Violinist Harumi Rhodes Discusses Gabriela Lena Frank’s World Premiere
Takács Quartet violinist Harumi Rhodes discusses Kachkaniraqmi (“I Still Exist”), a brand new concerto for string quartet and orchestra by composer Gabriela Lena Frank, commissioned by the Colorado Music Festival. Watch the interview or read the...
Making Classical Music in the Denver / Boulder Area More Accessible
Classical music has been celebrated for centuries, with its timeless beauty and rich cultural heritage. Yet, for many people, the world of classical music can seem intimidating or inaccessible.* However, institutions across the world are working to break down barriers...
A Musical Journey Through Colorado
Colorado is well-known for its majestic mountains, stunning landscapes, and vibrant culture. The state also contains a treasure trove for classical music enthusiasts. From intimate chamber performances to grand symphony orchestras, Colorado offers a rich variety of...
Your Support Creates Magic in Boulder & Beyond
Dear friend of the Colorado Music Festival, Do you find that in today’s world it has become rare to find true connection with each other and the community as a whole? I certainly do, and I hope you (like me) are still feeling the magic of this year’s Festival, where...
Composer John Corigliano: 3 Works to Explore an Epic Career
story by Kyle MacMillan photo by J. Henry Fair The Colorado Music Festival will pay tribute July 13, 2023 to John Corigliano, 2023 Festival composer-in-residence and one of this country’s most respected composers, with a program that spans five of the six decades of...Upcoming Events
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“ Grimaud doesn't sound like most pianists,” proclaims The New Yorker, also calling her “a reinventor of phrasings” and “taker of chances;” here she opens the 2025 Festival season with Brahms’ monumental First Piano Concerto. Surrounding Brahms’ intense work are familiar showstoppers: Ravel’s famously unrelenting Boléro, a dreamy suite from the ballet Daphnis et Chloé, and fantastic musical fireworks by Stravinsky.
$23 – $100.50
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When the orchestra discovers their Maestro is nowhere to be found, they panic — until the world's greatest detective agrees to take the case! All the musicians are suspects, which means Sherlock Holmes must investigate each of the instrument families — brass, woodwinds, strings, and percussion — to deduce who is behind this mystery. Will Sherlock be able to solve the Case of the Missing Maestro? Bring the whole family to find out!
Free
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“ Grimaud doesn't sound like most pianists,” proclaims The New Yorker, also calling her “a reinventor of phrasings” and “taker of chances;” here she opens the 2025 Festival season with Brahms’ monumental First Piano Concerto. Surrounding Brahms’ intense work are familiar showstoppers: Ravel’s famously unrelenting Boléro, a dreamy suite from the ballet Daphnis et Chloé, and fantastic musical fireworks by Stravinsky.
$23 – $100.50
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1 event,
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The 2025 Robert Mann Chamber Music Series opens with a program highlighting the Festival’s own musicians. Schubert left his String Trio in B Flat, D. 471 unfinished, but its single complete movement is a Classical jewel full of spontaneity. Prokofiev’s dizzying Quintet in G Minor was originally written as a ballet based on Parisian circus life and features aggressive and ever-changing rhythms. Brahms’ Third Piano Quartet is at times unsettled; an autobiographical work for Brahms, the music’s evolving moods reflect the composer’s own heartaches.
$23 – $83
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1 event,
These can’t-miss concerts bring together two Festival favorites: lauded composer Joan Tower, whose concerto A New Day premiered at the Festival to rave reviews, and saxophonist Steven Banks, who stunned audiences in 2021. Now these powerhouses unite to give the world premiere of Tower’s saxophone concerto Love Returns under the baton of Music Director Peter Oundjian. After intermission, the Festival Orchestra performs Brahms’ brilliant First Symphony, which helped the composer step out of Beethoven’s shadow; critic Eduard Hanslick claimed that “...even the layman will immediately recognize it as one of the most distinctive and magnificent works of the symphonic literature.”
$23 – $100.50
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These can’t-miss concerts bring together two Festival favorites: lauded composer Joan Tower, whose concerto A New Day premiered at the Festival to rave reviews, and saxophonist Steven Banks, who stunned audiences in 2021. Now these powerhouses unite to give the world premiere of Tower’s saxophone concerto Love Returns under the baton of Music Director Peter Oundjian. After intermission, the Festival Orchestra performs Brahms’ brilliant First Symphony, which helped the composer step out of Beethoven’s shadow; critic Eduard Hanslick claimed that “...even the layman will immediately recognize it as one of the most distinctive and magnificent works of the symphonic literature.”
$23 – $100.50
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1 event,
2025 Gala: A Night of Elegance and Speakeasy Secrets
$175
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The Philadelphia Inquirer calls violinist Benjamin Beilman “poised and monstrously talented;” Beilman takes the stage with Mozart’s Fifth Violin Concerto, best known for its final movement’s “Turkish” style. Guest conductor Chloé Van Soeterstède leads the Festival through this all-Mozart program, which also includes the composer’s animated Symphony No. 34 as well as overtures to two of his most popular operas, Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro.
$23 – $100.50
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By popular demand, the Brentano String Quartet — Ensemble-in-Residence at the Yale School of Music — returns to the Robert Mann Chamber Music Series. The Times (London) raves, “Balance and intonation reach an almost unearthly level of perfection, yet there's nothing inhuman about these American musicians.” Brentano’s Romantic program includes Webern’s abstract Five Movements for String Quartet, Brahms’ sunny Third String Quartet, and Schubert’s poetic A-Minor Quartet, which borrows a theme from his incidental music to the play Rosamunde.
$23 – $83
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There is something for everyone in these energetic concerts! Be among the first to hear a new showpiece for violin, The Pacific Has No Memory, composed by Eric Whitacre and commissioned by Latin Grammy-winning violinist Anne Akiko Meyers. Meyers, “the coolest thing to happen to the violin since Stradivari” (Denver Post), also performs Ravel’s fiery Tzigane. Music Director Peter Oundjian opens the program with Copland’s idyllic tribute to the American heartland, Appalachian Spring, and concludes with one of the most recognizable pieces of music ever written: the achingly romantic Fantasy-Overture to Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet.
$23 – $100.50
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There is something for everyone in these energetic concerts! Be among the first to hear a new showpiece for violin, The Pacific Has No Memory, composed by Eric Whitacre and commissioned by Latin Grammy-winning violinist Anne Akiko Meyers. Meyers, “the coolest thing to happen to the violin since Stradivari” (Denver Post), also performs Ravel’s fiery Tzigane. Music Director Peter Oundjian opens the program with Copland’s idyllic tribute to the American heartland, Appalachian Spring, and concludes with one of the most recognizable pieces of music ever written: the achingly romantic Fantasy-Overture to Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet.
$23 – $100.50
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Known for dominating international cello competitions, Hayoung Choi possesses a talent not to be missed; here Choi performs Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, an elegant staple of cello repertoire. Guest conductor Maurice Cohn returns to the Chautauqua stage to lead Beethoven’s classically-styled First Symphony, the symphonic debut that established the composer as the luminary we know him as today. The program opens with Respighi’s five playful attempts to transcribe the sounds of doves, cuckoos, nightingales, and more.
$23 – $100.50
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The Robert Mann Chamber Music Series continues with a spotlight on the Festival’s own musicians. Mozart once considered his Quintet in E-Flat for Piano and Winds “the best work I have ever written;” its sense of spontaneity is beguiling. Dvořák’s Third String Quartet was one of his most successful compositions; like much of his most popular work, Op. 97 is flavored with melodies and rhythms he heard while visiting America, including various folk tunes and Native American drumming. The program begins with Nico Muhly’s minimalist Doublespeak, which was written as a gift for composer Philip Glass’ birthday and teems with stylistic rhythms and repetitions.
$23 – $83
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Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto finds the composer moving toward his own personal style, displaying what would become his hallmark drama, spirit, and agitation; pianist Yeol Eum Son brings a “fearlessly fast articulation” (The Times) to the stage. Sofia Gubaidulina’s striking “Fairytale Poem” draws inspiration from a children’s story about creativity, and its music is fittingly full of color. Guest conductor Ryan Bancroft conducts this dynamic program, which also includes Shostakovich’s Tenth; written shortly after the Soviet dictator Stalin’s death, this symphony is rife with terror, passion, and oppression — until one final, hopeful ray of light.
$23 – $100.50
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1 event,
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Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto finds the composer moving toward his own personal style, displaying what would become his hallmark drama, spirit, and agitation; pianist Yeol Eum Son brings a “fearlessly fast articulation” (The Times) to the stage. Sofia Gubaidulina’s striking “Fairytale Poem” draws inspiration from a children’s story about creativity, and its music is fittingly full of color. Guest conductor Ryan Bancroft conducts this dynamic program, which also includes Shostakovich’s Tenth; written shortly after the Soviet dictator Stalin’s death, this symphony is rife with terror, passion, and oppression — until one final, hopeful ray of light.
$23 – $100.50
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Classical guitarist Xuefei Yang, known for her “feisty virtuosity, impeccable technique and sensitive musicianship” (New York Times), performs Rodrigo’s florid Concierto de Aranjuez; Rodrigo set out to evoke “the fragrance of magnolias, the singing of birds, and the gushing of fountains” of a royal estate in the Spanish city of Aranjuez. Kodály’s beguiling Dances of Galánta, which adapts sprightly Hungarian folk tunes, makes an exuberant dance partner for Rodrigo’s Concierto. After intermission, Schubert breaks free of classical conventions with his light and airy Fifth Symphony.
$23 – $100.50
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The Robert Mann Chamber Music Series is delighted to welcome “one of the greatest quartets of the last 100 years” (BBC Music Magazine), the Dover Quartet, Ensemble-in-Residence at the Curtis Institute of Music. Dover’s program includes Janacek’s emotionally charged “Kreutzer Sonata,” Schumann’s vigorous A-Minor Quartet, and finally Tchaikovsky’s noble First String Quartet.
$23 – $83
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Possibly the single most treasured symphony ever written — especially its beloved “Ode to Joy” — Beethoven’s influential Ninth Symphony celebrates brotherhood, forgiveness, and the quest for peace. Music Director Peter Oundjian conducts this masterwork, which also welcomes to the Festival stage soprano Lauren Snouffer, mezzo-soprano Abigail Nims, tenor Issachah Savage, bass Benjamin Taylor, and St. Martin’s Chamber Choir. Composer Michael Abels’ Amplify, co-commissioned by the Festival, opens the program; on top of his Pulitzer Prize-winning compositions for opera, audiences may recognize Abels’ work from film scores such as Get Out, Us, Chevalier, and more.
$23 – $100.50
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1 event,
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Possibly the single most treasured symphony ever written — especially its beloved “Ode to Joy” — Beethoven’s influential Ninth Symphony celebrates brotherhood, forgiveness, and the quest for peace. Music Director Peter Oundjian conducts this masterwork, which also welcomes to the Festival stage soprano Lauren Snouffer, mezzo-soprano Abigail Nims, tenor Issachah Savage, bass Benjamin Taylor, and St. Martin’s Chamber Choir. Composer Michael Abels’ Amplify, co-commissioned by the Festival, opens the program; on top of his Pulitzer Prize-winning compositions for opera, audiences may recognize Abels’ work from film scores such as Get Out, Us, Chevalier, and more.
$23 – $100.50
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Music Director Peter Oundjian continues his tradition of closing the Festival season with a massive Mahler symphony. Composer Alban Berg once wrote of Mahler’s Ninth, “The first movement is the greatest Mahler ever composed. It is the expression of a tremendous love for this earth, the longing to live on it peacefully and to enjoy nature to its deepest depths – before death comes.” The myriad colors of life are present in the mighty Ninth, throughout which Mahler grieves, dances, basks in sunlight, and ultimately reflects on the enormity of it all.
$23 – $100.50
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