Photo: Courtesy Chautauqua Auditorium
Colorado Music Festival
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- When
- Jul 9 - Aug 9, 2026
- Where
- Chautauqua Auditorium, Boulder
- Price
- Ticketed
A barn-board auditorium from 1898 with no air conditioning and famously warm acoustics is an unlikely home for one of the country's notable summer orchestras, and that contrast is exactly why the Colorado Music Festival is worth the drive to Boulder. The 2026 run is its 50th anniversary season.
Music Director Peter Oundjian leads 19 concerts from July 9 through August 9 at Chautauqua Auditorium. Pianist Yuja Wang makes her festival debut on July 16 and 17 with Barber's Piano Concerto on a program that also features Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. The season also brings pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii, the Canadian Brass, and the Danish String Quartet.
Chautauqua Auditorium sits at 900 Baseline Road below the Flatirons. Concerts fall on Thursdays, Fridays, Sundays, and Tuesdays, and the surrounding Chautauqua park and dining hall make an early arrival worthwhile.
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