SHULGOLD: Four in the running to lead CSO

By Marc Shulgold, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 14, 2008 at 3 p.m.

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With Colorado Ballet's naming of Jack Lemmon (no, not that Jack Lemmon) as executive director, attention now shifts to the Colorado Symphony and its search for an administrative leader.

The quest for a successor to departed President Doug Adams is expected to end this month, says Kevin Duncan, the CSO's interim president, board chairman and head of the search committee.

"We had 18 responses to the posting," he said. "We then whittled it down to a short list of eight, then to four finalists."

A final decision, Duncan added, is expected before Thanksgiving.

And who are the four? He wouldn't say, except to note that one is not an American and one is already employed by the orchestra (we've heard that it's Vice President Cliff Gardiner).

BOETTCHER UPDATE: On a related CSO front, the project to renovate Boettcher Hall continues.

Final contracts are nearly complete, with signings by the architectural firm Diamond & Schmitt and an acoustic-design team at Akustiks expected in time for the next planning meeting. The gathering will be held Dec. 4 in Nashville, Tenn., where design- team members and CSO officials will take a closer look at Schermerhorn Hall. Concepts are still being tossed around, so don't expect even a rough sketch or two until later next year.

BALLET REWARDED: In addition to its hiring of Lemmon this week, Colorado Ballet has another reason to smile. The company has just received the 2009 Colorado Masterpieces award, a $55,000 grant from the program funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.

The grant will support a fall tour that will open at DU's Newman Center, then travel to Greeley, Sterling, Pueblo and Colorado Springs. Tour repertory includes Agnes DeMille's Rodeo.

CALLING ALL VIOLINS: If you have a band or orchestra instrument gathering dust in a closet, consider a donation. The "Keep the Music Alive" instrument drive was launched this week by KVOD and the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation.

Even if it's not in perfect shape, any "gently used" instrument will be accepted at drop-off points in three Colorado cities (see list with this story).

Necessary repairs will be made by participating music stores, and instruments will be given to schools and organizations with deserving music programs. Information: kvod.org

BACK TO THE APPLE: New York continues to beckon for Boulder choreographer Robert Sher-Machherndl. The leader of the small-but-daring Lemon Sponge Cake Contemporary Ballet has been invited to bring his latest work, Liquid-Space, to the Ailey Citigroup Theatre next April.

The full-evening work will receive its premiere at 7:30 tonight at the Newman Center, on the University of Denver campus (information: 303-871-7720).

The dance-maker says he set the piece to a "subtle, minimalist" electronic score assembled from a group of German DJs - not your typical source for ballet. But then, Sher-Machherndl has always dis- played a penchant for the unusual.

He'll perform the piece with Simone Messmer, a member of American Ballet Theatre's corps de ballet. She had stepped in for the injured Susan Jaffe at a Lemon Sponge Cake performance last year.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: We recently received a breathless release about the completion of a symphony by Neil Sedaka.

Yes, that Neil Sedaka, creator of such '60s hits as Calendar Girl and Breaking Up Is Hard To Do. Seems that Sedaka had studied classical piano as a boy, attending Juilliard before crossing over to the pop world.

In citing his inspiration for composing the symphony, titled Joie de Vivre, Sedaka, 69, pointed to Felix Mendelssohn: "He wrote later in life, and that inspired me to go back to my musical roots and create something beautiful."

Mendelssohn died in 1847 at age 38.

Marc Shulgold is the music and dance writer. Shulgoldm@RockyMountainNews.com 303-954-5296

Instrument drop-offs

Orchestra or band instruments may be brought to locations participating in the "Keep the Music Alive" drive:

Denver

* Flesher-Hinton Music, 3936 Tennyson St.

* The Music Box, 5048 Hampden Ave.

* Kolacny Music, 1900 S. Broadway

Pueblo

* Marck Time Music, 2318 Jones Ave.

Grand Junction

* Roper Music, 136 N. Fifth St.