The Colorado Symphony is among the younger American symphonic ensembles, having been established in 1989, but it has had national and international impacts as a recording ensemble. The group has a substantial recording catalog and has appeared on a variety of rock music albums in addition to recording classical repertory. In 2024, the Colorado Symphony released the album Michael Daugherty: Harp of Ages on the Naxos label. The Colorado Symphony was formed in 1989 by bassoonist John Wetherill and percussionist Terry Smith. The group's materials do not use the word "Orchestra" in its name, although it has been called Colorado Symphony Orchestra in the past. The impetus behind the orchestra's formation was the impending financial collapse of the Denver Symphony Orchestra, which had canceled the remainder of its 1988-1989 season and faced mounting debts. At first, Denver Symphony union contracts forbade players to join the new group, but a mass exodus to the Colorado Symphony soon occurred, and the new group was launched on a firm footing. In 1993, rising star Marin Alsop was named the new group's first music director. That year, the orchestra made its recording debut on the album A Night at Red Rocks with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra by the rock group The Moody Blues. The orchestra's classical debut came in 1997 on the major BMG label with the album Christopher Rouse; Alsop was the conductor. The Colorado Symphony performed at the Boettcher Concert Hall at the Denver Performing Arts Center as well as around Colorado's Front Range and throughout the state. The group has 79 full-time musicians as well as one librarian. Subsequent music directors after Alsop departed in 2005 (she remained as conductor laureate) include Jeffrey Kahane (2005-2010), Andrew Litton (2013-2016, and continuing to serve as principal guest conductor), Brett Mitchell (2017-2021), and Peter Oundjian (2024-). The Colorado Symphony has continued to record both classical and popular music. In 2017, under Litton, the group recorded Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, with its own Colorado Symphony Chorus (marking the first release on the orchestra's Colorado Symphony Association label), and the same year, it backed progressive bluegrass banjoist Bela Fleck on his Juno Concerto album. In addition to various U.S. labels, the Colorado Symphony has recorded for Britain's Hyperion (an album of works by Vaughan Williams) and Sweden's BIS (a recording of ballet music by Copland). In 2024, the orchestra returned on Naxos with the album Michael Daugherty: Harp of Ages, featuring the orchestra's principal harpist, Courtney Hershey Bress. ~ James Manheim, Rovi

John Williams, Colorado Symphony

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