The FCS Blog

News, Resources, and Program Notes

The FCS blog is your one-stop spot for all of our Symphony News, Educational Articles, and Blog Posts.

You can find more great information by exploring our Program Notes Archive, Open Notes Podcast, and Virtual Concerts/Videos, or by joining our email list.

FCS Announces Season 2022-23: Escape to New Realms

Who doesn’t love a chance to escape: to walk away from the ordinary, the mundane, the everyday? A flight through the portals of music – the art of the air – can whisk you off to unexpected places, evoke memories, provide calm spaces, stimulate the mind, and create wonderful flights of fancy.

Meet Maestro Wes Kenney

For our 2021-22 season, Reflections, we have highlighted many FCS musicians on our Facebook and Instagram pages under the campaign #MusicianMonday. To close out this fantastic season, we wanted to spotlight the musician in charge of all that we’ve accomplished this year: FCS Music Director Maestro W

What is a Symphony?

From favorites like Beethoven’s 5th to symphonies that you’ve never heard before, this blog post and podcast episode gives a brief overview of the history of the symphony and what to expect when you head into the concert hall. What is a symphony? A symphony is a specific form that many composers use

Interview with Science Consultant Dr. Erin Macdonald

Dr. Erin Macdonald is a tattooed one-woman STEM career panel with recognition as a researcher, speaker, engineer, and consultant before her current career. She now lives in Los Angeles working as a writer and producer and is the science consultant for the entire Star Trek franchise. In this intervie

Lost in Space square pops concert Erin Macdonald

Get Lost in Space with the Fort Collins Symphony and Dr. Erin Macdonald

Resistance is futile… Buckle up Sci-Fi fans and join the Fort Collins Symphony, the Lyric Cinema, the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, and FoCo Comic Con for an intergalactic Get Lost in Space adventure! At the helm of this multi-day event is the CBS Star Trek franchise science consultant and Fort

The Friends of the Symphony Present: The Animated Orchestra

Help! There’s a ferret running loose in the orchestra! The Animated Orchestra: A Musical Adventure for the Young and the Young at Heart, sponsored by the Friends of the Symphony, will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 13, 2022 at Timberline Church’s main auditorium. Under the baton of Maestro We

Interview with Composer Gregory Smith

Composer Gregory Smith sits down to discuss his compositional process, his piece “The Animated Orchestra,” and how he writes excellent educational works to engage young listeners. Join us for The Animated Orchestra, live at Timberline Church in Fort Collins on Sunday, March 13, 2022. Tickets and mor

Anxious Tender and Jaunty Signature Concert 4 Oto Carrillo Horn

FCS to perform Signature Concert #4: Anxious, Tender & Jaunty

The award-winning Fort Collins Symphony (FCS), under the baton of Maestro Wes Kenney, will perform a concert of Classical, Romantic and Twentieth Century music at 7:30 PM on Saturday, March 5, 2022 at the Fort Collins Lincoln Center. The Symphony’s Signature Concert #4, Anxious, Tender & Jaunty, fea

Interview with Hornist Oto Carrillo

Thank you for joining us for this interview with Hornist Oto Carrillo! Today, Jeremy talks with Oto about Mozart’s 3rd Horn Concerto, why he started playing the horn, and how he escaped from an elevator shaft just before his first performance at Carnegie Hall. Oto Carrillo joins the FCS for our Sign

Have we mentioned lately how much we adore you?

Pandemic times have not been easy, but with your enthusiastic participation in the Fort Collins Symphony’s outdoor & streamed concerts, attendance at vaxxed & masked indoor concerts, understanding & flexibility when circumstances require it, & generous financial support, you have kept us playing & t

Holy Conundrum, Batman!

The Fort Collins Symphony’s upcoming February 5 concert, “Solemn, Joyful & Ecstatic,” requires 73 talented musicians to perform the Romantic and contemporary music you will experience (in-person or live-streamed). Sadly, the Lincoln Center’ main stage is not large enough to safely seat this many ins

Meet the Guest Artist, Anthony Elliott, Square

Friends of the Symphony to Host Virtual “Meet the Guest Artist” Event

The Friends of the Symphony will host a virtual “Meet the Guest Artist” event on a Zoom platform at 12 noon on Thursday, February 3, 2022. The Fort Collins Symphony guest cellist, Anthony D. Elliott, will perform composer Oskar Morawetz’s powerful Memorial to Martin Luther King at the Signature Conc

5 Fascinating Facts about Barber’s Adagio for Strings

5 Fascinating Facts about Barber’s Adagio for Strings Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings is one of the most popular pieces of classical music ever written. But do you know these five fascinating facts about the piece? 1. The Adagio for Strings was originally written for string quartet The Adagio for

Cellist Anthony Elliott on the importance of the “Memorial to Martin Luther King”

Thank you for joining us for this interview with guest Cellist Anthony Elliott. Today, Jeremy D. Cuebas sits down with Mr. Elliott to talk about his early experiences as a musician, his mission for educational outreach, and the importance of the Memorial to Martin Luther King by Oskar Morawetz. Anth

What does a Conductor Do?

What does a Conductor Do? 3 Steps to Conducting an Orchestra This blog post is also available as a podcast. Listen for extra elaboration and examples from FCS Assistant Conductor Jeremy Cuebas. Okay, you caught me. I lied. You need to know a lot more than these 3 steps before you’re ready to conduct

7 lesser-known classical music pieces for your winter playlist

7 Lesser-known Classics for your Winter Playlist

7 Lesser-known Classics for your Winter Playlist You’ve heard the Nutcracker and Vivaldi’s Winter, but have you heard these lesser-known pieces of classical music to put you into the spirit of winter? From the desks of Schumann and Tchaikovsky to the computer of Max Richter, these 7 Winter Classics

What is a Concerto?

What is a Concerto? When you go to an orchestra concert or start learning about classical music, you’re likely to encounter many new words. The most common word you will see (except perhaps “symphony”) is “concerto.” So, what is a concerto? A concerto is a piece of classical music that features a so

Meet your new FCS Staff Members

Meet your new FCS Staff Members:Kate Henry and Jeremy Cuebas Dear Fort Collins Symphony Patrons, Thanks to the generous support of our community, the FCS is pleased to introduce two new staff members. The long-needed addition of a Community Engagement and Education Director and a Digital Communicati

How to Pick the Best Orchestra Seats

How to Pick the Best Orchestra Seats 4 steps to finding your perfect spot for a symphony concert What are the best seats for an orchestra concert? With over one thousand seats available at the Lincoln Center in Fort Collins, CO, and many venues seating far more, the question of “where are the best s

Murphy’s Law at its finest…

Dear FCS Patrons, As you are aware, your Fort Collins Symphony has been working hard with our City of Fort Collins partners at the Lincoln Center to continue performing during the pandemic. Being able to offer live-streams and webcasts of our performances to community members who are unable to atten

Meet Guest Pianist Bryan Wallick

Thank you for joining us today for this Fort Collins Symphony guest artist interview with guest pianist Bryan Wallick. Mr. Wallick joined the FCS for Energized, Unsure & Triumphant, live and live-streamed on November 6, 2021. Our Assistant Conductor Jeremy D. Cuebas sat down with Bryan to talk about

Energized, Unsure, and Triumphant FCS Signature Concert 2

FCS to Perform Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Perkinson

The award-winning Fort Collins Symphony (FCS), under the baton of Maestro Wes Kenney, will perform a concert of Classical, Romantic, and contemporary music at 7:30 PM on Saturday, November 6, 2021 at the Fort Collins Lincoln Center. The Symphony’s Signature Concert 2–Energized, Unsure and Triumphant

FCS Wins The American Prize in Orchestral Performance, 2021

FCS Wins the American Prize in Orchestral Performance, 2021 David Katz, chief judge of The American Prize, announced that the Fort Collins Symphony (FCS) is the first-place winner of the 2021 American Prize in Orchestral Performance (professional division). The orchestra, under the baton of Maestro

Violinist Linda Wang with a grey background

Meet Violinist Linda Wang

Violinist Linda Wang Violinist Linda Wang joins your Fort Collins Symphony on October 2nd to perform Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade after Plato’s Symposium. Signature Concert #1, Fury, Contemplation & Hope, Opens the 2021-22 season. Ms. Wang made her concert debut with Zubin Mehta and the New York Phi

Reflections Signature Concert 1 Banner with violin

FCS Returns to the Lincoln Center with its 21-22 Signature Concert Series

The Fort Collins Symphony (FCS), under the baton of Maestro Wes Kenney, returns to the Fort Collins’ Lincoln Center stage for its 2021-22 Season at 7:30 PM, Saturday, October 2, 2021. The emotion-filled Signature Concert 1 features music by Leonard Bernstein, Rodion Shchedrin, and Jessie Montgomery,

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