Prokofiev 5 + Gabriela Montero Plays Tchaikovsky
Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, COMussorgsky, Night on Bald Mountain (arr. Rimsky-Korsakov); Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1; Prokofiev, Symphony No. 5
$25 – $75
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream with John de Lancie
Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, COPrincipal 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, COPurcell, 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, COThe 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, COLeave 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, COIn 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, COIn 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, COWhat 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, CORachmaninoff’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, CORachmaninoff’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, COIn 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, COThe 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