The Vail, Colorado-based festival opens on June 26, 2005, with a performance by the Rochester Philharmonic, which will remain in residence through July 3, playing under the direction of music director Christopher Seaman and principal pops conductor Jeff Tyzik. The Dallas Symphony, with director Andrew Litton and principal pops conductor Richard Kaufman, will follow, July 8-16. The New York Philharmonic will appear for the festival's 18th-anniversary gala on July 22 and remain through July 29; music director Lorin Maazel, Bramwell Tovey, and Xian Zhang will conduct. The festival's chamber series runs from July 12 through August 2.

Conspicuous by its absence from the schedule is the Colorado Symphony, which appeared at the festival from 1999 to 2002 before being dropped in favor of the New York Philharmonic. According to the Denver Post, the CSO had hoped to return in 2004, after the Rochester Philharmonic's original contract expired, but the festival renewed the Philharmonic's contract for 2004 and again for 2005.

Eugenia Zukerman, the festival's music director, told the Post that Bravo! is waiting for music director designate Jeffrey Kahane to begin his tenure next year at the CSO before deciding whether to invite the orchestra back. "We wanted to give them a year with that artistic director before we could really determine how it would work for us," she said.

The CSO has been without a music director since Marin Alsop left in the spring of 2003.