UPDATED: Classically Alive house-concert tradition is exploring different venues
Editor’s note: This article has been updated with a new venue for the Feb. 27 concert. It will be 7 p.m. at Temple Beit Torah, 522 E. Madison St., Colorado Springs.
The intimate, home-based Classically Alive concerts hosted by married couple Abe Minzer and Carol Schreuder for more than 13 years in their Broadmoor Hills home are changing their tune slightly and beginning to explore different venues.
On Sunday, Feb. 9, Pikes Peak Community College professors The Equinox Jazz Quintet played a “Gala Concert/Valentine’s Special” at the historic 1900s mansion The Cheyenne Cañon Inn, 2030 W. Cheyenne Road. From 4 to 7 p.m., while light snow flurries swirled outside, guests enjoyed the quintet’s jazz stylings, “from early New Orleans, to Ellington, swing, bop, Monk, cool jazz, Latin and fusion,” stated the program.
Musicians William Malone on saxophones, Ed Heller on keyboard, Roger Nutter on guitar, Pat Abbott on bass, and Bruce Anderson on drums entertained an audience dressed in semi-formal attire. Drinks and dinner by Catering by Cassandra were included in the $50 general admission tickets.
The five musicians were positioned across the front of the Inn’s light-filled Great Room, surrounded by 7-foot high windows overlooking Cheyenne Cañon.
Throughout the concert, some guests spread out into other rooms and talked quietly while still being able to enjoy the music, said Minzer. The bigger space and acoustics allowed for this flexibility.
A few guests demonstrated a depth of music experience themselves. Peggy Shivers, an opera singer who lives in the Springs, was in attendance; as well as Brenda Gussin, along with her husband Bob Gussin, at their first Classically Alive event. Using her stage name of Brenda Miles, Gussin used to sing around the area often in years past.
Owner Jeannie Bryant bought the Inn because of its “Great location and great layout.” Her friend and self-described “Inn mate,” Ginny Harbold, who lives at the residence, said it was the kind of purchase she deems, “the art of virtuous buying” — a term she coined as a former antiques professional for when something just seems too perfect to pass up. Both were enjoying the gala concert, and Bryant said she’d welcome the opportunity to host another concert later in the year.
A brochure for the Inn quotes Teddy Roosevelt as saying the scenery of the surrounding area “bankrupts the English Language.” The building was vacant for a while and experienced some vandalism before Bryant purchased it, according to Harbold. Bryant now hosts workshops, family reunions and other events in rooms decorated with distinctive Victorian antique furniture and rotating holiday-themed designs.
Tall plants draped sprays of green on either side of the musicians as Minzer introduced the group standing next to a shiny grand piano. A black squirrel and two feeding deer peered in on the occasion from just outside the many windows spaced along two sides of the room.
Minzer, Classically Alive founder and director, changed into a tuxedo coat with tails after welcoming people outside wearing a gray ski parka and directing them to either the limited upper parking area or the shuttle-serviced option across West Cheyenne Road.
He said although he and his wife have tremendously enjoyed hosting the monthly Classically Alive house concerts and plan to continue, “It’s a lot to have 50-60 people in your house every month.” Classically Alive has hosted more than 150 concerts since its inception in 2006, most at the couple’s home.
Minzer and his wife have a new working relationship with a young couple, Josh and Cassandra Janitell, and with the partnership are exploring different venues.
In the second half of 2018, Classically Alive held three events at the Piano Warehouse, hosting around 90 people each time. Minzer says there was an enjoyable “different energy,” and “bohemian feel” to that space, but there were also logistics of moving pianos.
They welcome new hosts for the concerts and are willing to expore options with “a grand piano that’s decent” and space to accommodate guests. The events are unique in their “unstructured” social aspect, Minzer says. Interaction between guests and with musicians takes place during a shared meal.
Classically Alive enjoys featuring a variety of musicians and types of classical music — everything from exploratory, modern classical, written by current-day composers, to jazz, to the classics performed by a variety of musicians from different countries and backgrounds, each with their own unique flourish.
The next Classically Alive concert, “Shir Ami (Song of Our People),” a Jewish composers program,” will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 27, at Temple Beit Torah, 522 E. Madison St. Performing are Misha Vitenson, violin, Jason Calloway, cello and Abe Minzer, piano, featuring new works by Ofer Ben-Amots and other composers. Tickets are $20 ($10 for students). There will be a reception following the performance. RSVP at beit-torah.org.
For more information or to inquire about booking a concert, contact Minzer at aminzer@comcast.net or 719-527-8776. Find upcoming events at classicallyalive.com.
Courtesy of Classically Alive
For the recent Classically Alive “All That Jazz” Valentine’s gala concert at Cheyenne Cañon Inn, the five musicians in the Equinox Jazz Quintet were arranged across the front of the Inn’s light-filled Great Room, surrounded by 7-foot high windows overlooking Cheyenne Cañon.
Guests settle into the Great Room at the Cheyenne Cañon Inn for the Feb. 9 jazz concert by The Equinox Jazz Quintet hosted by Classically Alive.
Cassandra and Joshua Janitell pose in the kitchen at Cheyenne Canon Inn. Abe Minzer said although he and his wife Carol Schreuder have traditionally hosted Classically Alive the house concerts in their Broadmoor Hills home, they have a new working relationship with the Janitells and are exploring different venues.
Photos by Heila Rogers/Cheyenne Edition
The Cheyenne Cañon Inn, 2030 W. Cheyenne Road, Colorado Springs, is pictured on Feb. 9.
Abe Minzer, center, director of Classically Alive — a series of salon-style house concerts — introduces The Equinox Quintet at Cheyenne Cañon Inn Feb. 9.
Guests arrive for a Classically Alive jazz concert at the Cheyenne Cañon Inn from a small upper parking lot. Some were transported by shuttle from parking below off West Cheyenne Road Feb. 9.