Break out spring wardrobe for Jefferson Symphony concert

Ah, spring is in the air! Of course, around here that means something a little different than it might in other places. As I’m writing this there’s about a foot of snow in my yard, my friend up in Coal Creek Canyon got four feet over the weekend and broken tree limbs are decorating the street again.

Whoever wrote that old song “Springtime in the Rockies” and put in the line “The maple leaves in first sky-green appear” probably wasn’t visualizing them appearing through a hole in his roof when the tree came crashing down under a typical Colorado spring snowstorm.

I had to laugh while watching the news the other night. They had someone giving tips to help keep your tree limbs from breaking under the weight of the snow. She had a broom in her hand and was advising you to gently brush the snow off the limbs. With a broom. Standing on the ground. I don’t know about the rest of you, but the trees in my yard are 40 to 60 feet tall. You would need a pretty long handle on the broom to reach the looming danger above. I was kind of thinking more along the lines of renting some kind of canon to blast the snow out of those heights.

But, the forecast shows us back in the 70s in a few days, so before this even hits the newsstand most of the snow will have vanished. Hopefully, that will be the last big snowstorm of the season.

Now that April is here and will be getting into full bloom, it’s time for the Jefferson Symphony Orchestra’s Spring Concert. This is going to be a pretty big concert as they are including, as special guests, the entire Evergreen Chorale. That’s a lot of musicians performing on one stage, but the program calls for it and I’m sure you’ll be impressed by the sound.

So, what will they perform? Well,, it’s the famous Verdi “Requiem.”

This composition is a conductor’s dream come true. It’s almost an entire opera in disguise. Composed as a memorial for a famous Italian writer, hero and personal friend of Verdi’s, Allessandro Manzoni, he pulled out all the stops to create one of his most dramatic works. It includes four extra trumpets stationed around the audience for a spectacular fanfare, plus several vocal soloists as well as the addition of a full chorus. This composition is massive.

The Jefferson Symphony’s program will feature Kara Guggenmos, Sarah Barber, Brian Stinar and Steven Taylor as the vocal soloists and will be conducted by Dr. William Morse with kudos to Evergreen Chorale director Christine Gaudreau.

There will be two performances of this concert. The first will be at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 29, at the Central Presbyterian Church at 1660 Sherman St. in Denver. Hearing it there, at a church, will be true to the original performance of this work, which premiered at the San Marco church in Milan, Italy, back in 1874.

The second performance will be at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 30, at the Green Center on the Colorado School of Mines Campus at 924 16th St. in Golden.

Tickets for these concerts run $ 25 for adults, $ 20 for seniors (62+), $ 10 for students (11-21) and $ 5 for children 10 and under. You can order them at www.jeffersonsymphonyorchestra.org or by calling (303) 278-4237.

This is going to be a terrific experience for the whole family that you don’t want to miss. Break out your spring wardrobe and plan on attending one of these performances. It’s the kind of memorable event you won’t soon forget.

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