Frank Oden writes and performs lyrical concert programs merging poetry, humor,  drama and education with live symphonic performance.  He is perhaps best known for his Halloween concerts The Haunted Symphony, The House of Halloween, and Eerie Lake, all originally commissioned by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. His full-length program of original western poetry, Cowboy Jamboree, has been an audience favorite with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and The Vail Valley Music Festival.  Mr. Oden's perfectly inept “mucisological” expert, Dr. Hayward Benson from A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Podium has made several appearances with the Colorado Symphony by popular demand and also was invited by the CSO to create a comical look at Mozart's life and works in Happy Birthday, Wolfgang.  For Marin Alsop's tribute to Leonard Bernstein, Mr. Oden wrote and performed a critically acclaimed beat poetry version of Romeo and Juliet for Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. He also appears regularly with symphony orchestras to perform traditional narrations, as well as his own lyrical version of Peter and the Wolf and The Sorcerer's Apprentice.  

A long-term resident of Denver, Colorado, Oden is one of the most recognizable and award-winning character actors in the mile-high city, having worked in nearly every theater and appeared in numerous television commercials and film productions. As a theatrical playwright, he's written and composed several musical comedies for dinner theater and independent professional production including Blackbeard, Gumshoe, Punch, The Pecos Pest, The Fatal Glass, Easy Money and The Winter Rose, which was voted Best New Play of 1996 by Denver Drama Critics.  His television scripts as head writer for two seasons ofThe Cyber City Diner on KnowledgeTV received two Telly awards and a Flame Award for children's programming.  Mr. Oden has directed more than thirty productions of original musicals, including a world premiere theatrical version of Heidi for Walden Media, and served for several years as Artistic Director at the historic Goldenrod Showboat in St. Louis and the Heritage Square Opera House in Golden, Colorado.