To borrow from the vernacular of the art world, the Colorado Symphony is about to give three very different kinds of musicians a blank musical canvas — and an unlimited supply of brushes.
Under a unique collaboration project announced Monday called "Imagination Artist Series," the Colorado Symphony will give Colorado’s preeminent singer/songwriter Nathaniel Rateliff, the Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA and Broadway’s Mary-Mitchell Campbell full, unprecedented access to the symphony’s personnel and resources to innovate, imagine and curate never-before-seen orchestral programs that will be debuted exclusively in concerts for Symphony audiences during the 2022-23 season.
“I’ve always felt like music does this thing where it takes your breath away,” said Rateliff, who rose to prominence in the Colorado music scene in the 2000s and is now the frontman of the global phenomenon Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats. “When you hear that many people playing together, it does something that you can feel. It’s hard not to react to it, especially when you’re performing with them.”
The new series is part of the symphony’s innovative efforts to set itself apart from other orchestras around the country “and to reimagine the future of the American symphony,” said Communications and Creative Director Nick Dobreff, who adds, “Getting artists of this caliber to buy into this project was quite a coup.”
The ultimate hope is that the participation of superstars from the worlds of rap, indie-rock and Broadway will bring new interest and new audiences to the Symphony’s Classics programming.
Mary-Mitchell Campbell, from her web site.
The Imagination Artist Series will begin not with a new orchestral piece but rather with Campbell creating a new tribute to the recently departed Stephen Sondheim on Sept. 23-24. Campbell is the music director behind numerous Broadway shows including “Mean Girls,” “The Prom,” “Tuck Everlasting” and Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd.” Her concert will feature hits from “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Company,” "Follies,” “A Little Night Music,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Sunday in the Park with George” and “Into the Woods.”
While the songs won’t be new, Campbell will be given the freedom to orchestrate them however she wants, much like when the gypsy-rock band DeVotchKa was allowed to arrange the score for the DCPA Theatre Company’s stage production of “Sweeney Todd” in 2016.
Introducing the Colorado Symphony's 'Imagination Artist Series'
“What I love about this orchestra is how passionate they are about making all kinds of music and recognizing that every genre has a place in the concert hall,” said Campbell, who also will be in Denver to direct “An Evening with Kristin Chenoweth and the Colorado Symphony” on Aug. 12 at the Boettcher Concert Hall. In her pop career she has worked with Alicia Keys, Katy Perry, John Legend, Amy Grant, Kelly Clarkson, Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, Elvis Costello and Josh Groban in concerts.
The dates for the Imagination Artist Series concerts created by RZA and Rateliff, which will feature entirely new music, will be set at a later date. The Grammy-winning rapper RZA, also known as Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, last appeared in Denver in August along with the Colorado Symphony at Mission Ballroom and Red Rocks.
RZA, from his Wikipedia page.
“When you get a chance to hear your music translated by an orchestra, it’s so fulfilling,” said RZA. “The vibration of it, the feel of it. As musicians, we strive to inspire and give inspiration. If you can move somebody and let their imagination explore and explode, I think that’s what we have the chance to do here.”
Rateliff, revered as a soulful and collaborative solo singer-songwriter, seems far removed from 2007, when his band Born in the Flood was named by The Denver Post as the local underground band most deserving of more mainstream attention. He’s reached critical mass since the 2015 formation of his rowdy band Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, a high-energy collective that will play a sold-out show in Aspen on April 4 and at Red Rocks on Aug. 23-24. He returned to solo work with the reflective and critically acclaimed 2020 album “And It's Still Alright.”
“This is an extraordinary moment for our orchestra and this community, partnering with three incredible artists, providing an opportunity for unparalleled creativity and innovation,” said Anthony Pierce, chief artistic officer for the Colorado Symphony. “We’re thrilled to have this opportunity to explore three unique visions for what live, symphonic music can be, opening the doors to new concertgoers, and expanding the boundaries of orchestral programming.”