Yang Plays Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez
2025-07-27 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Denver) | Chautauqua Auditorium, 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO, 80302, United States
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.

Dover Quartet
2025-07-29 19:30 - 21:00
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.
Note: To create a more intimate experience, the number of seats available for chamber concerts is different than for our orchestral concerts. All price levels, including our lowest, are available in the main section of the auditorium.

Beethoven 9 + Michael Abels’ Amplify
2025-07-31 19:30 - 21:00, 2025-08-01 18:30 - 20:00
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.

Mahler 9
2025-08-03 18:30 - 20:00
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.

Himari Plays Sibelius + Tchaikovsky 5
2026-07-09 19:30 - 21:00, 2026-07-10 18:30 - 20:00
The 2026 Festival opens with a once-in-a-generation violinist: Himari, a 14-year-old phenomenon who has already collected substantial awards and recognition, performs Sibelius’s Concerto for Violin, full of Nordic snow and moody skies. Just as Sibelius invokes his native Finland, Tchaikovsky’s dramatic Fifth Symphony is infused with Russian colors. Composer Carter Pann also unveils a brand new piece of music to celebrate the start of the Festival season.

Free Family Concert
2026-07-12 10:30 - 12:00
Bring your littlest listeners to our annual Free Family Concert! We are pleased to offer this concert in Spanish and English, and at no charge, so gather the whole family to enjoy classical and popular favorites. Ideal for music lovers aged five and under.

Canadian Brass
2026-07-14 19:30 - 21:00
The 2026 Robert Mann Chamber Music Series opens with “one of the most popular brass ensembles in the world” (Washington Post), the Juno Award-winning quintet Canadian Brass. With a discography of over 130 albums and an extensive worldwide touring schedule, Canadian Brass is a pioneer in bringing brass music to audiences through their trademark humor, charismatic stage presence, and sparkling musicianship.

Yuja Wang + West Side Story
2026-07-16 19:30 - 21:00, 2026-07-17 18:30 - 20:00
“Pianist Yuja Wang is a dazzler,” claims Cleveland Classical. “She has a way of dressing, of taking the stage, and of bowing that bespeaks confidence and star quality.” In her Festival debut, Wang plays Barber’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Piano Concerto, a spectacular rainbow of sound. Music Director Peter Oundjian leads Bernstein’s vibrant Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, as well as short works from Prokofiev and Saint-Saëns.

Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos
2026-07-19 18:30 - 20:00
Former Colorado Symphony Music Director Jeffrey Kahane returns to the Festival stage to lead all six of Bach’s celebrated Brandenburg Concertos with the help of “brilliantly stylish” trumpeter Caleb Hudson (New York Times). Possibly the most revered of all Baroque music, this complete set of Bach’s masterpieces should be on every music-lover’s bucket list.

Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence
2026-07-21 19:30 - 21:00
The Robert Mann Chamber Music Series continues with a world premiere by “astonishingly innovative” composer James Stephenson (Musical America); while he writes deftly “in all walks of the musical landscape,” his new quartet features trumpet and strings. Following intermission, Tchaikovsky remembers Italy — by way of Russia, of course — in an irresistible sextet for strings, his final contribution to chamber music.

All American: Copland, Gershwin, & More
2026-07-23 19:30 - 21:00, 2026-07-24 18:30 - 20:00
Six-time Grammy-winning conductor and Music Director Laureate of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Leonard Slatkin joins the Festival for a program celebrating the distinctive American sound. This spotlight on American composers begins with Aaron Copland’s Rodeo with its iconic “Hoedown,” followed by a chaconne from John Corigliano’s romantic score for the film The Red Violin. After the break: Ron Nelson’s paean to the South’s Savannah River, a haunting adagio by “unmistakably American-sounding” Cindy McTee (Washington Post), and finally George Gershwin’s jazzy symphonic poem An American in Paris.

Conduct Yourself
2026-07-24 14:00 - 16:00
Get insights about conducting from Maestro Leonard Slatkin in a hands-on workshop onstage at Chautauqua Auditorium.

Mozart: Haffner, Night Music, & More
2026-07-26 18:30 - 20:00
Music Director Peter Oundjian begins this all-Mozart marvel with a mysterious serenade for winds, which broods before turning suddenly buoyant. At the keyboard for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 is Tony Siqi Yun, a nuanced performer who plays with “every note personalized” (Musical America). Closing this revel of Mozart’s genius is his Haffner Symphony, a staggering work of energy and invention.

Beethoven & Stravinsky
2026-07-28 19:30 - 21:00
The Robert Mann Chamber Music Series continues with a program featuring the Festival’s own musicians. Beethoven’s only quintet for piano and wind is rife with rhapsodic dialogue between its instruments. In Stravinsky’s bitter L’Histoire du Soldat, a WWI soldier makes a deal with the devil in order to know the future, but — after a rousing story animated by music — the cunning devil keeps the upper hand.

Holst’s The Planets
2026-07-30 19:30 - 21:00, 2026-07-31 18:30 - 20:00
Music Director Peter Oundjian helms one of music’s grandest spectacles: Holst’s The Planets. From the hammering “Mars, the Bringer of War” to the ethereal “Neptune, the Mystic,” this seven-planet suite lures the heavens into Chautauqua Auditorium. Electrifying pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii performs Rachmaninoff’s dreamy Second Piano Concerto. This monumental program begins with the world premiere by Leigha Amick, a composer who aims “to spark intellectual curiosity and express human experience.”

The Violin Experience
2026-07-31 14:00 - 16:00
Get to know the violin and what it takes to be an orchestral musician. No musical background necessary (violins provided); limited to 8 participants.

Prokofiev, Copland, Rossini & Ravel
2026-08-02 18:30 - 20:00
Conductor Gemma New returns to lead a varied program, beginning with Prokofiev’s cheerful “Classical” Symphony, which he referred to as “a symphony as Mozart or Hayden might have written it.” Ricardo Morales joins the Festival Orchestra to perform Copland’s Clarinet Concerto — penned during a four-month tour of Latin America, the pulsing rhythms of Brazil are woven throughout Copland’s trademark jazz and lyricism. Morales continues with one of music’s finest showcases for the clarinet, Rossini’s challenging Introduction, Theme, and Variations. The program concludes with Ravel’s beloved Ma mère l’oye (Mother Goose) suite, where we meet Sleeping Beauty, Tom Thumb, Beauty and the Beast, and more.

Danish String Quartet
2026-08-04 19:30 - 21:00
“None of us have any memory of our lives without the string quartet,” claims this highly sought-after ensemble of energetic musicians who met each other at music camp as teenagers. By audience request, the Danish String Quartet returns to the Robert Mann Chamber Music Series with a delectable program including works by Mozart, Shostakovich, and Ravel.

Pianist Michelle Cann + Symphonie Fantastique
2026-08-06 19:30 - 21:00, 2026-08-07 18:30 - 20:00
Audiences raved about pianist Michelle Cann’s Festival debut in 2023; now Cann returns to Chautauqua to perform a piano concerto by esteemed composer Valerie Coleman. After intermission, Berlioz invites us on a psychedelic romp: his Symphonie Fantastique is a musical hallucination that evokes dark revels, an execution, and a visit to the underworld.

Mahler 3
2026-08-09 18:30 - 20:00
Music Director Peter Oundjian continues his tradition of closing the Festival season with a massive Mahler symphony. Mahler referred to his sunny Third as “A Summer’s Midday Dream,” and was aware he was defying symphonic convention as he wrote it, saying, “But to write a symphony means, to me, to construct a world with all the tools of the available technique.” Grammy Award-winning mezzo soprano Fleur Barron and the Boulder Children’s Chorus join the Festival Orchestra to give this epic symphony its voice.
