2024 Lakes Area Music Festival to be held July 26–August 18
Brainerd, MN— This summer, people from around the world will gather in Paris, France, to celebrate the heroic potential of humanity at the Olympic Games. In those same weeks, Central Minnesota will be its own hub for world-class talent as the Lakes Area Music Festival presents its 16th annual season: HEROIC JOURNEYS.
Our exceptional roster of more than 250 professional, classical musicians come from the nation’s top ensembles to makes the Lakes Area of central Minnesota their musical home. Together they perform chamber music, orchestra, and opera– as well as various community outreach activities extending their impact throughout the local community.
This season, we light the torch and embark together on the HEROIC JOURNEYS to come. Join us this summer in Brainerd! Here is a link to this year’s Program Booklet.
Gala: Summon The Heroes
6:00PM, Friday, July 26, 2024: Dinner + Program
8:00PM, Friday, July 26, 2024: Concert Only
Please order your tickets before midnight on Sunday, July 24.
This is the moment that will empower the next step of LAMF’s journey! LAMF’s annual gala and largest fundraiser of the year will feature Christian Reif conducting the LAMF Orchestra in iconic fanfares and daring musical adventures by superstar composers, including John Williams and Leonard Bernstein. The event will include pre-concert dinner packages, live auction, and opportunities to show your support for the performances, education, and outreach activities which make up our season.
Storms, Shipwrecks, and Sorcery
7:30PM, Wednesday, July 31, 2024
Storms, Shipwrecks, and Sorcery is a fantastical journey through some of the most dramatic music of the 17th and 18th centuries. This program evokes both literal storms and clouds of rage. Guest soprano Nola Richardson stunningly portrays two sorceresses scorned, both the anguished Armida from Handel’s Armida Abbandonata and the vengeful Médée, namesake of Clérambault’s masterpiece. Artistic advisor and curator Chloe Fedor performs the dizzying La Tempesta di Mare, Vivaldi’s violin concerto depicting a storm at sea.
A Night at the Opera
7:30PM, Friday, August 2, 2024
Whether you are a lifelong opera fan or just stepping into this world for the very first time, this is your chance to experience opera’s greatest moments all in one concert, featuring our cast of Resident Artists and the LAMF Symphony Orchestra..
Composer Fellowship Quartet
11:00AM, Saturday, August 3, 2024
The LAMF Composer Fellowship Program will bring three of today’s most talented composers to Brainerd this summer. Over the course of one week, these fellows will work with mentor composer Jimmy López Bellido, workshop new music written for the Thalea String Quartet, and interact with our roster of 250 professional musicians. Our 2024 Fellows are Hannah Ishizaki, Sage Shurman, and Liza Sobel Crane. This is a true behind-the-scenes experience that will take you deep into the thrilling world of composition!
Thrills & Superheroes
3:00PM, Sunday, August 4, 2024
Enjoyable for kids of all ages! With the powers of winds, strings, brass, and percussion combined, the ultimate superhero of the stage is formed! In this family-friendly concert narrated by Jeff Andrews and featuring music and story by Russell Peck, kids of all ages will embark on a spectacular journey through the dynamic forces, instruments, and individuals that make up a symphony orchestra.
Block Party
7:30PM, Wednesday, August 7, 2024
Join us for a block party at the Lyman P. White Park along the river in Brainerd! Listen to pop and classical music hits performed by our string orchestra while enjoying food trucks, a beer tent, and social time with friends. Free and open to the public; no tickets required.
Julia Bullock in Recital
7:30PM, Friday, August 9, 2024
7:30PM, Saturday, August 10, 2024
3:00PM, Sunday, August 11, 2024
Opera director Omer Ben Seadia and music director Christian Reif lead an all-star cast in an exquisite production of Igor Stravinsky’s delightfully clever opera, The Rake’s Progress. The story concerns the decline and fall of Tom Rakewell, who deserts his rural country town and girlfriend Anne Trulove for the delights of London. Being seduced by greed and fame under the spell of his devilish companion, Nick Shadow, Tom meets his moral, mental, and physical demise. The closing moral of the tale is: “For idle hearts and hands and minds the Devil finds work to do.”
Jackiw Plays Dvořák
7:30PM, Wednesday, August 14, 2024
In a deeply moving new work, American composer Leanna Primiani centers the heroic stories of the survivors of human trafficking, painting a sonic landscape that emerges from tragic darkness into hope and light, and awakening our understanding of this tragic issue. Stefan Jackiw, a virtuosic musician with “talent that’s off the scale” (The Washington Post) makes his Lakes Area debut in Dvořák’s passionate and emotional Violin Concerto.
A Hero’s Life
7:30PM, Saturday, August 17, 2024
3:00PM, Sunday, August 18, 2024
The unrivaled brilliance of Gustav Holst’s Jupiter from The Planets sets the stage for the 2024 Lakes Area Music Festival’s closing ceremony. As the U.S. premiere of Lil Lacy’s Aurora honors new beginnings and the opportunities of a new day, Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life) tells the ultimate story of adventure and accomplishment. There is no greater conclusion to our own grand adventure than the recognition that a hero’s journey is much bigger than the hero alone.
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