Music director Peter Oundjian is working to create a virtual festival

By Peter Alexander May 1 at 10 a.m.

In a statement released to the press and public this morning, the board of directors of Boulder’s Colorado Music Festival has announced the cancellation of the 2020 festival that was scheduled to take place June 25–Aug. 1 at the Chautauqua Auditorium.

Chautauqua Auditorium

A quote attributed to executive director Elizabeth McGuire and board president Anne Beer states that it is impossible “to ensure the health and safety of our beloved musicians patrons, housing hosts, volunteers and staff—a responsibility we hold paramount.

“The staff and board of directors are all profoundly saddened by the loss of the festival’s 2020 live performance season.”

The CMF management have created a Musician Fund to help provide financial support for musicians and staff of the festival who have lost work as a result of the cancellation. Public contributions to the fund are possible through the Web page. People who have already purchased tickets for the 2020 festival are given the choice of donating some of all of their ticket values toward the Musician Fund, crediting their ticket value toward the 2021 festival, or requesting a full refund.

CMF Music Director Peter Oundjian

Peter Oundjian, the CMF music director, is working with artists to create a “virtual festival” online. According to the CMF’s statement, the virtual festival content “will be released first to those who purchased tickets to the 2020 festival, and later to the public. The virtual festival will be available through the CMF Website. http://www.coloradomusicfestival.org/festival

Oundjian is quoted in the CMF statement: “While we are faced with the disappointment of canceling this year’s Colorado Music Festival, we are grateful to have the opportunity to offer a virtual festival. Without exception, the musicians I’ve spoken to are eager to participate.”

While it seems unlikely that anything approaching full orchestral performances will be part of the Virtual Colorado Music Festival, several chamber music performances were listed as likely events. These included performances by CMF orchestra musicians; a performance by the Takacs Quartet to mark the debut of the their new violist, Richard O’Neill; an evening with the Juilliard Quartet in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the quartet’s founding first violinist, Robert Mann; and a performance and discussion with the St. Lawrence String Quartet and 2020 composer-in-residence John Adams.

More information about the Virtual Colorado Music Festival will be released when possible, through the CMF Web page.