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Colorado Music Festival, with Music Director Peter Oundjian, Begins Summer Concert Season in Boulder on July 1
In-person festival runs through Aug. 7 with live-streaming options.
Four World Premieres
Aaron Jay Kernis, Hannah Lash, Joel Thompson, and Joan Tower
Guest Artists Include
Steven Banks, Stewart Goodyear, Augustin Hadelich (Artist-in-Residence), Ji Su Jung, Olga Kern, Conrad Tao, Alisa Weilerstein, Angelo Xiang Yu
Brooklyn Rider Added to Chamber Music Series
Danish String Quartet unable to appear due to ongoing travel restrictions.
Colorado Music Festival (CMF) presents its summer concert season from July 1 through August 7 at Chautauqua Auditorium in Boulder, CO), under the direction of Music Director Peter Oundjian. The Festival offers 22 diverse performances of orchestral and chamber music by the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra and guest artists including Artist-in-Residence Augustin Hadelich.
“In our 2021 season, we wish to commemorate the challenges of the pandemic, while celebrating the return to live, communal music-making. This season’s music offers the healing that our communities are yearning for, the creativity to clear our minds and hearts, and the inspiration to look toward the brighter days ahead,” said Peter Oundjian, music director.
For a complete schedule of concerts, visit https://coloradomusicfestival.org/calendar/.
For a complete schedule of concerts to be livestreamed, visit: ttps://coloradomusicfestival.org/calendar/livestream-concerts/.
Festival Highlights
- Four world premieres include commissions by Hannah Lash (July 22), Joan Tower (July 25) and Joel Thompson (Aug. 5) and a work from Aaron Jay Kernis on opening night (July 1), which commemorates the victims of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- In a world premiere commissioned by the Festival, composer Joel Thompson shines a light on American writer and activist James Baldwin, weaving selections of Baldwin’s own words into a musical profile on one of the most powerful Black voices of his generation. Dr. Eddie Glaude will narrate the performance. Thompson is perhaps best known for his 2015 composition “Seven Last Words of the Unarmed.”
- The July 25 concert will focus exclusively on Joan Tower’s compositions, including a world premiere cello concerto commissioned by CMF and written for Alisa Weilerstein, who performs it here. Ms. Tower will be present at the event.
- The Festival’s first-ever Music of Today Series, July 20-25,is a series of four concerts dedicated to the work of living composers, including the the “Kaleidoscope” concert on July 23, which features pianist Christopher Taylor and percussionist Ji Su Jung on marimba, along with members of the CMF Orchestra. The program includes music by Nebojsa Zivkovic, Nico Muhly, Peter Klatzow, Derek Bermel, Keith Jarrett, Leigh Howard Stevens and William Bolcom.
- Also new this year is the Robert Mann Chamber Music Series, named for Robert Mann, who was founding first violin of the Juilliard String Quartet; a friend and mentor to CMF Music Director Peter Oundjian; and a conductor and composer. The Tuesday evening series (July 6, July 13, July 20, July 27 and August 3) includes the Emerson String Quartet, St. Lawrence String Quartet and Brooklyn Rider, all making their CMF debuts, and members of the CMF orchestra. (The Danish String Quartet, which was scheduled for August 3, is unable to appear due to ongoing COVID-related travel restrictions.)
- The 2021 season includes a diverse group of musicians and composers, including Steven Banks, Stewart Goodyear, Ji Su Jung, Hannah Lash, Jessie Montgomery, Conrad Tao, Joel Thompson, Joan Tower and Angelo Xiang Yu.
- Performances by 2021 artist-in-residence Augustin Hadelich will take place on July 1, 2, 29 and 30.
For Families and Youth
On Saturday, July 3 at 11 a.m., CMF will feature its Family Concert “The Story of Babar” in partnership with Really Inventive Stuff, animateurs and vaudeville-inspired storytellers for orchestras. This program also includes Toy Symphony, which features noisemakers, kazoos, and other toy instruments as part of the orchestra. Tickets are $10.
Additionally, the concert will be live streamed for families for free. Registration is required at https://coloradomusicfestival.org/calendar/livestream-concerts/.
The Colorado Music Festival (CMF) and the Center for Musical Arts (CMA) are offering a week-long online youth chamber music intensive for advanced string players (July 26-July 30) and open sessions with CMF guest artists (July 26, 27 and 28) for youth musicians at all levels. For information and to register, visit www.centerformusicalarts.org/chamber-intensive.
More Information/Tickets
For more information about CMF, or to purchase tickets, visit ColoradoMusicFestival.org or call 303-440-7666.
For a complete schedule of concerts, visit https://coloradomusicfestival.org/calendar/.
For a full media kit, including images, visit https://bit.ly/ColoradoMusicFest2021MediaKit.
About Chautauqua
Chautauqua Auditorium was built in 1898 as the meeting space for the recently established Colorado Chautauqua, a settlement that arose out of the Chautauqua education movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Located at the base of Boulder’s Flatirons and one of only 25 National Historic Landmarks in the state of Colorado, the Colorado Chautauqua is considered the western representation of the cultural movement that swept the U.S. and is the only site west of the Mississippi that has been in continuous operation since its founding and with its original structures intact and used for their original purposes. The Colorado Chautauqua remains committed to its historic purpose, offering outstanding cultural and educational programs and attracting more than a million visitors each year.
About Colorado Music Festival
Founded in 1976, the Colorado Music Festival (CMF) presents a summer season of classical music concerts performed by professional musicians from around the world at the historic Chautauqua Auditorium in Boulder. Emerging talent from Europe, Asia, South America and the U.S. join more than 100 all-star musicians, who comprise the CMF orchestra, in performances that inspire and engage concertgoers of all ages. Under the music direction of Peter Oundjian, the CMF thrills audiences of more than 20,000 each season with programming that embraces the most beloved classical music repertoire, while integrating world music and the works of exciting modern composers. For more information about CMF, or to purchase tickets, visit ColoradoMusicFestival.org or call 303-440-7666.