Subscriptions now available; single tickets on sale March 5

By Peter Alexander Feb. 4 at 4 p.m.

The Colorado Music Festival (CMF) has announced its 2024 festival season, July 5 through Aug. 4 at Chautauqua Auditorium in Boulder.

This year’s festival will present 19 performances in 31 days—between four and five weeks and slightly shorter than recent previous festival seasons. In addition to the Festival Orchestra made up of musicians from around the country, it will feature the world premiere of a new piece by Gabriela Lena Frank; four Tuesday evening concerts on the Robert Mann Chamber Music Series, performed by members of the Festival Orchestra and the visiting Danish String Quartet; and guest artists including the CU-based Takács Quartet, cellist Alisa Weilerstien, and returning CMF favorites pianist Olga Kern and violinist Augustin Hadelich.

Performances by the full Festival Orchestra will be most Thursday and Friday evenings at 7:30 and 6:30 p.m. respectively. Orchestral concerts at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday will generally feature a smaller ensemble. The full festival schedule is listed below.

A highlight of the season will be the premiere of a new orchestral work with string quartet by Franks on July 21 (see details below). The summer’s only world premiere, the performance will feature the Takács Quartet. Other works by living composers will be featured throughout the summer, including Masquerade by Anna Clyne; Short Ride in a Fast Machine by John Adams, who was CMF composer-in-residence in 2022; Two Mountain Scenes by Kevin Puts, a work that was commissioned by the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival and the New York Philharmonic in 2007; and Joan Tower’s Concerto for Orchestra.

On July 14 conductor Peter Oundjian and the CMF Orchestra will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Austrian composer Anton Bruckner with a performance of his Symphony No. 4 (“Romantic”). On the same program CMF will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Arnold Schoenberg’s birth with a performance of his late Romantic work for strings Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night). 

The annual CMF family concert at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, July 7, will feature some shorter standard classical overtures by Mikhail Glinka and Mendelssohn, as well as a performance of composer Rob Kapilow’s setting of Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham. Also on the program is Three Fun Fables, a setting for narrator and orchestra of three of Aesop’s fables by Daniel Dorff, who is known for numerous works that introduce music and musical instruments to young audiences.

Outstanding guest artists have always been a feature of the CMF. This summer’s guest soloists will be:
—Cellist Alisa Weilerstein, a member of a renowned musical family, playing the Dvořák Cello Concerto on the opening night program, July 5 and 7;
—the playful ensemble Really Inventive Stuff, a favorite on past CMF summer schedules, and the mezzo-soprano Jennifer DeDominici for the family concert July 7;
—violinist Vadim Gluzman playing the Prokofiev Second Violin Concerto July 9;
—pianist Olga Kern playing the Rachmaninoff Second Piano Concerto July 18 and 19;
—Colorado Public Radio personality Kabin Thomas narrating Greig’s music for for Henrik Ibsen’s verse play Peer Gynt, alsoJuly 18 and 19;
—the Takács Quartet playing the world premiere of Gabriel Lena Frank’s new work July 21;
—pianist Awadagin Pratt, playing J.S. Bach’s Keyboard Concerto in A major and Jessie Montgomery’s Rounds for piano and string orchestra July 25 and 26;
—the Danish String Quartet, who last appeared at CMF in 2022, playing a varied program that ranges from Haydn to Stravinsky to the 18th-century blind Celtic harpist Turlough O’Carolan July 30;
—violinist Augustin Hadelich, returning to CMF to play Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto Aug. 1 and 2; and
—soprano Karina Gauvin to sing Ravel’s song cycle Shéhérazade and the final movement of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 on the Festival Finale concert, Aug. 4.

Subscription tickets are currently available for the Colorado Music Festival. Tickets to individual concerts will go on sale through the Chautauqua Box Office March 5. More information on CMF tickets, including discounted youth and student tickets, is available HERE.

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Colorado Music Festival, Peter Oundjian, music director
Summer 2024
All performances in Chautauqua Auditorium

Opening Night
Festival Orchestra, Peter Oundjian, conductor
With Alisa Weilerstein, cello

• Anna Clyne: Masquerade (2013)
• Dvořák: Cello Concerto in B minor
• Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 in A major (“Italian”)

6:30 p.m. Friday and Sunday, July 5 and 7

Family Concert: Green Eggs and Ham
Festival Orchestra, Jacob Joyce, conductor 
With Really Inventive Stuff and Jennifer DeDominici, mezzo-soprano 

• Glinka: Overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla
• Daniel Dorff: Three Fun Fables
• Mendelssohn: Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• Rob Kapilow: Green Eggs and Ham

10:30 a.m. Sunday, July 7

Robert Mann Chamber Music Series
Colorado Music Festival musicians 

• Ernst von Dohnányi: Sextet in C Major
• Beethoven: “Duet with two Obligato Eyeglasses” in E-flat major for viola and cello, WoO 32
• Schumann: Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, op. 47

7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 9

Festival Orchestra Concert
Festival Orchestra, Peter Oundjian, conductor
With Vadim Gluzman, violin

• John Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine
• Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2 
• Stravinsky: Rite of Spring

7:30 p.m. Thursday July 11
6:30 p.m. Friday, July 12  

Bruckner Bicentennial Concert
Festival Orchestra, Peter Oundjian, conductor

• Arnold Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht (“Transfigured night”), op. 4
• Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 (“Romantic”)

6:30 p.m. Sunday, July 14

Robert Mann Chamber Music Series
Colorado Music Festival musicians 

• Carl Nielsen: Wind Quintet, op. 43
• Schubert: String Quintet in C Major, D956

7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 16

Festival Orchestra Concert
Festival Orchestra, Rune Bergmann, conductor
With Olga Kern, piano, and Kabin Thomas, narrator

• Vivian Fung: Prayer
• Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2, op. 18
• Edvard Grieg: Suites from Peer Gynt

7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 18
6:30 p.m. Friday, July 19

Festival Chamber Orchestra Concert
Festival Orchestra, Peter Oundjian, conductor
With the Takács Quartet and Gabriela Lena Frank, composer 

• Florence Price: Adoration
• Gabriela Lena Frank: World Premiere
• Joan Tower: Concerto for Orchestra

6:30 p.m. Sunday, July 21

Robert Mann Chamber Music Series
Colorado Music Festival musicians

• 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

7:30p.m. Tuesday, July 23

Festival Orchestra Concert
Festival Orchestra, Peter Oundjian, conductor
With Awadagin Pratt, piano

• J.S. Bach: Keyboard Concerto in A major, S1055 
• Jessie Montgomery: Rounds for piano and string orchestra (2022)
• Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade

7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 25
6:30 p.m. Friday, July 26

Festival Chamber Orchestra Concert
Chamber Orchestra, Gemma New, conductor
With Christina and Michelle Naughton, piano duo

• Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K525
  —Concerto in E-flat Major for Two Pianos, K365
  —Symphony No. 35 in D major, K385 (“Haffner”)

6:30 p.m. Sunday, July 28

Robert Mann Chamber Music Series
Danish String Quartet 

• Joseph Haydn: String Quartet, op. 77 no. 2: III, Andante
• Stravinsky: Three Pieces for String Quartet
• Turlough O’Carolan: Three Melodies
• Mozart: Divertimento in F major, K138
• Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 3 in F major, op. 73

7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 30

Festival Orchestra Concert
Festival Orchestra, Peter Oundjian, conductor
With Augustin Hadelich, violin

• Kevin Puts: Two Mountain Scenes (2007)
• Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D Major, op. 35
• Dvořák: Symphony No. 7 in D minor, op. 70 

7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 1
6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 2

Festival FInale Concert
Festival Orchestra, Peter Oundjian, conductor
With Karina Gauvin, soprano

• Johann Strauss: Overture to Die Fledermaus
• Ravel: Shéhérazade
• Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in G major

6:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 4

Information on Subscription tickets is available HERE.
Single concert tickets will go on sale March 5.

NOTE: A correction was made Feb. 10. An earlier version of the story said that the 2024 festival would last four weeks. The correct length is 31 days—between four and five weeks.