What do Benedict Cumberbatch and the Colorado Music Festival have in common? This summer, they both turn half a century old.
While the British actor might ring in his milestone by solving a Victorian murder or opening a portal to another dimension, the festival is taking a slightly more grounded approach. The beloved Boulder institution is marking the occasion with a full slate of classical concerts at Chautauqua.
The 2026 season runs July 9 through Aug. 9 at Chautauqua Auditorium and includes 14 orchestral and chamber concerts performed by the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, as well as a slate of guest artists and conductors. Single tickets are on sale now and may be purchased through the festival’s website and the Chautauqua box office.
The Colorado Music Festival dates back to the summer of 1976, and it now functions as an annual pilgrimage for the American classical music scene. Each July, rostered players from prestigious symphonies nationwide pack their bags and head for the mountains where they converge in Boulder to build a world-class orchestra from scratch.
For several weeks, they set up shop at the Chautauqua Auditorium, performing concerts while the festival fills out the schedule with open rehearsals, talks and other educational programs.
The orchestra is led by music director Peter Oundjian, whose resume includes stints with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Colorado Symphony. Oundjian, a former violinist, took over artistic leadership of the festival in 2019.
As it turns out, 2026 is a year for many high-profile birthdays. “In our 2026 season, the stars align as we celebrate four incredible milestones: the Festival’s 50th, the Center for Musical Arts’ 30th, Colorado’s 150th, and our country’s 250th anniversaries,” Oundjian said in a statement announcing the lineup.
The opening concerts on July 9 and 10 will feature Sibelius’ Violin Concerto performed by 14-year-old violinist – who, like Cher or Shakira, goes by a mononym – Himari, a Japanese prodigy who has rapidly gained international attention for performances with major orchestras while still too young to legally sit in the exit row of an airplane.
The program also includes Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 5” and a world premiere by Colorado composer Carter Pann.
The following week brings pianist Yuja Wang, who will make her Colorado Music Festival debut July 16 and 17 performing Samuel Barber’s “Piano Concerto”, the very piece that earned the composer the Pulitzer Prize in 1963.
Wang has become one of the most visible pianists on the international circuit, known for blisteringly technical, almost athletic performances and a fashion-forward stage persona that has become part of her public mythology (she often plays the piano in 6 inch Louboutin heels).
Several guest conductors will also appear during the monthlong season. On July 19, former Colorado Symphony music director Jeffrey Kahane will lead the orchestra in all six of Bach’s “Brandenburg Concertos”, a set of Baroque works often considered among the composer’s most inventive orchestral pieces.
On July 23 and 24, conductor Leonard Slatkin will lead a program devoted to American orchestral music, including Copland’s “Rodeo” and Gershwin’s “An American in Paris”. Slatkin is a six-time Grammy award winner who previously served as music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
On July 30 and 31, Oundjian will conduct Gustav Holst’s “The Planets,” a sweeping orchestral suite inspired by astrology and the stars above. Those concerts will also feature pianist Nobu Tsujii, the gold medalist of the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2.
Other soloists include Philadelphia Orchestra principal clarinetist Ricardo Morales, scheduled to perform Copland’s “Clarinet Concerto” on Aug. 2, and pianist Michelle Cann, who returns Aug. 6 and 7 to perform a new piano concerto by composer Valerie Coleman alongside Berlioz’s “Symphonie Fantastique”. The season closes Aug. 9 with Mahler’s “Symphony No. 3”, conducted by Oundjian.
Alongside the concerts, the festival will host a free Family Day on July 12 that includes a Suzuki play-in for student string players, a bilingual performance of Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf”, and a lawn fair at Chautauqua.
Single tickets range from $31 to $113, with discounted tickets available for students and youth.
More information is available at coloradomusicfestival.org.