The Scen3

A preview by Betsy Schwarm, January 13, 2021 It is at times like those of the past ten months that the performing arts can mean the most.  Not only is it a chance to gather together in a shared artistic experience, it is also a reminder of the marvelous things that mankind can create, especially […]

Review by Betsy Schwarm The concerts offered this first weekend of December by the Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra bore the heading “Holiday Moods.”  Admittedly, in this particular year, holiday moods are not quite what they have usually been.  However, if one needed some reassurance that there is still joy to be found, Pro Musica’s programs […]

A preview by Betsy Schwarm Few will have missed the TV reference in the title of this article.  In this case, though, the idea came from comments by Cynthia Katsarelis, music director of the Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra, who asserts that the ensemble “has a mission to ‘boldly go’ where no orchestra has gone […]

A Review by Marc Shulgold “You are the most intrepid music lovers in all of Denver,” Cynthia Katsarelis enthused to the small but enthusiastic gathering on a blustery, snowy night in the Mile High City on Feb. 22. Undeterred by the weather, a few dozen folks made their way to the First Baptist Church of […]

A preview article – by Betsy Schwarm Is there such a thing as a single “authentic” Messiah? Even the composer himself might suggest not; after all, in the seventeen years between the work’s premiere in 1742 and Handel’s passing, he presented the work again and again, often reshaping it for particular singers and/or venues. So […]

A review by Marc Shulgold  On January 13, 2012, the massive cruise ship Costa Condordia was ripped open by an undersea rock off of Isola del Giglio on Italy’s Tuscan coast. Most of the 4,200 passengers and crew were rescued, but 32 did not survive. Among the dead was a Hungarian violinist named Sándor Fehér, […]

Preview by Betsy Schwarm As a chamber orchestra specializing in symphonic works of humbler proportion, Pro Musica might not be expected to have much to do with early 20th century repertoire. Epic Mahler symphonies, even those of Rachmaninoff, wouldn’t suit the ensemble’s mission. However, that same generation also produced the Neoclassical school of thought. Here, […]

A review by Marc Shulgold For a small ensemble of 21 strings, Pro Musica Colorado appears willing to take on big challenges- as was demonstrated at the first of two weekend concerts on Friday night, in a program titled “American Seasons”. Led by Cynthia Katsarelis, an energetic, disciplined conductor, this ambitious group tackled some mighty […]

A preview by Robin McNeil Scen3 Fall 2014 Instrumental Music Roundup This coming concert season is going to be very exciting because it contains some rarely heard music, music that we know, and music which is so important in all of music literature, that you simply must go hear it. Some of the organizations listed […]

A Review by Robin McNeil Maestra Cynthia Katsarelis, Edward Dusinberre, and the Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra are world class. Every musician who has spent his life practicing 4 to 8 hours a day, and who goes out on stage, not only because he wants to perform, but because he has such a love for […]