Program - Bobby McFerrin with the Colorado Symphony Chorus

2019/20 SEASON PRESENTING SPONSOR:

SPOTLIGHT

2019/20

BOBBY McFERRIN BOBBY McFERRIN, host/conductor WITH MEMBERS OF THE COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS

Saturday, September 7, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.

Boettcher Concert Hall

Selections to be announced from stage

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SOUNDINGS

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PROGRAM 1

SPOTLIGHT BIOGRAPHIES

PHOTO: CAROL FRIEDMAN

BOBBY McFERRIN, host/conductor/vocals For decades Bobby McFerrin has broken all the rules. The 10-time GRAMMY winner has blurred the distinction between pop music and fine art, goofing around barefoot in the world’s finest concert halls, exploring uncharted vocal territory, inspiring a whole new generation of a cappella singers and the beatbox movement. His latest album, spirityouall, is a bluesy, feel-good recording, an unexpected move from the music-industry rebel who singlehandedly redefined the role of the human voice with his a cappella hit “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” his collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma, Chick Corea and the Vienna Philharmonic, his improvising choir Voicestra, and his legendary solo vocal performances.

It’s been the quietest and most polite of revolutions. Bobby McFerrin was always an unlikely pop star. He created a lasting ear-worm of a #1 hit early in his career. Then he calmly went back to pursuing his own iconoclastic musical journey, improvising on national television, singing melodies without words, spontaneously inventing parts for 60,000 choral singers in a stadium in Germany, ignoring boundaries of genre, defying all expectations. Most people don’t know that Bobby came from a family of singers. Bobby’s father, the Metropolitan Opera baritone Robert McFerrin, Sr., provided the singing voice for Sydney Poitier for the film version of Porgy & Bess, and his mother Sara was a fine soprano soloist and voice teacher. Bobby grew up surrounded by music of all kinds. He remembers conducting Beethoven on the stereo at three, hiding under the piano while his father and mother coached young singers, dancing around the house to Louie Armstrong, Judy Garland, Etta Jones and Fred Astaire. He played the clarinet seriously as a child, but he began his musical career as a pianist, at the age of 14. He led his own jazz groups, studied composition, toured with the show band for the Ice Follies, played for dance classes.

Then one day he was walking home and suddenly he understood that he had been a singer all along.

Bobby’s history as an instrumentalist and bandleader is key to understanding his innovative approach to mapping harmony and rhythm (as well as melody) with his voice. “I can’t sing everything at once,” he says, “but I can hint at it so the audience hears even what I don’t sing.” All that pioneer spirit and virtuosity has opened up a great big sky full of new options for singers; so have Bobby’s experiments in multi-tracking his voice (Don’t Worry, Be Happy has seven separate, over-dubbed vocal tracks; Bobby’s choral album VOCAbuLarieS (with Roger Treece) has thousands). But virtuosity isn’t the point. “I try not to “perform” onstage,” says Bobby. “I try to sing the way I sing in my kitchen, because I just can’t help myself. I want audiences to leave the theatre and sing in their own kitchens the next morning. I want to bring audiences into the incredible feeling of joy and freedom I get when I sing. “

PROGRAM 2

C O L O R A D O SY M P H O N Y.O R G

SPOTLIGHT BIOGRAPHIES COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS The 2019/20 Colorado Symphony concert season marks the 36th season of the Colorado Symphony Chorus, celebrating their official 35th Anniversary in the autumn of 2019 with a performance of Verdi’s Requiem. Founded in 1984 by Duain Wolfe at the request of Gaetano Delogu, then the Music Director of the Symphony, the chorus has grown, over the past three decades, into a nationally respected ensemble. This outstanding chorus of 185 volunteers joins the Colorado Symphony for numerous performances (more than 25 this year alone), and radio and television broadcasts, to repeat critical acclaim. The Chorus has performed at noted music festivals in the Rocky Mountain region, including the Colorado Music Festival, the Grand Teton Music Festival and the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, where it has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Dallas Symphony. For over two decades, the Chorus has been featured at the world-renowned Aspen Music Festival, performing many great masterworks under the baton of notable conductors Lawrence Foster, James Levine, Murry Sidlin, Leonard Slatkin, Robert Spano and David Zinman. Among the seven recordings the Chorus has made is a NAXOS release of Roy Harris’s Symphony No. 4, as well as a remarkable recording of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. The Chorus is also featured on a Hyperion release of the Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem and Stephen Hough’s Missa Mirabilis. Most recently, the Colorado Symphony and Chorus has released a world-premiere recording of William Hill’s The Raven. In 2009, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the chorus, Duain Wolfe conducted the chorus on a 3-country, 2-week concert tour of Europe, presenting the Verdi Requiem in Budapest, Vienna, Litomysl and Prague, and in 2016 the chorus returned to Europe for concerts in Paris, Strasbourg and Munich. From Evergreen to Brighton, and Boulder to Castle Rock, singers travel each week to rehearsals and performances in Denver totaling about 80 a year. The Colorado Symphony and Denver community continues to be grateful for the excellence and dedication of this remarkable all-volunteer ensemble. For an audition appointment, visit the symphony website for an on-line sign up form. www.coloradosymphony.org

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PROGRAM 3

SPOTLIGHT BIOGRAPHIES COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS Duain Wolfe, Founding Director and Conductor Mary Louise Burke, Associate Conductor Travis Branam, Taylor Martin, Assistant Conductors Brian Dukeshier, Hsiao-Ling Lin, Danni Snyder, Pianists Eric Israelson, Barbara Porter, Chorus Managers SOPRANO Kim Black Jude Blum Alex Bowen Madeline Brazell Ruth Coberly Sarah Coberly Kerry Cote Claudia Dakkouri Jenifer Gile Susan Graber Lynnae Hinkley Mary Hofmeister Shelley Joy Lisa Kraft Marina Kushnir Dana Linder Cathy Look Rebecca Machusko Erin Montigne Angie Nesbit Kim Pflug Jean O’Nan Barb Porter Donneve Rae Lori Ropa Camilia Schawel Laura Schweitzer Roberta Sladovnik Nicole Stegink Sydney Timme Marcia Walker Karen Wuertz Joan Zisler

PROGRAM 4

ALTO Priscilla Adams Kay Boothe Emily Branam Kim Brown Charlotte Braud-Kern Clair Clauson Jayne Conrad Barb Deck Raleigh Fairchild Susie Frey Daniela Golden Pat Guittar Melissa Holst Ellen Janasko Annette Kim Annie Kolstad Andrea LeBaron Joanne Maltzahn Susan McWaters Kristen Nordenholz Jen Pringle Kathi Rudolph Elli Schalow Kate Schmicker Deanna Thaler Mary Thayer Lisa Townsend Ginny Trierweiler Pat Virtue Beth York

TENOR Gary Babcock James Carlson Dusty Davies John Gale Forrest Guittar Sami Ibrahim Todd McCracken Jerry Sims Ken Zimmerman

C O L O R A D O SY M P H O N Y.O R G

BASS John Adams George Cowen Bob Friedlander Matthew Gray Eric Israelson Terry Jackson Tom Jirak Paul Lingenfelter Nalin Mehta Gene Nuccio Ken Quarles Russ Skillings Wil Swanson Tom Virtue