2024 Festival highlights include the return of violinist Augustin Hadelich, pianist Olga Kern, and pianists Christina and Michelle Naughton; the world premiere of a new concerto by Gabriela Lena Frank; a celebration of Bruckner’s 200th birthday; and more, all with the help of the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra and some of the world’s most accomplished soloists.

 

Takács Quartet Plays John Adams’ Absolute Jest

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Music Director Peter Oundjian opens the 2022 Festival season with special guests: Boulder’s own Takács Quartet. This Grammy Award-winning quartet joins the orchestra for John Adams’ Absolute Jest, which samples, twists, and builds upon Beethoven’s themes, in particular his late string quartets; Adams has referred to his Jest as “Beethoven that has been passed through a hall of mirrors.” Dvořák’s iconic Symphony No. 9, “From the New World,” was written in the “new world” of America but teeming with Bohemian folk influence as well. Composer Carlos Simon’s Fate Now Conquers nods to a notebook entry written by Beethoven and explores “the unpredictable ways of fate” and the uncertainties of life.

$25 – $75

Takács Quartet Plays John Adams’ Absolute Jest

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Music Director Peter Oundjian opens the 2022 Festival season with special guests: Boulder’s own Takács Quartet. This Grammy Award-winning quartet joins the orchestra for John Adams’ Absolute Jest, which samples, twists, and builds upon Beethoven’s themes, in particular his late string quartets; Adams has referred to his Jest as “Beethoven that has been passed through a hall of mirrors.” Dvořák’s iconic Symphony No. 9, “From the New World,” was written in the “new world” of America but teeming with Bohemian folk influence as well. Composer Carlos Simon’s Fate Now Conquers nods to a notebook entry written by Beethoven and explores “the unpredictable ways of fate” and the uncertainties of life.

$25 – $75

Family Concert: Tubby the Tuba

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Tickets just $10! Vaudeville-inspired musical storytellers Really Inventive Stuff uses comedy, props, and interaction to refresh beloved musical classics and enchant audiences of all ages. Their imaginative Tubby the Tuba follows “the adventures of a red polka-dot yo-yo, a dapper bullfrog puppet, and a small piece of ribbon” as Tubby discovers that dreams can come true. Later, Really Inventive Stuff’s “Orchestra-ologist” introduces the instruments “with wit and a wink” as the troupe reinvents Britten’s classic Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.

$10

Takács Quartet

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Haydn, String Quartet in F Major; Coleridge-Taylor, Fantasiestücke for String Quartet; Dvořák, String Quartet No. 13 in G Major

$25 – $65

Attacca Quartet

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

J. Adams, selections from John’s Book of Alleged Dances; Flying Lotus, Clock Catcher; Remind U; Pilgrim Side Eye; Müller, Drifting Circles; Cole, Real Life; Glass, String Quartet No. 3, “Mishima”; Shaw, The Evergreen; Smith, Carrot Revolution

$25 – $65

John Adams + Timo Andres’ World Premiere

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

The legendary John Adams, 2022 composer-in-residence and co-curator of this week’s programs, shares the podium with Music Director Peter Oundjian in this can’t-miss concert, beginning with a commissioned work by Timo Andres, an exceptional composer personally selected by Adams. Adams’ own orchestral masterpiece City Noir brims with cinematic lyricism and yearning melodies. “The music should have the slightly disorienting effect of a very crowded boulevard peopled with strange characters,” says Adams, “...the kind who only come out very late on a very hot night.” John Adams’ son Samuel is a formidable composer in his own right, and a 2019 Guggenheim Fellow; his lyrical and haunting Chamber Concerto gives violinist Tessa Lark an opportunity to shine.

$25 – $75

Kaleidoscope

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Now in its second year, Kaleidoscope brings back and builds upon the theatrical elements that audiences loved: lighting, cinematography, a hint of stage magic, and an atmosphere like no other concert. Kaleidoscope is infused with bold musical color and moments of surprise, pairing energetic (and accessible) contemporary music with mesmerizing soloists. This captivating performance centers around composer-in-residence and co-curator John Adams’ own Road Movies, which shifts through empty desert landscapes and “not unfamiliar roads.” Come experience something unique.

$25 – $75

Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

The Festival’s focus on today’s music continues as world-renowned conductor and Festival composer-in-residence/co-curator John Adams takes the podium to lead his off-beat and grooving Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? with the extraordinary Jeremy Denk at the piano — listen for a second “detuned honky-tonk piano” to add its voice. Music Director Peter Oundjian conducts the final symphony by Christopher Rouse, which The New York Times called Rouse’s Sixth “a haunting and profound farewell” true to the composer’s character: “all of Mr. Rouse — contemplative elegy, rowdy playfulness, eclectic homage — is in this score.” In her Tumblebird Contrails, composer Gabriella Smith calls to mind the Pacific Ocean and “keening gulls, pounding surf, rush of approaching waves, sizzle of sand, and sea foam in receding tide.”

$25 – $75

Sibelius’ Second Symphony + Violinist Randall Goosby

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

“ Goosby plays like an angel with nothing to prove,” claims the L.A. Times. The youngest recipient ever to win the Sphinx Concerto Competition and an artist dedicated to the dynamic music of Black composers, violinist Randall Goosby joins the Festival to perform a scintillating work by Saint-Saëns and Florence Price’s sweeping Second Violin Concerto, lost to history until 2009. These showpieces are introduced by an orchestral work by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, the arresting and achingly romantic Ballade that made the young composer an overnight sensation. The “energetic yet graceful” Ryan Bancroft (The Guardian), conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, joins the Festival to lead Sibelius’ sonorous Second Symphony; Sibelius once said of its first movement, “It is as if the Almighty had thrown down the pieces of a mosaic for heaven’s floor and asked me to put them together.”

$25 – $75

Sibelius’ Second Symphony + Violinist Randall Goosby

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

“ Goosby plays like an angel with nothing to prove,” claims the L.A. Times.  The youngest recipient ever to win the Sphinx Concerto Competition and an artist dedicated to the dynamic music of Black composers, violinist Randall Goosby joins the Festival to perform a scintillating work by Saint-Saëns and Florence Price’s sweeping Second Violin Concerto, lost to history until 2009. These showpieces are introduced by an orchestral work by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, the arresting and achingly romantic Ballade that made the young composer an overnight sensation. The “energetic yet graceful” Ryan Bancroft (The Guardian), conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, joins the Festival to lead Sibelius’ sonorous Second Symphony; Sibelius once said of its first movement, “It is as if the Almighty had thrown down the pieces of a mosaic for heaven’s floor and asked me to put them together.”

$25 – $75

Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27 (previously Simone Dinnerstein)

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

“If you want to hear perfection, this is it,” says Music Director Peter Oundjian of Mozart’s final concerto, performed here by pianist Albert Cano Smit. Mozart is at his most majestic and most beautiful in his Symphony No. 39. Ryan Bancroft conducts this all-Mozart program, which begins with a dark and intense serenade for winds.

$25 – $75

Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Mozart, Flute Quartet in D Major; Perkinson, Movement for String Trio; Dvořák, Terzetto in C Major; Brahms, Clarinet Quintet in B Minor

$25 – $65

Prokofiev 5 + Gabriela Montero Plays Tchaikovsky

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Mussorgsky, Night on Bald Mountain (arr. Rimsky-Korsakov); Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1; Prokofiev, Symphony No. 5

$25 – $75

Prokofiev 5 + Gabriela Montero Plays Tchaikovsky

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Mussorgsky, Night on Bald Mountain (arr. Rimsky-Korsakov); Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1; Prokofiev, Symphony No. 5

$25 – $75

A Midsummer Night’s Dream with John de Lancie

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Principal Guest Conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni conducts a special Midsummer Night’s Dream. This performance pairs Mendelssohn’s lush score, which includes the instantly recognizable “Wedding March,” with a dramatic reading by actor John de Lancie (American Shakespeare Festival, TV’s Star Trek The Next Generation) to summon Shakespeare’s fairies, royalty, and fools in love. Mendelssohn penned Midsummer’s overture at age 17; Bizet was the same age when he wrote his Symphony in C, a surprisingly mature work, effervescent and full of contrasts. The program opens with a brand new orchestral arrangement of Jessie Montgomery’s vivid Starburst, which is, in her words, “a play on imagery of rapidly changing musical colors.”

$25 – $75

Danish String Quartet

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Purcell, Chaconne in G Minor (arr. Britten); Folk Music from the British Isles (arr. Danish String Quartet); Schubert, String Quartet 14 in D Minor

$25 – $65

Stravinsky’s Firebird + Clarinet Star Anthony McGill

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

The New York Times has praised clarinetist Anthony McGill for “his trademark brilliance, penetrating sound and rich character”; McGill’s musical charisma is a perfect match for Weber’s First Clarinet Concerto, which showcases the full range of the instrument. After intermission enjoy another gem for clarinet, the brief Rhapsody by Debussy — then listen for Debussy’s influence on an absolute icon: Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, a dramatic fairytale featuring a heroic prince, an evil sorcerer, and a powerful fire spirit. This fresh and thrilling concert opens with a world premiere commission by rising star composer Wang Jie, inspired by poet Su Dongpo’s reflections on China’s Mount Lu and her own experiences climbing Colorado’s Eldorado Canyon.

$25 – $75

Mahler’s Fifth Symphony

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Leave it to Mahler to give us harrowing funeral marches shot through with blinding rays of hope. That is his epic Fifth Symphony: a masterpiece which, while not expressly telling a story, still whispers Mahler’s secrets about tragedy, joy, and love. Music Director Peter Oundjian closes the 2022 Festival with this dramatic journey through life, death, and everything in between. The Festival is honored to give the Colorado premiere of a co-commissioned fanfare by jazz great Wynton Marsalis.

$25 – $75

Joshua Bell + Mussorgsky’s Pictures

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

In his first appearances as 2023 artist-in-residence, the one and only Joshua Bell performs Bruch’s First Violin Concerto. The great 19th century violinist Joseph Joachim, to whom the composer dedicated this masterpiece, considered this concerto to be “the richest, most seductive” of all German violin concertos. Bruch’s Violin Concerto has become one of the most legendary works for the instrument and is an exquisite vehicle for Bell’s showmanship. The second half features Mussorgsky’s instantly recognizable Pictures at an Exhibition, a suite of musical paintings inspired by the sketches of the composer’s close friend Viktor Hartmann. The program opens with Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient Carlos Simon’s Motherboxx Connection, the first movement of his Tales: A Folklore Symphony for orchestra; in Simon’s words the motherboxx is “an all-knowing entity that is aware of the multi-faceted aspects of blackness.”

$18 – $80

Joshua Bell + Mussorgsky’s Pictures

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

In his first appearances as 2023 artist-in-residence, the one and only Joshua Bell performs Bruch’s First Violin Concerto. The great 19th century violinist Joseph Joachim, to whom the composer dedicated this masterpiece, considered this concerto to be “the richest, most seductive” of all German violin concertos. Bruch’s Violin Concerto has become one of the most legendary works for the instrument and is an exquisite vehicle for Bell’s showmanship. The second half features Mussorgsky’s instantly recognizable Pictures at an Exhibition, a suite of musical paintings inspired by the sketches of the composer’s close friend Viktor Hartmann. The program opens with Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient Carlos Simon’s Motherboxx Connection, the first movement of his Tales: A Folklore Symphony for orchestra; in Simon’s words the motherboxx is “an all-knowing entity that is aware of the multi-faceted aspects of blackness.”

$18 – $80

Family Concert: Peter and the Wolf + Goodnight Moon

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

What do you get when you mix a boy, a duck, a cat, a wolf — and an orchestra? You get Peter and the Wolf, Prokofiev’s beloved symphonic fairytale that uses the playful story of a wolf on the prowl to introduce young listeners to the instruments of the orchestra. Entertaining actor and comedian Janae Burris narrates this timeless tale. The 2023 Festival Family Concert, conducted by Kalena Bovell and featuring vocals by Jennifer Bird-Arvidsson, also includes an upbeat suite from Bizet’s Carmen, Eric Whitacre’s musical setting of the children’s classic Goodnight Moon, and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s festive overture celebrating his African culture, Danse Nègre.

$10

Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 & Symphony No. 3

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto is famous for being one of the most fiendishly difficult pieces ever composed for the instrument. Pianist Nicolai Lugansky, one of the preeminent Rachmaninoff interpreters of our time, performs here as part of his global tour celebrating the composer’s 150th birthday. While this program celebrates the gems that Rachmaninoff composed during his time in America, his moody and staggeringly beautiful Third Symphony also hints at the exiled composer’s homesickness for his native Russia.

$18 – $75

Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 & Symphony No. 3

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto is famous for being one of the most fiendishly difficult pieces ever composed for the instrument. Pianist Nicolai Lugansky, one of the preeminent Rachmaninoff interpreters of our time, performs here as part of his global tour celebrating the composer’s 150th birthday. While this program celebrates the gems that Rachmaninoff composed during his time in America, his moody and staggeringly beautiful Third Symphony also hints at the exiled composer’s homesickness for his native Russia.

$18 – $75

Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 4 & Symphonic Dances

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

In our second program celebrating the music Rachmaninoff wrote while living in America, the Orchestra performs his final composition: Symphonic Dances, a three-movement suite featuring a frantic dance, a restless waltz, and a final flourish of triumph. Lauded Rachmaninoff interpreter Nicolai Lugansky joins the Orchestra for the composer’s capricious Fourth Piano Concerto, a work of daring imagination, as well as his romantic Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, which proved an instant success for the composer.

$18 – $75

JACK Quartet: New York Stories

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

The 2023 Robert Mann Chamber Series opens with the esteemed JACK Quartet. Hailed by The New York Times as “our leading new-music foursome,” the JACK Quartet maintains an unwavering commitment to giving voice to underheard composers. In the quartet’s New York Stories program, “Two masters of New York's downtown heyday, Philip Glass and John Zorn, bring stylistically divergent visions: a rollicking, romantic ride through a maze of patterns in Glass' epic String Quartet No. 5, and a peek into the catacombs in Manhattan's Upper West Side from John Zorn who brings medieval mystery to contemporary America. Caleb Burhans leads the listener in a healing ritual of absolution in Contritus, while Caroline Shaw pays homage to the father of the string quartet, Josef Haydn, in her Entr'acte. Morton Feldman finally reminds us of the pattern and structure all around us. New York: a city of Byzantine systems and countless ideas that defies tidy summary, but always fascinates and excites continued exploration.”

$18 – $65

John Corigliano: Living Legend

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

The Festival is honored to welcome none other than Pulitzer Prize-winning John Corigliano as 2023 composer-in-residence. Conducted by Music Director Peter Oundjian, this retrospective program examines three stages of Corigliano’s vast career, beginning with his pastoral Gazebo Dances. Corigliano penned the song cycle One Sweet Morning in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the events of 9/11, borrowing text from four poems of varying intensity and ultimately ending with, as he explains, “the dream of a world without war – an impossible dream, perhaps, but certainly one worth dreaming.” The tender words of these poems are performed here by the highly sought-after mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke. Corigliano’s most recent work is Triathlon, written for guest saxophonist Timothy McAllister, who returns to the Chautauqua stage after dazzling Festival audiences in 2022. Triathlon demonstrates McAllister’s musical athleticism in three dynamic movements which feature in turn soprano, alto, and baritone saxophone.

$18 – $75

JFK: The Last Speech – World Premiere

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

“Our national strength matters,” said President John F. Kennedy, “but the spirit which informs and controls our strength matters just as much.” This line and others appear in the libretto of the world premiere symphony JFK: The Last Speech, inspired by the celebration of poet Robert Frost which would become President Kennedy’s final speech. Composer Adolphus Hailstork says of JFK: The Last Speech, “My writing will reflect the autumn season, the solemnity of the moment, and the unique oratorical gifts of Kennedy the president, and the profound literary gifts of Frost the poet.” This landmark program begins with two additional world premiere performances; be the first to experience new music by rising star Jordan Holloway and Pulitzer Prize-nominated CU Boulder Professor of Composition Carter Pann, each commissioned by the Festival.

JFK: The Last Speech is a project of members of the Amherst Class of 1964 through their non-profit Reunion ’64, Inc. They had the privilege of witnessing President Kennedy deliver his last major speech, October 26, 1963. The symphony joins two earlier projects, a book, and documentary of the same title.

$18 – $75

Brentano String Quartet

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

The 2023 Robert Mann Chamber Series continues with the “wonderful, selfless music-making” (The Times, London) of the Brentano String Quartet, Ensemble-in-Residence at the Yale School of Music. The program opens with Mozart’s intriguing “Hoffmeister” String Quartet, a chamber gem of character and complexity. Two touching memorial pieces by James MacMillan follow: his brief and delicate Memento and the miniature For Sonny, rife with pizzicato nursery rhymes and harmonies of shifting tones, composed to honor the memory of a friend’s grandson. It is fitting that Brentano ends their performance with one of the last and most profound pieces by Beethoven, since the Quartet takes its name from arts patron Antonie Brentano, believed to have been Beethoven’s mysterious “Immortal Beloved.”

$18 – $65

Michael Christie Conducts Tchaikovsky 4

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

“Fate, that fatal force” is the driving theme of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, with one of the most brilliant and virtuosic finales in all of music; Music Director Emeritus Michael Christie returns to conduct this mighty symphony. 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient Michelle Cann performs Ravel’s glittering Piano Concerto in G as well as Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement; The Philadelphia Inquirer declared Cann’s recent performance “exquisite in both the Liszt-like technical sparkle and probing humanity of Price’s writing.”

$18 – $75

Michael Christie Conducts Tchaikovsky 4

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

“Fate, that fatal force” is the driving theme of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, with one of the most brilliant and virtuosic finales in all of music; Music Director Emeritus Michael Christie returns to conduct this mighty symphony. 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient Michelle Cann performs Ravel’s glittering Piano Concerto in G as well as Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement; The Philadelphia Inquirer declared Cann’s recent performance “exquisite in both the Liszt-like technical sparkle and probing humanity of Price’s writing.”

$18 – $75

All Mozart: “Linz” & Violin Concerto No. 3

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

This concert was created with Mozart fans in mind! Guest conductor François López-Ferrer begins with the delightful overture to Mozart’s tongue-in-cheek opera Impresario, followed by his ornate and impressive Third Violin Concerto, performed here by the “fresh, different and exhilarating” (San Francisco Chronicle) violinist Grace Park. The orchestral arrangement of his solemn Adagio and Fugue follows intermission, and the concert culminates with Mozart’s inventive Symphony No. 36, the “Linz,” which he composed in only four days after a surprise request while visiting the Austrian town of the same name.

$18 – $75

Brahms, Britten & Poulenc

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

The Robert Mann Chamber Music Series continues by highlighting musicians from the Festival’s own ranks. Britten’s Phantasy Quartet begins with a march and proceeds with lively pastoral charm. Poulenc is a composer known for his aesthetic of irrepressible good humor; he called his jaunty but complex Sextet “an homage to the wind instruments I have loved from the moment I began composing.” Brahms’ sophisticated Second String Sextet is rich with nostalgia, but sweeps all sadness away in its warm, bright finale.

$18 – $65

Brahms 2 + Shostakovich

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Despite the distant threat of rain – “the necessary shadow,” as the composer called it – Brahms’ Second Symphony is a sunny and idyllic work beloved for its rambunctious joy and its balance with that hint of cloud. Eun Sun Kim, a conductor of “assured technical command, subtlety and imagination” (New York Times), leads this program, which opens memorably with the “electro-acoustic soundworld” of Mason Bates’ Rhapsody of Steve Jobs. Gramophone calls Johannes Moser “one of the finest among the astonishing gallery of young virtuoso cellists,” and there is no finer showcase of Moser’s musical prowess than Shostakovich’s boisterous and demanding First Cello Concerto.

$18 – $75

Brahms 2 + Shostakovich

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Despite the distant threat of rain – “the necessary shadow,” as the composer called it – Brahms’ Second Symphony is a sunny and idyllic work beloved for its rambunctious joy and its balance with that hint of cloud. Eun Sun Kim, a conductor of “assured technical command, subtlety and imagination” (New York Times), leads this program, which opens memorably with the “electro-acoustic soundworld” of Mason Bates’ Rhapsody of Steve Jobs. Gramophone calls Johannes Moser “one of the finest among the astonishing gallery of young virtuoso cellists,” and there is no finer showcase of Moser’s musical prowess than Shostakovich’s boisterous and demanding First Cello Concerto.

$18 – $75

Schumann’s Piano Concerto

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Internationally renowned guest conductor Hannu Lintu joins the Festival for a program beginning with the “concerto for birds and orchestra” Cantus Arcticus by Lintu’s countryman, Finland’s Einojuhani Rautavaara. One of Schumann’s most enduring works is his Piano Concerto, which creates a thrilling collaboration, rather than a tension, between the piano and orchestra. "After bringing a soft touch to opening statement, Yun displayed a robust, muscular sound in the cadenza that complemented the tug-of-war that occurs between soloist and orchestra in this work," says Bachtrack of guest pianist Tony Siqi Yun. Rounding out the program is Haydn’s Symphony No. 96, one of his famed London symphonies, which earned its nickname “Miracle” when a chandelier fell during its premiere and — by a miracle! — killed no one.

$18 – $75

Beethoven, Debussy & Dvořák

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

The final concert of the 2023 Robert Mann Chamber Music Series highlights the Festival’s own musicians. Though it was composed on the early side of his career, Beethoven’s energetic String Trio in C Minor gives a decisive glimpse into the intensity of expression the composer would eventually be renowned for. In Debussy’s sparkling Danses — commissioned to showcase the rich capabilities of the harp — his first dance explores the ethereal (the “sacred”) and gradually becomes a swirling, earthly waltz (the “profane,” or secular). Dvořák composed his famous Second Piano Quintet during a happy period in his life; that contentment shines through in this treasured jewel of chamber repertoire.

$18 – $65

SOLD OUT: Joshua Bell + Debussy’s La Mer

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

In the first evening of a two-part preview performance, 2023 Artist-in-Residence Joshua Bell performs selections from Elements, an unparalleled work for violin and orchestra in five movements, each written by a different acclaimed composer. In this concert, Bell performs “Fire” (composed by Jake Heggie); “Water” (Edgar Meyer); and “Ether” (Jessie Montgomery). The program closes with a beloved favorite by Debussy; the musical brushstrokes of La Mer create Impressionistic sketches of the sea.

(A co-commissioned project with five major orchestras, Elements will receive formal premieres around the world beginning in September 2023. Hear it at the Festival first!)

$18 – $80

SOLD OUT: Joshua Bell + Mahler 1

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Music Director Peter Oundjian and the Festival are pulling out all the stops for an unforgettable season finale. In the second evening of a two-part preview performance, 2023 Artist-in-Residence Joshua Bell performs selections from Elements, an unparalleled work for violin and orchestra in five movements, each written by a different acclaimed composer. In this concert, Bell performs “Air” (composed by Jennifer Higdon) and “Earth” (Kevin Puts). Oundjian continues his tradition of ending the Festival with a grand work by Mahler; in his First Symphony Mahler celebrates the pure taste of victory after a struggle, guiding listeners through daydreams and darkness before rewarding them with a heroic ending and as much blinding joy as the horns can muster.

(A co-commissioned project with five major orchestras, Elements will receive formal premieres around the world beginning in September 2023. Hear it at the Festival first!)

$18 – $80

Alisa Weilerstein Plays Dvořák’s Cello Concerto

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

The 2024 Festival season opens with the much-anticipated return of Alisa Weilerstein, whose music “emerges with sunlit clarity” (The Guardian); here Weilerstein performs one of the most breathtaking works for cello. Later: Mendelssohn could not shake the “festive air” of Italy while composing his Fourth Symphony, which he called “ the happiest piece I have ever done.” The program begins with a brief and evocative Masquerade; composer Anna Clyne drew inspiration from promenade concerts held in London’s pleasure gardens and their “exotic street entertainers, dancers, fireworks,” and of course, masquerades.

$18 – $80

Family Concert: Green Eggs and Ham

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Do you like Green Eggs and Ham? Musical storytellers Really Inventive Stuff return by popular demand, this time with their fully-staged adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ beloved children’s classic featuring Sam-I-Am. This engaging Family Concert also includes a musical twist on three of Aesop’s most familiar fables: “The Fox and the Crow,” “The Dog and His Reflection,” and “The Tortoise and the Hare.”

$10

Alisa Weilerstein Plays Dvořák’s Cello Concerto

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

The 2024 Festival season opens with the much-anticipated return of Alisa Weilerstein, whose music “emerges with sunlit clarity” (The Guardian); here Weilerstein performs one of the most breathtaking works for cello. Later: Mendelssohn could not shake the “festive air” of Italy while composing his Fourth Symphony, which he called “ the happiest piece I have ever done.” The program begins with a brief and evocative Masquerade; composer Anna Clyne drew inspiration from promenade concerts held in London’s pleasure gardens and their “exotic street entertainers, dancers, fireworks,” and of course, masquerades.

$18 – $80

Dohnányi, Beethoven & Schumann

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

The 2024 Robert Mann Chamber Music Series begins with a spotlight on the Festival’s own musicians. Dohnányi’s sextet brings together piano, string trio, clarinet, and horn, an uncommon combination which the composer uses to mischievous effect. Beethoven’s brief “Eyeglasses Duo” is so called for a friendly note between colleagues — both Beethoven and his cellist friend Nikolaus Zmeskall required spectacles — and its music is similarly conversational and good-humored. Schumann embedded some of his most aching and romantic music into his Piano Quartet, a chamber gem of contrast and delight.

$18 – $70

Rite of Spring & Gluzman Plays Prokofiev

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Famous for inciting a riot at its 1913 premiere due to its cutting-edge compositional techniques, Stravinsky’s Rite represents “the mystery and great surge of creative power of Spring.” BBC Music Magazine has praised violinist Vadim Gluzman’s performance of Prokofiev’s acerbic Second Violin Concerto as “a thing of great beauty.” This exuberant program opens with a spirited Short Ride in a Fast Machine, of which composer John Adams asks, “You know how it is when someone asks you to ride in a terrific sports car, and then you wish you hadn’t?”

$18 – $80

Rite of Spring & Gluzman Plays Prokofiev

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Famous for inciting a riot at its 1913 premiere due to its cutting-edge compositional techniques, Stravinsky’s Rite represents “the mystery and great surge of creative power of Spring.” BBC Music Magazine has praised violinist Vadim Gluzman’s performance of Prokofiev’s acerbic Second Violin Concerto as “a thing of great beauty.” This exuberant program opens with a spirited Short Ride in a Fast Machine, of which composer John Adams asks, “You know how it is when someone asks you to ride in a terrific sports car, and then you wish you hadn’t?”

$18 – $80

Bruckner Bicentennial: Symphony No. 4

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

“Look, how brightly the universe shines! Splendour falls on everything around…” Schoenberg’s chromatic and stunningly beautiful Transfigured Night draws inspiration from a poem about a woman harboring a dark secret and the man who loves her enough to forgive her. 2024 marks Schoenberg’s 150th birthday, as well as Bruckner’s 200th; this program continues the anniversary celebrations with some of the best-loved of Bruckner’s music, his Fourth Symphony. The hunt is on in this “Romantic” Symphony, which begins with daybreak and puts the horn section to work during its lively “Hunting of the Hare.” Music Director Peter Oundjian calls this inspired concert “the most beautiful program of the summer.”

$18 – $80

Schubert’s Strings & Nielsen’s Winds

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

The Robert Mann Chamber Music Series continues by highlighting musicians from the Festival’s own ranks. One of the most beloved works ever written for wind quintet is this music by Carl Nielsen; he composed his Wind Quintet with five friends in mind, and this warmth, as well as the personality of each instrument, shines through. Schubert’s sublime and romantic C major String Quartet is regarded as one of the greatest string quartets of any era.

$18 – $70

Olga Kern & Grieg’s Peer Gynt

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Welcome back, Festival favorite Olga Kern! Fresh off a celebration of Rachmaninoff’s 150th anniversary, Kern performs his Second Piano Concerto — a success from its inception, this memorable concerto’s themes that have been borrowed by countless films, Sinatra songs, and more. After intermission, Colorado Public Radio’s Kabin Thomas narrates the outlandish tale of Peer Gynt, a hopeless yarn-spinner who lies and sneaks his way through many misadventures and ultimately learns his lesson. Audiences will immediately recognize Grieg’s music, including the unforgettable “In the Hall of the Mountain King” and “Morning Mood.” Guest conductor Rune Bergmann leads this crowd-pleasing program, which opens with Vivian Fung’s inspirational Prayer.

$18 – $85

Olga Kern & Grieg’s Peer Gynt

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Welcome back, Festival favorite Olga Kern! Fresh off a celebration of Rachmaninoff’s 150th anniversary, Kern performs his Second Piano Concerto — a success from its inception, this memorable concerto’s themes that have been borrowed by countless films, Sinatra songs, and more. After intermission, Colorado Public Radio’s Kabin Thomas narrates the outlandish tale of Peer Gynt, a hopeless yarn-spinner who lies and sneaks his way through many misadventures and ultimately learns his lesson. Audiences will immediately recognize Grieg’s music, including the unforgettable “In the Hall of the Mountain King” and “Morning Mood.” Guest conductor Rune Bergmann leads this crowd-pleasing program, which opens with Vivian Fung’s inspirational Prayer.

$18 – $85

Gabriela Lena Frank’s World Premiere

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Be the first to experience a brand new concerto by Gabriela Lena Frank, heralded as one of the most significant women composers in history by the Washington Post. This exciting new work was commissioned by the Festival and will be performed by Boulder’s Grammy-winning Takács Quartet as ensemble-soloist alongside the Orchestra. After intermission, Joan Tower’s brilliant Concerto for Orchestra allows for great moments of individual virtuosity, but ultimately it is the entire Orchestra that shines. “I had imagined a long and large landscape that had a feeling of space and distance,” Tower says of her Concerto for Orchestra, in which the music “travels a long road.” This program celebrates three generations of women composers and opens with Florence Price’s Adoration, originally conceived for solo organ and performed here in its stunning arrangement for strings.

$18 – $80

Haydn, Debussy & Mendelssohn

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

The Robert Mann Chamber Music Series continues with a spotlight on the Festival’s own musicians. Haydn’s String Quartets achieved a new range of expression for secular music; his String Quartet C major, Op. 20, No. 2 is a diamond from start to finish. Debussy, a master of impressionism and fantasy, creates a quintessential dreamscape in his Sonata for Flute, Harp, and Viola. Instead of treating his string octet as two individual quartets, Mendelssohn’s innovative Octet finds all eight musicians working tightly together in, as the composer requested, “symphonic orchestral style.”

$18 – $70

Awadagin Pratt + Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Celebrated pianist Awadagin Pratt makes his Festival debut with music old and new, beginning with Bach’s nimble Keyboard Concerto in A major. Pratt then performs a piece he commissioned from lauded composer Jessie Montgomery; her Rounds is inspired by an epic poem by T.S. Eliot and the opposing forces that appear in nature — “action and reaction, dark and light, stagnant and swift.” In Eastern folklore, the princess Scheherazade told the cruel Sultan 1,001 stories in order to save her own life; Rimsky-Korsakov borrows Scheherazade’s tales of royalty, festivals, sea voyages, and more in his richly orchestrated fantasy.

$18 – $80

Awadagin Pratt + Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Celebrated pianist Awadagin Pratt makes his Festival debut with music old and new, beginning with Bach’s nimble Keyboard Concerto in A major. Pratt then performs a piece he commissioned from lauded composer Jessie Montgomery; her Rounds is inspired by an epic poem by T.S. Eliot and the opposing forces that appear in nature — “action and reaction, dark and light, stagnant and swift.” In Eastern folklore, the princess Scheherazade told the cruel Sultan 1,001 stories in order to save her own life; Rimsky-Korsakov borrows Scheherazade’s tales of royalty, festivals, sea voyages, and more in his richly orchestrated fantasy.

$18 – $80

Mozart: Duo Pianos, Haffner & A Little Night Music

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

The Washington Post declares that twin sister pianists Christina and Michelle Naughton “have to be heard to be believed”; the Festival is honored to welcome these audience favorites for an all-Mozart program. Following the charming serenade Eine kleine Nachtmusik (“A Little Night Music”), the Naughtons perform the Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, written for Mozart to play with his beloved sister Nannerl. After intermission is Mozart’s Haffner Symphony, a staggering work of intensity and invention.

$18 – $80

Danish String Quartet

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

“Yes, playing string quartets is our job, and yes it is hard work, but we mostly do it for pleasure, like we always did,” says the Danish String Quartet, a highly sought-after ensemble of energetic musicians who met each other at music camp as teenagers. The Quartet returns to the Robert Mann Chamber Music Series with a varied program including work by Haydn, Stravinsky, and Mozart, as well as Shostakovich’s profound String Quartet No. 3 and three Irish folk melodies by Celtic harper and composer Turlough O’Carolan.

$18 – $70

Augustin Hadelich & Dvořák 7

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Augustin Hadelich, one of the greatest violinists of all time, returns to perform Tchaikovsky’s unparalleled Violin Concerto. The deeply patriotic Dvořák wished to use his music to recognize the struggle and oppression of his fellow Czechs; he wrote of this urgent Seventh Symphony, “What is in my mind is Love, God, and my Fatherland." Kevin Puts’ Two Mountain Scenes, composed “with the impressive backdrop of the Rocky Mountains in mind” and beginning with “the sonic illusion of a single trumpet reverberating across the valley,” opens this wondrous program.

$18 – $85

Augustin Hadelich & Dvořák 7

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Augustin Hadelich, one of the greatest violinists of all time, returns to perform Tchaikovsky’s unparalleled Violin Concerto. The deeply patriotic Dvořák wished to use his music to recognize the struggle and oppression of his fellow Czechs; he wrote of this urgent Seventh Symphony, “What is in my mind is Love, God, and my Fatherland." Kevin Puts’ Two Mountain Scenes, composed “with the impressive backdrop of the Rocky Mountains in mind” and beginning with “the sonic illusion of a single trumpet reverberating across the valley,” opens this wondrous program.

$18 – $85

Mahler 4 & Ravel’s Shéhérazade

Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, United States

Music Director Peter Oundjian continues his tradition of ending the season with glorious music by Mahler. The composer built his Fourth Symphony around his own song “The Heavenly Life,” which borrows text from a Bavarian folk poem. “The angelic voices gladden our senses,” the poem proclaims, “so that everything awakens for joy.” Mahler’s sunniest symphony invokes bells, harp, and woodwinds; in keeping with the lightness of the work, Mahler insisted the soprano perform “with childlike, cheerful expression;” soprano Karina Gauvin joins the Festival in this role. This final concert of the season includes Ravel’s colorful twist on the Shéhérazade tales — again featuring Gauvin’s “glowing, flexible tone” (Opera News) — and the overture to Strauss’ most famous and farcical operetta, Die Fledermaus.

$18 – $80

Plan Your Festival Visit

 

Visiting Boulder

The Festival performs in beautiful Boulder, Colorado — a breathtaking location full of nature, culture, cuisine, art, and more.

Learn About Our Educational Programs

 

Festival Fellows

Meet the Festival Fellows: eight aspiring professional musicians who receive coaching and performance opportunities through the Festival and its guest artists.

Center for Musical Arts

This excellent community music school is also the educational arm of our organization.