Telluride Classical : Young Artists Featured in New Local Concert Series, 8/7 & 8/8!

Telluride Classical : Young Artists Featured in New Local Concert Series, 8/7 & 8/8!

Telluride Classical; Young Artists” is a new local concert series founded by violinist and teacher Sydney Denman to bring future stars of the classical music world from all over the country to Telluride. The series is unique to Telluride in offering a progressive approach to classical music in an inclusive and welcoming environment. Concert 8/7 and 8/8, at the Sheridan Opera House. For more information, call  970-708-1353, or email tellurideclassical@gmail.com. Tickets for the evening concert on 8/7 are available at www.sheridanoperahouse.com.

“My vision is to create a 21st-Century concert experience and break down barriers that might discourage newcomers to classical concerts,” event founder/director Sydney Denman says.“We will offer a fun pre-concert talk featuring a teenager who will demystify concert etiquette, describe what to listen for and when to clap. If you have ever read concert notes in a symphony program, they are usually written by someone with a Ph.D in musicology. Telluride Classical’s program notes are casual and practical, sort of an insider’s guide, in English and Spanish.”

Denman and Telluride Classical is an independent operation like Telluride Camerata, which she founded in 2012 as a classical ensemble that brings together advanced local young musicians with community and visiting adult professional musicians to train and perform. Denman is also a certified Suzuki violin teacher.

The Masterclass event, which is open to the public, is scheduled for Saturday, August 7, 2021, 2 p.m. at the Opera House. In attendance will be world-renowned violin professor Mimi Zweig, Josh Bell’s teacher from the prestigious Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. Four outstanding Coloradan high-school violinists and violists, coming from as far as Denver and Boulder, will perform for Zweig, who will offer advice about how to improve their musicality, technique, and style. This event alone will be a remarkable experience for performers and audience alike. Among the repertoire on the roster are the Dvorak and Tchaikovsky Violin Concertos.

The main Telluride Classical event takes place that same evening at 7:30p.m.at the Opera House and will feature Zweig’s visiting students, three teenage violin prodigies. The trio will perform some of the most sophisticated pieces in the violin literature, Schumann and Greig sonatas, as well as a tour-de-force virtuoso showpiece, the Carmen Fantasy by Pablo de Sarasate. These young people have grown up under Zweig’s tutelage with complete immersion in the musical environment of the Jacobs School String Academy. They have risen to the top to become members of her nationally acclaimed “Violin Virtousi,” a traveling troupe that has performed all over the world.

Sunday morning, August 8, the free Kids’ Concert will be held on the Opera House patio at 11:00 a.m. – a brief mini-concert appropriate for families and preschool and young elementary aged kids.

The Telluride Camerata, joined by the masterclass players and visiting “Violin Virtuosi” will perform the perennially popular Vivaldi’s “Summer’” from the Four Seasons, with a guest soloist. There will be a brief introductory talk about the instruments before the performance and free ice cream after.

The Telluride Classical Sunday morning event is generously sponsored by the Telluride Chamber Music Festival.

(Announcements about changes in that event to follow.)

Sydney Denman, more:

Sydney Denman is founder and artistic director of Telluride Classical. She is an accomplished violinist, and was a student of Mimi Zweig at the Jacobs School of Music, Ken Goldsmith of the Shepherd School and Sally Thomas of the Juilliard School.

Denman has been a member of the San Juan Symphony, Pikes Peak Philharmonic, Grand Junction Symphony, New Music New Haven and Yale Philharmonia. She is also founder and director of the Telluride Camerata and a certified Suzuki violin teacher.

Denman holds a bachelor’s degree in History of Art from Yale University and is an MBA Candidate at University of Colorado, Denver with a specialty in Sports and Entertainment Business Management.

Denman is also a full-time bookkeeper and consultant for several of Telluride’s most popular businesses.

She lives in Telluride with her husband David, a chef, and their two daughters, Camille and Juliet.

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