John Adams is composer-in-residence; 2022 season features two world premieres, by Timo Andres and Wang Jie.
The Colorado Music Festival in Boulder, Colorado, under the leadership of Music Director Peter Oundjian, returns to Chautauqua Auditorium in Boulder this summer for 22 concerts between June 30 and August 7.
Since Oundjian's arrival as Music Director in 2020, the Festival has been making a name for itself by offering a thoughtful and adventurous combination of music by living composers and favorites from the classical canon, including a week of Music of Today, co-curated by John Adams.
The 2022 festival includes 13 guest artists, three internationally-acclaimed string quartets, and four guest conductors. The spectacular setting, at the base of Boulder's dramatic Flatirons, is just an hour from Denver and was described as "an oasis" by Musical America.
The Festival's orchestra, led by music director Peter Oundjian, boasts world-class musicians from around the country who return to Boulder each summer to perform as the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra. Laurence Vittes, responding to the 2021 CMF premiere of Joan Tower's A New Day, wrote in Bachtrack, "Through all the challenges the orchestra held fast, a dream of a partner who were as virtuosic and almost as flexible as [Alisa] Weilerstein herself."
Guest Artists making their CMF debuts indicated with an asterisk (*).
The Colorado Music Festival welcomes the preeminent American composer and conductor John Adams as Composer-in-Residence this season. Adams and his music are present throughout this season, which opens on June 30 with Adams' Absolute Jest (2012) performed by the Takács Quartet, this year's Artists-in-Residence.
"It means a great deal to me to have John Adams as composer-in-residence this summer. I've known him for a long time, and have performed and recorded many of his extraordinary works," said Oundjian. "He is without question one of the most important voices in music today; his own music is beyond fascinating, and to hear John speak about art, literature and music is always engaging and inspiring. He has a fascination with many periods of creativity, but none more than the present. He plays an extremely important role as a mentor to young composers. So to have him in Boulder, conducting his own works, and bringing to us some of the young composers he's most excited about, is really a dream come true."
MUSIC OF TODAY, JULY 12-17
Co-Curated by John Adams* and Peter Oundjian
"Dedicating a week to the music of today is so stimulating and exciting," said Peter Oundjian. "Not only is it exhilarating to be playing music that is new to everyone, but that experience also gives one a new perspective on the great works of the classical canon, an ability to connect with the immediacy of works by Beethoven or Mahler, to approach them as if they were also written just last week or last year. And we share that energy with audiences throughout the Festival, regardless of what's on the program."
Returning this year is the Tuesday evening Robert Mann Chamber Music Series, named for the late 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 Festival's Artists-in-Residence this summer, the GRAMMY Award-winning Takács Quartet - an ensemble that is both world-renowned and based in Boulder - opens the series on July 5. On the program are Haydn and Dvořák's final complete works for quartet, coupled with Coleridge-Taylor's extraordinary Fantasiestücke (composed within a year of Dvořák's work).
The Danish String Quartet*, which has garnered critical acclaim and enthusiastic fans around the world with its brilliant playing and eclectic repertoire, brings the series to a delightful conclusion on August 2 in its CMF debut. The program begins with Purcell's Chaconne and ends with Schubert's Quartet in G Major. In between, the Quartet offers up a collection of Nordic folk music, like the tunes on their highly acclaimed recordings Wood Works and Last Leaf.
The GRAMMY Award-winning Attacca Quartet* describes itself as "a quartet for modern times" and is known for its impeccable musicianship and adventurous programming. The Quartet performs an eclectic program at CMF as part of Music of Today on July 12 (more details above).
Two concerts in the series feature performances by members of the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra: on July 19, a Russian-inflected program with music by Tchaikovsky, Glinka and Borodin and on July 26, Brahms' Clarinet Quintet and music by Mozart, Perkinson and Debussy.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
On July 31, CMF Principal Guest Conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni leads a special performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Mendelssohn's lush score, which includes the instantly recognizable "Wedding March," is paired with dramatic readings by actor John de Lancie* (American Shakespeare Festival, TV's Star Trek: The Next Generation). In addition to his acting credits, de Lancie has written, produced and directed shows for symphony orchestras and operas and hosted children's concerts at Disney Hall. Joining de Lancie in the cast of Midsummer are soprano Jennifer Bird-Arvidsson, mezzo soprano Abigail Nims and actor Marnie Mosiman* (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Remington Steele).
The program opens with a brand-new orchestral arrangement of Jessie Montgomery's vivid Starburst, which is, in her words, "a play on imagery of rapidly changing musical colors." Also in the first half is Bizet's Symphony in C, which he wrote at 17 (the same age as Mendelssohn when he wrote Midsummer).
In addition to the guest performers mentioned above, the following artists are also making their CMF debuts this year.
The annual CMF family concert returns on Sunday morning, July 3 at 11 am, with a performance of Tubby the Tuba by vaudeville-inspired musical storytellers Really Inventive Stuff. This program also includes Benjamin Britten's classic Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. The family concert is a hallmark of CMF and designed to introduce children to orchestral performances in a fun, approachable manner.
"We can't wait to see our subscribers, long-time patrons, and new guests this summer," said Elizabeth McGuire, executive director of CMF. "We couldn't be happier that we can host a full, in-person festival once again."
Colorado Music Festival concerts take place at Chautauqua Auditorium, which was built in 1898. Located at the base of Boulder's Flatirons and one of only 25 National Historic Landmarks in the state of Colorado, the Colorado Chautauqua remains committed to its historic purpose, offering outstanding cultural and educational programs and attracting more than a million visitors each year.
CMF will follow recommended and required COVID guidelines as necessary during the 2022 season.
For more information about CMF or to purchase tickets beginning March 1, visit ColoradoMusicFestival.org, email tickets@comusic.org, or call 303-440-7666. A full media kit, including images, is available here. Students of all ages receive a 50% discount on tickets for all CMF performances.
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