Top-tier musicians converge at Colorado College for three weeks of music making this June

The Colorado College Summer Music Festival will be presenting more than 20 concerts and special events during its 39th season throughout the month of June. Concerts include chamber and orchestral music, presented by world-class musicians who teach throughout the three-week festival and the pre-professional student fellows who are on campus to learn and perform. There are free and ticketed events throughout, with most concerts presented on the Colorado College campus and some performances in venues in the Colorado Springs community.

Summer Music Festival events begin this year with a Festival Artists Concert on Wednesday, June 7 at 7:30 p.m. in Packard Hall on the CC campus. Performers include festival artists Laura Frautschi, Mark Fewer, Stefan Hersh on violin, Alice Dade on flute, Jon Manasse on clarinet, and Steven Beck on piano, among many other familiar faculty members of the festival. The program includes works by Gabrieli, Fuchs, Kernis, Host, and Dohnànyi. The festival highlights its preeminent performance faculty with four more Festival Artists chamber music concerts, all beginning at 7:30 p.m. in Packard Hall, on June 10, June 15, June 19, and June 22.

The Festival Orchestra is under the direction of Scott Yoo, world-famous conductor and violinist and host of PBS’ Great Performances docu-series Now Hear This. Yoo leads the ensemble comprising the 51 high-caliber student fellows who were selected earlier this year to attend the CC Summer Music Festival after a rigorous audition process.

The first Festival Orchestra Concert begins at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 13 at Celeste Theatre in Cornerstone Arts Center. Opening the program is Beethoven’s Leonore Overture III, followed by Nielsen’s Concerto for flute and orchestra, featuring Dade, and closing with Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 in E minor. Following this concert, the audience is invited to join the fellows and faculty in the Main Space of the Cornerstone Arts Center for food donated by Blue Star Kitchens, wine and beer provided by Summer Music Festival donors, and music by the Ricky Sweum Jazz Quartet. The second, and final, Festival Orchestra concert of the season begins at 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 23 in Celeste Theatre, with  Tchaikovsky, Liszt, and Gershwin on the program along with featured pianist John Novacek.

Programs for these concerts are available on the CC Summer Music Festival website, www.coloradocollege.edu/musicfestival, under 2023 Concerts. Single- and season-ticket packages are available for the Festival Artists and Festival Orchestra concerts on the website or by calling the Festival office at (719) 389-6552.

There are also many free events during the CC Summer Music Festival:

• The Festival offers two free Pre-Concert Recitals beginning at 6:15 p.m. prior to the Festival Artists Concerts on June 15 and June 22. The June 15 pre-concert recital features Jennifer DeDominici, mezzo-soprano, performing Heggie’s Camille Claudel: Into the Fire, a song cycle based on the life and works of the French artist. The June 22 pre-concert recital is “Brass Through the Ages,” featuring all 12 of the Festival’s brass faculty and fellows, joining together to share a history of brass instruments from inception to present a multi-sensory experience, including performances of great brass works, theatrical elements, historical instrument demonstrations, lighting, and more.
• Music at Midday performances are hour-long concerts featuring chamber works performed in Packard Hall by Festival Fellows. Music at Midday begins at 12:15 p.m. on June 12, 14, 16, 19, 21, 22, and 23 at 12:15 pm and do not require tickets.
• This year’s Children’s Orchestra Concert features Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, with two performances presented by the Festival Orchestra at 9 a.m. and 11 am June 15 in Celeste Theatre in the Cornerstone Arts Center. Tickets are free but required to attend. Art by Linda Sagastume’s students at Bemis School of Art will be featured during the concert. There will also be a presentation by the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center following each performance. A screening of the Academy Award-winning short film of Peter and the Wolf by Suzie Templeton will be part of the morning’s extravaganza.