BRAINERD — The Lakes Area Music Festival’s 15th anniversary season ends this weekend with a symphonic spectacular led by music director Christian Reif.
A 90-member orchestra will take the stage at the 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 19-20, at Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts in downtown Brainerd.
“A genuine jugendliche dramatische soprano of exciting potential (and present accomplishment).”Opera News
The program kicks off with Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich’s “Festive Overture.” Brass fanfares alternate with celebratory, scurrying woodwind melodies in this piece used for the 1980 summer Olympics in Moscow five years after the composer’s death. The overture will be followed by the melodic and romantic “La nuit et l’amour (Night and Love)” by French composer Augusta Holmès.
Completing the first half is the “Prelude and Liebestod (Love Death)” from Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde. Soprano Felicia Moore will be featured as soloist with the LAMF symphony.
The second half of the program will feature the 15th symphony of Dmitri Shostakovich. His final symphony, the symphony opens with quotes of Rossini’s William Tell Overture, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde and Götterdämmerung and more. The piece highlights individual soloists in most sections of the orchestra, showcasing the stellar roster of professional artists participating in this year’s festival.
Soprano Felicia Moore returns after her festival debut in 2022 performing the title role in Richard Strauss’ opera Ariadne auf Naxos. Noted by the Wall Street Journal for her “opulent, Wagner-scaled soprano” and acclaimed by The New York Times as the “lustrous, commanding soprano,” Felicia Moore is recognized by Opera News as “a genuine jugendliche dramatische soprano of exciting potential (and present accomplishment).”
More information about this concert, program notes, and ticket reservations is available at
lakesareamusic.org/wagner-shostakovich.
Audiences can arrive early for the concert to enjoy a pre-concert talk given by Reif. He will talk about the historical context and themes of the repertoire being performed, on stage beginning 45 minutes prior to the performance.
On Thursday, Aug. 17, all are welcome to participate in an open rehearsal. A Q&A will be 1:15-1:45 p.m. in the Gichi-ziibi Center lobby with principal trumpet Ansel Norris of the Florida Orchestra. This will be followed by the first rehearsal at 2 p.m. in the concert hall.
Participants may observe how a conductor works with an ensemble in rehearsal leading up to the performances just a couple days later. Free of charge and no tickets required.