AN INTIMATE EVENING WITH LEANN RIMES AND YOUR COLORADO SYMPHONY
LEANN RIMES, vocalist
CHRISTOPHER DRAGON, conductor
Saturday, September 28, 2024 at 7:30pm Boettcher Concert Hall
CONCERT RUN TIME IS APPROXIMATELY 1 HOUR AND 30 MINUTES. WITH NO INTERMISSION.
FIRST TIME TO THE SYMPHONY? SEE PAGE 37 OF THIS PROGRAM FOR FAQ’S TO MAKE YOUR EXPERIENCE GREAT!
PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY
LeAnn Rimes is an international multi-platinum selling acclaimed singer and ASCAP award-winning songwriter. She has sold more than 48 million units globally, won 2 Grammy® Awards; 12 Billboard Music Awards; 2 World Music Awards; 3 Academy of Country Music Awards; 2 Country Music Association Awards and one Dove Award. At 14, Rimes won “Best New Artist” making her the youngest solo artist to take home a Grammy® Award, and at 15, she became the first country artist to win “Artist of the Year” at the Billboard Music Awards.
In 2022, LeAnn was presented with the prestigious ASCAP Golden Note Award, which is an award presented to genre-spanning songwriters, composers and artists who have achieved extraordinary career milestones.
Out of the 63 singles she has released throughout her expansive career, LeAnn’s ballad “How Do I Live” holds the record as Billboard’s Hot 100 all-time #1 hit by a female artist and currently ranks #6 on Billboard’s “Greatest of All Time: Hot 100 Songs” list. 15 of her multi-genre singles are top10 hits, including “Can’t Fight the Moonlight,” which went #1 in 11 countries.
The last couple of years have been quite a resurgence for LeAnn. In 2022, the world-renowned singer had a big year including the release of her 19th album god’s work (EverLe Records via Thirty Tigers/ The Orchard). The album, which features a roster of accomplished artists including Ziggy Marley, Mickey Guyton, Aloe Blacc, Ben Harper, and more, was listed as #9 on Variety’s “The Best Albums of 2022.” They said: “You won’t find a richer collection of melodic writing on any album released this year, with the twists and turns that maybe only someone capable of all that virtuosic vocalizing could think to take a set of songs into.”
She performed songs from the project on national shows including LIVE With Kelly and Ryan and TODAY. In April of the same year, LeAnn headlined an episode of the iconic music series CMT Crossroads entitled LeAnn Rimes & Friends alongside Mickey Guyton, Carly Pearce, Ashley McBryde, and Brandy Clark, who helped commemorate Rimes’ career and recognize the path she blazed forward for women in all genres.
LeAnn also served as the inspiration judge on the discovery+ competition series, Meet Your Makers Showdown, alongside Chrissy Metz and Mark Montano in November 2021 and won season four of FOX’s The Masked Singer, with Entertainment Weekly stating that she delivered "... the most beautiful performance in the history of The Masked Singer.”
In honor of the 2019 Record Store Day, the Grammy-winning superstar unveiled her firstever LIVE recording as an exclusive vinyl release titled Rimes: Live at Gruene Hall where Rimes celebrated music of all genres. And during the 2018 holiday season she starred and served as an Executive Producer in Hallmark’s It’s Christmas, Eve, which earned the highest TV original movie
debut to-date for the channel premiering to over 4.3 million viewers. Earlier that year, Rimes revealed a new EP for her fans titled Re-Imagined that featured five new versions of some of her record-breaking hits, including an epic duet with the music icon Stevie Nicks. In 2017, LeAnn released Remnants, which debuted at #4 on Billboard’s Independent Album Chart, peaked at #3 on iTunes ® overall charts in its first week, garnered two #1 Billboard Dance hits with “Long Live Love” and “LovE is LovE is LovE,” and one Top 5 hit with “Love Line.” Additionally, for her Remnants UK Tour, she joined Elton John at the historic Hyde Park in London.
Passionate about using her voice to help heal the world, LeAnn was honored with the Ally of Equality Award by the Human Rights Campaign for her over 20 years of support of equal rights, the 2019 HOPE Award for Depression Advocacy, and 2009 ACM Humanitarian Award, among other recognitions. She continues to channel her voice in new ways, releasing CHANT: The Human & The Holy (EverLe Records / Thirty Tigers) in 2020, which spent 5 weeks at #1 on iTunes New Age Chart, as well as her iHeartRadio mental health and wholeness podcast, Wholly Human, that brings her lifestyle blog, Soul of EverLe, to life. Wholly Human, which currently has three seasons, previously reached #2 on iTunes Health & Fitness Chart, placed in the Top 35 overall for podcasts worldwide and was named as one of the 15 best mental health podcasts that educate and empower listeners by Good Housekeeping
Australian conductor Christopher Dragon is the Music Director of the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra, newly appointed Music Director of the Greensboro Symphony and is the Resident Conductor of the Colorado Symphony. He joined the Colorado Symphony in the 2015/2016 Season as Associate Conductor – a position he held for four years. For three years prior, Dragon held the inaugural position of Assistant Conductor with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, which gave him the opportunity to work closely with Principal Conductor Asher Fisch.
Dragon has a versatile portfolio ranging from live-to-picture performances including Nightmare Before Christmas, Toy Story and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, a wide variety of collaborations with artists such as the Wu-Tang Clan, Cynthia Erivo and Joshua Bell, to standard and contemporary orchestral repertoire such as Danny Elfman’s Percussion Concerto; all areas of which he has become highly sought after. Christopher has become known for his charisma, high energy and affinity for a good costume, consistently delivering unforgettable performances that has made him an audience favourite.
Recent highlights include his debut with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, his German debut with the WDR Funkhausorchester, performances of Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton with Danny Elfman reprising the role of Jack Skellington and historic performances with Nathaniel Rateliff at Walt Disney Concert Hall and David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center. Upcoming debuts include the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Nasvhille Symphony and the LA Philharmonic.
Christopher is highly sought after as a guest conductor and has worked with the San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Philharmonic, Modesto Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfônica de Porto Alegre and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. In Australia, he has guest conducted the Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and West Australian Symphony Orchestras. His 2015 debut performance at the Sydney Opera House with John Pyke and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra was released on album by ABC Music and won an ARIA the following year.
He has also conducted at numerous festivals including the Breckenridge and Bangalow Music Festivals, with both resulting in immediate re-invitations. At the beginning of 2016 Dragon conducted Wynton Marsalis’ Swing Symphony as part of the Perth International Art Festival alongside Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.
Christopher began his conducting studies in 2011 and was a member of the prestigious Symphony Services International Conductor Development Program in Australia under the guidance of course director Christopher Seaman. He has also studied with numerous distinguished conductors including Leonid Grin, Paavo and Neeme Jarvi at the Jarvi Summer Festival, Fabio Luisi at the Pacific Music Festival and conducting pedagogue Jorma Panula.