may not have any personal contact with. During the past ten years, the Boulder Symphony, led by Devin Patrick Hughes, has been breaking boundaries between the general public and classical music.
Focusing on community outreach, the Boulder Symphony allows those that are unfamiliar with classical music and those that may have been apprehensive about attending the symphony a chance to reconnect with the music and experience it for themselves. Linking up with modern and local composers while still honoring the classics, Maestro Hughes brings the symphony orchestra to all residents of Boulder. Here’s a bit about the conductor directing this movement forward.
Boulder Symphony will perform Remix, a Curiosity Concert on Sunday, October 31 at 3PM. Families are welcome to dress up in their favorite costume, and experience the Symphony with Mozart, Professor Snooty, and Conductor Devin Patrick Hughes.
“We have so much fun putting these concerts together,” commented Boulder Symphony founder and Music Director Devin Patrick Hughes. “We believe everyone deserves access to the most provocative and inspiring aspects of culture, music, and art, and the symphony orchestra is the one place where people of all different backgrounds come together to create a shared experience of storytelling, entertainment, and deep spiritual connection.”
Boulder Symphony's Remix Curiosity Concert: Families are welcome to dress up in their favorite costumes and experience the symphony and Conductor Devin Patrick Hughes. Kids will experience music from Tchaikovsky and Vivaldi to Metallica, Lil Nas X and Harry Potter; 3 p.m. Oct. 31; Grace Commons Church, 1820 15th St., Boulder; bouldersymphony.org.
The board, musicians, and staff transformed the organization into one that could thrive during and after the pandemic. With sustainability at its core, the Arapahoe Phil raised its artistic standards, and in doing so, it is emerging from these unprecedented challenges more robust than ever before.
“We were lucky to continue and expand on the orchestra’s mission to engage, enrich, and inspire by presenting symphonic classics as well as showcasing works by living composers. We were very fortunate to showcase underrepresented artists such as Julia Wolfe, Jenni Brandon, Barbara Harbach, and Jessie Montgomery and present classic works of Antonín Dvořák, Aaron Copland, and Mozart.
We also presented our annual Discovery concert, which featured stories, a play within a concert, and music of all kinds, from Tchaikovsky and Vivaldi to Lil Nas X, Metallica, Harry Potter, and other fun pieces for kids. We also collaborated with groups like Cleo Parker Robinson Dance and Breckenridge Brewery. The finale of our mini-season, which took place from November of 2020 until July 4, 2021, resulted in the first-ever sold-out concert in Arapahoe Philharmonic history, with patriotic tunes, music; from American movies and video games, and fireworks!”
Devin Patrick Hughes credits his father with sparking his love of classical and orchestral music from an early age.
Growing up in Springfield, Ill., Hughes said his father, who died last year at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, traveled to Chicago frequently to “see all the great symphonies.”
“Two of his favorite pieces were Dvorak’s ‘New World Symphony’ and (Bruch’s) ‘Scottish Fantasy,’” Hughes said.
When Hughes, a Colorado-based orchestral and operatic conductor of Irish and Guatemalan descent, was given the opportunity to conduct these two symphonic works for his upcoming music director audition concert for the Salina Symphony, “that sealed the deal for me.”
The Salina Symphony will return to the Stiefel Theatre stage October 3 at 4 p.m. under the baton of Conductor Devin Patrick Hughes. The Symphony’s thrilling season opener will take the audience on a musical journey inspired by American landscapes and culture with Dvořák’s magnificent New World Symphony, featuring one of the most beautiful melodies in all of classical music. The Symphony will also perform Victor Herbert’s rousing American Fantasia and Bruch’s soul-stirring Scottish Fantasy.
Conductor Devin Patrick Hughes and the musicians, staff, and board of Boulder Symphony are excited to bring together the seasons of life, dance, and music for a diverse array of programming that will bring joy and reflection to our audience.
The Four Seasons Recomposed by Max Richter, is a deconstructing and remix-ing of the traditional Vivaldi. The original score gets opened up note-by-note. The addition of the harp and piano to the original score, and the added colors and textures that Richter imbues create a new breath and depth to bring the score into the ears of the contemporary listener. Still highlighted are the bitter cold, and intense heat of Vivaldi’s masterwork.
After an absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the symphony will return to the Stiefel Theatre stage at 4 p.m. Oct. 3.
Devin Patrick Hughes is scheduled to conduct the opening concert. The concert will feature music inspired by American landscapes and culture with Dvořák’s New World Symphony, featuring one of the most beautiful melodies in all of classical music, according to information from the symphony. Additionally, the symphony will perform Victor Herbert’s rousing American Fantasia and Bruch’s soul-stirring Scottish Fantasy. Featured guest artist Siwoo Kim, violinist, is scheduled to perform Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy.
Conductor Devin Patrick Hughes joins Alexis Kenyon on KGNU’s morning magazine podcast.
The Boulder Symphony will host its first performance of the new season this Friday at Grace Commons Church in Boulder. Devin discusses Jerod Tate’s Pisachi, Max Richter’s Four Seasons Recomposed featuring violinist Charles Wetherbee, and Benjamin Britten’s Simple Symphony. They also discuss how the Boulder Symphony kept afloat and thrived during the pandemic.
The new season of the Arapahoe Philharmonic promises to have something for everyone. I find symphonic music to be the most colorful, enriching, and soul-filling medium on the planet! From our classics series’ featuring Galactic Melodies and Myths, Scotch on the Strings, and Maestros of the Classroom, to our pops concerts featuring holiday film scores to Independence Day celebrations, all the way to our world music themed Discovery concerts, on behalf of the musicians, staff, and board of the Arapahoe Phil, I couldn’t be more excited to share with you our performances and welcome you into our family!
“Our outdoor summer concert oversold at Breckenridge Brewery in Littleton,” said Arapahoe Philharmonic Executive Director Corinne Denny, optimistic about the start of a new season, which begins Sept. 17 at 7:30 with “Galactic Melodies and Myths”.
In November, the orchestra will perform at Lone Tree Arts Center. Concerts will include “Scotch on the Strings,” Nov. 5, 7:30 p.m.; “Holidays at the Movies,” Dec. 10, 7:30 p.m.; “Music Around the World: Children's Discovery Concert” on Feb. 22, 2022, 11 a.m.; “Maestros of the Classroom,” April 29, 7:30 p.m. and “Stars and Stripes Forever,” 8 p.m. for Independence Day.
“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.
