Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra & Michael Butterman
Biographie Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra & Michael Butterman
Ricardo Morales
is one of the most sought-after clarinetists of today. He joined The Philadelphia Orchestra as principal clarinet in Prior to this he was principal clarinet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, a position he assumed at the age of 21. His virtuosity and artistry as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician has been hailed and recognized in concert halls around the world.
The Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra
founded in 1957, is recognized as one of the country’s leading regional orchestras, known for its creative programming and deep connections to its hometown. The Phil annually reaches audiences of more than 30,000 and presents its main concert series at Macky Auditorium, a grand historic hall on the University of Colorado campus site where this album was also recorded. Music Director MICHAEL BUTTERMAN, acclaimed for his creative artistry and innovative programming, has led the Boulder Philharmonic to national prominence since 2007, resulting in an invitation to open the Kennedy Center’s inaugural SHIFT Festival of American Orchestras in 2017, as well as the Shreveport Symphony, which has experienced an unprecedented era of artistic growth under his leadership.
Beginning in 2022, Mr. Butterman assumed the role of Music Director of the Williamsburg Symphony and Lancaster Symphony orchestras.
2026 marks the 50th Anniversary of REFERENCE RECORDINGS, one of the most innovative and respected independent labels in the music business. Reference Recordings releases have been highly praised for their dedication to high quality sound in the service of great music. After more than 200 projects and many GRAMMY® awards and nominations, RR’s first and second-generation team continues recording and releasing what many consider to be the finest-sounding classical, jazz and blues albums in the world.
Michael Butterman
Music Director of four American orchestras and a sought-after guest conductor, Michael Butterman is acclaimed for his creative artistry and innovative programming. Foundational to his dynamic career is a deep commitment to audience development and community engagement. He is the Music Director of the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, which he has led to national prominence, resulting in an invitation to open the Kennedy Center’s inaugural SHIFT Festival of American Orchestras in 2017, as well as the Shreveport Symphony, which has experienced an unprecedented era of artistic growth under his leadership. Beginning in 2022, Mr. Butterman assumed the role of Music Director of the Williamsburg Symphony and Lancaster Symphony orchestras, as well.
As a guest conductor, Mr. Butterman has led many of the country’s preeminent ensembles, including the Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony, Detroit Symphony and Houston Symphony. Other recent appearances include performances with the Fort Worth Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Hartford Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Syracuse Symphony, New Mexico Symphony, Santa Fe Symphony, California Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Spokane Symphony, El Paso Symphony, Mobile Symphony, Winston-Salem Symphony, Pensacola Opera, Asheville Lyric Opera and Victoria Symphony (British Columbia). Summer appearances include Tanglewood, the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Colorado Music Festival, and the Wintergreen Music Festival in Virginia. This season, he returns for a third time to conduct Cuba’s renowned Havana Chamber Orchestra.
A passionate advocate for music education, Mr. Butterman was the founding Music Director of the Pennsylvania Philharmonic, and recently completed a 19-year association with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra as its Principal Conductor for Education and Community Engagement. Concurrently he enjoyed a 15-year tenure with the Jacksonville Symphony, first as Associate, and then as Resident Conductor.
Mr. Butterman gained international attention as a diploma laureate in the Prokofiev International Conducting Competition and as a finalist in the prestigious Besançon International Conducting Competition. As the recipient of the Seiji Ozawa Fellowship, he studied at Tanglewood with Robert Spano, Jorma Panula, and Maestro Ozawa, with whom he shared the podium to lead the season’s opening concert. Earlier, Mr. Butterman was sponsored by UNESCO to lead the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Moldova in a concert of music by great American masters.
For six seasons, Mr. Butterman served as Music Director of Opera Southwest in Albuquerque, NM. During much of that time, he was also Director of Orchestral Studies at the LSU School of Music and was Principal Conductor of the LSU Opera Theater. Previously, he held the post of Associate Conductor of the Columbus Pro Musica Orchestra, and served as Music Director of the Chamber Opera, Studio Opera, and Opera Workshop at the Indiana University School of Music. As its Associate Music Director, he led the Ohio Light Opera through two festivals, conducting over 35 performances each summer.
While at Indiana University, Mr. Butterman conducted a highly acclaimed production of Leonard Bernstein’s little-known 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in a series of performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, receiving unanimous praise from such publications as The New York Times, Washington Post, Variety, and USA Today. He was subsequently invited to New York at the request of the Bernstein estate to prepare a performance of a revised version of the work.
Michael Butterman’s work has been featured in more than two dozen nationwide broadcasts on public radio’s Performance Today. He can be heard on two CDs recorded for the Newport Classics label and on an album in which he conducts the Rochester Philharmonic and collaborates with actor John Lithgow. A new recording on the Reference Recordings label featuring the Boulder Philharmonic and Aldo López-Gavilán is set to be released in early 2025.
