The Strad: Ehnes and NY Phil impress at Bravo! Vail
The Strad reports from the opening concert of the New York Philharmonic’s residency at Bravo! Vail, which took place against the backdrop of the dramatic Colorado climate.
The New York Philharmonic opened its residency at Bravo! Vail Music Festival on July 22 with a program of Berlioz, Korngold, Britten and Stravinsky, under the baton of Elim Chan, in her festival debut.
The orchestra launched into a spirited and jolly rendition of Le Corsaire Overture, a work that showcased Berlioz’s skill of orchestration and programmatic writing. So it was fitting to follow that with Korngold, a composer renowned for his work scoring Hollywood films.
“James Ehnes played the solo part of the Violin Concerto as if he were the protagonist in a hypothetical 20th-century film, with shimmering accompaniment and support from the orchestra,” writes Davina Shum. “His communication was clear between the ensemble and Chan, as he swept through the work’s cinematic lines with apparent ease.”
Read the full piece here.
Visit bravovail.org.
Bravo! Vail Music Festival Featured in Vail Valley Magazine
“The Bravo! Vail Music Festival is something of a logistical miracle.” Shauna Farnell details the puzzle of putting together the Bravo! Vail Music Festival, which runs June 25-August 6 this year. Vail Valley Magazine, summer 2026.
“The Bravo! Vail Music Festival is something of a logistical miracle,” writes Shauna Farnell in her “Orchestrating the Orchestras” feature for the summer 2026 issue of Vail Valley Magazine. She details the puzzle of putting together the Bravo! Vail Music Festival, which runs June 25-August 6 this year, bringing to Vail, Colorado, the New York Philharmonic, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, various chamber music ensembles, and more.
“It takes a village,” says Elli Monroe, Bravo! Vail's artistic operations director, about the logistics for putting together this enormous classical music festival. “We have a wonderful team. Honestly, if you can meticulously pre-plan and communicate all of this in advance, 99% goes as planned and you can put out the fires as you need to.”
Planning for the summer begins about a year and a half in advance, with orchestras and soloists contracted out long before that. Monroe, who’s been with the festival since 2008, is tasked with taking the plan, or as she calls it, “the artistic vision,” and bringing it to fruition.
To find out more about Bravo! Vail, please visit bravovail.org.
Bravo! Vail Music Festival Names Composer Chris Rogerson as New Artistic Director
Rogerson becomes the fourth Artistic Director in the Festival’s history, succeeding Anne-Marie McDermott after her 16-year tenure.
Bravo! Vail Music Festival Names
Composer Chris Rogerson as New Artistic Director
Photo by Sophie Zhai
Vail, CO (April 2, 2026)– The Bravo! Vail Music Festival (Bravo! Vail), a top U.S. classical music festival and the only festival in North America to host four orchestras each summer, announces composer Chris Rogerson as its next Artistic Director.
Selected from an applicant pool of internationally renowned musicians and arts leaders, Rogerson assumes the Artistic Director Designate role immediately and the Artistic Director title on September 1, 2026, for an initial three-year term.
“We are thrilled that Chris will lead Bravo! Vail in its next era – his commitment to artistic excellence, sophisticated and innovative programming, and approach to community engagement all align perfectly with Bravo! Vail’s mission and goals for the future. It will be an exciting new chapter for Bravo! Vail,” said Caitlin Murray, Bravo! Vail’s President and CEO.
"On behalf of the Board of Trustees, we welcome Chris and look to the future with excitement and inspiration. We are honored to embark on the exciting journey ahead with Chris Rogerson as our next Artistic Director for our beloved festival," said Hank Gutman, Board Chair of Bravo! Vail. "This collaboration promises to elevate our mission and enrich the cultural tapestry of Vail for years to come."Rogerson becomes the fourth Artistic Director in the Festival’s history, succeeding Anne-Marie McDermott after her 16-year tenure.His appointment underscores the Festival's continued commitment to new works and education, alongside core orchestral and chamber music programming. “Bravo! Vail represents the highest level of music-making in an incomparable natural setting. From its founding in 1987, it has served as a beacon of artistic integrity and a place of limitless artistic possibility,” stated Chris Rogerson, incoming Bravo! Vail Artistic Director Designate. “I have the deepest admiration for the artistic directors who have shaped this festival and am honored to carry forward that legacy. I have been fortunate to have contributed to the festival as a composer and have seen firsthand how magical it is: a place where excellence and collaborative joy are inseparable, and where decisions serve the music and the artists who bring it to life. The opportunity to lead the festival into its next chapter alongside the incredible team is profoundly meaningful and tremendously exciting.” Rogerson is an accomplished American-born composer. His music has been performed by artists including Yo-Yo Ma, Anthony McGill, J’Nai Bridges, and Pablo Sáinz-Villegas, as well as leading orchestras and ensembles across the country. For the past decade, he has served as a member of the faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music. In 2023, Rogerson received the prestigious Elise L. Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Rogerson’s relationship with Bravo! Vail spans multiple commissions, including Samaa’ for piano, gongs, and strings, premiered in 2022 by Anne-Marie McDermott and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Commissioned in honor of McDermott’s 10th anniversary as Artistic Director, the work was the first premiered as part of Bravo! Vail’s Symphonic Commissioning Project, an ongoing initiative supporting the creation and premiere of new orchestral works.
Prior to his appointment with Bravo! Vail, Rogerson served as Composer-in-Residence of Young Concert Artists and as Composer-in-Residence and Artistic Advisor for both the Allentown Symphony Orchestra and the Amarillo Symphony. He has also received awards and fellowships from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Chamber Music America, the Theodore Presser Foundation, the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and Copland House.
In addition to being a member of the faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he also studied, he is an alumnus of the Yale School of Music and Princeton University. His advisors have included Jennifer Higdon, Aaron Jay Kernis, Martin Bresnick, and Steve Mackey.
Bravo! Vail will announce its 40th anniversary season—Rogerson’s first as Artistic Director—in December of 2026.
Chris Rogerson is available for press interviews. Photos are available here.
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About Chris Rogerson
Chris Rogerson is a composer praised as a “confident new musical voice” (The New York Times), with music noted for its lyricism, “haunting beauty,” and “virtuosic exuberance.” His works have been performed at leading venues worldwide, including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, and Wigmore Hall.
Recent highlights include Of Simple Grace for Yo-Yo Ma, a violin concerto for Benjamin Beilman and the Kansas City Symphony, and Dream Sequence for Anne-Marie McDermott and the Dover Quartet. He has received commissions from major orchestras nationwide and was awarded the 2022 Elise L. Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Rogerson is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Yale School of Music, and Princeton University, and serves on the faculty of Curtis. For more information about Chris Rogerson, please visit: https://www.chrisrogerson.com/
About Bravo! Vail Music Festival
Consistently cited as one of the top 10 classical music festivals in the country, the Bravo! Vail Music Festival brings world-renowned musicians to picturesque venues throughout the Vail and Eagle River Valley region for six weeks, drawing music lovers from around the world. The only festival in North America to host four of the world’s finest orchestras in a single season, Bravo! Vail celebrates its 39th season from June 25-August 6, 2026, with approximately 60 concerts—almost half of which are presented for free. Beyond its summer programming, Bravo! Vail serves the community by providing year-round low-cost music education through Music Makers Haciendo Música, a piano, violin, guitar, cello, and ensemble instruction program to help develop new generations of musicians and music lovers. "[Bravo! Vail] is the most high-profile — and high altitude — mountain music festival in America." - The Times (UK)
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Press Contacts:
Christy Pierce
8VA Music Consultancy
christy@8vamusicconsultancy.com
800.530.3318
Parker Owens
Bravo! Vail Music Festival
970.989.3716
"Music in the Rockies": Bravo! Vail, Anne-Marie McDermott, and Yulianna Avdeeva featured on Pianist magazine
Erica Worth, editor of Pianist magazine, visited Bravo! Vail Music Festival this summer, now in its 38th year. She reports on this classical music haven high up on the Rocky Mountains.
Pianist magazine (October/November 2025)
Founded in 1987, Bravo! Vail Music Festival has grown from a small chamber-music series into a six-week orchestral festival, with supporting events, chamber recitals, and masterclasses. Erica Worth, editor of Pianist magazine, visited Bravo! Vail in the summer of 2025; she reports on this classical music haven high up on the Rocky Mountains for the October/November issue of the magazine.
“In contrast to European festivals which seem to attract a global public, the Vail vibe is decidedly American, at least for now. 'You're right, it's a domestic audience,' replied [executive director since Caitlin] Murray, when I raised the issue with her. 'However, Vail as a whole is an international tourist destination. We added our fourth orchestra almost a decade ago, with the aim of making the festival more international. In the 2025 season, we have had five orchestras from three continents. And in terms of the level and the quality of music that happens here, well - let's be "The American Verbier!"'
Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater
“A festival is only as good as its artistic director. At Bravo! Vail, it’s the charismatic American pianist Anne-Marie McDermott in charge... During that time, she has increased the visibility of female composers, and introduced composer-focused 'Immersive Experiences' as well as fully staged opera productions. In both concerts and masterclasses, she takes an active role at the festival as well as setting its tone.
“On my first evening, Yulianna Avdeeva made me sit up and listen with fresh ears to Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. This was a strong, muscular account from the outset, decisive and full-bodied... She brought a pearly touch to the slow movement when she took over from the opening flute solo, and in the third movement she demonstrated admirable imagination as well as technique when voicing the lyrical second thee, before really going for it in the torrents of octaves at the climax.”
McDermott (credit: Sophie Zhai); Avdeeva (credit: Kevin Kinzley)
Read the full piece here.
Bravo! Vail Featured on the Denver Post
The high-altitude summer festival runs this year June 19–July 31.
Bravo! Vail Music Festival, which this year runs June 19–July 31, was featured this week on the Denver Post. Ray Mark Rinaldi writes:
The Bravo! Vail Music Festival is pushing a season of “first” this year, and it looks promising. In the mix will be short residencies by five orchestras from three different continents, along with a long list of well-known guest conductors featured on the podium.
To read the full piece, click here.
I Care If You Listen: Bravo! Vail Festival Blends New Music with the Classics at its Lavish Colorado Rockies Home
It wasn’t until I’d taken the gondola down from Eagle’s Nest, perched 10,350 feet up on Vail Mountain, that I took in the full idyllic scenery of the Rocky Mountains, where the Bravo! Vail music festival makes its home. It was the third day of my trip and I was rushing to the Ford Amphitheater, after a morning hike to the top of the ski lift, to catch the end of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s rehearsal for that evening’s concert.
From July 12 to 14, I attended the last three concerts of the famed orchestra’s 16th Bravo! Vail residency with seven other members of the Music Critics Association of North America. We got a window into the six-week, $9.2-million summer festival — now in its 36th season — which brings in more than 50,000 visitors every year.
I Care If You Listen
Esteban Meneses
It wasn’t until I’d taken the gondola down from Eagle’s Nest, perched 10,350 feet up on Vail Mountain, that I took in the full idyllic scenery of the Rocky Mountains, where the Bravo! Vail music festival makes its home. It was the third day of my trip and I was rushing to the Ford Amphitheater, after a morning hike to the top of the ski lift, to catch the end of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s rehearsal for that evening’s concert.
From July 12 to 14, I attended the last three concerts of the famed orchestra’s 16th Bravo! Vail residency with seven other members of the Music Critics Association of North America. We got a window into the six-week, $9.2-million summer festival — now in its 36th season — which brings in more than 50,000 visitors every year.
Hungry for the music of today, I gravitated toward the contemporary offerings during my visit, the highlight of which was the world premiere of Anna Clyne’s This Moment. The festival has recently committed to commissioning new symphonic pieces; in 2022, they presented premieres of works by Chris Rogerson, Katherine Balch, and Carlos Simon.
Read more here.
Vail Daily: Meet Your Musician Bravo! Vail Edition: Dover Quartet
Q: What is your name/your ensemble’s/orchestra’s name?
A: We are the Dover Quartet. We formed at the Curtis Institute of Music, and our name pays tribute to “Dover Beach” a song written by fellow Curtis alumnus Samuel Barber.
Q: What instrument(s) do you play?
A: Joel Link, violin; Bryan Lee, violin; Hezekiah Leung, viola; Camden Shaw, cello
Q: How long have you been performing? How long have you been with your current orchestra or ensemble?
A: We formed in 2008 with Joel, Bryan, and Camden as founding members. Hezekiah has been touring with the group this year and violist Julianne Lee will be joining the quartet in September 2023.
Vail Daily
By Tricia Swenson
Q: What is your name/your ensemble’s/orchestra’s name?
A: We are the Dover Quartet. We formed at the Curtis Institute of Music, and our name pays tribute to “Dover Beach” a song written by fellow Curtis alumnus Samuel Barber.
Q: What instrument(s) do you play?
A: Joel Link, violin; Bryan Lee, violin; Hezekiah Leung, viola; Camden Shaw, cello
Q: How long have you been performing? How long have you been with your current orchestra or ensemble?
A: We formed in 2008 with Joel, Bryan, and Camden as founding members. Hezekiah has been touring with the group this year and violist Julianne Lee will be joining the quartet in September 2023.
Q: How long have you been coming to the Bravo! Vail Music Festival?
A: Our first performance at Bravo! Vail was in 2014, and we look forward to visiting every time we get the opportunity! We’ve made some amazing memories here in the summertime.
Read more here.
Vail Daily: Bravo! Vail Music Festival Welcomes Mexico’s Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería in 2024
The Bravo! Vail Music Festival (Bravo! Vail) announces the debut of Mexico’s Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería (the Orchestra) for a three-concert residency on June 20, 22 and 23, 2024, opening its 2024 Festival season. Led by Artistic Director and renowned Mexican conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto, the acclaimed ensemble will be Bravo! Vail’s 2024 international chamber orchestra and the first Latin American orchestra featured at Bravo! Vail.
Vail Daily
The Bravo! Vail Music Festival (Bravo! Vail) announces the debut of Mexico’s Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería (the Orchestra) for a three-concert residency on June 20, 22 and 23, 2024, opening its 2024 Festival season. Led by Artistic Director and renowned Mexican conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto, the acclaimed ensemble will be Bravo! Vail’s 2024 international chamber orchestra and the first Latin American orchestra featured at Bravo! Vail.
“Since we started the international chamber orchestra residency at Bravo! Vail, I have dreamed of inviting my friend, the incredible Mexican conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto, to bring the musicians from the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería to Vail,” said Anne-Marie McDermott, Artistic Director of Bravo! Vail. “Musically speaking, having performed with them many times, I can attest to the magical chemistry Carlos has with the players and the level of artistic commitment they bring to the incredibly wide range of music they perform. I simply can’t wait to welcome them.”
As part of its residency, the Orchestra will perform an expansive breadth of repertoire — from Beethoven and Haydn to leading Mexican and Latin American composers such as Pacho Flores, Gabriela Ortiz and Alberto Ginastera, and including Spaniards Joaquín Rodrigo and Manuel de Falla. Members of the Orchestra will also participate in education and engagement programs throughout Colorado’s Vail and Eagle River Valley communities.
Read more here.
The Denver Post: Your summer guide to the fine arts in Colorado
Colorado’s fine-arts calendar is rich in the coming months with an abundance of high-level live performances and gallery exhibitions. We looked across the state and assembled this list of offerings with serious potential.
The Denver Post
Ray Mark Rinaldi
The Philadelphia Orchestra with Hilary Hahn
(Bravo! Vail Music Festival, July 12)
Philadelphia Orchestra music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin is a true podium star, and his presence with the ensemble this summer in Vail is especially promising. The orchestra is set to perform Florence Price’s Symphony No. 3, a work that was the highlight of its 2022 Grammy Award-winning recording. Even better: The evening features popular soloist Hilary Hahn, who will take on the thrill ride that is Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto.
New York Philharmonic Orchestra with Marin Alsop and Yunchan Lim
(Bravo! Vail, July 26)
The classical world’s personality of the moment is no doubt Yunchan Lim, who in 2022 — at the age of 18 — became the youngest-ever winner of the legendary Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. On this night, he will perform Rachmaninoff’s difficult Piano Concerto No. 3, while local fave Marin Alsop conducts from the podium. It’s a swell combo and just the kind of program that makes Vail a special place.
Read more here.
The New York Times: A Road Trip to Sample America’s Many, Many Music Festivals
My family and I — including children aged 6, 3 and not quite 1 — started with the up-and-coming Colorado Music Festival in Boulder, which is within easy reach of Rocky Mountain National Park. Then it made sense to a climb up to the ski resorts west of Denver — first to Bravo! Vail, then to the next valley for the Aspen Music Festival and School. Jackson Hole, Wyo., didn’t look all that far away, really. There, the Grand Teton Music Festival plays just outside the park of the same name, with Yellowstone National Park an hour to the north. Why not?
The New York Times
By David Allen
With a minivan and a three small children in tow, a critic spent 12 days discovering classical music offerings among the Rocky Mountains.
Four classical music festivals. Three children. Two exhausted parents, with a brave grandfather in tow. One bedraggled minivan.
It’ll be fun, my wife promised me. Surprisingly, it was.
…
My family and I — including children aged 6, 3 and not quite 1 — started with the up-and-coming Colorado Music Festival in Boulder, which is within easy reach of Rocky Mountain National Park. Then it made sense to a climb up to the ski resorts west of Denver — first to Bravo! Vail, then to the next valley for the Aspen Music Festival and School. Jackson Hole, Wyo., didn’t look all that far away, really. There, the Grand Teton Music Festival plays just outside the park of the same name, with Yellowstone National Park an hour to the north. Why not?
Read more here.
Photo Credit (right): Andrew Miller for The New York Times