By Lauren Ciborowski

The year was 2003. I was about to begin my senior year at Colorado College, and I was mired in the first real heartbreak of my life. You know, The First Real Big One. 

I was weeping while slinging slightly charred, over-frothed lattes at Montague’s (may it rest in peace), trying to work on my thesis, when a friend offered me tickets to some classical concert I’d never heard of. I was privy to the classical music world at the time, but mostly as a student. This was some festival at CC. How odd to be offered tickets for a thing I’d never heard of at the very school I attended. 

I accepted, numbly, and coerced a friend into attending with me. It was crowded, and these were the cheap seats, so my friend and I ended up in the balcony that was, at the time, upstage right over the performers. I only mention this because you can now picture that as I sobbed during the entire performance, all of Packard Hall could see me if they just looked up.

The performance? Dvořák trios, best I remember. The memory? Life-changing.

Little did I know what I had morosely stumbled into: One of the most amazing chamber music festivals in the country … and right here! Downtown! In Colorado Springs!

(Side note: If you don’t know what chamber music is and would like to be vaguely well spoken at cocktail parties, here’s the deal. It’s classical music by a smaller group of musicians meant to be performed in a smaller setting (a chamber), versus an orchestra of lots of people performing in a big hall.)

Turns out this festival offers the best of both worlds, and in a way that I now, as a grown adult, realize is quite rare. This three-week festival in June offers a rare combination of chamber music by its faculty, as well as orchestral concerts by the young student fellows who come in just for the festival. In other words, these 20-somethings arrive in early June on some sheet music and a prayer and form an amazing orchestra under the guidance of famed conductor Scott Yoo (of PBS’ “Now Hear This” fame). It’s truly a sight to behold.

I went on to attend more and more of those concerts, initially procuring tickets in exchange for selling program ads as a poor post-grad. And I legitimately proselytized lots of non-classical people, including my then husband. He and I went on to create amazing collaborative events between the festival musicians, the festival faculty and local bands in the small alley galleries we then owned.

Fast-forward to now, and I’m on the advisory board. I’m also now bringing my appreciative second-and-final-husband to the concerts. And I now have the absolute and utter joy of taking our 4-year-old to the free children’s concert they offer every year, and sometimes the free Music at Midday concerts as well. I love nothing more than seeing an orchestra through his young eyes, even if we have to mitigate some extreme stage whispering.

This festival is seriously an embarrassment of riches, and I wish you would check it out. It runs from June 5 to 21. The free kids’ thing is on the 13th. You can look it all up at coloradocollege.edu/musicfestival. And if you have questions about classical music and etiquette and all that, hit me up. I’ll totally tell you when to clap. It’s a thing.

You need art. Art needs you.

Lauren Ciborowski writes about the arts and music in every issue. W.I..P. stands for Works in Progress.