Classical music? In Bayfield?

Yep, courtesy of Music in the Mountains.

Actually, the local elementary and middle school symphonies have performed in the new Bayfield Performing Arts Center at Bayfield High School, but the Music in the Mountains Conservatory was the first outside group to perform classical music at the center. Conservatory performers are high school and college students who study at the festival for three weeks.

After only five days of rehearsals, the group performed a remarkably polished program, starting with Ludwig van Beethoven's Coriolan Overture in C minor, a piece of the master composer's "lighter work," conductor Andres Moran joked of the somber selection.

Next up was two movements of Antonin Drovak's Legends, written in 1881.

Summer Scenes is a modern piece by American composer Stacey Berk, featuring musical interpretations of three summer scenes: a carousel at a fair, sailboats on a blue lake, and an August evening thunderstorm.

Next was The Unanswered Question by Charles Ives, a seminal piece from 1908 by another American composer, Moran explained. Moran explained the piece is meant to ask that eternal question, what is the meaning of life?

The piece featured a steady, thrumming beat from the string section, punctuated by chattering background noise from the horns, punctuated by percussion beats.

The final piece of the evening, Supermaximum, was a tour de force for the strings section. The newest selection of the evening was written by Kenji Bunch in 2011.

Friday night's classical performance was preceded by a folk duo on July 16, Johnny Irion and Sarah Lee Guthrie. These were the first Music in the Mountains performances held in Bayfield.

The summer music festival continues through Aug. 2 with performances in Pagosa Springs, Purgatory and Durango.