johnMusic, Montview and the fortunes of permanence - Montview/Colorado Symphony partnership update

When my colleagues, music leaders from around Denver and around the country, ask how we have the freedom to do the music we do, I tell them "because our people want it. Montview Church has long embraced permanence as fertile ground for the new." Think about it, where else better to look for help than Montview when you are a Symphony Orchestra steeped in tradition and looking for modern solutions? Here is another way to think of what I mean. I was talking to a friend about "sin" and quoted W. H. Auden

"... O cry created as the bow of sin
is stretched across our trembling violin.
O trumpets that unguarded children blow
about the fortress of their inner foe.
O wear your tribulation like a rose."

If we want the best in life we must make the new permanent; this takes the courage to risk, and the wisdom to know for what is it worth risking. Permanent, original thinking cannot be conferred or bestowed; it must always in some way be legitimately stolen, like Prometheus stole fire from the gods to benefit humanity. People recognize the Promethean presence when they see it in each other's eyes. Ponder this as you read the narrative.

The December performances of Handel's Messiah began the recent regular presence of the Colorado Symphony and Symphony Chorus here in 2010. The singers and players loved it from the start, as Montview's storied acoustics worked magic again, and it is because the Montview Sanctuary elicits the best from performers. Anyone who has performed at Carnegie Hall will agree that the performers on stage there have the best seat of all. Something like that happens in our Sanctuary, as anyone in Westminster Choir will tell you.

Early in 2012, around Valentine's Day, we began an effort to bring the CSO into neighborhoods with Montview's Westminster Choir and the CSO together which I was privileged to lead. The first concert, October 14th had Copland: Quiet City, Jean Berger: Sinfonietta (slick as a Fred Astaire soft shoe with Claude Sim and the CSO strings all accuracy and reeking of class), Randall Thompson: Alleluia, our choir spellbinding; Frostiana: Disarmingly profound and simple, and Bach: Cantata #80. We moved souls on Earth with Heaven's help. Our Westminster Choir achieved some remarkable victories during this time. Two more concerts followed.

Last December, Messiah moved back to Boetcher where it will remain this season. The CSO simply needs the revenue Boetcher brings. We will have the CSO Holiday Brass for one performance in December. A group of CSO strings (orchestra only, no choir) will present Vivaldi's The Four Seasons here on Sunday, March 23rd at 2:30 p.m. as the final Stained Glass concert this season.

Looking ahead, we can expect a continued CSO presence here, especially for chamber music. Tickets for the March 23rd Vivaldi Four Seasons will go on sale in the Montview Commons on Sunday, March 16th. Stained Glass III, beginning in September 2014 is now being planned. That the players love being here seems obvious. We shall continue to welcome and hopefully feed the souls of all who come here.

The CSO is struggling with permanence, I'd say, and they have found a good partner.  

John Kuzma
Minister of Music
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