2020-21 REIMAGINED
Igor Stravinsky’s “The Solidier’s Tale” represented a musical revolution of sorts when it debuted in 1918. The suite, scored minimally for one dancer, three narrators and only seven instruments, wasn’t nearly as artistically charged as the composer’s previous work, “The Rite of Spring,” a ballet scored for a full orchestra. That dissonant, iconoclastic work famously sparked riots when it debuted in Paris in 1913, and permanently secured Stravinsky a reputation as a creative firebrand.
The real upheaval of “The Soldier’s Tale” wasn’t in its size or scope, but rather in what it represented for its composer. The suite revealed a different side of Stravinsky, one that was more thoughtful, meditative and minimal. “The Soldier’s Tale” proved that the Russian composer wasn’t only about bombast and revolution.
That creative evolution came would likely never have come about if not for a global pandemic that ravaged the world in 1918, one that carried clear parallels to the COVID-19 crisis in 2020.
“Stravinsky wrote the ‘Soldier’s Tale’ in the midst of the Spanish Influenza pandemic. Composers and orchestras were having to produce music in much smaller venues, for much smaller ensembles,” noted Michael Butterman, Music Director for the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra. “‘It was so different from what the composer had written only a few years earlier. Stravinsky adapted his style for the demands of a different world.”
It’s fitting that the piece is featured in the Boulder Philharmonic’s upcoming season, a program that now carries the fitting title “2020-21 Reimagined.” Like other arts organizations across the globe, Butterman and the rest of the creative brass at the Boulder Philharmonic have had to reimagine their approach to playing and presenting music, a model that goes back to 1958.
In lieu of performances by a full orchestra in the grandiose setting of Macky Hall on the University of Colorado’s Boulder campus, the Philharmonic will offer audiences a series of seven pre-recorded concerts taped in the airy and COVID-SAFE setting of the Brungard Aviation year history of the Boulder Phil. Before the upheaval of COVID began in earnest in March, the orchestra was planning on a season packed with the standard fare of large-scale orchestral works anchored by guest artists and performed by a 65- to 75-member ensemble.
Just as Stravinsky had to adjust his composition style to meet the safety demands of his time, so the Boulder Philharmonic had to reimagine its approach to music.
“We reasoned that the safest thing to do would be to find a space where we could record some of these programs relatively early in the fall,” Butterman explained. “We’ve turned this airplane hangar into a soundstage of sorts … We were essentially going to be presenting concerts in a new way.”
The shifts will come in program selection itself, and in the way the cameras capture the performances.
In addition to “The Soldier’s Tale,” the lineup features works that reflect the demands of the moment. The season kicks off in October with Max Richter’s “Vivaldi
Recomposed,” a work that reimagines “The Four Seasons” in an intimate and immediate way.
The following concerts feature guest performances by cellist Zuill Bailey and pianist Simone Dinnerstein. Both artists are recording multiple concerts with the Boulder Phil, performances that include a selection of pieces by composers running the gamut from Bach to Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Taafe Zwilich to Mendelssohn to Ragtime pioneer Scott Joplin.
“When we decided to create this performance bubble for a couple of weeks, it made more sense to us to bring in two artists who would perform multiple concerts,” Butterman said. “It’s been a nice way to collaborate with our guest artists.”
The season will also feature a holiday concert, and a performance featuring composer Korine Fujiwara’s tribute to the female artist Camille Claudel that also includes dancers from the Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance troupe.
Every recorded concert will feature an immersive, immediate approach to filming and editing, Butterman noted.
“We decided not to do live streams but to record them ahead of time so we could make creative choices about what angles to focus on,” Butterman said. “We’re reimagining the experience.”
Subscribers can sign up for a single concert for $40, or opt into larger packages that include supplementary videos and goodies on opening nights. Those options run from $180 to $500.
“The larger packages give viewers the option to watch the performance up to two weeks after its debut,” said Boulder Phil spokeswoman Maggie Li. “It also includes complimentary hors d’oeuvres, champagne, pre-concert conversations with Michael on the concert night, discounts on music education courses and first priority seat selection if we can go back to PRE-COVID performances.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has also pushed the orchestra to reimagine how it conducts its community outreach programs. Since 2009, the orchestra has spearheaded a Discovery Engagement Program in area schools, an initiative that’s featured in-school visits by musicians and conductors that reaches about 6,000 students per season.
COVID restrictions have forced the orchestra to rethink how it reaches the community’s youngest and most impressionable music lovers.
“We are creating ‘Meet the Instrument’ and ‘Make the Instrument’ videos by members of the orchestra and producing guided listening videos of our archived performances,” said Sara Parkinson, Director of Education and Community Engagement for the Boulder Phil. “Because of the full pivot to online learning and our commitment to supporting our teachers, we have created a ‘Storytime with the Phil’ series on our Youtube channel, which is an online read-aloud series of books about music.”
These programs will run along with “Early Explorers,” a cooperative music initiative with Boulder County Head Start and Integral Steps for 3-6 year-olds that will run at the Head Start Dagny Center at the Arapahoe Center YMCA, and “Emerging Composers” an online program for high school musicians.
All of these changes reflect a new way of connecting with the community, just as the prerecorded concerts reflect a different mode of reaching the traditional classical music audience. Butterman sees potential in that shift, a possibility for inspiration that’s helped humanity make it through history’s most challenging moments.
“For me, art is a transcendent experience. I’m able to go to another place, a different state of mind when I hear something that’s profoundly moving,” Butterman said. “More than ever, we need a way to escape circumstances that feel oppressive; we need a reprieve from the darkness that one may feel in the middle of a pandemic … I hope these concerts give us a chance to bring the audience into the experience in a new way.”
Boulder Philharmonic’s new season is here! Curated by Michael Butterman with the Phil’s two Artistic Partners, Zuill Bailey and Simone Dinnerstein, the reimagined season of seven beautifully crafted concerts will come to you at home. Every program in our new season exhibits an element of re-invention or adaptation.