While we wait for April showers to bring Colorado May flowers, concerts across the state offer the perfect way to bide your time. Check out our picks for April classical concerts.
Ars Nova: Science/Fantasy
April 4-6, various times and Denver metro locations
Steampunk inspired? Yes please. Ars Nova’s next adventure blends victorian era composers and contemporary song. Eric Whitacre and Philip Glass meet Hubert Parry and Robert Lucas Pearsall.
And if you feel like donning your steampunk top hat covered in gears? Get a 2-for-1 discount for attending in costume. Unsure about what Steampunk actually is? Ars Nova recently published a conversation about it.
Orpheus Pagan Chamber Choir: Hail Music! The Splendors of Song
April 5, 11 a.m., Washington Park United Methodist Church
Spend a Saturday morning with the Orpheus Pagan Chamber Choir for a friends and family springtime ode to music concert. Vaughan Williams’s “Serenade to Music” is the program's centerpiece, surrounded by the songs of Henry Purcell, John Blow and several contemporary composers.
Broomfield Symphony: Peter and the Wolf
April 6, 3 p.m., Broomfield Auditorium
Take a turn about the orchestra and meet the instruments through “Peter and the Wolf,” Sergei Prokofiev’s “symphonic tale for children.” Plus! Dance Arts Studio takes the stage with the BSO to perform “Winter Floors,” a ballet by Colorado composer Tobias Tenenbaum.
COmpass REsonance: Wheel of Time
April 6, 4 p.m., The Dairy
Boulder Bach Festival and the Dairy Arts Center present CORE’s season finale, featuring the Colorado premiere of conductor Zachary Carrettin’s “Overture for a Changing World.” The program also includes 18th-century Italian composer Maria Teresa Agnesi, Ernest Bloch’s reimagination of a baroque piece and, of course, some Bach! Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 will close out the show.
CPR Classical Presents: Quartetto di Cremona and Basil Vendryes with Friends of Chamber Music
April 9, 7:30 p.m., Newman Center
Quartetto di Cremona stops by Denver during their 25th year to make their FOCM debut. Colorado Symphony violist Basil Vendryes joins the group in a concert that includes Brahms’s String Quintet No. 2, as well as Debussy and Golijov.
Meet Karla Walker in the lobby where you can enter to win tickets to see Andrea Bocelli at Ball Arena.
Denver Pops Orchestra: Denver Pops Goes Epic!
April 12, 4 p.m., Wheat Ridge Center for Music & Arts
Hold on to your hat — the Denver Pops Orchestra’s April concert is all about thrills and excitement. Hear Grieg’s beloved “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” Respighi’s “Pines of Rome” and other beloved masterpieces with an upbeat tempo.
Sphere Ensemble
April 12, 3 p.m., First Universalist Church of Denver
CU Presents on April 15, 7:30 p.m., Grusin Music Hall
Denver’s Sphere Ensemble is keeping busy. Join them for “Music for Motion” on April 12, when they will be presenting a new commission by Colorado composer Carter Pann. On April 19, Sphere Ensemble will close out CU Presents SoundWorks season, a new music series that highlights Colorado music, including new works by student composers. See that at Grusin Hall in Boulder.
Lakewood Symphony: Let it “B”
April 17, 7:30 p.m., Lakewood Cultural Center
We love a good pun! The Lakewood Symphony invites you to “Let it ‘B’” with a Beethoven overture, a suite by Bloch and a Brahms symphony. It’s a packed evening of music filled with emotion.
Englewood Arts: Piano Spectacular
April 19, 2 p.m. Hampden Hall
It’s an intimate afternoon with Ukrainian-American pianist Anna Dmytrenko, winner of the Olga Kern International Piano Competition. Hear favorites from Liszt and Chopin, discover one of Russia’s great composers for the piano (who’s not known well outside of Russia), and hear a work by Ukranian pianist Viktor Kosenko.
CPR Classical Presents: Inside the Orchestra’s Tiny Tots: Animals
April 19, 9:30 & 10:45 a.m., DCSD Legacy Campus
April 26, 9:30 & 10:45 a.m., Tivoli Turnhalle MSU Denver
May 3, 9:30 & 10:30 a.m., Riverdale Regional Park Exhibit
It’s a musical zoo for the whole family. Listen to works inspired by the animal kingdom in morning concerts designed to introduce children to the orchestra through imaginative programming.
You and the kiddos can explore the instruments of the orchestra with an instrument petting zoo and meet CPR Classical’s Jessie Jacobs in the lobby before and after the shows, where she can get you signed up for a drawing to win tickets to see Andrea Bocelli at Ball Arena!
Colorado Symphony: Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with Gabriela Montero
April 25-27, Boettcher Concert Hall
Peter Oundjian conducts a program with two contrasting Russian masterworks. Gabriela Montero will delight with her performance of one of the most performed concertos of all time: Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11 looks back at the struggles and hopes of war victims during the Russian Revolution in 1905.
Sciento Baroque Ensemble: Renaissance Women
April 25-27, various locations
Discover often-overlooked women of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with Sciento Baroque’s spring concert. Add to your music history knowledge with the music of Anna Bon, Rosa Giacinta Badalla, Maddelena Casulana and many others.
Royal Gorge Philharmonic: Great are the Words of Isaiah
April 27, 2 p.m., Saint Michal’s Episcopal Church, Colorado Springs
April 28, 7 p.m., Steeple Events Center, Cañon City
Hear the world premiere of Royal Gorge Philharmonic conductor Gerald Willis’s cantata, “Great are the Words of Isaiah.” Hear a musical setting of the Prophet Isaiah’s words with help from The Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church Choir, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Choir and the United States Air Force Academy Cadet Choir.
Looking Ahead:
Beethoven in the Rockies: Musical Gems
May 4, 2 p.m., First Congregational Church, Greely
Lone Tree Symphony: Rococo and Rhythms
May 9, 7:30 p.m., Lone Tree Arts Center
An Evening with Cynthia Erivo and the Colorado Symphony
May 10, 8 p.m., Boettcher Concert Hall
Baroque Chamber Orchestra: Brandenburgs Plus
May 16-18, various times and locations throughout the Denver metro
Jefferson Symphony: Star Wars Family Concerts
May 18, 1 and 4 p.m., Green Center
Hear CPR Classical by clicking “Listen Live” at the top of this website, or download the Colorado Public Radio app. Listen on your radio to CPR Classical at 88.1 FM in Denver, at radio signals around Colorado. You can also tell your smart speaker to “Play CPR Classical.”
