Speaker 1: This is what used to be the Irapa Hose Philharmonic,
Speaker 1: but has now become something even better, bigger, better, stronger, newer.
Speaker 2: And joining me.
Speaker 1: Now to talk about the new ish symphony is Devin
Speaker 1: Patrick Hughes, the artistic director and conductor, and Best Scully,
Speaker 1: the executive director of what has been the Arapa Ho Symphony,
Speaker 1: which is now Symphony of the Rockies.
Speaker 2: Both of you welcome the show. First of all, thank
Speaker 2: you so much, Mandy, love your show. Well, thank you well.
Speaker 1: Devin, I want to start with you because you are
Speaker 1: no stickwaiver. I learned that that was slightly an insult
Speaker 1: from conductor to conductor if you got called a stickwaiver, it.
Speaker 2: Was not flattering. You're no stickwaiver, Devin.
Speaker 1: You have been with the symphony since twenty thirteen as
Speaker 1: not only the artistic director but also a conductor. So
Speaker 1: why make the change. Let's talk about the history of
Speaker 1: the Arapahose Symphony first, and then why make the change
Speaker 1: to Symphony of the Rockies.
Speaker 3: So the orchestra started in nineteen fifty three, over seventy
Speaker 3: years ago, by Gordon Parks, a conductor, and it's gone
Speaker 3: through various transformations and ever since I've joined. We've been
Speaker 3: highly focused on, of course playing the great masters Beethoven, Mahler, Brahms,
Speaker 3: but premiering also new music by living composers, by underrepresentative composers.
Speaker 3: We have a piece by Britney Green alongside of Broms
Speaker 3: and a Beethoven piece coming up in October twenty six,
Speaker 3: for instance.
Speaker 2: And we've also been highly focused on education.
Speaker 3: We know that the symphony orchestra, or at least I
Speaker 3: believe that the symphony orchestra is one of the most
Speaker 3: magical organisms on earth because it's where everybody comes together,
Speaker 3: maybe seventy people with different opinions and different ideas of
Speaker 3: how things should sound and how composers should should sound,
Speaker 3: and we unite that, and I do that, and our
Speaker 3: musicians do that, and it's this thing that I think
Speaker 3: that everybody should experience and deserves to experience, which is
Speaker 3: why I basically half of our mission is focused on
Speaker 3: educating the next generation, So bringing these discovery concerts to kids,
Speaker 3: partnering with schools to help the teachers and to kind
Speaker 3: of show students what the music of a symphony orchestra
Speaker 3: can do to them, whether it's classical, popular music, rock,
Speaker 3: and roll, rap music or movie music, and we play
Speaker 3: all of that.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 1: I was looking at your schedule of events, and you
Speaker 1: guys are very creative with the kind of events that
Speaker 1: you have and your discovery concerts for kids and things
Speaker 1: of that nature. And best I want to ask you this,
Speaker 1: how much time do you guys spend just like sort
Speaker 1: of brainstorming what you're going to do next? I mean,
Speaker 1: how is that process where you go, you know what,
Speaker 1: we should have a concert just for kids to introduce
Speaker 1: them to these.
Speaker 2: Big, big sort of musical movements.
Speaker 4: I think that's actually the reason why I did this
Speaker 4: job is because it really caters to my creative side,
Speaker 4: which I wasn't expecting when I first got this job.
Speaker 4: But and Devin is so incredibly creative, and we get
Speaker 4: to sit around and come up with and including our
Speaker 4: board members, we all get to sit around and come
Speaker 4: up with these fabulous ideas. And we all know a
Speaker 4: lot of people in this industry through composers and musicians,
Speaker 4: and we sit around and you know, through all of
Speaker 4: these connections and people that we know, come up with
Speaker 4: fabulous ideas and things that really make a difference in
Speaker 4: our community, which is is what our mission is. Is
Speaker 4: to engage in, enrich and nurture a very diverse community.
Speaker 5: And somehow we put together these.
Speaker 4: These concerts and events that really do just that. And
Speaker 4: that's part of why we're transitioning from the Appa Hoo Philharmonic.
Speaker 5: Into the Symphony of the Rockies is.
Speaker 4: Because we want to broaden that reach and you know,
Speaker 4: do more of what we're doing on a bigger scale.
Speaker 5: So we're really excited about this.
Speaker 4: Period that we're in, Devin, after seventy one years rather
Speaker 4: hot Philharmonic, which is hilarious.
Speaker 1: Well, I want to ask you, Devin, because as the
Speaker 1: guy who is actually a conductor as well, it seems
Speaker 1: that symphonies around the country have sort of been grappling
Speaker 1: with how to do exactly what you guys are doing,
Speaker 1: which is bringing a new generation into the symphony. And
Speaker 1: how much time do you spend focused on that portion
Speaker 1: versus how much you spend just focused on incredibly good
Speaker 1: music or they just go in hand to hand.
Speaker 2: I think they're hand in hand. That's an amazing question.
Speaker 3: In America, our orchestras are really owned by our community.
Speaker 3: So we have musicians on the board, professional musicians on
Speaker 3: the board, volunteers on the board and have volunteer members
Speaker 3: of our community who may be in civic government, who
Speaker 3: may be leaders of a corporation, who may just be
Speaker 3: ardent advocates of music making in the arts, and they
Speaker 3: really guide.
Speaker 5: So we're really.
Speaker 3: Responsive to what our community needs, whether it be our
Speaker 3: patrons or our schools or for example, the city government
Speaker 3: of Centennial where we just did a big movie, a concert,
Speaker 3: a free concert out in Centennial Park. And so so
Speaker 3: that kind of interaction when you join the board, when
Speaker 3: you when you become a volunteer with our organization, when
Speaker 3: you when you join our organization, you get to take
Speaker 3: part in that kind of musical process where we're not
Speaker 3: only programming the music, but we're deciding what can go where,
Speaker 3: we're deciding where our performances can be. We just added
Speaker 3: a concert at the Pace Center that the Best was
Speaker 3: advocating for, and so we said, okay, what kind.
Speaker 2: Of music could we put on that?
Speaker 3: And to kind of keep the diversity and showcase the
Speaker 3: incredible diversity of the symphony orchestra, so we said Maler's
Speaker 3: Symphony Number one, because Gustav Mahler said a symphony could
Speaker 3: should contain everything in the world, and that's what you
Speaker 3: hear when you come. You hear all the emotions, all
Speaker 3: the planets, you know, anything that you've dreamed possible in
Speaker 3: this universe. Maler puts it into a symphony and then
Speaker 3: Mozart Symphony number thirty five, which which.
Speaker 2: Mozarts he was able to elevate.
Speaker 3: You know, there were hundreds of composers writing at the
Speaker 3: time of Mozart and he wasn't getting played as much
Speaker 3: as the other composers. But for some reason his music
Speaker 3: is still played today because he marries language and drama
Speaker 3: and music in a way that nobody had done or
Speaker 3: has been able to do since then. And then we
Speaker 3: have a new piece by a composer, my Lanatsui, which
Speaker 3: is basically a national commission we're taking part in with
Speaker 3: all these other orchestras called the Floridian Symphony, which is
Speaker 3: focusing on different aspects of landscape in in in in America.
Speaker 3: So I think it's it's a really great You know,
Speaker 3: when many people see a symphony, they say, oh, well,
Speaker 3: i'm you know that I didn't take music appreciation class,
Speaker 3: I didn't study an instrument. But in our orchestra and
Speaker 3: many other great orchestras around the country anybody can become
Speaker 3: a part of it, and anybody can become a part
Speaker 3: of that music making process.
Speaker 1: Well, you're having a big kickoff the VIP launch event
Speaker 1: and ribbon cutting for the official transition to the Symphony
Speaker 1: of the Rockies. And I put a link on the
Speaker 1: blog today at mandy'sblog dot com to the website specifically
Speaker 1: to this event. Tell me about that event and what
Speaker 1: the what the fundraising.
Speaker 4: Is going to do. So the event is on September nineteenth,
Speaker 4: and it's one of our partner's business boundary and we
Speaker 4: are really excited about this because we are unveiling all
Speaker 4: of our new branding, so we are switching from a
Speaker 4: Rapah Philharmonic to Symphony of the Rockies, which you know,
Speaker 4: in addition to having all new emails and our new
Speaker 4: website which we would love for everyone to visit, which.
Speaker 5: Is Symphony Rockies dot org.
Speaker 4: That's where you can find all of our concerts by
Speaker 4: tickets to all of these fabulous concerts that Devin maestre
Speaker 4: Views is speaking on. We are also unveiling our new
Speaker 4: logo which no one has seen yet and we're really
Speaker 4: excited about that. But we're also going to have lots
Speaker 4: of silent auction items and all of the money that
Speaker 4: we raised from the ticket sales and from the auction items,
Speaker 4: and from just a fabulous night of delicious food and
Speaker 4: drinks and all of our community members and our fans
Speaker 4: and everybody being there.
Speaker 5: We're going to have performances by our musicians.
Speaker 4: Things like that go to all of the programs that
Speaker 4: we do at the schools, our conducting labs, our honors
Speaker 4: coaching that we do for the schools. We do a
Speaker 4: lot of stuff in our community and it's very important
Speaker 4: to us and these beautiful concerts, so we would love
Speaker 4: to see everybody out there, but mostly we would love
Speaker 4: to see you at our concerts. You can see from
Speaker 4: maister Hughes when he speaks about our concerts. One of
Speaker 4: his great, many great talents is making music accessible and
Speaker 4: relevant to everyone.
Speaker 5: And I have the pleasure of.
Speaker 4: Standing backstage when he talks about pieces and watching audiences
Speaker 4: faces light up, and you will see five year.
Speaker 5: Olds and one hundred and five year olds all of.
Speaker 4: A sudden understand what's happening in a piece.
Speaker 5: And then when that moment comes in the music, you will.
Speaker 4: Hear an audible gas from everyone because we all get it.
Speaker 5: We are all experts in that moment.
Speaker 4: And it's really inspiring and wonderful to see, and I
Speaker 4: would love for everyone listening to have that moment with us.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 1: The Symphony of the Rockies not only is having this
Speaker 1: upcoming fundraiser to kick off their first their inaugural season
Speaker 1: as the Symphony of the Rockies, you can also go
Speaker 1: to their website, which I just put a link to
Speaker 1: that website directly on the blog so people can go
Speaker 1: there from mandy'sblog dot com.
Speaker 2: And I'm already scoping.
Speaker 1: Out a couple of shows that I'm definitely going to
Speaker 1: come to fourth of July.
Speaker 2: You've got me.
Speaker 1: I love a Pops on fourth of July, so I'm
Speaker 1: super excited about that. But one of the things that
Speaker 1: I really think is special about Symphony at the Rockies
Speaker 1: is you do not have a single location, so people
Speaker 1: can look at the calendar and maybe find something that
Speaker 1: is closer to their neighborhood. Maybe they don't want to
Speaker 1: drive downtown, maybe they don't want to drive to Parker.
Speaker 1: They can find something that is going to be close
Speaker 1: to their neighborhood and check it out. Devin Patrick Hughes,
Speaker 1: Artistic Director and conductor and Best Gully, executive director of
Speaker 1: the Symphony of the Rockies formerly of the Arapahose Symphony.
Speaker 1: I really appreciate you guys making time and working so
Speaker 1: hard to bring what you love to the masses, because
Speaker 1: I can tell for both of you it's definitely a
Speaker 1: labor of love and it shows so continued success and
Speaker 1: we'll see again in the future. Oh wait, on a
Speaker 1: personal note, can I ask for one favor? Would you
Speaker 1: guys do a show that's just bugs Bunny, because that's
Speaker 1: really where I learned everything about everything I know about
Speaker 1: classical music is from Bugs Money.
Speaker 3: We've been talking about doing like a Fantasia or and
Speaker 3: of course yeah all that you know, the Lone Ranger
Speaker 3: we're playing actually that on here. Let me just make
Speaker 3: sure I get the date right on Rose Sonora, we
Speaker 3: are playing The Lone Ranger is actually written by an
Speaker 3: Italian composer, Jack and jul Rossini. Uh and and it's
Speaker 3: William Tell the ride of William Tell that that you're
Speaker 3: you're going to hear on that concert if you if
Speaker 3: you'd like to come to Newman Center for the.
Speaker 1: Performing Arts, all right, yeah, and I'll be looking for
Speaker 1: the Bugs Money show as soon as possible.
Speaker 2: All right, thank you so much for your time today.
Speaker 2: Thanks Mandy,