Colorado College makes its own kind of music

Jun 28, 2026

NEWS

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center was quiet on a Tuesday morning, save for the occasional cling or clang of a musician housing their instrument from a black case.

A dozen bleary-eyed musicians gathered in the echoey concert hall, sheet music and water bottles in tow. They looked around, acknowledging how many empty chairs there are. Rehearsal is set to start any minute. Where is the rest of the orchestra?

Realization rippled through those present as they checked their phones — rehearsal started at 10:30 a.m. that day, instead of the usual 10 a.m. They used their extra time to warm up.

The group, known as fellows, settled into folding chairs, instruments groaning with a morning yawn. Perched on a raised platform, a single metal stool sat at the helm of the horseshoe of chairs. It wasn’t long until a black t-shirt-clad conductor hurries=d onto the stage. The fellows’ conversations quickly quieted and instruments were repositioned, all eyes on the man now seated on the stool. Scott Yoo, acclaimed conductor and violinist, sat down and called out sections in Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2.

The group was preparing for an orchestra concert later that day. It’s one of several they performed throughout the Colorado Springs community as fellows in Colorado College Summer Music Festival. The three-week long program is one of the nation’s most competitive summer programs for aspiring professional musicians. The 53 fellows were chosen from hundreds of applicants. , many of whom were drawn to the festival’s hallmark features — educators and mentors, and somehow, it’s free of charge.

“I’m hearing a lot of rushing,” Yoo said to the fellows after a run-through of a particularly sticky section of the movement. “When we rush, we have to then reign it back in.”

Yoo, the artistic director of the Mexico City Philharmonic and host of “Now Hear This” on PBS, spent an hour combing through Symphony No. 2. He gave direct and clear feedback. Yoo had no sheet music on the stand — he was making these corrections from memory.

When asked why he chooses to spend every June in Colorado Springs, Yoo brought up his father, who taught finance and economics at night school after he retired.

“He said he liked teaching them because they were hungry to learn, and that’s what it’s like working with these fellows,” Yoo said. “This really matters to them, so they’re showing up, trying their absolute best.”

Yoo sees the festival as a “finishing school” before entering the professional world. Due to the competitive nature of the festival, this festival tends to attract an older demographic than a typical program of this kind, most fellows moving into professional careers at the end of the summer or wrapping up higher education. As a faculty member for more than 20 years, Yoo says a large part of the festival’s impact comes from the fellows.

“I still remember most people's names over the 25 years,” Yoo said. “I haven't seen them for ten years, but you still remember their names because it's so intense and there is some kind of an indelible mark it leaves on your soul to spend time with these people.”

Sydney Hoehl, 25, returned for her second festival. Her love of Colorado brought her back for another year, as well as the fact that this is one of few completely free festivals for musicians. She also mentioned the faculty to fellow ratio, 30 faculty members to the 53 fellows creating ample time for one-on-one coaching.

“I think the fact that it’s free is a huge draw for a lot of us, especially when we're at this stage in our lives as emerging professionals,” Hoehl said. “We don't have the money to spend thousands on other summer festivals.”

Other festivals in the country can cost thousands of dollars for the fellows, making many opportunities inaccessible. The event at Colorado College remains free of charge primarily due to donors, like local pianist and board member Lauren Ciborowski. She helps organize community outreach throughout the festival, including free mid-day concerts around Colorado Springs.

“The donor base has been similar for many, many years. It's the same people who keep coming back, wanting to support it, wanting to see the music,” Ciborowski said. “The festival definitely has a beloved place in the community.”

“It's much easier to conduct a professional orchestra,” Yoo said, perched on the metal stool post-rehearsal. “I did this piece two months ago and it felt rather easy. For these folks, they’re learning the piece for the first time. And that’s much more fun.”

Elias Gilbert, 23, is heading to Alabama in a few weeks to begin his professional career as the conductor of the University of Alabama’s campus orchestra. This is his second year at the festival as well. Working alongside Yoo is a significant draw to the program, he said. Gilbert laughed when asked whether Yoo’s feedback can ever feel harsh, admitting it’s not always fun to take the correction. But he said it continues to make him a better musician.

“If you're hearing a correction, it's not just because you're being picked on,” Gilbert said, who added how much he appreciates Yoo’s direct methods in rehearsals. “It's nice to have the trust that if you need to do something differently, that you have somebody who's going to tell you.”

Yoo agrees.

“I feel a tremendous responsibility to, in some cases, give them tough love,” Yoo said. “I only see them for three weeks, and for some of these people, I'll never see them again. And I need to make sure that I'm telling them what they need to hear and not what they want to hear.”

Alumni Jean Laurenz lives in Madison, Wisconsin, but came out for the festival this year to enjoy the sights and sounds. She attended 14 years ago. She remembers soaking in as much knowledge as she could from the faculty. The festival also hugely impacted her career as a musician, sparking her interest in chamber music, which is played in smaller groups than typical orchestras.

“I actually make my living playing chamber music now,” Laurenz said, who now works as a professor of trumpet at University of Wisconsin.

Yoo recalls his very first summer in Colorado Springs, when he was invited by a friend to potentially fill a vacant conductor role in a summer music festival. He had no idea what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised when a festival concert started sounding more like a rock concert. He was reminded that, while Colorado is known for many things, the state’s heartbeat of music pulses strong.

“People were screaming and cheering and I thought, how did they train this audience to scream after Brahms or Dvořják or Mendelssohn or Forte? How did they get them to do that?” Yoo said. “But there's just such a culture of enthusiasm here in Colorado Springs for music, and this is such a cultured place.”

Type of story: News
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