Joshua Bell was in Denver this week for one night only with the Colorado Symphony and he managed to nearly fill Boettcher Concert Hall on Thursday night. It's been sparse at some symphony concerts this year what with the economy, but it was so full Thursday that the CSO CEO said, "Where have you been all year?" to the audience before the concert started. Some of Bell's Indiana University alums were there, plus a group from University of Denver. It was an all Mendelssohn program, and from the first notes Bell played of the Violin Concerto in E Minor, Bell's talent was clear. All the technical prowess was there but made to sound effortless, light and easy. The bow moved smoothly across the strings for a beautifully buttery sound, and yes, he's playing a Stradivarius, but the control of the bow hand made for silky sound. For an encore, he played variations on the Yankee Doodle theme, which made the audience laugh: Yankee Doodle in harmonics, double stops, furious pizzicato. Alas, after that, Bell was done.
The Colorado Symphony has more great concerts lined up for next season, with Yo-Yo Ma and Lang Lang on the schedule.
Also coming up this summer, free concerts on July 3 (@City Park) and July 5 (@t Red Rocks). The July 5 concert includes the overture to "Russlan and Ludmilla" by Glinka!
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