Santa’s on the way to bring the enchantment of the holiday season to life as the Arapahoe Philharmonic, the Symphony of the Rockies proudly announces its much-anticipated Holly Jolly Singalong Concert. This festive event promises an extraordinary celebration for families and friends alike, offering an enchanting mash-up of holiday favorites and creating joy, warmth, and timeless musical memories.

The concerts will occur at Newman Center for the Performing Arts on December 16, 2023, at 2 pm and 4 pm. Admission is free and open to the public, inviting music enthusiasts of all ages to join the merriment and experience the season's magic.

The concert is part of the Arapahoe Philharmonic’s Discovery Concert Series, created by Conductor Devin Patrick Hughes. It is designed to bring a new generation of young concertgoers and their families to experience the orchestra.

BOULDER — Love of music and passion for performance are usually sufficient to sustain a small community orchestra or concert band.

Musicians who have day jobs or academic pursuits are often willing to accept their volunteer status and enjoy the non-material rewards of putting together music programs for a local stage.

When the Boulder Symphony’s board of directors and chief administrator decided their needs were greater than that, they looked to their musicians, seeking commitment from them in a new pursuit — a revenue generator — that would help stabilize the orchestra’s footing.

Thus, with a name change, funding approval from the orchestra’s board and an enthusiastic “yes” from musicians, the innovative Boulder Symphony & Music Academy was born.

Erin Patterson, principal cellist of the Boulder Symphony will step forward as soloist with the orchestra Friday evening for a concert under director Devin Patrick Hughes.

Patterson will play Dance for cello and orchestra by English composer Anna Clyne. Other works on the program will be Sibelius’s Finlandia and the Symphony No. 2 in E minor by Rachmaninoff.

Join Artistic Director Devin Hughes (in the photo) the Boulder Symphony & Music Academy, and the Northern Arapaho Eagle Society as they record a new and inspiring reimagined soundtrack for "The Covered Wagon” (87 min), an epic 1923 silent film about settlers traveling in wagon trains from Missouri to Oregon. The pioneers encounter conflicts with Arapaho along the way.

The music retells the story from a tribal perspective and reverses negative Native American stereotypes perpetuated by popular media spanning three centuries. The Arapaho Redux provides a safe space for diverse and collaborative voices to support the Arapaho people as they pass on the tribal language and ceremonies to their children.

The Boulder Symphony, a self-described “community focused orchestra” that began as a community orchestra and has grown into a larger organization that includes a Music Academy for young students, opens its 2023–24 concert season Friday with a concert featuring guitarist Trace Bundy.

The program, under the direction of Devin Patrick Hughes, includes works from Bundy, the Beatles, Leonard Cohen and U2, among others, arranged for the orchestra by John Clay Allen. A member of the faculty at Metropolitan State University in Denver, Allen is also the composer-in-residence with the Boulder Symphony. The world premiere of his Eroica Forgotten is also part of the program for Friday’s concert.

Boulder Symphony & Music Academy announces a night of timeless elegance and rhythm, set against the backdrop of the Roaring 20s. Mark your calendars for September 8 at 6:00 pm, as we transport you to an era of opulence, music, and style at the dazzling Rembrandt Yard in downtown Boulder.

BS&MA’s upcoming annual fundraiser is 1920s themed, and costumes are encouraged! There will be a live jazz quartet, entertainment, and swing dancing classes. Black Belly is providing food, and there will be a mixologist serving era-appropriate cocktails sponsored by Boulder Spirits and Suerte Tequila, along with beer donated by Avery Brewing. The Ritz, a local costume shop, is providing a mannequin dressed in a Roaring 20s apparel as decor. Boulder Swing Dance has generously donated swing dance lessons. Most importantly, Rembrandt Yard has donated its stunning event space, making this fundraiser possible!

Boulder Symphony concert: Join Boulder Symphony & conductor Devin Patrick Hughes to celebrate July Fourth with symphonic classics, from Copland to Bernstein to Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” at the historic Boulder Bandshell. Also featured is John Williams’ music from “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones,” as well as other fun cinematic classics. There will be drinks and wood-fired pizza available for purchase; 7 p.m. Tuesday, Boulder Bandshell, 1212 Canyon Blvd., Boulder; $5-$15; bouldersymphony.org.

Arapahoe Philharmonic musicians and conductor Devin Patrick Hughes perform on Denver’s 9News on Colorado & Company.

The Boulder Symphony and Music Academy, in partnership with the Jared Music Foundation, is providing 22 scholarships to Boulder County students for a year of private music lessons.

Students awarded a scholarship are taught how to sing or play an instrument by musicians in the Boulder Symphony through the Boulder Symphony Music Academy.

With another 18 students on the wait list, the foundation also is raising money to cover additional scholarships. Or, donors can sponsor students individually for $1,500. To donate, go to jaredmusic.org/support-bsma.

Boulder Symphony Executive Director Andrew Krimm said the goal is to make the symphony more accessible, especially to people of color.

It’s not Clint Eastwood, but it is the local Sheriff of Musical Harmony.

The “Curiosity Concert,” programmed for children and families, will feature classical, pop and movie music associated with the West, including Rossini’s Overture to William Tell,, the “Hoe-Down” from Aaron Copland’s ballet Rodeo, and Johnny  Cash’s “Get Rhythm.” The concert’s plot features the loser of the orchestra’s recent “Best Conductor in the West” contest derailing the concert and taking the orchestra hostage. It will be up to the Sherriff of Musical Harmony to re-establish order in the concert hall.

The symphony will perform its Christmas concert, “Holidays at the Movies” this Saturday at the Idaho Falls Civic Center for the Performing Arts at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. The show will consist of music taken from classic holiday films, including “Home Alone,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” and “Frozen.” (Click here for tickets.)

Devin Hughes, the show’s conductor, said that this concert will remind the audience how much of a role symphonic film music plays in all our lives, even at Christmastime. 

“So the concept behind this performance was that we kind of tried to put together all the classic (Christmas) film scores people think about all the time,” said Hughes. “‘Home Alone’ is a masterpiece and (its composer) John Williams, who in 1977 did ‘Star Wars’ then ‘Indiana Jones’ and then ‘Harry Potter’ – he’s in our ears all the time. More people would probably recognize the ‘Harry Potter’ theme than ‘Beethoven’s 5th’.”

The Boulder Symphony is tackling Tchaikovsky's dramatic Symphony No. 4and Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini — performed by a very special guest.

Shangru Du is from Wuhan, China, he is the 2022 International Keyboard Odyssiad & Festival Competition winner, who just graduated from Julliard.

Devin Patrick Hughes, the music director and conductor of the Boulder Symphony, says he selected Tchaikovsky’s Fourth for the program as a great example of the composer's work.

"Tchaikovsky's Four is a great masterwork with so many kind of layers emotionally, historically and just from a performance standpoint,” Hughes said. “I think Tchaikovsky knows how to take the listener on an emotional rollercoaster because that's the life that Tchaikovsky lived.”

On Saturday, December 10th, the holidays arrive at the Idaho Falls Symphony, and we have fun plans for the whole family! Enjoy Holidays at the Movies as a matinee Family Concert or as an evening performance, with programs catered to the different audiences. Music is part of what sets the scene and drives our nostalgia for classic movies, and Guest Conductor Devin Patrick Hughes infuses every score with tangible energy.

Boulder Symphony joins Claudia Garofalo on Colorado & Company on 9 News to discuss the Curiosity Concert October 29, Treasure of Sound, with conductor Devin Patrick Hughes, writer & singer Dana Vachharajani, Symphony musician Tina Herod, and Longmont Symphony musicians Nate Bonin & Joseph Lee.

Devin Patrick Hughes, music director and conductor for Arapahoe Philharmonic, has curated a musical event perfect for the spooky season. “The Haunting Concert Hall” will take place Friday at Lone Tree Arts Center. (Arapahoe Philharmonic/Courtesy photo) Attendees are encouraged to get in on the Halloween action by donning their best imaginative get-ups. “We are looking for originality and execution in the costume contest,” Hughes said. Best overall will receive a trophy and four tickets to Arapahoe Phil’s December concert, “Holiday Classics.” Runners-up will receive a trophy and an Arapahoe Philharmonic coffee mug.

Patrick Orr — winner of the International Keyboard Odyssiad and Festival’s annual piano concerto competition — will play Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.” “This also features the ‘Dies Irae,’ or day of reckoning, when judgment is cast upon all of us, and composers have used this musical idea for centuries to invoke the specter of mortality,” Hughes said.

Violinists Jackson Bailey & Laura Johnson, violist Heidi Snyder, cellist Jacob Martin, and bassist Domi Edson perform selections from Bernard Herrmann’s Psycho Suite on Colorado & Company, conducted by Devin Patrick Hughes, in anticipation of the Arapahoe Philharmonic’s Haunting in the Concert Hall at Lone Tree Arts Center.

Arapahoe Philharmonic, led by Devin Patrick Hughes — who also serves as the conductor for Boulder Symphony — is embracing the macabre mood with “The Haunting Concert Hall.”

The show — that will feature songs from iconic movies, such as Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells” from “The Exorcist” — will take place Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Lone Tree Arts Center, south of Denver.

Tickets are $12-$37. There is also an option to livestream the show.

“I love showcasing the orchestra with all different kinds of genres and music,” Hughes said. “The show was created around the idea of music that scares us and concepts that are on the darker side of things. This can be found both in the standard classical repertoire, like Rachmaninoff and Berlioz, and, naturally, also in the horror film genre.”

Boulder Symphony brings the Force: Hear the Boulder Symphony bring the Star Wars Universe to life with music spanning four decades, with John Williams’ epic scores.

The Symphony musicians performed in small groups throughout the garage as guests toured the car collection. The event culminated when all of the musicians gathered together and were joined by guest artist, vocalist Carol Calkins, who has performed in a number of chamber groups and many operas. Boulder Symphony board member Doyle Albee spoke to the gathered guests thanking Tebo for the venue, along with conductor Devin Patrick Hughes.