Boulder Phil launches virtual season
With COVID still rocking the stability of the arts world, performers are getting creative about how to best deliver their artistry to fans. From transforming rooftops into stages to playing at driveins, musicians continue to seek innovative ways to provide muchneeded entertainment while adhering to the new safety guidelines.
Boulder Phil launches its innovative virtual season today with concerts that were filmed inside Boulder Municipal Airport’s Brungard Aviation hangar.
Reimagined, but every bit as thrilling as prior offerings, this season — curated in collaboration with Zuill Bailey and Simone Dinnerstein — aims to welcome back returning attendees and reach new supporters.
The airport relocated planes to make room for musicians and their instruments, including a 9-foot Steinway grand piano, during recording sessions.
Kicking things off will be the pre-recorded “Vivaldi Recomposed,” today at 7:30 p.m.
Keeping the economic struggle of many in mind, organizers have provided reasonable pricing for all seven concerts to allow the music to reach a broader audience. Fans can gather family together and purchase a ticket for the virtual viewing at $40 per show.
Household memberships, that
give access to all initiate concerts and other opportunities to engage, start at $180. A higher-priced household package includes complimentary champagne and desserts on closing night and the chance to select priority seating for Boulder Phil’s next season.
The Phil’s 3 p.m. Dec. 13 holiday concert, featuring Christmas and Hanukkah tunes by spirited brass and percussion sections, will be offered free of charge.
We caught up with Boulder Phil’s music director and conductor Michael Butterman to find out what inspired this unusual venue choice, what it has been like helping an arts organization with a 60-year history adjust to the new normal and what folks can expect from the upcoming varied season.
Daily Camera: I really love the idea of recording these performances in such a unique location and then allowing people access from the comfort of their homes. What inspired you to want to have them done in an aviation hangar?
Michael Butterman: We wanted to find a location that was as close to outdoors as possible — for maximum dispersal of (sanitizing) aerosols — without actually being outdoors, where direct exposure to the elements, sun and rain, in particular, could damage instruments. We had held a couple of fundraisers in a hangar in Broomfield in the past, so it seemed reasonable to see whether there might be a hangar in Boulder that would be able to host us. But even our most optimistic hopes were exceeded by the reception we were given by Brungard Aviation. They essentially allowed us to turn their hangar into a musical sound stage for two weeks, full of cameras, stage lights, a concert Steinway and lots of musicians — all masked and distanced, of course. It was a nearly perfect solution for these unusual times.
DC: The first show will be available to stream on Oct. 17. What can folks expect from “Vivaldi Recomposed?”
MB: “Vivaldi Recomposed” is a program that reflects the thinking behind our entire 2020-21 “Reimagined” season. The concert experience is being transformed with unique camera shots that take the viewer inside the orchestra and lots of supplemental video material — interviews, captioned comments, behind-the-scenes footage — and, likewise, the music that we are playing has been chosen because it, too, has been adapted in various ways. Vivaldi’s iconic “Four Seasons,” for example, is presented in a fascinating redux by post-minimalist composer Max Richter, who makes ample use of the familiar music but transforms it just enough to keep the listener surprised. Britten’s “Simple Symphony” is a reworking for string orchestra of delightful piano pieces that the composer wrote when he was barely a teenager. Jessie Montgomery’s “Strum” was written for string quartet, and later expanded for string orchestra, which is the version we’re presenting.
DC: It’s lovely that with household memberships folks will have a chance to engage with you pre-concert. Why was it important to offer this personal aspect during these times?
MB: There’s no doubt that the most important element of live performance — the interpersonal connection that audience members feel with the performers and with each other — is hard to replicate when everyone is watching from their respective homes. Still, by holding pre-concert Zoom sessions, at 7 p.m., with information about the program and interviews with the performers, we hope that our audience can both enhance their appreciation of the upcoming concert as well as receive some of that “lobby experience” that would otherwise be missing. Patrons at certain levels are also receiving hors d’oeuvres ahead of time to help re-create a bit of that elegant night-out feeling.
DC: On April 24, 2021 you will be collaborating with Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance once again. Was this already filmed? Will it be pieced together? Would love to know more.
MB: First, we fully expect to reschedule the “Butterfly Lovers Concerto” from last spring that had to be postponed. But I absolutely wanted to include the kind of artistic synergy that has become a hallmark of our programs in this virtual season, too. So we will be working with both Frequent Flyers and the CU Department of Theater on two programs in April. At this point, it had not been determined whether the collaborations will take place in the same space, in real time, or whether it will be necessary to record the musical elements first and then virtually superimpose the dancing and acting in those two programs. The decision will depend on public health conditions in the spring. Naturally, I hope that we will be able to record the performances all together and even that it might be possible to include a small, in-person audience, especially if we were to use the hangar venue once more.
DC: When do you think fans can expect in-person shows by the Boulder Phil? Are you hoping to offer any outdoor, socially distanced performances in the near future?
MB: We have, in fact, been presenting chamber ensembles from the Phil outdoors around Boulder since the early summer — on the Hill, outside assisted living facilities, etc. We hope that by the late spring it may be safe to offer some larger, orchestral performances in outdoor settings. We certainly hope that the 2021-22 season will see a return to our traditional home in Macky Auditorium. At the moment, of course, we simply have to stand by and be ready to adapt to changing circumstances.