Performances & Events
An Evening for the Senses
Indulge your senses on Thursday, March 6th as we pair Art by Will Day, Music from Parlando, Food from Blackbelly, and Wine from Aaron Jackson
Thursday, March 6th
7-9pm: An Evening for the Senses - Main Event with art, music, food, drink, and an intimate conversation with Will Day (artist) and Travis LaBerge (Parlando Founder).
3-5pm: PREVIEW Event featuring light refreshments and conversations/reflections with Bruce Klepper (composer), Will Day, and Travis LaBerge.
Wintersong: Cantanti Coro & Friends
The Parlando Cantanti Choir will be performing at the Boulder Library on Tuesday, 2/18/25, at 6pm! The performance will also feature some solo performances. The theme for the program is Wintersong, featuring works reflecting on light amidst the darkness of winter. No tickets necessary!
Night at the Movies
For our February Third Thursday performance on 2/20/25, we are taking over the Dairy Lobby with Night at the Movies! Students will perform favorite songs from cinema classics with our Parlando House Band! Stop by between 6:30-7:30pm to hear some excellent music!
Chamber Music Masterclass
Join us for a chamber music masterclass with Dr. Brandon Matthews of MSU Denver! Saturday, 3/8, 1-3pm at the Boulder Piano Gallery.
Songwriting Masterclass with Neyla Pekarek
Join us for a songwriting masterclass with Neyla Pekarek! Several of our Parlando high school student songwriters will perform an original song and get feedback in real time from Neyla—and you’re invited to watch! This event will be Sunday, 3/9/25, from 2-4:30pm.
Neyla Pekarek (she/her/hers) began playing cello at age 9 in her hometown of Aurora, Colorado. She studied Musical Theatre and earned a degree in Music Education at UNC in Greeley, CO. In 2010, she joined the Denver folk-rock group The Lumineers as a cellist and vocalist, and spent 8 years, touring the world and recording with the band. In January 2019, she released her debut album, Rattlesnake (streaming now!), on S-Curve records, and was commissioned by the Denver Center for the Performing Arts to develop her album into a musical production entitled, Rattlesnake Kate, which had its World Premier at the DCPA in February 2022. Neyla wrote the music and lyrics, and garnered a Best Supporting Actress Henry Award for her portrayal of the cello playing horse, Brownie. She recorded a companion EP entitled Western Woman released in June, 2023. Neyla is a proud member of Sweet Adelines International and The Barbershop Harmony Society, two organizations that nurture the craft of Barbershop Quartet Singing, and is a member of the current 2025 Sweet Adelines International Champion Quartet, Clever Girl.
Commissioned Composer Project
This project connects students to the full artistic process-from the idea for a piece from its composition to its debut performance. Students have the opportunity to be the first person ever to perform their particular work, which is an incredibly empowering experience. We hope that anyone who participates in or encounters this project comes away feeling joy, wonder, excitement, and inspiration. We hope students, composers, and audiences walk away feeling hopeful about the future of classical music and inspired to go home and create something themselves!
Our 2025 New Works Concert will take place on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, in the Gordon Gamm Theatre at the Dairy Arts Center. Reserve your tickets here!
Hadestown
Our summer high school mainstage production is HADESTOWN: Teen Edition, by Anäis Mitchell, developed with Rachel Chavkin! Join us for performances June 13-15, 2025, in the Grace Gamm Theater at the Dairy Arts Center.
This intriguing and beautiful folk opera delivers a deeply resonant and defiantly hopeful theatrical experience. Following two intertwining love stories – that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of immortal King Hades and Lady Persephone – Hadestown invites audiences on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back. Inspired by traditions of classic American folk music and vintage New Orleans jazz, Mitchell’s beguiling sung-through musical pits industry against nature, doubt against faith, and fear against love.
Matilda JR.
Our junior mainstage summer show is Matilda Jr. (music & lyrics by Tim Minchin, book by Dennis Kelly). Join us for performances on June 22, 2025, in the Grace Gamm Theater at the Dairy Arts Center!
Matilda has astonishing wit, intelligence... and special powers! She's unloved by her cruel parents but impresses her schoolteacher, the highly loveable Miss Honey. Matilda's school life isn't completely smooth sailing, however – the school's mean headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, hates children and just loves thinking up new punishments for those who don't abide by her rules. But Matilda has courage and cleverness in equal amounts, and could be the school pupils' saving grace!
101 Dalmatians KIDS
Join us for performances of the Disney classic 101 Dalmatians KIDS on July 20, 2025 in the Grace Gamm Theater, brought to you by our youngest Parlando actors!
Pet owners Roger and Anita live happily in London with their Dalmatians Pongo and Perdita, stalwart dogs devoted to raising their puppies. Everything is quiet until Anita's former classmate, the monstrous Cruella De Vil, plots to steal the puppies for her new fur coat. The Dalmatians rally all the dogs of London for a daring rescue of the puppies from Cruella and her bumbling henchmen.
Third Thursdays
Every Third Thursday, we’re taking over the Dairy Lobby at 6:30pm! Join us for live music and snacks/drinks from the cafe! This event is totally free and open to all.
Parlando on Pearl
Each fall, Parlando takes over the back patio of Trident Cafe for performances of any and all things pop music. Our 2024 event will take place on Sunday, 10/6, from 1-3pm, and this year, we’re adding a RAFFLE!