The Colorado Music Festival brings magnificent music right to the heart of Colorado. Under the guidance of renowned conductor Peter Oundjian, the Festival fills the summer with uplifting evenings in Boulder’s historic, all-wood Chautauqua Auditorium from July 9 to August 9, 2026. General admission tickets start at $40. Youth and student tickets are $10.
Colorado Music Festival / Geremy Kornreich photo
Festival highlights include the following:
On July 9 and 10, the 2026 Festival opens with a once-in-a-generation violinist: the 14-year-old phenomenon Himari, who will perform Sibelius’s Concerto for Violin. This season opener also includes Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony and a world premiere by Colorado-based composer Carter Pann.
On July 16 and 17, pianist Yuja Wang makes her Festival debut with Barber’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Piano Concerto; Music Director Peter Oundjian also conducts Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story.
On July 19, former Colorado Symphony Music Director Jeffrey Kahane leads all six of Bach’s celebrated Brandenburg Concertos.
On July 23 and 24, six-time Grammy-winning conductor and Music Director Laureate of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Leonard Slatkin conducts a program celebrating the American sound, including Aaron Copland’s Rodeo and George Gershwin’s An American in Paris.
On July 26, pianist Tony Siqi Yun performs Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in an all-Mozart concert, which also includes the composer’s Haffner Symphony.
On July 30 and 31, Music Director Peter Oundjian helms one of music’s grandest spectacles: Holst’s The Planets. Cliburn Gold Medal-winning pianist Nobu Tsujii performs Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto, and the program begins with aworld premiere by composer Leigha Amick.
On August 2, Philadelphia Orchestra principal clarinetist Ricardo Morales performs Copland’s Clarinet Concerto as well as Rossini’s challenging Introduction, Theme, and Variations. The program concludes with Ravel’s beloved Ma mère l’oye(“Mother Goose”) suite.
On August 6 and 7, pianist Michelle Cann returns to perform a new piano concerto by composer Valerie Coleman, along with Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique.
On August 9, Music Director Peter Oundjian closes this landmark season with Mahler’s Third Symphony.
On Sunday, July 12, CMF will host a Free Family Day, including:
- At 9:30 a.m., a Suzuki Play-In including string players of all ages
- At 10:30 a.m., CMF’s free Family Concert featuring Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, offered in both English and Spanish.
- At 11:15 a.m., a Family Lawn Fair in partnership with the Chautauqua Association will feature food trucks, musical performances, and more.
Find concert schedules and ticket information here.
900 Baseline Rd., Boulder.
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