From Shakespeare to Schoenberg, here are the can’t-miss shows that only happen in the summer

By the Thirst Team

Here are some of the best events across Colorado for the next few weeks. For more happenings, check out our events calendar.

This week, we are focusing on performing arts across Colorado. Here are our top picks in Colorado theater and classical music. While many arts groups have yearlong seasons from fall through spring, other festivals and theaters only bloom in the summer around Colorado. Here are a few of our favorites.

Theater

Colorado Shakespeare Festival

After two years of intimate indoor shows, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival is back under Boulder’s summer skies at a newly renovated Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre.

The comedy “Twelfth Night” opens the festival on Saturday, May 30, and runs through Aug. 2. The tragic masterpiece “Julius Caesar” runs June 13 to Aug. 2. A stage adaptation of the film “Shakespeare in Love” runs June 27 to Aug. 1. And finally, “Friends/Romans/Countrymen” by David Davolos is in the Roe Green Theatre July 11 to Aug. 1. The show is a “world-premier, comical-historical take on Shakespeare’s tragic history ‘Julius Caesar,’” according to the CSF.

Rocky Mountain Repertory Theater

Grand Lake’s acclaimed summer repertory theater dates back to the 1960s and should be on every Colorado theater fan’s bucket list.

This year’s summer shows include two musicals based on beloved modern classic films: “Shrek” and “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels;” and the irreverent and award-winning parody “Urinetown: The Musical.” Also, “Never Can Say Goodbye: The 70s Beehive Musical” opens Sept. 4.

Theatre SilCo

Theatre Silco stages shows year-round, but summer is a great time to visit Silverthorne and enjoy some top-quality entertainment. “Million Dollar Quartet” opens June 19 and runs through Aug. 2. It tells the story of a legendary 1956 recording session that changed music forever. The Reply All Improv Comedy troupe also returns to the SilCo on June 12.

Music

Colorado College Summer Music Festival

Colorado College in downtown Colorado Springs hosts a classical music festival from June 6 to 26.

It is an intensive three-week program for 52 advanced student musicians, including violin, viola, cello, bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone and piano. All students participate in a concert series including formal and informal chamber music concerts, four orchestra performances, including a free children's concert, and several off-campus outreach concerts.

Scott Yoo conducts the festival orchestra on June 16 and 26, and festival artists perform June 9, 13, 18, 22 and 25 in ticketed concerts. Other free events happen several times a day throughout the festival.

Denver Chamber Music Festival

Internationally renowned musicians converge on the Newman Center at the University of Denver in June. Thematic concerts spotlight works by new and living composers. The festival opens with an adult chamber music workshop June 5 to 7, with three concerts to follow June 9, 12 and 13.

The closing night includes a world premiere cello quartet composition by Tessa Lark. The series also includes performances of Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Rachmaninoff.

Bravo Vail

The venues for the Bravo! Vail Music Festival are as diverse as the music. They include world-class symphony and world music performances at Gerald Ford R. Amphitheater; chamber music, Broadway tunes and more in private residences and other intimate venues; and even children’s events at the library.

The series opens June 25 with Anne-Marie McDermott and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields performing Beethoven Piano Concertos. The same group plays Beethoven on June 27 and performs with violinist Joshua Bell on June 28. July festival highlights include the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.

As always, please send us your events and announcements. We’re happy to share them. If they don’t fit in the performing arts preview, we will add them to our events calendar.