Opening Night - Fright Fantastique!
Friday, October 30, 2009, 7:30 p.m.
Macky Auditorium, CU Campus, Boulder
Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra
Michael Butterman, conductor
Timothy Jones, bass-baritone
HK Gruber–Frankenstein!! 
Berlioz–Symphonie fantastique
Don’t miss the scary and hilarious Frankenstein!! by HK Gruber. An almost indescribable mash-up of childish poetry, political allegory, cabaret parody and slapstick humor, this contemporary piece is a collection of comedic songs that expands the orchestra through the use of toy instruments, popping paper bags and whirling hoses. This unusual piece had its US premiere at Tanglewood and has been performed hundreds of times around the world. Soloist Timothy Jones will engage you with a dramatic singing role that channels both heroes and villains (James Bond, Goldfinger, Dracula, John Wayne, Batman and Robin, Frankenstein, Superman and more).
The bewitching Symphonie fantastique by Hector Berlioz, a tour de force for orchestra and conductor, is perhaps the most forward-looking symphonic piece of all time. Its incredible orchestral details (using E-flat clarinet, four bassoons, two tubas, and two sets of timpani playing chords) were completely novel. With a macabre connection in the last two movements–including a march to the scaffold and a dream of a witches’ sabbath–plus ghoulish, cackling witch laughter in the last movement, it’s a perfect complement to the spooky Halloween weekend.
Catch a free, 30-minute talk on this concert by Don Campbell, world-renowned author of The Mozart Effect, at 6:30 p.m. at Macky.
HK Gruber’s ‘Frankenstein!!’ proves classics don’t have to be so serious...
With a wicked and naughty sense of humor...‘Frankenstein!!’ is a three-ring circus of a piece,
a song-cycle monster mash.” ~San Jose Mercury News