Does English music sound any more, well, English when it's in the hands of an Englishman? Raymond Leppard can only shrug even though he's been conducting works by his countrymen for six decades.

"I don't think it speaks to me more - these are simply pieces that I love," he said in reference to the almost-all-English program he'll lead this weekend at Boettcher Hall when he steps in for the Colorado Symphony's ailing music director, Jeffrey Kahane.

You'd never know it from looking at Leppard - or from hearing him speak - but the conductor will turn 80 this summer. He still has a full head of hair and speaks with an energetic sharpness.

"I'm supposed to be retired," he said with a chuckle, "but life itself just keeps getting better and better. That's the way it is with most of us old musicians: We work till we drop."

Still sounding veddy British, Leppard became an American citizen three years ago, having completed his tenure as music director of the Indianapolis Symphony in 2003. Though he calls that city home, his ties to England remain, particularly through the nation's music.

"I've been limiting myself to (English) composers who are established. Otherwise, they're not worth tinkering with. One I've avoided, unfortunately, is Harry (actually, Sir Harrison) Birtwistle. I just wish he would write (orchestral) pieces that can be done in four rehearsals."

He feels special kinship with the works of Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), whose Greensleeves Fantasia is on the weekend agenda. "I wanted to do his 5th or London symphonies, but we settled on the Mendelssohn" - a reference to the latter's Scottish Symphony, written after a visit to the British Isles.

Casually, Leppard mentioned his personal connection with Vaughan Williams. "I knew him quite well," the conductor noted. "Very witty chap. But I only knew him socially. We didn't sit down and talk music."

Leppard had not the slightest interest in conducting this weekend's scheduled Symphony No. 4 by Danish composer Carl Nielsen.

"I think his music is a whole lot of blather," the conductor said. "He rarely hit the spot, as far as I'm concerned. And in any case, there was no time for me to learn the piece."

As for the program's solo vehicle, Elgar's Cello Concerto (played by Johannes Moser), Leppard is quite content to leave that on the agenda: "I've done the Elgar hundreds of times."

Not that he'd be conducting it by rote. "It's quite untrue that we musicians get better as we get older," he said. "Each time you approach a piece, you relearn it. That's what makes it so exciting to be in the profession. It's wonderful to relearn a piece."

Music may keep him young, but he's not ignoring the passing of years. "I'm trying to cut down to conducting about a week each month, and it's working out," he said.

He has upcoming engagements in Stuttgart and Bonn, Germany, and London. Those are cities where, he pointed out, government support helps keep the arts alive - to Leppard's surprising chagrin.

"The trouble with that is, there's no incentive for private giving over in England. Here in America, there's so little government support, which I think is great.

"Look at what we have here in Indianapolis. The (Philharmonic) has a $200 million endowment. We have people here with a strong background in supporting the arts. (Pharmaceutical giant) Eli Lilly is here, and they've given huge sums .

"It's important for the people to support their arts organizations. If it all dies, then it's their fault."

Colorado Symphony

• When and where: 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Boettcher Hall, 14th and Curtis streets

• Cost: $15 to $67.50

• Information: 303-623-7876

• Of note: Conductor Raymond Leppard substitutes for Jeffrey Kahane in a program of music from or inspired by the British Isles.

Marc Shulgold is the music and dance writer. Shulgoldm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954- 5296