2019 Festival Highlights
Some of our favorite moments from our 2019 summer festival
From July 6 – 28th, 2019, Music in the Mountains held our 33rd summer classical music festival. Marking the first year of hosting our festival at our new mainstage venue, the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College, this year featured in exciting and unique lineup!
FY5, Boyd Meets Girl, and Charlie Chaplin's Smile
Our 2019 festival kicked things off with Colorado’s own FY5 with special guests, Durango’s own Stillhouse Junkies. Influenced by country and bluegrass traditions, FY5 brought their mix of thoughtful arrangements and great singing to the Bayfield Performing Arts Center to open up our summer festival.
Our annual Chocolate Indulgence event featured delicious artisan dessert “duets” created by Animas Chocolate Company and the Ore House, surrounded by stunning views of the San Juan Mountains at Cascade Village Event Center. The duo Boyd Meets Girl, featuring Australian classical guitarist Rupert Boyd and American cellist Laura Metcalf, performed their eclectic and engaging range of repertoire, featuring everything from Baroque to unique takes on modern day favorites.
Who knew that the famous silent film actor was an amazing composer who wrote the soundtracks for many of his films?! Philippe Quint joined us at the Sunflower Theatre in Cortez to perform his enchanting violin and piano arrangements of some of Charlie Chaplin’s most beautiful and well-known music.
Our Classical Lineup Comes to the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College
On Friday, July 12th, 2019, our first festival orchestra concert of the season opened at the Community Concert Hall. Violinist Philippe Quint joined our maestro Guillermo Figueroa and our festival orchestra as the first of many world-renowned guest musicians and conductors!
Renowned conductor Richard Kaufman led our festival orchestra on July 13th, 2019, with “The Magical Music of John Williams,” featuring well-known and beloved themes from some of the most famous movies, including Star Wars, Superman, Harry Potter, and Jurassic Park.
Grammy-award winning conductor JoAnn Falletta joined us guest conductor on July 14th, 2019, for “Triumphant Flight,” featuring Josef Suk’s Fairy Tale (Pohádka), Op. 16, Robert Schumann’s Konzertstück in F for Four Horns and Orchestra, Op. 86, and Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34.
We were also excited to introduce our patrons to Maestro’s Courtyard, our open-air patio for pre-concert and intermission cocktails, surrounded by Durango’s gorgeous mountain views.
Beloved Chamber Concerts and Family Picnic & Concert
The first of our two chamber concerts kicked off on Tuesday, July 16th, 2019, at St. Columba Catholic Church, and featured Antonio Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Cellos in G minor, RV 531, Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusic, K. 525, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G, BWV 1048 and more.
Our second chamber concert was held Tuesday, July 23rd, 2019, at First United Methodist Church in Durango and featured two illustrious chamber music works performed by Guillermo Figueroa and his Festival Orchestra colleagues: Beethoven’s Septet in E-flat, Op. 20, and Franck’s Piano Quintet in F minor.
Our annual picnic & family concert was held on July 17th, 2019, at the Community Concert Hall. Designed to introduce children to the joy of music, tickets to our family concerts are only $5.00 and include a hot dog dinner before the concert! Our 2019 family concert featured Thomas Heuser as guest conductor for Paddington Bear’s First Concert.
Ella, Louis & Friends; Symphonic Treasures; and Wings of Discovery
Byron Stripling, conductor and trumpet, and Carmen Bradford, vocalist, joined our Festival Orchestra and took us on a journey through the most famous duets and solos recorded by two of jazz’s greatest legends during “Ella, Louis & Friends” on July 19th, 2019.
Violinist Emmanuelle Boisvert and our Festival Orchestra performed a range of Symphonic Treasures on July 20th, 2019, including Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 in A, K. 219 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67.
On Sunday, July 21st, 2019, we were joined by Elizabeth Joy Roe on the piano and Kyle Sherman on the trumpet for Mozart’s Overture to The Magic Flute, K. 620, Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor during “Wings of Discovery.”
Eileen Ivers Band, Pops Night Benefit Dinner & Concert, and an Operatic Finale!
It is a rare and select grade of spectacular artists whose work is so boldly imaginative and clearly virtuosic that it alters the medium, but such is the case of Eileen Ivers and the Celtic fiddle! The Eileen Ivers Band joined us on Friday, July 26th, 2019 for an unforgettable evening.
Our annual Pops Night Dinner & Benefit, held in 2019 at the Sky Ute Casino Resort Events Center, featured a multi-course dinner and silent auctions, all followed by a Pops Orchestra concert celebrating the best female vocalists of all time, and featuring vocalist Helen Welch with our Festival Orchestra.
The grand finale of our 2019 summer classical music festival featured something new for Music in the Mountains: opera! Soloists Carelle Flores, Drea Pressley, Andreas Tischauser, and Adrian Smith joined our Festival Orchestra to perform familiar selections from the most beloved moments in opera, including well-known orchestral overtures.
We closed out our 2019 summer festival with a champagne toast on our Maestro’s Courtyard, and can’t wait to share more wonderful music moments with you this year!
Experience our festival for yourself!