Festival returns to Boulder August 24–29

By Peter Alexander Aug. 19 at 12:55 p.m.

From “Decadence and Debauchery” to fifth symphonies to a hike in the mountains, the 2021 Colorado MahlerFest will cover a lot of ground, literally and figuratively

Over five days, Tuesday–Saturday Aug. 24–28, concerts, films and a symposium will explore the music of Gustav Mahler, his contemporaries and heirs, in venues from the Dairy Arts Center to the Huntington Bandshell and Mackey Auditorium. Composers will include Mahler’s European contemporaries and successors Korngold and Krenek, but also American ragtime musicians Scott Joplin and James Reese Europe (see the full schedule here).

Read more in Boulder Weekly.

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Colorado MahlerFest XXXIV—The Return
Kenneth Woods, artistic director

7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 24
The Gordon Gamm Theater at the Dairy Arts Center
“Mahler’s Contemporaries”
Colorado MahlerFest Festival Artists

• Alexander von Zemlinsky: Sonata for Cello and Piano (1894)
• Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Suite from Much Ado about Nothing for violin and piano (1919)
• Robert Kahn: Trio for piano, clarinet, and cello (1905)

Tickets

4 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 25 (additional screenings as necessary)
The Boedecker Theater at the Dairy Arts Center

Films by Jason Starr: “Mahler’s Titan” & “On Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer”

Tickets

4 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 26
The Academy, 970 Aurora Avenue (entrance on 10^th Street), Boulder
“Mahler’s Heirs”
Colorado MahlerFest Festival Artists

• Erwin Schulhoff: Duo for Violin and Cello (1925)
• Philip Sawyers: Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano (1969)
• Grażyna Bacewicz: Trio for Oboe, Violin, and Cello (1935)
• Hans Gál: Viola Sonata in A (1941)

Free, with advance registration 

8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 27
Huntington Bandshell, 1212 Canyon Boulevard, Boulder
“Decadence and Debauchery: Music of the Roaring ‘20s”
Colorado MahlerFest Chamber Orchestra, Kenneth Woods, conductor

• Scott Joplin, arr. Gunther Schuler: Maple Leaf Rag (1899)
• Erwin Schulhoff: Suite for Chamber Orchestra (1921)
• James Reese Europe, arr. Gunther Schuler: Castle House Rag (1914)
• Darius Milhaud: La Création du monde (1923)
• Eubie Blake, arr. Gunther Schuller: Charleston Rag (1917)
• Ernst Krenek, arr. Emil Bauer: Fantasie from Jonny Spielt Auf (1926)

Free

9 a.m.­–3 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 28
Symposium at the Bar
License No. 1, 2115 13^th Street (under Hotel Boulderado), Boulder

Full schedule here

Free, with advance registration

7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 28
“Festival Finale: Mahler’s Fifth Symphony”
Stan Ruttenberg Memorial Concert
Colorado Mahlerfest Orchestra, Kenneth Woods, conductor

• Philip Sawyers: Symphony No. 5 (2021; world premiere)
• Mahler: Symphony No. 5 (1902)

Pre-concert talk at 6 p.m.
Macky Auditorium

Tickets

From 7 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 29
“Visit Mount Mahler”

Registration