Since 1948, Denver Philharmonic Orchestra has believed live orchestral music should be for everyone. No one is turned away at our door. Our Colorado Gives Day goal is $30,000 by Tuesday, December 8, and your gift keeps the door open for our entire community.
Expanding Access
Through Pay-What-You-Can, YouthTIX, and community outreach, DPO has provided more than 10,000 free and discounted tickets, regardless of background or financial status.
More Than a Concert
Our More Than Music series turns concert nights into community experiences: pre-concert chats, hands-on demonstrations, cultural showcases, local food and beverage tastings, and arts and crafts in the lobby. These moments turn an evening of music into a celebration of community, connection, and culture.
Taking a Stand
Take A Stand is our year-round equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility (EDIA) initiative. We provide braille and large-print programs at every concert, haptic vests for patrons who are deaf or hard of hearing, and access for service animals in training. Our website translates into the most-spoken languages in the Denver Metro. We partner with organizations like Dancing with Friends and Bikes Together, and Colorado Radio for Justice broadcasts our music on Sundays to people who have been affected by the incarceration system.
Impact You Can See and Feel
From a child at their first orchestra concert who called it “really fun and pretty loud” to newcomers discovering a lifelong love of classical music, DPO shows that music can inspire, heal, and unite. Under Music Director Scott O’Neil, we’re creating bold, emotionally rich performances that welcome everyone in, because music belongs to all of us.
Give All Year
A monthly gift of any amount keeps supporting our community long after Colorado Gives Day. Colorado Gives matches the first month of a new monthly gift, up to $100.
To continually redefine the way our community experiences and engages with classical music.
We may be one of Denver’s oldest orchestras, but we don’t act our age.
Dr. Antonia Brico, the first woman to conduct the New York Philharmonic, founded the orchestra in 1948 as the Denver Businessmen’s Orchestra, giving local, classically trained musicians a place to play. She led it for nearly 40 years. Under music directors Julius Glaihengauz, Horst Buchholz, Adam Flatt, and Lawrence Golan, the orchestra grew in artistic quality, became Denver Philharmonic Orchestra in 2004, toured China and Germany, and launched the International Conducting Workshop. Dedicated board and volunteer leaders professionalized our operations and took us from modest performances to sold-out concerts.
In 2025, Scott O’Neil, longtime Resident Conductor of the Colorado Symphony and voice of CPR Classical’s Behind the Baton, became our sixth Music Director. His bold, story-driven programming carries our founding idea forward: music belongs to all of us.
Read our full history at denverphilharmonic.org.
Organization name
Denver Philharmonic Orchestra
other names
DPO, The Denver Businessmen's Orchestra, The Brico Symphony, The Centennial Philharmonic
1948
Tax id (EIN)
84-6046303
Category
Arts, Culture & Humanities
Organization Size
Medium Organization
Address
1660 Sherman St.Mailing
PO Box 6084Headquarters
1660 Sherman StDenver County, CO, US