Colorado Music Festival
2026 Season
Stars align this year as we celebrate the Festival’s 50th and the Center for Musical Arts’ 30th anniversaries
Beethoven & Stravinsky: July 28
The Robert Mann Chamber Music Series continues with Stravinsky’s A Soldier’s Tale & more
The Planets, Rachmaninoff & A World Premiere: July 30 & 31
Nobu Tsujii plays Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto w/ the Festival Orchestra
CPR Classical Night: Aug 2
Gemma New conducts music by Prokofiev, Copland, Rossini & Ravel, featuring clarinetist Ricardo Morales
World-Class Music,
Quintessential Boulder
July 9–August 9, 2026
Join us this summer to celebrate Colorado Music Festival’s 50th Anniversary Season, as Colorado turns 150 and America marks 250 years.
This summer’s festival, led by Music Director Peter Oundjian, features world-class artists — pianists Yuja Wang, Michelle Cann, Tony Siqi Yun and Nobuyuki Tsujii; violinists Himari and Njioma Grevious; clarinetist Ricardo Morales; guest conductors Leonard Slatkin, Jeffrey Kahane and Gemma New; the Canadian Brass; and the Danish String Quartet — beloved masterworks with the Festival Orchestra and four world premieres. Concerts are on Thursdays, Fridays, Sundays and Tuesdays, offering an unforgettable summer experience on the iconic historic stage at Chautauqua.
Holst’s The Planets, Rachmaninoff & A World Premiere
Holst’s The Planets, Rachmaninoff & A World Premiere
Holst’s The Planets, Rachmaninoff & A World Premiere
Holst’s The Planets, Rachmaninoff & A World Premiere
CPR Classical Night: Prokofiev, Copland, Rossini & Ravel
CPR Classical Night: Prokofiev, Copland, Rossini & Ravel
50th Anniversary Liberty Puzzle
Get your limited-edition Colorado Music Festival 50th Anniversary Liberty Puzzle today!
A fun keepsake to mark this milestone season, perfect for fans of the Colorado Music Festival.
Puzzles can be purchased for $100 at concerts this summer, at the kiosk south of Chautauqua Auditorium.
Stories & News
Stay Up to Date with Festival News
Gemma New Returns to Colorado Music Festival
Interview by Kyle Macmillan In recent years, as Gemma New’s profile has soared in the classical world, the genial New Zealander conductor has been on a kind of international goodwill tour, introducing herself to orchestras, opera companies and festivals. Indeed, she...
Colorado Music Festival featured in “Seen and Heard International”
"There are few places where you can glimpse the yellow belly of a meadow lark and marvel at the incredible form of a natural stone arch while hiking a trail towards a National Historic Landmark that offers high caliber summer concerts. This is Boulder, Colorado – the...
CMF named a “Top 25” Classical Music Festival by BBC Music Magazine
Colorado Music Festival was recognized by BBC Music Magazine as one of the 25 best classical music festivals in the US & Canada in 2026. "The stars are aligning, insists Colorado, as its half-century edition coincides with the Center for the Musical Arts’ 30th...
The best classical music heading to Colorado’s world-class, warm-weather fests – Denver Post
Concert tickets tend to sell out fast at the Vail Music Festival, Colorado Music Festival and Santa Fe Opera Colorado Music Festival, July 9-Aug. 9 Yuja Wang performs on a program centered around Samuel Barber’s Piano Concerto and Leonard Bernstein’s “Symphonic Dances...
“It’s So Special to Be Together” — Meet Stella, Festival Volunteer
Volunteering as an usher means more to Stella than simply something to fill her summer nights; she feels that music — and live performances in particular — are important to share as a family.
Dover Quartet Settles into Chamber Music’s Top Tier
Interview by Kyle Macmillan After its sweep of all the prizes at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, critics regularly applauded the Dover Quartet as an emerging ensemble with abundant talent and huge potential. But what once was potential has...
Hayoung Choi: Competition Winner On Road to Success
Interview by Kyle Macmillan One often-followed path to classical-music success is the field’s network of high-profile and high-pressure international competitions, which can bring instant recognition to the winners and quickly ignite a professional career. South...
Joan Tower and the Colorado Music Festival: Making New Music Together
Interview by Kyle Macmillan Veteran American composer Joan Tower and the Colorado Music Festival are becoming quite the pair. In 2021, in what is a rare event for a living composer, the summer Festival presented a program totally devoted to her music, including the...
Around the World on Guitar: Chinese-born Xuefei Yang Takes on Famed Spanish Concerto
Interview by Kyle Macmillan The guitar is one of the newest Western instruments to arrive in China. Xuefei Yang believes it entered the country only about 100 years ago, and it took decades more for it to gain a foothold among audiences and players. “But just as...