Durango Bach Festival Noon Lunch Concert presented by the San Juan Symphony

Durango Bach Festival Presents Mostly Mozart in 2026
Durango, CO – The San Juan Symphony’s Beyond the Concert Hall series offers musical presentations that enhance the subscription Symphony season, including a Chamber Music Series, the SJS Chamber Singers, and the annual Durango Bach Festival. Coming up during the week of March 9-14, the Durango Bach Festival proudly presents “Mostly Mozart 2026,” a twist on the usual Baroque focus that centers each of the Festival’s six ticketed performances around the legendary composer of Classical music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
“We have been on a beautiful journey with Mozart lately,” remarks San Juan Symphony Music Director, Thomas Heuser, who inherited the Durango Bach Festival from 3rd Ave Arts in 2022. “The Bach Festival has always provided a wonderful opportunity to dwell in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, but this year, we are pairing the music of Bach with Mozart in unique ways. The Festival will highlight the connections between the two masters, and give us all a chance to freshen our musical palette and enjoy an array of music with a distinctly Classical flavor.”
San Juan Symphony audiences and musicians have been following Maestro Heuser on that journey with Mozart, enjoying his final three symphonies from the year 1788: Symphony 39 was presented in Season 39; Symphony 40 was part of this Season 40 just last month; and next year will feature Symphony 41, “Jupiter”, during Season 41. The deep dive into Mozart’s music was the impetus to make this notable shift in the 2026 Bach Festival programming.
The week of the Durango Bach Festival focuses mainly around a series of Lunch Concerts. These daily programs (Monday through Friday at 12:00pm) are the perfect way to break up a busy work day and share a delicious meal with fellow music lovers. Manna Soup Kitchen will cater each meal during the Lunch Concerts series, and all events will take place at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Durango. Taken together, the 5 unique Lunch Concerts will provide a hugely varied and artistically rich experience, featuring more than 25 local musicians in total, including string players, woodwinds, keyboards, vocalists, handbells, and more. Details about each of the Lunch Concerts are available on the Symphony’s ticketing website.
The Festival Finale Concert will be the capstone of the Festival series, and takes place in St. Mark’s Espiscopal Church on Saturday, March 14th at 7:00pm. The concert is called “Eine Kleine Sacred Music,” and features a string orchestra performing Mozart’s most famous musical gem, his G Major Serenade, better known as Eine Kleine Nacktmusik. The San Juan Symphony Chamber Singers will be featured in selections of Mozart’s sacred choral music, including his beloved Ave Verum Corpus and the Lacrimosa from his unfinished Requiem Mass. The fulfilling finale will be followed by a grand reception hosted by the Symphony’s generous Bravo Brigade.
Limited Festival Passes are available that provide access to all Lunch Concerts, catered meals, and the Festival Finale. Single tickets for adults and students are selling quickly, so now is the time to secure yours by visiting us online: www.sanjuansymphony.org.