Holiday Wonderment
College of Music Dean John Davis’ first experience with CU Boulder’s Holiday Festival came in 2001. Davis had been director of jazz studies for two years when the invitation came for the jazz program to join the annual holiday festivities. “Until I performed as part of the Holiday Festival, I was unaware of the scope and the scale of it,” recalls Davis. “As I was awaiting our time to perform, I was sitting in the front row, and I felt almost like a child. I was in wonderment at all the music that was taking place throughout the auditorium—in the loge boxes, on the stage and even in front of the stage on risers.”
This December, our community can experience that same sense of child-like wonderment when CU Boulder’s Holiday Festival returns to Macky Auditorium. A magical event that must be seen to be believed, the Holiday Festival—which dates in some form to 1945 and in its current iteration to the 1990s,—has become a beloved annual tradition for generations of concertgoers. Featuring student and faculty performances from across the musical spectrum, it’s also the perfect opportunity for new patrons to experience the breadth of what the College of Music has to offer. The lineup offers something for everyone, featuring music from multiple religious traditions alongside secular holiday favorites.
For Davis, the student experience is paramount when it comes to the Holiday Festival which reflects the College of Music’s universal musician approach to achieving its mission. “We provide our students with a broad array of experiences, skills and education to help prepare them for their future in whatever ways that music intersects with it,” says Davis. “By participating in the Holiday Festival, a student experiences what a real-world professional production feels like with staging, lighting, sound design and, of course, the performances themselves. What a student gains from this experience goes way beyond what we provide in the rehearsal room or the classroom.”
Above all, the Holiday Festival is about bringing people together: The musicians from across genres and disciplines; the audience members, both new and returning; and the College of Music’s community of supporters who help make such impactful undertakings possible. And there’s nothing quite like live music to bring people together. “The power and strength of music to bring us together, to share in the beauty that’s created and to connect us with one another is something that I’m so pleased we’re able to offer through the festival,” says Davis. “It’s more important now than ever before.”
The 2025 CU Boulder College of Music’s Holiday Festival runs Dec. 5 to 7 in Macky Auditorium.