Music on the Mountain
31 May 2025
The Colorado Music Festival brings classical music to the masses
By Brad Weismann
It’s a bit of a musical miracle at the foot of the mountains.
For nearly 50 years, the Colorado Music Festival (CMF) has gathered more than six dozen—78, as a matter of fact—outstanding musicians from across the country and around the world in Boulder for an intense five weeks of classical music concerts in midsummer. The concerts’ content, staged in the cavernous Chautauqua Auditorium, ranges from Mozart to world-premiere pieces. The festival is an integral component of Boulder’s cultural scene.
“We’re putting on this world-class performance—it’s an opportunity that few people in the world have,” says Elizabeth McGuire, CMF’s executive director since 2016. “We want everyone to know they’re welcome. We want to keep it accessible and keep the ticket prices reasonable. We are a festival that really digs into repertoire, and the audience supports that. Boulder is an intellectual community.”
This idyllic college town’s suitability as an audience for the festival was first divined by conductor, violinist and educator Giora Bernstein, who was teaching at CU-Boulder at the time. He founded the festival in 1976 with the aid of his friend, Boulder’s Chris Brauchli.
“Chris and Giora founded the first board. Chris was a lawyer, so he put that together. Originally, Bernstein’s idea was chamber music,” McGuire says, “but then as plans developed, he decided it needed to be a full orchestra.”
Forty-some invited musicians came together that first year, playing in Boulder’s First Presbyterian Church. By 1978, the festival found its home at Chautauqua. In five decades, the festival has had only four music directors: Bernstein, Michael Christie, Jean-Marie Zeitouni and the current Canadian American conductor and violinist Peter Oundjian. He has been on the podium since 2019 and intends to continue in the role through at least 2029.
Those musicians who sign up for festival duty have a hard row to hoe. Together, they mount 20 concerts featuring multiple selections in only slightly longer than a month.
“We hold auditions for vacancies,” McGuire says. “They submit a video audition. After that, Peter and our musicians form committees and determine who gets to come out for the summer. Once hired and they play with us for a summer, they get the right of first refusal in terms of returning.”
Working together so closely creates a unique camaraderie. “That’s the key that’s very special about our festival,” McGuire says. “Having two unique orchestra programs per week means that the musicians have to be enthusiastic and prepared! They care about each other. There’s a family dynamic, which is very important.”
The CMF season features three orchestral concerts per week and a chamber music night on Tuesdays. The repertoire for the upcoming season is endearingly eclectic—from Beethoven, Brahms and Mozart to Shostakovich and Stravinsky. Adventurous auditors will welcome the world premiere of Joan Tower’s “Love Returns” for saxophone and orchestra on July 10 and 11 and its co-commission from Michael Abels, “Amplify,” on July 31 and August 1.
One CMF tradition that will continue is opening some rehearsals to the general public. Many music lovers have spent a summer afternoon watching the orchestra put a performance together.
“We open some of them to the public,” McGuire says. “Once the venue determines the schedule, we will know what rehearsals are open to the public around May 1. We’re planning on putting a microphone on Peter so we can hear him talk to the orchestra.”
Another hallmark of the festival is its work to assist underserved audiences. The annual family concert is free to all this year, and the organization sets aside tickets for schoolchildren, underserved youth, veterans and seniors.
“We’re looking at more and more access so we can project our concerts into the community,” McGuire says. “We want to make sure that people in the city really know that we exist. We work hard to ensure the community has the greatest opportunity to enjoy the music.”
