The Colorado Music Festival presents a summer concert season at Chautauqua Auditorium in Boulder, Colorado.

Schedule of Events

July 5, 2024

6:30 pm: Alisa Weilerstein Plays Dvo?ák's Cello Concerto

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.

Artists:
Peter Oundjian, conductor
Alisa Weilerstein, cello

Program:
Anna Clyne, Masquerade (2013)
Antonin Dvo?ák, Cello Concerto

Felix Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 4, Italian

Cost: $18 - $80

July 7, 2024

10:30 am-11:15 am: Family Concert: Green Eggs and Ham

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."

Artists:
Jacob Joyce, conductor
Really Inventive Stuff
Jennifer DeDominici, mezzo-soprano

Program:
Mikhail Glinka, Ruslan and Ludmilla Overture
Daniel Dorff, Three Fun Fables
Felix Mendelssohn, A Midsummer Night's Dream Overture, Op. 21
Rob Kapilow, Green Eggs and Ham

Cost: $10

6:30 pm: Alisa Weilerstein Plays Dvo?ák's Cello Concerto

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.

Cost: $18 - $80

July 9, 2024

7:30 pm: Dohnányi, Beethoven & Schumann

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.

Artists:
Colorado Music Festival musicians

Program:
Ernst von Dohnányi, Sextet in C Major
Ludwig van Beethoven, Duet with two Obligato Eyeglasses for viola and cello in E-flat Major WoO 32

Robert Schumann, Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 47

Cost: $18 - $70

July 11, 2024

7:30 pm: Rite of Spring & Gluzman Plays Prokofiev

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?"

Artists:
Peter Oundjian, conductor
Vadim Gluzman, violin

Program:
John Adams, Short Ride in a Fast Machine (1986)
Sergei Prokofiev, Violin Concerto No. 2

Igor Stravinsky, Rite of Spring

Cost: $18 - $80

July 12, 2024

6:30 pm: Rite of Spring & Gluzman Plays Prokofiev

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?"

Artists:
Peter Oundjian, conductor
Vadim Gluzman, violin

Program:
John Adams, Short Ride in a Fast Machine (1986)
Sergei Prokofiev, Violin Concerto No. 2

Igor Stravinsky, Rite of Spring

Cost: $18 - $80

July 14, 2024

6:30 pm: Bruckner Bicentennial: Symphony No. 4

"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."

Artists:
Peter Oundjian, conductor

Program:
Arnold Schoenberg, Verklärte Nacht ("Transfigured Night"), Op. 4

Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 4, Romantic

Cost: $18 - $80

July 16, 2024

7:30 pm: Schubert's Strings & Nielsen's Winds

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.

Artists:
Colorado Music Festival musicians

Program:
Carl Nielsen, Wind Quintet, Op. 43

Franz Schubert, String Quintet in C Major, Op. 163, D. 956

Cost: $18 - $70

July 18, 2024

7:30 pm: Olga Kern & Grieg's Peer Gynt

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.

Artists:
Rune Bergmann, conductor
Olga Kern, piano
Kabin Thomas, narrator

Program:
Vivian Fung, Prayer (2020)
Sergei Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 18

Edvard Grieg, Suite from Peer Gynt

Cost: $18 - $85

July 19, 2024

6:30 pm: Olga Kern & Grieg's Peer Gynt

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.

Artists:
Rune Bergmann, conductor
Olga Kern, piano
Kabin Thomas, narrator

Program:
Vivian Fung, Prayer (2020)
Sergei Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 18

Edvard Grieg, Suite from Peer Gynt

Cost: $18 - $85

July 21, 2024

6:30 pm: Gabriela Lena Frank's World Premiere

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. Kachkaniraqmi ("I Still Exist") 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.

Artists:
Peter Oundjian, conductor
Takács Quartet
Gabriela Lena Frank, composer

Program:
Florence Price, Adoration
Gabriela Lena Frank, Kachkaniraqmi ("I Still Exist"), world premiere

Joan Tower, Concerto for Orchestra (1991)

Cost: $18 - $80

July 23, 2024

7:30 pm: Haydn, Debussy & Mendelssohn

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."

Artists:
Colorado Music Festival musicians

Program:
Joseph Haydn, String Quartet in C Major, Op. 20, No. 2
Claude Debussy, Sonata for flute, viola and harp

Felix Mendelssohn, String Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20

Cost: $18 - $70

July 25, 2024

7:30 pm: Awadagin Pratt + Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade

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.

Artists:
Peter Oundjian, conductor
Awadagin Pratt, piano

Program:
Johann Sebastian Bach, Keyboard Concerto in A Major BWV 1055
Jessie Montgomery, Rounds for piano and string orchestra (2022)

Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade

Cost: $18 - $80

July 26, 2024

6:30 pm: Awadagin Pratt + Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade

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.

Artists:
Peter Oundjian, conductor
Awadagin Pratt, piano

Program:
Johann Sebastian Bach, Keyboard Concerto in A Major BWV 1055
Jessie Montgomery, Rounds for piano and string orchestra (2022)

Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade

Cost: $18 - $80

July 28, 2024

6:30 pm: Mozart: Duo Pianos, Haffner & A Little Night Music

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.

Artists:
Gemma New, conductor
Christina and Michelle Naughton, piano duo

Program:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Eine kleine Nachtmusik
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Concerto in E-flat Major for Two Pianos, K. 365

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Symphony No. 35, Haffner

Cost: $18 - $80

July 30, 2024

7:30 pm: Danish String Quartet

"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 and Schumann.

Artists:
Danish String Quartet

Program:
Joseph Haydn, String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 20, No. 3
Robert Schumann, String Quartet No. 3 in A Major, Op. 41, No. 3

Folk music

Cost: $18 - $70

August 1, 2024

7:30 pm - Augustin Hadelich & Dvo?ák 7

Augustin Hadelich, one of the greatest violinists of all time, returns to perform Tchaikovsky's unparalleled Violin Concerto. The deeply patriotic Dvo?ák 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.

Artists:
Peter Oundjian, conductor
Augustin Hadelich, violin

Program:
Kevin Puts, Two Mountain Scenes (2007)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35

Antonin Dvo?ák, Symphony No. 7 in D Minor, Op. 70

Cost: $18 – $85

August 2, 2024

6:30 pm - Augustin Hadelich & Dvo?ák 7

Augustin Hadelich, one of the greatest violinists of all time, returns to perform Tchaikovsky's unparalleled Violin Concerto. The deeply patriotic Dvo?ák 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.

Artists:
Peter Oundjian, conductor
Augustin Hadelich, violin

Program:
Kevin Puts, Two Mountain Scenes (2007)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35

Antonin Dvo?ák, Symphony No. 7 in D Minor, Op. 70

Cost: $18 – $85

August 4, 2024

6:30 pm - Mahler 4 & Ravel's Shéhérazade

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.

Artists:
Peter Oundjian, conductor
Karina Gauvin, soprano

Program:
Johann Strauss, Overture to Die Fledermaus
Maurice Ravel, Shéhérazade

Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 4

Cost: $18 - $80

Date: July 5-August 4, 2024

Location:
Chautauqua Auditorium,
900 Baseline Road,
Boulder, CO 80302.

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