The Colorado Wind Ensemble serves residents of the Denver metropolitan area by performing concerts of exceptional quality throughout the region and providing educational outreach and performing opportunities to students. The CWE's programming is accessible to all through innovative programming, geographic outreach, variable ticket prices, and engaging concert experiences. It is in large part through the generous donations of individuals that we are able to financially support a high degree of accessibility for students and audience members of varying income levels.
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The mission of the Colorado Wind Ensemble is to provide opportunities for musicians to create, and audiences to experience, exceptional performances of live music for woodwinds, brass, and percussion.
To that end, the Colorado Wind Ensemble programs a diversity of repertoire, including classics by composers such as Hindemith, Stravinsky and Copland; popular American music by composers such as Gershwin and Bernstein; and contemporary music by composers such as Corigliano, Schwantner, Whitacre, and Rorem.
The CWE performs a subscription series of full-ensemble concerts, and presents chamber music, summer concerts, and other outreach performances frequently. The CWE takes an innovative approach to crafting "theme" concerts that appeal to audiences and yet incorporate a wide variety of literature, and regularly collaborates with guest artists and other arts organizations. The CWE conducts educational outreach with student groups, and commissions works by composers and arrangers.
The Colorado Wind Ensemble (CWE) was formed in 1983 for the purpose of performing music of high quality for woodwinds, brass, and percussion groups in a wide variety of styles and instrumentation; to provide this music to audiences throughout the community; and to provide a positive musical performance outlet for serious musicians devoted to the various genres of wind music.
At that time, and still today, the Colorado Wind Ensemble was and is the only wind ensemble in the Rocky Mountain region outside of academia performing wind ensemble music at a professional level. Unlike many community-based groups, most of the musicians in the group have degrees in music; in fact, over 40 percent of the members have advanced music degrees. Over half of the group's members make at least a portion of their living in music fields, mostly as musicians and teachers.
"This was the first performance of the Colorado Wind Ensemble that I have heard . . . I came away wondering why this organization is not better known. They play so well that they can certainly promote its wind ensemble repertoire. There are members of this ensemble who are absolutely stellar members of some of the community orchestras in the Denver metro area, and when they are combined as members of the Colorado Wind Ensemble, this organization truly excels. Their playing is intensely musical, and there is no question that they take great pride in being true musicans." -- Robin McNeil
