Cuppa Connections Ep. 27: Elizabeth McGuire; Her Love For Coffee and the Symphony are Satiated in the Hills of Boulder Colorado

This episode is with Elizabeth McGuire, the Executive Director of the Colorado Music Festival & Center for Musical Arts.

Her love for coffee is just as strong as her love for the symphony. Liz, we affectionately call her, studied music at West Carolina University. We don't know which came first, her love of coffee or music, but we do know that both sure have evolved since her time in Boulder, Colorado.

We get a chance to hear about the world class musical talent that is showcased during the summer in the quaint neighborhood of Chipaqawah, which is a hidden gem above the campus of The University of Boulder Colorado, and some of the best coffee shops in Boulder.

If you've ever wanted to know what it entails to put on a world class event and to grab a tasty cup of coffee in Boulder, listen up. Liz's personality shines bright and is very engaging.

We hope you enjoy the journey.

Transcript

Portia: 0:00

Hey guys. Welcome to Cuppa Connections. I'm Portia, and we're here coming to you from our virtual cafe, Better with a Cup of Coffee. We are savoring relationships with coffee lovers around the world and sharing their experiences that have been better with a cup of coffee. Hey guys, thank you for joining us. Today, we have a special guest because you know, we've been doing some road trip podcasts. But we have a special guest because when we were in Colorado, we went to the symphony in Boulder. It's the Colorado Music Festival. It was during the summer. This is my wife here. She went to school with our guests. So my wife.

Cate: 0:39

It's 20 years ago.

Portia: 0:39

I know. My wife is gonna introduce our guests. Go ahead babe.

Cate: 0:43

We have here today, Elizabeth Cullinan. I met her when I was in college. I kind of, I idolized her back in the day cause she was an amazing horn player and still an amazing person.

Portia: 0:57

What did guys go to school for?

Liz: 1:00

Music.

Portia: 1:01

Well, hello, Liz. Welcome.

Liz: 1:03

And, I think the name that you're probably grasping at is Chautauqua.

Portia: 1:07

Yes. Chautauqua.

Cate: 1:08

Chautauqua, yes.

Portia: 1:09

Chautauqua.

Liz: 1:10

And there are plenty of Chautauquas, I, believe there are 17 of them in the US now. It was a movement, um, about 120 plus years ago, to create these little pockets of culture and education for people to get respite in, um, the summer usually. I think in the case of Colorado Chautauqua, the movement was mainly teachers from Texas who were trying to escape the heat, and so they created this beautiful space in Boulder, Colorado. And the auditorium that my festival, the Colorado Music Festival performs at, is the Chautauqua Auditorium, and they're celebrating their 125th year this year. So that gives you idea.

Cate: 1:53

Wow.

Liz: 1:53

The structure that you were in, that's the original structure. They do such an incredible job of maintaining all of these structures, and Chautauqua is one of the best historical sites in the country. It's been voted as such. Um, definitely coming out to check it out, certainly during our festival season, but also just because it's really a spectacular place. They have cottages that you can rent and stay there, and it's like being on a different planet, like it is really truly an escape from daily hustle and bustle, so.

Cate: 2:26

Oh, that sounds nice.

Portia: 2:26

Aren't you guys close, aren't you close to the university? Boulder University?

Liz: 2:31

We are, uh, CU

Portia: 2:33

Mm-hmm.

Liz: 2:33

Is, um, it's flagship is in Boulder. It is very much integrated into the community in Boulder and, uh, Yes, that there are other campuses, but Boulder is, is the big one.

Portia: 2:45

Yeah. When I went to school in Colorado, when I played tennis, we played Boulder. But then it was cool putting it together and seeing how close you were to the university and the community, all these little quaint houses and tennis courts in the middle, and it was beautiful.

Liz: 3:02

Yeah.

Portia: 3:02

So you're the director of the Chautauqua concert.

Liz: 3:07

It's interesting because the, the Colorado Music Festival is a separate entity than Chautauqua. And so Chautauqua, we just reside each summer for our festival in, and we have for more than 40 years at this point, about 45 years almost. And the relationship that we've had, goes back to, like I said, the late seventies where the auditorium was a little bit in shambles, and there was a community movement that kind of started around the festival. The people who created the festival right around that time to say, this would be a great place to perform, but we need to get some resources here to help fix it up. And it's hard to believe cuz it's so beautiful and incredible, this space. Hard to believe that it was in disrepair.

Portia: 3:53

Wow. Yeah.

Liz: 3:54

That, um, it was basically being used for like, inexpensive movies and people in the community would just go and pay like a quarter or something to go.

Portia: 4:03

What?

Liz: 4:05

Um, which is also really cool. But, it needed some work. And so, people got together in the community and, and fixed it up, and since then, the Chautauqua Association that runs that space has done a really incredible job of keeping up with all of, I mean, there's a lot, there's a lot that they have to do. So we reside there. My organization brings in an orchestra that's comprised of players from all over the country and in some cases all over the world. It's kind of an all-star orchestra concept. There's an audition process, all of, you know, so these are like really, truly exceptional musicians. And then we, um, we have a music director. I'm the executive director, so I over oversee the art, the, um, administrative piece of all of it. But because I have a music background, I can speak the language, and I understand what the needs are. But, the person who comes up with the brilliant programming and who conducts the orchestra, is Peter Ungen and

Portia: 5:02

Peter's Peter Ungen.

Liz: 5:04

Peter Ungen. Yeah. And he's, um, really a world renowned conductor. He was a violinist for decades, like a world renowned violinist. He's toured the world, he's been in every concert venue in the world almost. I mean, the guy's incredible, and we're lucky to have him. That piece of the administration is in great hands because he knows everyone. And so he brings in, he hires the, uh, guest artists and creates the programming, hires the guest conductors. Like he's, he has his hands and that piece of it. And I just make sure that it happens. All the other stuff is, uh, you know, not just me personally. I have, I have a staff of, like, an incredible staff of people, but, um, my role is to just make sure that everything goes as planned and.

Portia: 5:51

The season for the concert, when does it start and when does it end? And, can you let people know like the costs, uh, people who are coming into town may wanna see.

Liz: 6:02

Yeah. The season is at the end of June this year. It starts on June 26th, I believe, and ends on August 6th. It's usually the last week of June through the first week of August,

Portia: 6:16

mm-hmm.

Liz: 6:17

typically. And there are other performances that Chatauqua will present during that time and around that time as well. So pretty much anytime between late May and maybe early October or so, you could catch something at the Chautauqua. But our pieces of it, the classical music part is end of June through early August. And,

Cate: 6:38

Okay.

Liz: 6:40

Gosh, the price. It varies. As with a lot of orchestras, there are many different sections where you can sit and some of them are pricier than others, but the range starts, I wanna say 18,$18. So, which is incredible really. But it's.

Portia: 6:58

That is an incredible price.

Liz: 7:00

Yeah.

Portia: 7:00

That's nothing for that type of quality.

Liz: 7:03

Yeah, for the level of performance. I mean, an example is Josh Bell is our artist in residence this summer. So, you know, when you have someone like Joshua Bell, who is about as world renowned as a classical musician, as you can find on the planet, and you can still get in, like around a$20 mark to see it. Now, not to say those tickets might be gone already, but, um, that said, it is possible to see us. One of the the main points of our mission is to make sure that we remain accessible. To the community, so we work really hard to offset the expenses of the orchestra with fundraising so that we can provide those level tickets with people, and we have a very generous community that helps us do that.

Portia: 7:49

Right now. The Boulder community, the Chi Chico,

Liz: 7:53

Chautauqua.

Portia: 7:54

Thank you.

Liz: 7:57

Tricky one.

Portia: 8:00

Do you get more local people. When we were there, and the concert was about to start. Gosh, I, it was just wonderful to see all of the people from the neighborhood or a lot of the people from the neighborhood to come to the concert. But do you get a lot of other people from the Boulder community in, say, on the outskirts of Boulder or?

Liz: 8:20

We do. We pull people from all over the state. Oh, more than around 25% of the people that come to our concerts are from what we call the Denver Metro region. Outside of Boulder. So, a lot are from Denver. I mean, it's just a great, it's a good way to spend a day, right? You go to Boulder.

Portia: 8:39

Mm-hmm.

Liz: 8:39

I mean, we have all these incredible restaurants in Chautauqua, even has a beautiful restaurant. Um, it's just a lovely place to be and a lot of people just take an opportunity to have a day trip and pop into Boulder. It's only about 30 minutes from Denver really in, in the car.

Portia: 8:54

It was nothing for us.

Liz: 8:55

So, yeah, it's a pretty straightforward shot. It's really. Well located. It's not far from the airport. You know, Boulder is a city. I think what makes us a little bit unique from some of our festival counterparts is that we're not a vacation resort town. Mm. We're it's a city. So, you know, it feels like you're in a vacation resort town when you're on the Chautauqua campus. But, the reality is you're five minutes away from like world class restaurants and, you know, um, shopping and then, you know, you're in a mount, a pretty large mountain town that has a lot of other things going on for it. So it's a fun place to spend. And when you said people from the neighborhood? Yes. A lot of the Chautauqua cottagers, people who are renting cottages or own cottages, they tend to be there in the summer. It's really busy cuz it's so beautiful.

Portia: 9:44

Yes, yes.

Liz: 9:45

Um, yes. You will see a group of people, as we did that night, walking, walking down, just to catch a concert, you know. A couple hundred feet from where they're living. And it's really, it's pretty incredible. Yeah. Right. That is, yeah, that is. Absolutely. And then we, we have audiences all over the world. I mean, our, when we were virtual in 2020, we had 44, I believe, countries logging in to our programming. You know, we had people literally from the all across the world watching. And that's a testament to our music director. The, the way that people respect him and, and know who he is in the world, and also the, the guest artists and our musicians, like, they draw world audiences.

Cate: 10:26

That's awesome. I

Portia: 10:28

it's such an honor to be able to see that type of talent, that world talent, and then you as the executive director, it was, that was, cool to just to walk up in there and just to hear the, the music that my wife would always talk about and that she was always wanting to play again, you know? Do you still, I can't remember if you told us, but do you still play?

Liz: 10:52

Not really. No. Um,

Portia: 10:55

now plain, well, first of all, women, I have to say, even though my wife said horn, Just to clarify, the French horn, correct?

Liz: 11:02

French horn. Yeah. I know Horne are, are picky about like we are the horn. Other horns exist. But when you talk about the horn, it's French horn. It's not French, it's really German. You know, we'll go on, we'll get nerdy. I'll leave that to uh, another podcast. That's a whole other topic. But often, most of the time when I tell people what instrument, I do have to say French horn and it like part of me just. Oh.

Cate: 11:31

Yes.

Liz: 11:31

Cringes inside. I'm like, oh, it's wrong, but you know, that's okay. I, you know, we get over it. But, uh, yeah, that is the, is that is the correct instrument, and it is, I, I joke about it. It's not really like an instrument that you pick up at parties or anything. It's not really like something that you could just casually do, and it's not. You know, it's not welcome in people's living rooms, usually. It's kinda an all or nothing. I find personally, that if I'm not playing in an ensemble or something like specific, that it's really, it's hard to be motivated and I don't have time. Given like everything that I'm doing professionally now, I don't have a lot of time to commit to like putting practice in the instrument on a daily basis. And the horn is really one that you. You have to keep your musculature and your, your breathing and everything has to be like tip top or you, you're just gonna sound terrible. And and I know your wife can attest to this, like once you've achieved a certain level of performance

Portia: 12:38

Yes, yes.

Liz: 12:39

You can't really accept anything less than like, you know, better. And it's, and it's not fun. It's not fun to be bad at something that you used to be able to do and it's not relaxing or. So you know, the door's not closed for the rest of my life, but right now I don't play.

Portia: 12:55

Yeah, I understand. I get what you're saying. I just, yeah,

Liz: 12:58

absolutely.

Portia: 12:59

I just, yeah.

Liz: 13:00

And it's not fun to play like with people that aren't at the level of the people that you used to play with too.

Portia: 13:05

Speak it.

Liz: 13:07

You get a little judgy in your mind. Yeah. And it's, and, but you, you all, you also are not bringing the goods yourself. And it's like this,

Portia: 13:14

I know you're not.

Liz: 13:16

I know I belong at this level right now, but I don't, part of me doesn't accept that. I know. It's so, that's it. It's.

Portia: 13:24

It's ok. It's, yeah,

Liz: 13:26

it's okay. I have some problems and that's one of'em. But

Cate: 13:32

you know, we're

Liz: 13:33

gonna do some deep psychological stuff here.

Cate: 13:36

I feel like I just need to make a trip. We need to make a trip to Colorado and. I'll Oh, you're welcome. Anytime. Well, thank you. And I'll bring my horn and we can just suck together.

Liz: 13:47

Yeah, there you go. Cause we know and we'll know. We'll, we'll be like played some terrible duets and we'll be like, we know we could do better than this. Back in the day. Now I have to say she was like the whipper snapper, like she's really, let's just say a little younger than I am, and came in and I was, you know, like about to graduate and here's this like whipper snacker coming in and she's just like.

Portia: 14:13

Come on babe. That's what's up?

Liz: 14:16

Has a bunch of friends and is like real social and is really talented and yeah, that's my, that's my recollection.

Portia: 14:25

See that's Liz's story and she's sticking to it.

Liz: 14:27

I am, yeah.

Portia: 14:29

We want to talk about the coffee that you gave us, the coffee shop.

Cate: 14:32

Which was amazing. Yeah.

Portia: 14:33

It was amazing. Yes.

Liz: 14:36

I love that stuff. Yeah. I was just, I'm not, I didn't drink it this morning. I, I got another bag of something else cuz I was at, in a rush. And I was like, oh man. Like that's the, that's like my splurge.

Portia: 14:50

I have, um, I wanna get into this coffee shop. Now see, I say this coffee shop, I have to, I have to say the story. Tell the story, so, Liz and I exchanged coffee beans. It was almost like we exchanged, uh, soccer jerseys or something when we, we parted each other. So I gave her a bag of my King's Road coffee.

Liz: 15:11

Yes.

Portia: 15:12

And then Liz. Liz, I, all I remember is this, it was delicious when we got home and it was a blues beautiful blue mm-hmm. Bag. But what was the name of this coffee? Because you're a coffee, you're a coffee connoisseur as well.

Liz: 15:24

I'm a bit of a coffee snob. Yeah. Yeah. Um, well, You know, it just so happens that my office in Lafayette, Colorado, which is just outside of Boulder, and, and it's a music school basically. Um, our organization has the festival, but we also have a year round music school mm-hmm. Is like right across the street from this great bookstore slash coffee shop called the Red Queen. Mm-hmm. And we go over there as staff members. You know, that's kind of a treat for us. Or sometimes if we wanna meet, we'll just walk over there and get a little sunlight or something in the middle of the day. They have a blend. That's their special blend that they get from a company called Ampersand. And Ampersand is a Boulder based, coffee company. And so they're distributing to like coffee shops and other places. And so that's what I gave you is the, the Red Queen special blend from Ampersand, which is one of my favorites. And it's what I happen to have in my house at that time. And I was like, here, just take this. And another one that I'll have to share with you, I'll have to send it to you, is, um, There's a place in Louisville called Paul's Coffee. Yes. And I haven't, you haven't tasted that one yet, but that's another one that I'll, I'll send it to you. You can text me your address and I'll send it to you.

Portia: 16:45

Yes.

Liz: 16:46

Paul is like, sometimes just in, in the space, roasting beans, like you, you look back behind the counter and he's just back there with like a vat of beans, roasting them, and it's just amazing too. And there's a, there's one called the. I think it's Beethoven's breakfast blend that I, you know, they actually donated to the organization at one point for some events. Oh. Which was really sweet. And, um, we had some leftover and so we kind of like distributed it among the staff and it's like, oh, this is so good. So it's, uh, yeah, we're not, there are so many other incredible coffee shops in our area too. Yes. And a lot of great roasters. But those are my, my two favorite. But the one I sent you home with was the Ampersand.

Portia: 17:27

Now, didn't you say that they were, um, did they donate proceeds or something? Besides,

Liz: 17:34

I think with Amber San, there's a, yeah, there's a social connection. I think they support, um, their organic growers and I think they put a lot of resource back into those communities to make sure.

Portia: 17:45

Mm-hmm.

Liz: 17:45

I dunno the details, but I, I do know that they're, They have a consciousness as they're comfortable,

Portia: 17:51

I'm gonna check em out.

Liz: 17:52

It's just pretty typical for, you know, but Boulder can often operate that way. So you see a lot of that in Boulder. Yeah. Which is great. That's one of the things I love about it.

Portia: 18:01

Next time when we go, we have to just be tourist in Boulder. Boulder is beautiful. Mm-hmm. And it has, it's very, I don't know, would you call it eclectic? Like an eclectic type of, uh, community? You, you, yeah. It's completely different than say, Vail, or Aspen or Denver.

Liz: 18:19

Yeah. Uh, well it's a, it's where people live and I, Vail and Aspen are incredible places.

Portia: 18:25

Mm-hmm.

Liz: 18:25

I mean, they're stunning and everyone should go there too. I mean, if you're go coming to Colorado, you should do all of it. Cause they're not, you know, it's like a, a road trip. But, and they have, um, I have friends who run incredible music festivals in those towns too, so.

Portia: 18:40

Mm-hmm.

Liz: 18:40

Like, please, yeah. Come see all of us. That, that would be our dream is that we can get a lot of tourists coming through, like in waves.

Portia: 18:47

Wait a minute. That would be cool. You know, like a, a symphony,

Liz: 18:51

Yeah, like a.

Cate: 18:51

Symphony tour.

Portia: 18:52

Symphony, what do they call it? Mm-hmm. Symphony Crawl because they, they do coffee crawls. Mm-hmm. When there's a whole pocket of coffee shop.

Liz: 18:59

That would be incredible. There's so many great ones and they're kind of like speckled along the, the Rocky Mountain range, you know, and you can go all the way up to Wyoming too, and pop over to Idaho. Like, we just, there's a whole group of us and we, um, We all kind of know each other and, and really like each other, and we think about how, how can we like get, uh, this traffic, we put ads in each other's programs and that.

Portia: 19:22

Right, right.

Liz: 19:23

It's a good group.

Portia: 19:25

You know what I,

Liz: 19:25

yeah. That would be a dream, a dream trip for a lot of people to.

Portia: 19:29

Right. Well, actually I would love to, to. Later, maybe we can email each other and I would just love those names of places. Mm-hmm. And, and maybe do like a little, I don't know, do like a, a little diagram of, of where these symphonies are in Aspen and Vail. And. I'm sure that would be on someone's bucket list who loves

Liz: 19:51

Yeah.

Portia: 19:51

Music like that.

Liz: 19:52

I could, I could send you the ad that we just put together to put in everyone's program that lists all of them.

Portia: 19:58

Oh, great. That would be perfect.

Liz: 20:00

Yeah. And what, and what town they're in. Yeah, they're, they, this group goes out all the way to California and Oregon Western. Western US.

Portia: 20:09

I have a question. You being an ex executive director of the music festival. What advice would you give our youth out here who are say, in high school and going to college or that age range where they are into music, they pick their instrument, and they wanna pursue something further. What advice would you give them out here in this big world?

Liz: 20:39

Well, there are a couple layers to that. One is just like, be good at what you do. Take it serious if, if you're interested in going into something as a career, make sure that you have perspective about, you know, some people, depending on where you live. Maybe you're aware of the level of performance that's happening outside of where you live, or maybe like you live in a big city and you're seeing, um, I used to run a, a, like manage a large youth orchestra program. And it's incredible the talent that's out there. So, think about where you are relative to everyone else in the country, you know, and there's a lot of videos right now, so I think the internet can help with that. But I think it's important to be aware of where you stand among your peers. Mm-hmm. And, and, and it's a very, very competitive field if you wanna be a performer, if you wanna go into administration. Um, it's terrific, very helpful, and I think necessary to have a, a working knowledge of being a musician as well. So that still applies. Be good at it because being good at it means that you can speak the language of people that are truly exceptional at it. At least you, you appreciate them. You know what it takes for them to be able to achieve that level and being able to talk to them with that respect in your heart is critically important. I think in the field, the way it, especially the way things have gotten a little bit challenging right now financially for a lot of organizations. So, um, always come into every conversation with respect. And then the third, and probably the last thing is a really big picture thing, but this is a perfect example for me, right? The minute you pick up an instrument or, or even start as a beginner, you're in it. You're gonna meet people that you will see the rest of your life. Be a good person.

Portia: 22:35

Right?

Liz: 22:36

Don't behave terribly. Be a good person. Have integrity from day one. Like, just do it because I can't tell you how many people I've. This is my maybe second or third podcast style or video style thing with people that I have met 20, 30 years ago. So if you think that you're off the radar when you're 19 years old, you're not. Yeah. And I think the same is true in a lot of fields, especially if you're an athlete or like if you're in a field that's kind of. The, the world of music is small and everyone knows everyone. At some point, you, you, or at least you, there's some six degrees of separation happening. Um mm-hmm. And it's real easy to, to hear bad stories and you know that some of that you can't control. And some of it's not true. But, you know, if you behave with integrity throughout your performance life or your musical life and you, you are, are a person of integrity, I think that will serve you probably more than anything.

Portia: 23:44

Oh, that's such wonderful advice. And lastly, where can people find all of the concerts, uh, especially the concerts or the festivals that you are involved in. Are you guys on social media? Um.

Liz: 23:59

We are.

Portia: 24:00

Website. What are the name?

Liz: 24:02

Super Easy. coloradomusicfestival.org. That's it.

Portia: 24:07

There you go.

Liz: 24:08

That's it.

Portia: 24:09

There you go.

Liz: 24:11

Right.

Portia: 24:12

Awesome. Man. This is, this has been, again, such an honor. What do you think babe?

Liz: 24:18

Oh, absolutely. Anytime with Liz is an honor.

Cate: 24:21

Yeah. So there you go.

Liz: 24:24

Like wise.

Portia: 24:24

I get to see her face lighting up cause you two have this, this bond. Yeah. Connection, music, this connection with music and all those years. That's so cool.

Cate: 24:33

Feels like we just left off, you know? You know, 20 years ago. It's like, okay, hey..

Liz: 24:40

Well, and you have not aged like you. You look the same too. It's crazy.

Cate: 24:44

Oh, I wish I felt the same.

Liz: 24:47

I know, right? Me too.

Cate: 24:48

Oh my gosh.

Liz: 24:50

It all comes flooding back because it's like, well this is exactly the same person. Right.

Portia: 24:58

Well, thank you so much, Liz.

Cate: 25:00

Yeah, thank you.

Liz: 25:00

Thank you. Well, great to see you again.

Cate: 25:03

Good to see you.

Portia: 25:05

You too. You have a great one.

Liz: 25:07

You too. Take care.

Portia: 25:08

I'm Portia White, and I hope you've enjoyed today's conversation. I'd like to give a special thanks to our sponsor betterwithacupofcoffee.com. If you want to be our guest on our show, email me at cuppaconnections@gmail.com. And if you liked what you heard, please write and review our podcast. And, join us again soon on Cuppa Connections.