The Colorado College Summer Music Festival will present its 42nd season June 6-26, 2026.
The CC Summer Music Festival, led by music director Susan Grace, presents free and ticketed concerts throughout the month of June, featuring elite performing artists and rising-star musicians in chamber and orchestral settings. This three-week music festival is uniquely blended to offer pre-professional musicians (Festival Fellows) an opportunity to learn from preeminent teaching faculty from across the U.S. (Festival Artists) and to offer performances of outstanding modern and classical works to the Colorado Springs and surrounding community.
Festival Artists present five ticketed concerts and two free recitals throughout the season, while Festival Fellows perform free concerts on campus (Music at Midday) and off campus (outreach performances) and come together to form the Festival Orchestra, conducted by Scott Yoo, which performs two ticketed concerts. Yoo, a violinist, is the chief conductor and artistic director of the Mexico City Philharmonic, the music director of Festival Mozaic, and the host of travel docu-series Now Hear This from Great Performances on PBS.
Included in this year's Festival Artists Concerts is Sam Wu's piano quintet Mass Transit and the premiere of CC alum Grace Hale’s four-movement Colored Glass, commissioned this year by the CC Summer Music Festival. Wu also returns as Festival Fellow Assistant Conductor with the orchestra to direct his latest work, Continental Express, which just premiered at Carnegie Hall.
This year's Festival will offer a special music and wine experience during the final week of the Festival. For $50 added on to a season ticket package or the June 22 single concert ticket, patrons can attend a "Night Cap" following Monday evening's Festival Artists Concert. Pianist Lauren Ciborowski and Ben Harvey, both CC alums and longtime Festival supporters, will host this unique event that blends musical insight into the evening's concert program with thoughtfully-paired wine tastings, to be held at Evergreen Restaurant behind the Colorado College Spencer Center. Patrons must add on the music and wine pairing in advance.
Wine lovers can also enjoy a complimentary glass during free pre-concert lectures with Michael Grace offered prior to four concerts this season and during Wine Socials following the two free pre-concert recitals presented on the last two Thursday evenings of the Festival.
The free Festival Artist Pre-concert Recitals this year feature Festival pianists in week two and a Denver-based four-piece ensemble in week three. If you loved last season’s piano 6-hands performance by Grace, John Novacek, and William Wolfram, don’t miss this year’s Piano Extravaganza, where those three Festival Artists are joined by Festival pianists to perform with not just two hands, but with four, six, and maybe even eight. And, forming Grande Orquesta Navarre are Festival Artist Susan Cahill (bass), DeVotchKa's Tom Hagerman (violin, accordion), Evan Orman (bandoneon, cello), and Sara Parkinson (piano), who will bring a mix of tango, folk, gypsy, jazz, and classical that creates a unique style that is both a throwback and a revelation.
The Festival Orchestra also performs two free ticketed Children's Orchestra Concerts, an annual family favorite event that this year will feature Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. Accompanying the musical performance will be guest artist and celebrated mime Bill Bowers, narrator Virginia Barron, and projected artwork created by Bemis School of Art students.
The Summer Music Festival also partners with a local artist or arts organization to feature an art piece on all publicity materials each season. This year, the Festival partners with the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College to celebrate Charles Bunnell's 1959 work Untitled. All are invited to a free Music and Art Talk during the second week of the Festival presented by FAC visiting artist Pat Musick. Bunnell's Untitled will be available for Talk patrons to view in the Gathering Place: Permanent Collection Reinstallation, in the FAC's First Floor Galleries on the day of the event. To see the piece on the way to the Talk, guests should walk with the group coming from Packard Hall following Music at Midday. Patrons who miss seeing the work beforehand will also have an opportunity to view it afterward.
Tickets go on sale to the general public beginning May 1. Festival Donors receive discounted and early-access tickets beginning April 1. Festival Artists Concerts and Festival Orchestra Concerts are all paid ticketed events; the Night Cap music and wine pairing must be added on to a ticket purchase; both Children's Orchestra Concerts are free but tickets are required; and all other public events are free, no tickets required.
CC Summer Music Festival Donors also receive special event invitations and other benefits prior to and throughout June. The Festival is made possible by the generous support of many foundations, corporations and lovers of chamber music.
Learn more about the 2026 summer season and see the full schedule of events.
