Fabio Luisi, conductor

GRAMMY^® Award winner Fabio Luisi launched his tenure as Louise W. & Edmund J. Kahn Music Director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) at the start of the 2020/21 season. In January 2021, the DSO and Luisi announced an extension of the Music Director contract through the 2028/29 season. A maestro of major international standing, the Italian conductor is set to embark on his fifth season as Principal Conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and in September 2022 will assume the role of Principal Conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. He previously served for six seasons as Principal Conductor of the Metropolitan Opera and nine seasons as General Music Director of the Zurich Opera.

Fabio Luisi’s 2021/22 programs in Dallas and for the DSO’s NEXT STAGE Digital Concert Series will feature performances of the music of beloved classical composers, a continued examination of American music, and a full opera-in-concert. Luisi will open the Texas Instruments Classical Series with Aaron Copland’s Organ Symphony, The Mystic Trumpeter by American composer Frederick Converse, and Brahms’s Symphony No. 1, which will be recorded for a future album release of all of Brahms’s symphonies. He will lead his first DSO Gala on September 25 with a performance of Strauss’s Don Juan and the Dallas premiere of John Williams’s Violin Concerto No. 2, with Anne-Sophie Mutter making her DSO debut as soloist. In the fall, Luisi will conduct Richard Strauss’s Aus Italien and Metamorphosen, lead the Dallas Symphony Chorus in Mozart’s Requiem and welcome Renée Fleming in American composer Kevin Puts’s The Brightness of Light. Six concerts in 2022 will feature a wide range of expression and a diverse group of composers. Luisi will return in January with performances of Adolphus Hailstork’s Epitaph for a Man Who Dreamed and the Symphony No. 4 by Franz Schmidt, a composer whose works the conductor has long championed and extensively recorded. In April, the DSO will mount Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin with an internationally renowned cast, and in May Luisi will present the Dallas premiere of Bruce Adolphe’s Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt! (This Kiss to the Whole World!) along with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

Beyond Dallas this season, Luisi will return to conduct the NHK Orchestra (Tokyo) and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and he will lead the New Year’s Concert in Venice, to be broadcast worldwide. Luisi will conduct Strauss’s Eine Alpensinfonie with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in December and will accompany the same orchestra on tour. In July 2022, Luisi will return to the Festspiele at the Munich Bayerische Staatsoper for a production of Verdi’s Macbeth with Anna Netrebko as Lady Macbeth. With the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Luisi will embark on a recording cycle of Carl Nielsen’s symphonies for the renowned Deutsche Grammophon label.

The conductor received his first GRAMMY^® Award in March 2013 for his leadership of the last two operas of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, when Deutsche Grammophon’s DVD release of the full cycle, recorded live at the Met, was named Best Opera Recording of 2012. In February 2015, the Philharmonia Zurich launched its Philharmonia Records label with three Luisi recordings: Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique; a double album surveying Wagner’s Preludes and Interludes, and a DVD of Verdi’s Rigoletto. Subsequent releases include a survey of Rachmaninov’s Four Piano Concertos and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with soloist Lise de la Salle, and a rare recording of the original version of Bruckner’s monumental Symphony No. 8. Luisi’s extensive discography also includes rare Verdi operas (Jérusalem, Alzira and Aroldo), Salieri’s La locandiera, Bellini’s I puritani and I Capuleti e i Montecchi with Anna Netrebko and Elīna Garanča for Deutsche Grammophon, and the symphonic repertoire of Honegger, Respighi and Liszt. He has recorded all the symphonies and the oratorio Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln by neglected Austrian composer Franz Schmidt, several works by Richard Strauss for Sony Classical, and an award-winning account of Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony with the Staatskapelle Dresden.

Born in Genoa in 1959, Luisi began piano studies at the age of four and received his diploma from the Conservatorio Niccolò Paganini in 1978. He later studied conducting with Milan Horvat at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Graz. Named both Cavaliere della Repubblica Italiana and Commendatore della Stella d’Italia for his role in promoting Italian culture abroad, in 2014 he was awarded the Grifo d’Oro, the highest honor given by the city of Genoa, for his contributions to the city’s cultural legacy. Off the podium, Luisi is an accomplished composer whose Saint Bonaventure Mass received its world premiere at New York’s St. Bonaventure University, followed by its New York City premiere in the MetLiveArts series, with the Buffalo Philharmonic and Chorus. As reported by the New York Times, CBS Sunday Morning and elsewhere, he is also a passionate maker of perfumes, which he produces in a one-person operation, FLPARFUMS.COM.

Maureen McKay, soprano

Soprano Maureen McKay is praised and celebrated for her silvery soprano and dynamic character portrayals. Maureen’s 2021-2022 season features a number of assignments with The Metropolitan Opera, singing Echo in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos and covering the leading roles of Pamina in The Magic Flute, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, and Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress, as well as covering the Soprano Soloist in Mahler's Symphony No. 2 at Damrosch Park. During the COVID-19 impacted 2020-2021 season, her engagements included her return to the Bayerische Staatsoper as Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel (cancelled), a return to The Metropolitan Opera as the First Sprite in Rusalka (cancelled), and an appearance on the PBS Television series One Voice: The Songs We Share (performed).

Original engagements during the COVID-19 shortened 2019-2020 season included performances of Barbarina and covers of Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro with the Metropolitan Opera (performed), where she also planned to cover Sophie in Werther (cancelled). McKay also planned to sing with Festival Chamber Music at the Museum of Jewish Heritage at Battery Park as part of their Auschwitz Exhibit, featuring music by Lori Laitman (cancelled), and perform American art songs with Nouveau Productions at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History (cancelled). Other art song collaborations included a concert with Music by the Glass, featuring works by Dowland and Schubert (performed), and an online appearance with OmniARTS Foundation (performed).

The previous season included returns to The Metropolitan Opera as Suor Genovieffa in Suor Angelica, Opera Colorado as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Lyric Opera of Kansas City as Despina in Così fan tutte. She also made her debut with Lincoln Center for their Mostly Mozart Festival as Pamina in Barrie Kosky’s acclaimed production of Die Zauberflöte, debuted with Virginia Opera as Rose in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene, and presented a solo recital at St. John’s Worthington in Columbus, Ohio as part of their Music Series.

During the 2017-18 season, McKay made her much-anticipated Metropolitan Opera debut as Gretel in Hansel and Gretel and returned to San Diego Opera as Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance. She also joined The Metropolitan Opera for their production of Roméo et Juliette. In the 2016-17 season McKay made her debut with San Diego Opera as Nannetta in Falstaff and returned to the Lyric Opera of Kansas City as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro. McKay also sang Pamina in Die Zauberflöte in returns to Gran Teatre del Liceu and Komische Oper Berlin, as well as joined The Chekhov International Theatre Festival at The Bolshoi Theatre in the production where she originated the role in 2012 with Barrie Kosky and "1927". She also joined Opera Saratoga in her debut as Zémire in Zémire et Azor.

In the 2015-16 season McKay made her mainstage debut with Seattle Opera in her role debut as Léïla in Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles. She also joined The Danish National Symphony Orchestra for performances of Händel's Messias and the Choir and Orchestra of Teatro Carlo Felice in Génova for Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, both under the baton of Fabio Luisi. She also joined the Colorado Springs Philharmonic for Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and Barber's Prayers of Kierkegaard. Other engagements included performances of Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with Gran Teatre del Liceu and returns to both The Atlanta Opera for Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance and Portland Opera for Pamina in Die Zauberflöte.

As a previous member of the ensemble at the Komische Oper Berlin, McKay sang leading roles in the premieres of several new productions that include Blanche in Dialogues des carmélites, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and Marzelline in Fidelio. Also with the company, she sang Mozart’s Requiem in performances conducted by music director, Henrik Nánási, as well as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Norina in Don Pasquale, and Musetta in La bohème. She returned as a guest to reprise the role of Elisa in a concert performance of Il re pastore.

Among her other previous engagements are Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel with Bayerische Staatsoper, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Portland Opera, and Tulsa Opera, Nannetta in Falstaff with the Saito Kinen Festival, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with Washington National Opera, Edinburgh International Festival, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Opera Colorado, Anne Trulove in The Rake's Progress with Portland Opera, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Cleveland, a return to the Opera Company of Philadelphia for Eurydice in Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice, Lightfoot McLendon in Cold Sassy Tree with The Atlanta Opera, Lilla in Una cosa rara and Elisa in Il re pastore with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Zerlina in Don Giovanni with New Orleans Opera, Despina in Così fan tutte, and Caroline Gaines in Richard Danielpour's Margaret Garner with New York City Opera, Musetta in La bohème with Opera Omaha, Norina in Don Pasquale with Anchorage Opera, Lisa in La sonnambula with Washington Concert Opera, and Laurey in Oklahoma! with Central City Opera. She joined Seiji Ozawa for the Sandmännchen and Taumännchen in Hänsel und Gretel in his Ongaku-juku Opera Project throughout Japan and made her debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Papagena in Die Zauberflöte conducted by Leonard Slatkin at the Hollywood Bowl. The soprano’s concert performances include Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with The Cleveland Orchestra, Schmidt’s Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Mozart’s Requiem and Debussy’s La demoiselle élue with the Utah Symphony, a program of Viennese music by Lehár and Johann Strauss with the Saint Louis Symphony, Carmina Burana with the National Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, and Utah Symphony, Grieg’s Peer Gynt with the Oregon Symphony and Louis Andriessen’s The New Math(s) with the Seattle Chamber Players. With Seattle’s Music of Remembrance, she premiered Lori Laitman’s song cycle I Never Saw Another Butterfly for soprano and clarinet and sang Aninku in Tony Kushner’s adaptation of Hans Krasa’s Brundibár; a recording including both Brundibár and Laitman’s song cycle is available on the Naxos label. She also performed Simon Sargon’s song cycle, Shema, with Music of Remembrance. Ms. McKay joined Judith Clurman for The Sound of Music 50th Anniversary Festival at the Mozarteum in Salzburg to perform a program of Rogers and Hammerstein classics.

Ms. McKay is a former member of Seattle Opera's Young Artists Program and was a Filene Young Artist with Wolf Trap Opera Company, where she sang Johanna in Sweeney Todd, Ismene in Telemann’s Orpheus, and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro. She earned her Bachelor of Music at Columbus State University in Georgia (summa cum laude) and her Master of Music at The Ohio State University.

Siena Licht Miller, mezzo soprano

German-American mezzo-soprano Siena Licht Miller’s vivacious stage presence and curiosity for daring repertoire, combined with a “radiance and all-encompassing warmth of her sound” (Chicago Tribune), has propelled her into the world of both opera and concert. An alumna of The Curtis Institute of Music, she received her early training from The Santa Fe Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

Joining Opernhaus Zürich as an Ensemble Member in the Season 22/23, she makes exciting debuts this season there as the Page in Salome, Zulma in L’italiana in Algeri, Flosshilde in Rheingold and Penelope in the world premiere of Leonard Evers’ Die Odyssee. In addition, Siena joins forces with Ballett Zürich and Orchestra La Scintilla in a world premiere by Christian Spuck set to works by Monteverdi, highlighting the composer's vocal dramas in a choreographic expression. On the concert stage, she returns home to sing Beethoven 9 with The Oregon Symphony. 

Siena recently excited audiences with a return to Opera Philadelphia, starring in the world premiere of Philip Venables’ Denis & Katya, which was named one of the best classical music performances of the year by The New York Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer, and is a 2020 International Opera Award nominee for Best New Opera. The opera is now being performed in Montpellier and at the Dutch National Opera.

Siena’s symphonic work has earned critical acclaim, with repertoire spanning between Beethoven and Britten, featured as a soloist with the Oregon, Grant Park (Chicago), Columbus and Charlotte Symphony.

Operatic highlights include role debuts with Opera Philadelphia as Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte. With the Aspen Opera Center and the Aspen Chamber Symphony, she sang the title role of Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges under the baton of Robert Spano.  

Equally at home on the recital stage, Siena was chosen to join in celebrating her mentor Marilyn Horne as a singer on The Song Continues series at Carnegie Hall. In the summer of 2019, she was a participant in the Ravinia Music Festival and subsequently collaborated with pianist Kevin Murphy in a recital tour throughout the U.S. Siena is generously supported by the Bagby Foundation and has received awards from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Marilyn Horne Rubin Foundation, and the Gerda Lissner Foundation. Siena is in her second year of the International Opera Studio at Opernhaus Zürich.

Issachah Savage, tenor

The profile of American tenor Issachah Savage was dramatically raised when he swept the boards at Seattle’s International Wagner Competition in 2014, taking First Prize, Audience Prize and Orchestra Favourite award. Formerly a member of San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Merola Program, Issachah performed a varied repertoire including scenes from Samson et Dalila, Lohengrin, Die Walküre and Parsifal. His performance of the last act of Verdi’s Otello, inspired the San Francisco Chronicle to write “From his opening notes — impeccably shaded and coiled with repressed fury — to the opera’s final explosion of grief and shame, Savage sang with a combination of power and finesse that is rare to observe.”

Operatic milestones of Issachah Savage’s recent seasons include his debut as Bacchus in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos at Seattle Opera under Lawrence Renes, his Metropolitan Opera debut as Don Riccardo in Verdi’s Ernani  conducted by James Levine, his Los Angeles Opera debut as Narraboth in Salome conducted by James Conlon, and his first Siegmund in Die Walküre at the Canadian Opera Company under Music Director, Johannes Debus. At Austin Lyric Opera, Savage has appeared in two of Verdi’s most demanding roles, as Otello and as Radames in Aida, the latter role also marking his debut at Houston Grand Opera, under the baton of Antonino Fogliani. It was in the 2018/2019 season that Issachah Savage made three major European debuts to great acclaim: as Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos at Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse under Evan Rogister, as Siegmund in Die Walküre with Opéra National de Bordeaux conducted by Paul Daniel and as Gran Sacerdote di Nettuno in Mozart’s Idomeneo in Peter Sellars’ acclaimed new staging for the 2019 Salzburg Festival, conducted by Teodor Currentzis.

In semi-staged opera performance, Savage has appeared with Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as the Messenger in Aida, the Opera Orchestra of New York in Massenet’s La Navarraise, the National Philharmonic at Strathmore in the title role of Wagner’s Rienzi and with the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra as Manrico in Il trovatore under Sebastian Lang-Lessing. At both the Aspen Music Festival under Robert Spano and at Tanglewood with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Jacques Lacombe, Savage again received critical acclaim as Verdi’s Radames. 

Equally at home on the concert platform, Issachah Savage has a wide repertoire that includes mainstay works such as Beethoven, Symphony No 9, Verdi, Messa da Requiem and Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde alongside less-frequently performed pieces like Stravinsky, Pulcinella, Weill, Lost in the Stars and Gershwin, Blue Monday. Savage sang the world premieres of Wynton Marsalis’s All Rise under the late Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic, and of Leslie Savoy Burr’s Egypt’s Night with Philadelphia’s Opera North. A much in demand concert soloist, Savage has performed under Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at both the Hollywood Bowl and New York’s David Geffen Hall, under Paul Daniel with the Orchestra National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine, under Stephane Deneve and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, under Lawrence Renes and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and under Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to name but a few. 

In addition to his great competition success in Seattle, Issachah Savage has received a number of prestigious awards, recognition and career grants from institutions including the Wagner Societies of New York, Washington DC and Northern California, the Licia Albanese International Puccini Foundation, the Olga Forrai and Gerda Lissner Foundations and he was honoured in the early stages of his career development as the first ever ‘Scholar Artist’ of the Marian Anderson Society of Philadelphia.

Current and future seasons include a return to Bordeaux for Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Paul Daniel, concert appearances with both the Dallas Symphony and Washington National Symphony Orchestras and his long-awaited and postponed debut as Wagner’s Tannhäuser with Los Angeles Opera.

Ryan Speedo Green, bass baritone

Praised by Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times for his “robust voice” and Anne Midgette of The
Washington Post as an artist “fully ready for a big career,” bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green is quickly
establishing himself as an artist of international demand at the world’s leading opera houses. In the 2018 –
2019 season Mr. Green returns to the Metropolitan Opera to sing the King in Aida, conducted by Nicola
Luisotti and broadcast to theaters around the world as part of the Met’s Live in HD program, and for a
reprise of Colline in La bohème. Mr. Green also returns to the Wiener Staatsoper as a member of the
ensemble with roles including Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Der
Einarmige in Die Frau ohne Schatten, and Lodovico in Otello, among others.

Orchestral engagements for the 2018 – 2019 season include Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 conducted by
Marin Alsop at the Ravinia Festival, a debut with the Mostly Mozart Festival singing Mozart’s Requiem
with Louis Langrée for the closing night of the festival, and a debut with Chamber Music Society of
Lincoln Center for Haydn’s Seven Last Words with the Orion String Quartet. This season, Mr. Green is
also presented in recital at the Terrace Theatre at the Kennedy Center as winner of the Marian Anderson
Vocal Award from Washington National Opera, and appears in recital with Dayton Opera at the Schuster
Performing Arts Center.

The 2017 – 2018 season saw Mr. Green return to the Metropolitan Opera for his role debut as Oroe in
Semiramide, conducted by Maurizio Benini and broadcast as part of the Met’s Live in HD program. Mr.
Green also returned to the Wiener Staatsoper as an ensemble member with roles including Fasolt in Das
Rheingold, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Titurel in Parsifal, Pistola in Falstaff, the King in Aida, Schmidt in
Andrea Chénier, Dottore in La Traviata, and Peneios in Daphne, among others.

In the fall of 2016, Little, Brown published Sing for Your Life, by New York Times journalist Daniel
Bergner. The book tells the story of Mr. Green’s personal and artistic journey: from a trailer park in
southeastern Virginia and from time spent in Virginia’s juvenile facility of last resort to the Met stage.
The New York Times Book Review called the book “one of the most inspiring stories I’ve come across in a
long time,” and the Washington Post called it a “vital, compelling, and highly recommended book.” Sing
for your Life has been honored with a number of recognitions including the New York Times bestseller
and editor’s choice, a Washington Post Notable Book, and a Publishers Weekly Book of the Year.

Highlights of Mr. Green’s performances at the Metropolitan Opera include Colline in the iconic Zeffirelli
production of La bohème, which the New York Times labeled Mr. Green “the real showstopper,” and the
New York Observer marked this performance as his “breakthrough as a star.” Additional highlights
include Rambo in the premier of The Death of Klinghoffer conducted by David Robertson, the Second
Knight in a new production of Parsifal which was broadcast as part of the Met’s Live in HD program, the
Bonze in Madama Butterfly, and the Jailer in Tosca. Additional operatic engagements include Ferrando in
Il trovatore with Opera de Lille’s traveling production, Third King in Die Liebe der Danae with the
Salzburg Festival, his house and role debut as Osmin in the James Robinson production of Die
Entführung aus dem Serail at Houston Grand Opera, as well as his house and role debut as Escamillo in
Carmen with Opera San Antonio.

At the Wiener Staatsoper, Mr. Green has been seen as Sparafucile in a new production of Rigoletto, Don
Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Varlaam in Boris Godunov, Angelotti in Tosca, Timur in a new
production of Turandot, Fouquier-Tinville in Andrea Chénier, the Monk in Don Carlo, the Pope in Lady
Macbeth of Mtsensk, and the King in Aida.

Orchestral appearances include his debut with the LA Philharmonic singing Beethoven’s Ninth
Symphony conducted by Gustavo Dudamel at the Hollywood Bowl, a return to Tanglewood for Walton’s
Belshazzar’s Feast with Bramwell Tovey conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra, his debut with the
Brevard Music Festival singing Verdi’s Requiem, Strauss’s Daphne with the Cleveland Orchestra
conducted by music director Franz Welser-Möst, his debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra as the
Second Soldier in Salome under the baton of Andris Nelsons, a debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra
singing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the bass solo in Verdi’s Requiem with Hartford Chorale, Mozart’s
Coronation Mass with the Virginia Symphony, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Florida
Symphony and Norwalk Symphony Orchestras. Mr. Green was also a featured soloist in a celebration of
song honoring Carlisle Floyd’s 85th Birthday with the Florida State University Department of Music,
conducted by the composer.

Recital engagements include his debut at the Ravinia Festival with pianist Adam Nielsen and a recital and
residency at the Torggler Summer Vocal Institute at Christopher Newport University in his native
Virginia.

Honors and awards include National Grand Finals winner of the 2011 Metropolitan Opera National
Council Auditions, a 2014 George London Foundation Award, a 2014 Annenberg grant recipient, a 2014
Gerda Lissner Foundation First Prize winner, both the Richard and Sara Tucker Grants from the Richard
Tucker Foundation, and a finalist in the Palm Beach Opera Competition.

A native of Suffolk, Virginia, Mr. Green received a Master of Music degree from Florida State
University, a Bachelor of Music degree from the Hartt School of Music, and was a member of the
Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.

Colorado Symphony Chorus

The 2021-2022 Colorado Symphony concert season marks the 38^th season of the Colorado Symphony Chorus. Founded in 1984 by Duain Wolfe at the request of Gaetano Delogu, then the Music Director of the Symphony, the chorus has grown into a nationally respected ensemble. This outstanding chorus of volunteers joins the Colorado Symphony for numerous performances each year, to repeated critical acclaim.

The Chorus has performed at noted music festivals in the Rocky Mountain region, including the Colorado Music Festival, the Grand Teton Music Festival, and the Bravo! Vail Music Festival, where it has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Dallas Symphony, under conductors Alan Gilbert, Hans Graf, Jaap van Zweden, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. For over two decades, the Chorus has been featured at the world-renowned Aspen Music Festival, performing many great masterworks under the baton of conductors Lawrence Foster, James Levine, Murry Sidlin, Leonard Slatkin, David Zinman, and Robert Spano.

Among the eight recordings the CSO Chorus has made is a NAXOS release of Roy Harris’s Symphony No. 4. The Chorus is also featured on a Hyperion release of the Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem and Stephen Hough’s Missa Mirabilis. Most recently, the Colorado Symphony and Chorus released a world-premiere recording of William Hill’s The Raven.

In 2009, in celebration of the 25^th anniversary of the chorus, Duain Wolfe conducted the chorus on a three-country, two-week concert tour of Europe, presenting the Verdi Requiem in Budapest, Vienna, Litomysl and Prague; and in 2016 the chorus returned to Europe for concerts in Paris, Strasbourg and Munich featuring the Fauré Requiem. 

The summer of 2022 will see the return of the Chorus to Austria for performances of “With the Voice of Triumph” and Bruckner’s majestic “Te Deum” in Vienna, Graz and Salzburg.

Duain Wolfe, chorus director

Three-time Grammy® winner for Best Choral Performance, Best Classical Recording, and Best Opera Performance, Duain Wolfe is Founder and Director of the Colorado Symphony Chorus and Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. This year marks Wolfe’s 37th season with the Colorado Symphony Chorus. The Chorus has been featured at the Aspen Music Festival for over two decades. Wolfe, who is in his 28th season with the Chicago Symphony Chorus has collaborated with Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Muti, and Sir George Solti on numerous recordings including Wagner’s Die Meistersinger, which won the 1998 Grammy® for Best Opera Recording. Wolfe’s extensive musical accomplishments have resulted in numerous awards, including the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the University of Denver, the Bonfils Stanton Award in the Arts and Humanities, the Mayor’s Award for Excellence in an Artistic Discipline, and the Michael Korn Award for the Development of the Professional Choral Art. Wolfe is Founder of the Colorado Children’s Chorale, from which he retired in 1999 after 25 years. For 20 years, Wolfe also worked with the Central City Opera Festival as chorus director and conductor, founding and directing the company’s young artist residence program, as well as its education and outreach programs. Wolfe’s other accomplishments include directing and preparing choruses for Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, the Bravo! Vail Festival, the Berkshire Choral Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Grand Teton Music Festival. He has worked with Pinchas Zuckerman and Alexander Shelly as Chorus Director for the Canadian National Arts Centre Orchestra for the past 20 years.