Masterpiece Series Finale:
A Symphonic Saga
Saturday, May 23, 2026
7:30 – 9:00 PM
Macky Auditorium Concert Hall
The Boulder Chamber Orchestra
Bahman Saless
conductor
Program
Jean Sibelius (1865–1957)
Symphony No. 7 in C Major, Op. 105 (1918–24)
Bahman Saless
Ode to the Rocky Mountains (2024)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64 (1888)
I. Andante – Allegro con anima
II. Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza
III. Valse: Allegro moderato
IV. Finale: Andante maestoso – Allegro vivace
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Bahman Saless
Music Director
A conductor for the 21st century, Bahman Saless has been described as “entrepreneurial, creative, and plugged in,” and “an innately talented musician and conductor, without frills or ego.” His passion is palpable, his enthusiasm contagious, and the results he draws from musicians are, as one colleague put it, “extraordinary.” Saless’s musical path is anything but conventional. After studying violin in England as a teenager and composing music from a young age, he pursued violin studies with Lyman Bodman at Michigan State University while simultaneously earning a Ph.D. in theoretical physics. He later founded the […]
PROGRAM NOTES
Jean Sibelius (1865–1957)
Symphony No. 7 in C Major, Op. 105 (1918–24)
Sibelius’s Seventh Symphony stands apart from nearly every other symphony in the repertoire. Completed in 1924, it is written as a single continuous movement rather than the traditional four-movement structure. Yet within this uninterrupted span, listeners can hear clearly defined sections that suggest slow introductions, energetic passages, and lyrical episodes. Sibelius achieves this sense of architectural unity through subtle transformations of themes, gradual changes in tempo, and seamless transitions between contrasting moods. Central to the work is a noble trombone theme that appears at pivotal moments, serving as a kind of musical anchor within the symphony’s flowing design.
For audiences, Symphony No. 7 offers a powerful listening experience that unfolds like a natural landscape in motion. Rather than presenting sharply separated musical ideas, Sibelius allows themes to grow, dissolve, and re-emerge organically, much like changing light or shifting weather. The result is music that feels both expansive and intimate, combining grandeur with quiet reflection. Often considered the culmination of Sibelius’s symphonic career, the Seventh Symphony reflects his mature style: concise, concentrated, and deeply expressive. It invites listeners not only to follow a narrative, but to immerse themselves in a continuous musical journey shaped by atmosphere, color, and emotional depth.
Bahman Saless
Ode to the Rocky Mountains (2024)
To open the twentieth anniversary season, Saless decided to write a piece celebrating Colorado, titled Ode to the Rocky Mountains. Although he has rarely programmed his own music before, he had several years of experience writing and scoring film music in Hollywood before he started the BCO. “I did a lot of (uncredited) trailers for Hollywood films at Universal Studios,” he says.
To start the season, “I thought what’s better than something that celebrates Colorado?” Saless says. “I wrote a little piece that’s based on the two Colorado state songs, ‘Where the Columbine Grow’ and ‘Rocky Mountain High.’ It has five episodes that represent our own experience every time we go to the mountains.”
In the space of about five and half minutes, its five episode are: “Entering the Boulder Valley off Highway 36, heading West to the Mountains,” “Resting by the Brook in the Meadow,” “Playful Wildlife Amidst the Columbine,” “The Grand Landscape is to Behold,” and “Homeward Bound.”
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64 (1888)
Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 is a deeply emotional and dramatically cohesive work, composed in 1888 during a period of renewed self-doubt and creative insecurity. In it, Tchaikovsky confronts what he described in his sketches as "fate"—not as a destructive force, as in his Fourth Symphony, but as something to be endured, perhaps even transformed.
The symphony begins with a slow, somber introduction that presents a motto theme, which recurs throughout the work in various guises. The first movement moves from brooding darkness to an impassioned allegro, marked by sweeping melodies and intense orchestral interplay. The second movement, one of Tchaikovsky’s most sublime creations, features a soaring horn solo that has become iconic—tender, noble, and deeply expressive.
Instead of a scherzo, the third movement offers a graceful waltz, elegant and refined yet shadowed by the reappearance of the fate motif. The finale opens with a majestic statement of the theme, now transformed into a kind of victory march. Whether this conclusion is truly triumphant or tinged with irony is a question that has long intrigued interpreters.
More than a century after its premiere, Symphony No. 5 continues to move audiences with its emotional immediacy, masterful orchestration, and the raw humanity that lies at the heart of Tchaikovsky’s music. It is a journey from darkness to light—though never without shadows—and remains one of the most beloved symphonic works in the repertoire.
Program Notes by Reginald Winters