Lakes Area Music Festival 2023 Season
The 15th annual season of the Lakes Area Music Festival will feature 200 artists from the top orchestras and opera companies nationwide. For one month this exceptional roster will make the Lakes Area of central Minnesota their musical home, performing chamber music, orchestra, and opera– as well as various community outreach activities extending their impact throughout the local community.
This season’s theme, BEL CANTO (“beautiful singing” in Italian), refers to a particular musical style where the beauty of the human voice—long legato lines, beautiful melodies, and dazzling acrobatics—is front and center. The festival’s 2023 opera, Don Pasquale, is a perfect example of that genre.
The 2023 season opens with Julia Bullock, an international superstar who is changing the face of classical music one song at a time, in two stunning programs. The festival’s orchestral and chamber music offerings highlight composers like Mozart, Debussy and Caroline Shaw, whose mastery of vocal writing colors their instrumental works. The festival finale features Shostakovich’s 15th and final symphony, which quotes music from many opera.
Don Pasquale
7:30PM, Friday, August 11, 2023
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2:00PM, Sunday, August 13, 2023
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This rollicking bel canto comedy is a celebration of girl power! The buffoonish Don Pasquale is determined to marry the much younger Norina. However, with her wit and the help of a few friends, she manages to both teach Pasquale a lesson and find true love. Full of dazzling tunes and hilarious hijinks, Donizetti’s masterpiece promises to delight.
Watermark
7:30PM, Wednesday, August 16, 2023
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Pianist Tanya Gabrielian returns to the Lakes Area to perform Caroline Shaw’s Watermark, a spellbinding work for piano and orchestra that was created by reimagining the themes and textures of Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto. A chamber orchestra of LAMF musicians, led by conductor Christian Reif, will also bring unrivaled, collective energy to Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony and Mozart’s Symphony No. 40.
Wagner & Shostakovich
7:30PM, Saturday, August 19, 2023
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2:00PM, Sunday, August 20, 2023
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Shostakovich’s 15th and final symphony closes our extraordinary 15th anniversary season. As he worked to express his symphonic voice one last time, Shostakovich also revisited the voices of many of his predecessors and musical heroes including Wagner, Rossini and Mahler, by quoting them throughout this cryptic and poignant symphony. Join Christian Reif and the LAMF orchestra for a season finale that reaches deep into the soul and celebrates a milestone achievement for the Lakes Area.
Learn more about the festival season here.