Ready to hightail it to the heights? Telluride boasts some of the best summer entertainment in the mountains, with a season of jam-packed festivals. Swinging from weekend to weekend like a bustling metropolis—only without the city—Telluride rocks the Rockies. Below follows the summer schedule as well as points of interest for all you festival hounds. So sit back, relax and enjoy the season of azure, cloudless Colorado skies in our shining mountains. (If you don’t think the mountains shine, you just haven’t been here long enough!) Take a stroll through town sampling the best grapes the world has to offer, lap up the world’s best bluegrass—yes, Alison Kraus will be here this summer—or jive down to some exquisite jazz. Whatever your penchant, Telluride’s your preference; whatever your inkling, Telluride’s your duckling!
TELLURIDE JAZZ CELEBRATION 8/5-8/7
Bringing some of the most innovative musicians to the amphitheater in the clouds, the Telluride Jazz Celebration has been a must-attend event for music lovers since 1977. Hear the saxophone sass, the piano pizzazz, the razzmatazz and all that jazz drift like honey from out of your favorite venues, while intellectualizing on what it is that music does. This be the bee’s knees, baby. Remember the beat generation and jive down in your glad-rags, flap some gums and bang ‘em drums?...‘Cause baby, this music makes you crazy! This year’s showstopper, ready to fill up the juicy-joint, never disappoint, and get to the point, is magical mister Ron Carter. Others for the line-up include the Dave Holland Quintet (ain’t you heard them yet?), the John Scofield Trio, Horizon (never out of view), and the Queen City Jazz Band. www.telluridejazz.com
TECH FEST 8/12-8/14
Nicola Tesla would love this. Need I say more? Lightning bolts sizzle down Colorado Aveune, proving we still don’t understand electricity—or at least that maybe Tesla was onto something greater, something all-pervasive, something omnipresent and unnecessarily franchised by Edison and his General Electric…. from, Tesla had a plan, until JP Morgan “pulled the plug.” But that didn’t stop him coming here and lighting up our streets with his AC/DC. Other marvels include amazing state-of-the-art technologies sprung and ready to change human existence as we know it. If you weren’t here in 2003, then you didn’t see Arthur C. Clarke provide uninterrupted discourse from Sri Lanka, appearing as a three-dimensional hologram. The cunning visionary of the geo-stationary satellite blazed up the room, a certain light of reason. www.telluridetechfestival.com
CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAl 8/11-8/14 & 8/19-8/20
Nine days of harmony fill the valleys and box canyon as, for once, Telluride indulges in classical entertainment. Usually a source of rave reviews from locals and tourists alike, the Chamber Music Festival reminds us what life must have been like when genius existed in the world. Hear Mozart, Brahms, Beethoven and all the greats of musical composition echo from the canyon walls. Played to perfection by talented musicians; if Mozart was alive, he’d be here too (although he is in spirit). This year marks the 33rd year of high-quality musical scores for a festival that gets longer and longer—with our wishes—each year. www.telluridechambermusic.com
Nine days of harmony fill the valleys and box canyon as, for once, Telluride indulges in classical entertainment. Usually a source of rave reviews from locals and tourists alike, the Chamber Music Festival reminds us what life must have been like when genius existed in the world. Hear Mozart, Brahms, Beethoven and all the greats of musical composition echo from the canyon walls. Played to perfection by talented musicians; if Mozart was alive, he’d be here too (although he is in spirit). This year marks the 33rd year of high-quality musical scores for a festival that gets longer and longer—with our wishes—each year. www.telluridechambermusic.com
CULINARY ARTS FESTIVAL 8/12-8/14
Overlapping with the Tech Festival and the Chamber Music Festival, this culinary extravaganza ensures great food to mix with the great music and interesting technological wonders. However—fear not—taste, touch and sound have been covered in an exhibition of more than 100 international artists complements this epicurean banquet of the senses, giving you everything you’ve ever desired…provided you can afford it all, of course.www.tellurideculinaryart.com
MUSHROOM FESTIVAL 8/18-8/21
Ah, the Mushroom Fest. Not just about magic mushrooms, this festival applauds the magic of all mushrooms. Mycologists delight in explaining the allelopathic compounds that heal, enrich, purify, exalt or derange. Yes, if there’s a weirdly shaped flora, it’s here! Hairy botanists abound and everywhere odd fungi are displayed. In the past, holistic healing giants such as Andrew Weil have graced us with mycological mystery. From fly agarics, psilocybes, the gourmet morels (perhaps the most expensive mushroom around) to chanterelles, they’re all here. Baffling many, inspiring more, the Mushroom Festival is a must for anyone who doesn’t believe Mother Nature has a sense-of-humor. Just check out that mushroom parade! www.shroomfestival.com
FILM FESTIVAL 9/2-9/5
A local favorite, the film festival dominates the vistas in the San Juans. Rub shoulders with famous directors, actors and anyone able to make it to this remote backdrop to praise the medium of film. Perhaps the most beautiful place to host a film festival, Telluride has rapidly become the venue for industry professionals eager to escape the limelight and get down to some healthy voyeurism. No one makes it here unless they love film and are in-the-know. This festival is no longer one of the industry’s best-kept secrets as it has continuously gotten press from such “big boy” publications as Vanity Fare, the New York Times and Premiere. It appears everyone gets on quite well without the dissembling, quivering, star-struck fan base actors and actresses have come to expect from the world. No matter, if you’re rich ‘n’ famous or teeter on the other-side-of-the-tracks, and want to be treated just like everyone else, Telluride’s your town. www.telluridefilmfestival.org
BLUES & BREWS FESTIVAL 9/16-9/18
The last big blow-out of the season (like a wrecked 18-wheeler), Telluride Blues and Brews couples the sweetest things sin can offer—blues music with microbrewed beers. A dulcet duet and a drummed-up dread-fest, this weekend is the big finalé for the toe-tapping town of Telluride. Those fragmented blues chords—painfully tuneful—ring from the rocks in diminished 7ths, augmented 5ths, and other strange derivatives only the most musically adept will understand. Beer flows like a river; Cry Me A Keg could be an apt title, and yet somewhere in all the madness a genuine sense of appreciation for one of America’s most formative arts rings true—like a hanging harmonic. www.tellurideblues.com
