Since 1973
Take a break from your busy life and enjoy one of life's gentler pleasures — chamber music at its best, in one of the most spectacular settings imaginable.
Who We Are
Telluride Chamber Music is a small nonprofit powered by a community of passionate volunteers, a dedicated board of directors, and a leader with world-class experience. Musician housing is donated by generous supporters, and the whole community steps up to help put on amazing shows despite the limits of our small town. The work happens because Telluride loves chamber music, and our musicians love Telluride right back.
Still, it takes more than a beautiful town and friendly people for world-class artists to show up. What brings them to Telluride is years of professional relationship-building — calls with agents, conversations at conferences, programming choices that fit each artist's craft, and the small things that make musicians want to come back. Most of this happens long before a season is announced, and requires precise planning, professional leadership, and deep roots in our community.
As one of Telluride's longest standing arts organizations, we are proud to continue trying to fill our role as a leader in the local creative community. We don't just put on string quartets and classical concerts. We collaborate with dancers, singers, poets, artists, and theatre folk; local businesses, regional partners, and other nonprofits. We consider it our role to support education and to cultivate a community where the arts can thrive.
Behind Every Season
Years of relationships, careful programming, and precise planning — the invisible scaffolding that makes a TCM season actually happen.
Making it happen
We strive to provide enriching experiences for everyone. Locals and visitors, kids and grown-ups, classical fans and newcomers alike. Here's exactly what we are doing to serve the community, and to create new partnerships, programs, and capacity-building that makes the next decade of TCM possible.
Through an extended process with experienced consultants, partners, and community, we shaped a clear direction and actionable plan for the next five years of healthy operation and growth.
We are excited to continue bringing music to the wider region, creating broader opportunities for musicians, and more warm summer evenings of free music with our neighbors in Norwood.
Whenever possible, our visiting artists offer workshops, demonstrations at schools, or other community events. Student tickets make classical concerts accessible.
A new venue partnership giving our community concerts a larger, better-equipped home. Our new outdoor venue along the river trail lets us bring free classical music to everyone, dogs included.
A new program at Allred's Restaurant designed specifically to create paid performance opportunities for local musicians.
Telluride Theatre, community members, and musicians of the New York Philharmonic team up for a family-engaging production of Prokofiev's Peter & the Wolf, a special collaboration brought together by Telluride Chamber Music.
We bring innovative modern artists to reach new audiences in our community, with unique, genre-blending performances at The Alibi. By experimenting with new types of performances and guest artists, we discover new ways to serve the community.
Our favorite two weeks of summer continues to improve each year, with an additional guest musician (and the first woodwind) joining the festival roster for 2026! High turnout and generous support increasingly allow a wider variety of instruments and musical breadth.
After extensive planning and development, our modern new site (you're using it now!) allows us to provide a better experience for users, while being significantly easier to maintain. This modern and flexible new site puts us in a position to expand in the future to improved booking and other new capabilities.
Everyone involved with TCM has deep ties to our community. We move pianos, set up concerts, and more. We do our own design work and website development, resulting in lower costs, money staying in the community, and a personal investment in everything we do.
We form strong relationships with artists. Our friendly community, passionate volunteers, professional staff, and generous housing donors make Telluride a favorite destination for artists. These artists are more likely to include the greater region in their tour, supporting wider regional impact.
Want to see more opportunities in the community? Your support is the reason it happens.
Music Education
Concerts are only part of what we do. We bring world-class musicians into classrooms, libraries, and community spaces. The goal is simple: music isn't something to watch from a distance. It's something to hold in your hands and try.
Mission
Our mission is to present exceptional musical performances, educational programs, and events that inspire people to connect to the arts and our community. We achieve this in intimate and welcoming environments that create transformational experiences for audiences and artists alike.
Vision
A draw of Telluride is the feeling that the mountains give us — that there's something beyond ourselves. We mirror that experience in music. We envision a community where:
Values
A Note from Our Director
As we look forward to the remaining events of summer, we already have our eyes on the exciting things we are planning for next year! Telluride Chamber Music has been undergoing a major transition to become a more modern organization, capable of serving the community in new ways.
This transition has been years of planning and effort, and we are thrilled to have such steadfast support and passion for the arts in our community. From traditional string quartets to innovative performances for all ages, our supporters have been clear-- they want music. So, with the help of our reliable donors, new members, and partnerships, we are excited to be entering a new era with clear plans, support, and momentum.
Cheers,
— Claire Beard
Executive & Artistic Director
Executive & Artistic Director
Claire Beard
A Royal Academy of Music flautist who performed on London's great stages before making Telluride home — now shaping every TCM season.
More about Claire →Leadership
Claire Beard
Kathy Jepson — President
Mary Beth Mueller — Vice-President / Treasurer
Josie Preston — Secretary
Andy Atkinson
David Barmak
Jean Shimotake
Dominique Bruneau
Tom Stone
Roy Malan — Co-Founder
Gordon McPhee
Dalen Stevens
Membership
Recurring support that keeps the music coming back to the Box Canyon.
Join 100+ members keeping TCM going.
Annual levels from $100 to $5,000 — see all
Secure checkout via Stripe · 501(c)(3) tax-deductible
