Today, tickets go on sale for the 24th season of the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival. Running for six weeks from June 26 to August 3, three world-class orchestras -- the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and Dallas Symphony Orchestra -- set up residence in the magnificent Colorado Rocky Mountains. The festival kicks off its 2011 season with a free solo recital by its new artistic director, the esteemed pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, on June 26. Programming highlights for 2011 include explorations of the musical titans Beethoven and Mahler; two thematic series respectively showcasing American music and programmatic orchestral works; chamber music, jazz, and pops; and New York's Gabriel Kahane as this season's composer-in-residence. The impressive guest-star roster presents such conductors as Alan Gilbert, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Stéphane Denève, Jaap van Zweden, and Bramwell Tovey, and more than 50 soloists, including pianists Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Yuja Wang, and Kirill Gerstein; violinists Gil Shaham, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, and Augustin Hadelich; and double bassist Edgar Meyer. As in previous seasons, chamber concerts will be held in the intimate Vail Mountain School and Vilar Performing Arts Center, while large-scale concerts take place in Vail's spectacular Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, which accommodates 1,260 guests in covered seating and an additional 1,500 on the expansive grassy hillside, with its breathtaking view of the Rocky Mountains. Kyle MacMillan of the Denver Post observes: "The Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival gives classical-music fans something that no summer series anywhere else can match--the chance to hear multiple concerts by three top-drawer orchestras."