The 70th season of the Southwest Colorado Concert Series closed with a bang – or perhaps with a flurry of bows and strings.
The Orchid Quartet, an all-female strings group based in Los Angeles, dropped by the Montezuma-Cortez High School auditorium Tuesday night to cap off their own tour of the Midwest and Colorado. Although strings might have a reputation for being a demure crowd, this group was anything but that.
“Who’s ready to party with a string quartet!” violist Kiara Ana Perico shouted to the 200-plus cheering audience members in the auditorium.
The performance is part of the Southwest Colorado Concert series, which features at least four concerts every year.
“Our mission is to bring world-class, live musical performances to our hometown stage, at a reasonable cost,” said Karen Harbaugh, a board member for Southwest Colorado Concerts. “And that is pretty much what we stay true to. We do try to mix up the genres to give something for everybody. But these really are performances that normally you would only get to see in a big city.”
The concert series also especially emphasizes student engagement, Harbaugh said. This season, a grant from the LOR Foundation supported this effort by paying for student enrichment sessions, covering student ticket costs for evening concerts, and paying for student technicians to work the concerts.
The performers who make this circuit really “have to have a heart for travel,” Harbaugh said. “But it is an absolutely amazing experience to be able to hear this level of music right here in our home.” This season also featured Motown, a brass band, country “with a Cajun twist,” and the local Four Corners Community Band.
The Orchid Quartet was selected for the final show because the concert series hadn’t yet featured an all-strings group, and because of the energy of the performance. “They looked, just like they are showing themselves on stage tonight, very engaging,” Harbaugh said.
The Tuesday night concert meandered through different genres the quartet plays, from classical to oldies to pop to movie music. Throughout the concert, the orchid-clad string players kept up a steady stream of conversation, recounting the inspiration behind their various selections and the group’s origin story.
The musicians met while on a world tour with the Japanese rock star Yoshiki, and the musical connection was immediate. Since they met, the women have performed or recorded for numerous major musical names, including Ariana Grande, Panic! at the Disco, Eminem, and Olivia Rodrigo, among many others. They have also recorded for soundtracks to major movies like The Jungle Book, The Lion King, and X-Men: Dark Phoenix.
Traces of their Los Angeles hometown were woven throughout, from John Williams movie soundtracks to the show’s classical opening of Vivaldi’s Summer, which Perico described as “fiery, summery, and thunderstormy.”
“Maybe we brought some summer to Cortez,” she added, noting the week’s beautiful weather.
The songs also reflected their own experiences and even age. “We are millennials, so we had to throw in some Britney Spears,” violinist Michelle Shin told the audience after the quartet’s rendition of Toxic. They closed with Bohemian Rhapsody and Adele’s Skyfall from the 2012 James Bond movie.
Next season’s lineup is already set and can be found on the Southwest Colorado Concerts website. Harbaugh invited all business owners or musical aficionados to get involved with the group. “We’re always looking for board members and for people to get behind it,” she said.
2025-2026 Southwest Colorado Concerts
M5 – The Mexican Brass: Brass quintet from Mexico, Tuesday, Sept. 23.
Jaca: Clarinet and guitar duo, Friday, Oct. 31.
The French Family Band: Influenced by country and western swing, Wednesday, March 25, 2026.
CeCe Teneal's Divas of Soul: CeCe Teneal and two other vocalists, piano and track, Thursday, April 23, 2026.
For all shows, doors open at 6 p.m., and concerts start at 7 p.m., 418 S. Sligo St.
Tickets will be available soon. Visit www.swcoloradoconcerts.org
