Colorado MahlerFest is an annual event held in Boulder, Colorado, which each year celebrates one major symphonic work by Austrian composer Gustav Mahler. While "Colorado MahlerFest" is the official name of the event and the organization, the individual annual events are simply referred to as "MahlerFest" (dropping the "Colorado"), followed by a Roman numeral. It is the one of only two North American arts organizations to have received the Gold Medal of the International Gustav Mahler Society, the other being the New York Philharmonic. The founder of MahlerFest was conductor Robert Olson, who currently serves on the faculty of the

University of Missouri–Kansas City The University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC) is a public research university in Kansas City, Missouri. UMKC is part of the University of Missouri System and one of only two member universities with a medical school. As of 2020, the university ...

who led the festival until his retirement in 2015.

Kenneth Woods Kenneth Allen Woods (born 1968) is an American conductor, composer and cellist, resident in the UK. Early career Woods studied conducting at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. His subsequent conducting mentors have includ ...

succeeded Olson as artistic director in 2016. One of Woods' initiatives as the festival's second artistic director has been an expanded emphasis on contemporary music and the involvement of annual Visiting Composers, including Jesse Jones, David Matthews,

Kurt Schwertsik Kurt Schwertsik (born 25 June 1935) is an Austrian contemporary composer. He is known for creating the "Third Viennese School" and spreading contemporary classical music. Life Schwertsik was born in Vienna. A pupil of Joseph Marx and Karl Schis ...

and Donald Fraser. The festival has presented American premieres of Schwertsik's 'Nachtmusiken,' David Matthews' 'Romanza' and John McCabe's 'Pilgrim.' The festival has also run a mentoring scheme for advanced young conductors, The Mahler Conducting Fellowship, whose alumni include many of the most accomplished conductors of the new generation. The festival strives to be at the forefront of research into Mahlerian performance practice and the latest scholarly editions. In 2017, the orchestra premiered a new revision of Derryck Cooke's Performing Version of Mahler's Tenth Symphony incorporating new corrections by Colin Matthews, David Matthews and Peter Wadl, having given the world premiere of Joseph Wheeler's completion of the Tenth in 1997. In 2019, the orchestra gave the world premiere of the new Critical Editions of

Mahler's First Symphony The Symphony No. 1 in D major by Gustav Mahler was mainly composed between late 1887 and March 1888, though it incorporates music Mahler had composed for previous works. It was composed while Mahler was second conductor at the Leipzig Opera, G ...

and Blumine by

Breitkopf & Härtel Breitkopf & Härtel is the world's oldest music publishing house. The firm was founded in 1719 in Leipzig by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf. The catalogue currently contains over 1,000 composers, 8,000 works and 15,000 music editions or books on ...

. Each year, the festival hosts a symposium which every year welcomes leading Mahler scholars from all over the world. Past speakers have included Donald Mitchell, Henry-Louis de La Grange, Stephen E. Hefling, Gilbert Kaplan, Peter Davison, Anna Stoll-Knecht and Morten Solvik. Colorado MahlerFest received the gold medal of the International Gustav Mahler Society in Vienna in September 2005.

External links

* {{Gustav Mahler Classical music festivals in the United States Music festivals in Colorado Culture of Boulder, Colorado Tourist attractions in Boulder, Colorado Music festivals established in 1988 1988 establishments in Colorado