The artists who visited the Performance Studio in 2015 created hours of exclusive recordings and video for CPR Classical's listeners.
The studio hosted musicians from around the world who stopped by during their tours to play spine-tingling chamber music. Contemporary artists whose music stretches the boundaries of classical music recorded memorable sessions. And numerous Colorado musicians gave us a taste of why they've developed strong regional followings.
Check out 15 of our favorite Performance Studio videos of 2015 below, and listen to Colorado Spotlight weeknights at 7 p.m. from Jan. 1-8 to hear more highlights recorded this year at CPR.
Roomful of Teeth
The vocal octet performed music from member Caroline Shaw's Partita for Eight Voices and talked with us before their concert at Denver's Newman Center. See the full session.
Zuill Bailey
The cellist played a gorgeous take on Max Bruch's "Kol Nidrei" during his session.
Trio Con Brio Copenhagen
The piano trio spoke with David Rutherford and performed music by Felix Mendelssohn and Anton Arensky during their session.
Carpe Diem String Quartet
A highlight of the quartet's session came from composer Korine Fujiwara, the ensemble's violist. The quartet performed movements from Fujiwara's piece "Fiddle Suite: Montana," inspired by her childhood in the Treasure State. Fujiwara also shared the story behind a violin concerto she wrote for the quartet's first violinist, Charles Wetherbee.
Victor Wooten
The electric bass virtuoso played his composition "The Lesson" at CPR while in Denver to perform a unique electric bass concerto with the Colorado Symphony. Wooten and Conni Ellisor, his co-composer on the concerto, also talked to Colorado Matters about the project.
Katie Mahan
The pianist gave a stunning full performance of Claude Debussy's "Estampes," demonstrating the beauty and subtlety in the piece's three movements.
David Requiro
The cellist visited CPR shortly after joining the music faculty at the University of Colorado. He shared a lyrical excerpt from Johannes Brahms' Second Cello Sonata.
So Percussion
The score for percussionist Jason Treuting's composition "Amid the Noise" doesn't specify which instruments should be used in performance. When So Percussion played one of the movements during their session in March, they took a unique approach: popping the lid off the grand piano in the CPR Performance Studio and treating the insides like percussion instruments.
Alessio Bax
The pianist thrilled listeners when he performed Aleksandr Scriabin's Prelude for the Left Hand. View more from the session.
Zachary Carrettin
Carrettin, a violinist and the director of the Boulder Bach Festival, reworked J.S. Bach's beloved Cello Suites for electric violin. Watch the full session.
Cantus
The men's vocal ensemble asked several composers to write music that explored different ideas about love, and brought the results to the CPR Performance Studio during a stop on the group's concert tour.
Tracy Silverman
The electric violin virtuoso played music inspired by an Henri Matisse painting and talked about his career with CPR Classical.
Colorado Chamber Players
The musicians shared a memorable performance of music from Johannes Brahms' String Sextet No. 2.
Bruce Adolphe and Emily Ondracek-Peterson
Composer Bruce Adolphe and violinist Emily Ondracek-Peterson treated listeners to a preview of music from the film "Einstein's Light" as well as a fascinating discussion about how Albert Einstein found inspiration in music.
Jake Schepps Quintet
The banjo player asked contemporary composers to write music for his five-piece bluegrass ensemble, then performed highlights at CPR and talked with Colorado Matters about the project.
