Jurgen de Lemos steps down as Music Director and Conductor

Jurgen de Lemos, a leader in the Denver music community for nearly fifty years, stepped down as Music Director and Conductor of the Littleton Symphony Orchestra in December 2021. The conductor, credited with building and improving the LSO over three decades, agreed to conduct two final performances in their longtime venue, Littleton United Methodist Church.

You may know Maestro de Lemos from his many other musical associations in the Metro area. He first came to Colorado in 1968 to become the principal cellist of the Denver (now Colorado) Symphony, and remained with them until his retirement in 2009. He was a professor of cello and chamber music at the University of Colorado, Boulder for 23 years. Prior to his position in Littleton, he was founder and Music Director of the Arvada Center Orchestra from 1979-86, conductor of the Boulder Youth Symphony for eight years, and music director of the Denver Young Artists Orchestra.

De Lemos, a native of Leipzig, Germany, graduated from the Hochschule für Musik in Germany with a double major in cello and composition. In Paris, he studied with the renowned French cellist and teacher André Navarra. He was awarded a Fulbright scholarship and moved to the United states to study with Leonard Rose at Juilliard and later with Gregor Piatigorsky in Los Angeles. He was the youngest musician ever to be accepted into the New York Philharmonic, playing under Leonard Bernstein from 1964-68, and was a winner of the Baglioni, Casals and Tchaikovsky international competitions. He served as co-principal cellist under James Levine and Daniel Barenboim at the 1982 Wagner Festival in Bayreuth and toured three continents with the Pablo Casals Trio. His conducting skills were refined under the tutelage of Adolph Mennerich in Munich, Jorge Morel at Juilliard, and Walter Susskind in Aspen.

The Littleton Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Maestro de Lemos, became one of the premier community orchestras in the Denver Metro area, performing repertoire normally associated with professional orchestras. De Lemos brought in scores of renowned soloists to perform with the group and, to the delight of its audience, sometimes played his cello as soloist with the orchestra.

With his vast experience and musical knowledge, Maestro de Lemos not only expertly conducted but also educated both the LSO musicians and their audiences about the pieces performed. His pre-performance talks were legendary. Over the years, Maestro de Lemos also coordinated partnerships with myriad local artists, including tango and ballet dancers, choral groups, operatic vocalists, and bell choirs. The LSO also performed a yearly, free children’s concert for large crowds in order to introduce young people to classical music. Maestro de Lemos' contributions to the Littleton Symphony Orchestra are immeasurable. A farewell celebration followed his final concert with the orchestra on December 31, 2021.