The Playground is excited to join forces with jesterN, Kevin Sweet, and Paulus van Horne & FMSHAGGI at this year’s LEAF to present a concert featuring new electronic works, including THREE PIECES written and performed by Playground composers.
Our show on April 20 - and many other LEAF shows - are FREE!
Follow the link below to learn more about our 4/20 concert and see the full Festival schedule.
The Playground Ensemble, in Residence at Metro State University of Denver, is the Rocky Mountain Region’s premier new music group. We are professional musicians, composers, educators and fans dedicated to presenting chamber music as a living art form.
In addition to concert seasons that feature the work of recognized composers, we work to cultivate a thriving local composition community. With exciting outreach programs like our innovative Young Composers Playground we are showing young people that classical music is vibrant, adventurous and relevant. We hope to inspire our audiences to not only listen, but to create!
Collaboration is at the heart of the Playground’s artistic vision. We commission new works by living composers, perform in support of touring improvisors, and perform regularly. We work with dancers, poets, spoken word artists, visual artists, and multi-media artists, finding inspiration across disciplines and exploring new, hybrid artistic forms.
The Playground has performed at many notable venues and festivals including the Biennial of the Americas, the National Performing Arts Convention, the International Society of Improvised Music Annual Conference, Mile High Voltage Festival, MCA Denver, Boettcher Hall, the Clyfford Still Museum and the Denver Art Museum.
We have performed with, or worked directly with a diverse cast of new music luminaries including Eyvind Kang, Morten Lauridsen, So Percussion, Evan Ziporyn, Roomful of Teeth, Caroline Shaw, Jace Clayton (DJ /rupture) and Tatsuya Nakatani.
Our efforts have been recognized and supported by numerous regional and national organizations including the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Chamber Music America, The Amphion Foundation, The American Music Center, New Music USA, the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado, the Singer Foundation and the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District.
KGNU Interview on “Canopy” collaborative leaf-peeping tour with Control Group Productions. October 2022.
VoyageDenver interview with Playground members Sarah Whitnah, Luke Wachter, and David Farrell. July 2022.
Denverite feature on the Playground’s “Reenter, Remerg, Reform” concert in collaboration with Remerg, supporting communities impacted by incarceration. February 2022.
Soundtrap features the Playground’s signature education program, Young Composers Playground. September 2021.
In collaboration with Control Group Productions, the Playground presented “After the Flood” in June 2021. Press related to this event can be found here.
The Playground was involved in Emancipation Theater’s “I am Raverro” in October 2020. Press related to this event can be found here.
Vail Daily Features Playground’s Very Young Composers Workshop 7.23.2019
Women in Art Music, Rutgers University. Ruth Crawford: An Interview with Dr. Nancy Yunhwa Rao 6.2019
Westword story on performance of Eight Songs for a Mad King. “Is a Dream Come True” 2.21.2019
We will establish ourselves as a new music ensemble of national prominence. We will do so with superior quality performances and adventurous programming.
We dare to take programming risks; both of repertoire and venue and do so unashamedly and without fear.
We believe in the power of a positive musical experience over the perfect musical performance. We do not support low standards or poor performance practice. We believe that musical pretension, ideas of genre superiority, and “we’re trained professionals, don’t try this at home” arrogance must not just be abandoned but actively destroyed. We empower our audience to believe in their abilities as musicians.
We imperatively urge young classical musicians to participate in music composed in their lifetime
We continue to expand our program offerings in the public schools and reach out to youth in schools with and without music programs.
We maintain working relationships with all higher education music programs in the Denver greater metropolitan area. We will work to establish and maintain these relationships throughout the state of Colorado and throughout the nation.
We are a service organization to all of those creating new music in Colorado. We are also a resource for all organizations, media, press, and educators interested in modern music. We wish to share our knowledge and experience in more ways than just concertizing. We believe that this music is for everyone and that community building is an important role of any performing ensemble. We will continue to develop new and continuing audiences for this music that we love.
The personal fulfillment of our performers, the camaraderie and enjoyment of working together and personal growth through playing this music we that love is a primary focus of our ensemble.
