Here are 11 reasons to attend your first classical performance at the Strings Music Festival this week:

- It's a great way to impress your date.

- It's an even better way to impress your in-laws.

- You can demonstrate your sophistication to your friends.

- You may learn something new.

- You can wear the clothes you went hiking in and no one will look at you funny.

- It's a great change from the sounds of bulldozers and beeps of trucks going in reverse.

- The pavilion is air conditioned.

- You most likely won't have beer spilled on you.

- It's a good excuse to leave your kids with the babysitter for the night.

- It's only $25 a ticket.

Steamboat is not only a destination resort, it's also a destination for world-class musicians.

On Wednesday, Strings presents "Old World Charm," the first concert of the Casual Classics Series, featuring the music of Dvorák, Bartók, Suk and Dohnányi. And on Thursday, Strings rocks with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Say no more. Although tickets for NGDB sold out in the first two weeks, you can purchase lawn seats at 9 a.m. the day of the concert. On Friday, after the Fourth of July Parade, walk to Eighth and Oak streets for the annual free community concert, presented as part of the Tread of Pioneers Museum's Pioneer Day Block Party. This concert features the Boulder Brass, an ensemble that includes the finest brass musicians from the state playing your favorite patriotic songs.

On Saturday, back at the new pavilion, Strings presents "Mostly Mozart" with the Strings Chamber Orchestra. During the Strings 2007 season, the greatest number of musicians on stage at once was sixteen. But the new stage in the pavilion is larger, so for this concert, there will be 24 orchestra members on stage, plus four wind soloists and a violin soloist. This concert features the orchestra performing works of Mozart and Haydn. The Mozart Sinfonia Concertante features a highly unusual group of soloists with chamber orchestra: oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn, played by Peter Cooper, principal oboist of the Colorado Symphony; Naumburg Award winner Jon Manasse; Richard Beene, regular performer with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra; and principal horn of the Houston Symphony William VerMeulen. Violinist Catherine Cho will perform as soloist with the orchestra for Mozart's Concerto No. 5 in A major. The last piece, Haydn's "Le Midi" symphony, is unique - come to the concert and find out why.

So come and enjoy world-class music at the new pavilion. I'm confident you'll be glad you did.

Elissa Greene is information technology director and development coordinator for the Strings Music Festival. Contact her at (970) 879-5056 ext. 100, or elissa@stringsmusicfestival.com.