It's midweek, the sun is shining, and it's warm again. Almost like summer.

Did someone say summer?

Even though we'll likely get more snow and cold before the month is out, it's not too early to start planning your summer music calendar.

Here's a peek at three of the state's major festivals. Naturally, Aspen and Vail are the international draws - but notice the big doings just up the road in Boulder.

• Colorado Music Festival (June 23-Aug. 3): Michael Christie's six-week event opens June 24 in Chautauqua Auditorium at the base of Boulder's Flatirons. And what an opening it is: a new work by John Corigliano written in honor of Christie's debut as music director in Brooklyn, Terry Riley's groundbreaking (and, for some, mind-numbing) minimalist classic In C, a new piece by Christie "for orchestra and audience" and Carl Orff's roof-rattling Carmina Burana.

Just four days later is another doozy, featuring Colin Currie in Jennifer Higdon's Percussion Concerto and performances of Respighi's Pines of Rome and Fountains of Rome.

Other events that remind us of the freshness and quality of this festival: a semi-staged production of Golijov's opera Ainadamar (July 19-20); clarinetist David Krakauer playing Israeli composer Ofer Ben-Amots' Klezmer Concerto (July 22); Simon Trpceski as soloist in Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto (July 26-27); a "battle" between Bach and Telemann led by harpsichordist Jeannette Sorrell, with the audience voting on the "winner" (July 29), and a season finale consisting of Mahler's magnificent Resurrection Symphony, featuring mezzo Margaret Lattimore (Aug. 2-3).

Information: 303-440-7666.

• Aspen Music Festival (June 21-Aug. 19) : Naturally, this grandest of all Colorado summer fests offers an embarrassment of riches. Here's just a sampling of promising programs:

Corigliano's Symphony No. 3 (Circus Maximus) and Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 with Peter Serkin (June 24); Gil Shaham playing Beethoven's Violin Concerto on a program that opens with George Antheil's Jazz Symphony and Charles Ives' Four Ragtime Dances (July 6); a first-ever appearance in the tent by the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet (July 16); a benefit performance of Bizet's Carmen followed by dinner at the Caribou Club (July 26); the North American premiere of Cavalli's lascivious Baroque opera Eliogabalo (opening Aug. 14); and a season-ending pairing of Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms and Orff's Carmina (Aug. 19).

Information: 970-925-9042.

• Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival (June 24-Aug. 2): Visiting orchestras open the summer season with six concerts each: the Rochester Philharmonic (June 27-July 4), the Philadelphia Orchestra in its Vail debut (July 7-14) and the New York Philharmonic (July 20-27). Chamber music abounds, with one program offering a rare chance to hear some of Brahms' Hungarian Dances and Dvorak's Slavonic Dances in their original piano four-hands settings (Aug. 1).

Information: 1-877-812-5700.

CSO REVISIONS: As we conjectured here last weekend, Colorado Symphony music director Jeffrey Kahane has canceled his two remaining dates this month, as he recuperates from extreme hypertension. Word is that he will be back for the April 13-14 programs with Christopher O'Riley (who filled in for Kahane ably as soloist last weekend) and will appear at the scheduled two-piano recital with O'Riley on April 15.

Meanwhile, replacement conductors have been named for this month's concerts, resulting in some program changes. The new lineup:

• March 23-25: Austrian conductor Christoph Campestrini, who impressed in a Dvorak-Mozart program a year ago, will stick with the scheduled solo vehicles for pianist Ivan Moravec - Mozart's Concerto No. 14 and Franck's Symphonic Variations - but will replace the symphonies of Sibelius and Lutoslawski with Schubert's Symphony No. 9.

• March 30-April : Revered London-born conductor Raymond Leppard, who turns 80 this summer, will step in and retain most of the original, mostly English program. He'll lead Vaughan Williams' Greensleeves Fantasia, Delius The Walk to the Paradise Garden and Elgar's Cello Concerto (with Johannes Moser). Nielsen's Symphony No. 4 will be replaced by Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony. A HOME FOR CDs: Recently, we bemoaned the loss of Tower Records as a source for classical music. It seems we were not alone.

Amazon.com announced this week the launch of a dressed-up classical section that includes a budget-minded Classical Music Blowout Store. A visit to the amazon.com/classical home- page and a click on the Blowout Store link reveals more than 2,000 low-priced selections (grouped by price), including some orchestral releases on Delta for $2.98. You can also access the store directly by typing "classicalblowout" instead of "classical."

The classical home page posts new releases, offers direct links to several labels and permits a search by composer, performer or musical genre. PEOPLE: Former Colorado Ballet artistic director Martin Fredmann has been named an associate professor of dance at the Taipei Nationa University of the Arts in Taipei, commencing with the fall semester in September. He will also maintain his summer teaching schedule in Japan.

The Metropolitan Opera Rocky Mountain Regional Auditions recently selected Alek Shrader, a tenor from Ohio, as its first-place winner (rule changes allow non-regional singers to compete). Shrader will sing in the National Semi-Finals in New York on March 25. Second and third place awards went to Denver singers Lianne Coble and Katrina Twitty.

Marc Shulgold is the music and dance writer. Shulgoldm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5296