CU Presents welcomes new executive director

Andrew (“Metz”) Metzroth can’t contain his joy when he talks about his new job as executive director of CU Presents, effective since Aug. 5. “I’ve worked toward this for a decade—it’s truly exciting,” he enthuses. As part of the University of Colorado Boulder College of Music, CU Presents is the home of performing arts on campus annually presenting hundreds of events by CU Boulder students and faculty, as well as world-famous guest artists.

Overseeing CU Presents requires administrative skill, a steady hand and a cool head. Just consider the competition Metzroth had to contend with after longtime director Joan Braun retired at the end of last season.

“I’m happy that the College of Music conducted a national search,” says Metzroth. “I think there were about three dozen applicants.” But one look at his résumé and it’s not surprising that Metzroth landed the position. For starters, his years of experience in nearly every aspect of the theater—backstage, onstage, above-stage, you name it—is mind-boggling. As his local credits will attest, he’s been everywhere at CU Presents for decades. Plus, his enthusiasm is contagious.

“I’ve always had a love for the theater,” he says. As for his relationship with CU Boulder, he became box office manager in 2007, handling ticketing for campus performing arts events for nine years. That’s no small task, he emphasizes: “The ticketing software [Tessitura] goes incredibly deep, and takes a long time to learn and teach.” Moving further up the ladder, he became director of operations at CU Presents in 2017.

Today, Metzroth’s responsibilities entail close involvement in managing the Artist Series in Macky Auditorium and Takács Quartet concerts in Grusin Music Hall. But there are more shows to handle—a lot more. “There are some 450 on-campus events including about 350 College of Music events, 50 Theatre & Dance Department events and 50 Colorado Shakespeare Festival performances,” he explains. “I’ll be involved in strategy, ticketing, and marketing and communications for all our series, particularly College of Music events. You have to know what’s important to all of them, to know their goals.”

Not that he intends to remain invisible. “I never want this to be a desk job,” stresses the four-time CU Boulder alumnus. “I see myself as a community ambassador—I want to bring audiences into performing arts experiences.”

In previous years, you could usually find Metzroth behind a box office window handling ticket sales. With a laugh, he says those days may not be entirely behind him. “Yeah, I might have to work there some nights, if we’re short-staffed.”

But as long as there’s a show going on, CU Presents’ new executive director is happy. “We’re performance- and outreach-oriented,” he adds. “An example of upcoming outreach opportunities are student matinees of [Engelbert Humperdinck’s] ‘Hänsel und Gretel’ in October. We’ll be bringing in students from kindergarten through second grade. That will take some coordinating with a number of schools.”

Sounds like a lot of work for “Metz”—but it’s a good bet he’ll be as excited as all those kids when the school buses arrive.