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Email Sophie Stubbs: sophie@lakesareamusic.org
VOICES OF
YOUTH
Friday, July 31 | 7:30 p.m. Central Time
Dmitri Shostakovich and George Enescu each made their mark as young people by writing a string octet at the age of 18. The complex texture of a double string quartet gives life to the youthful energy evident in both of these early masterpieces. Each of these works points to its composers’ future endeavors: Shostakovich with angst and fearless intensity and Enescu with eclectic joy. The sensual Légende, by Enescu and played by Tchaikovsky competition prizewinning trumpeter, Ansel Norris, serves as a palate cleanser alongside these wild acts of youthful exuberance.
A NIGHT
AT THE
OPERA
Saturday, August 1 | 7:30 p.m. Central Time
Opening weekend continues with a grand night of arias featuring Metropolitan Opera star, tenor David Portillo. Joined by guests from opera companies around the globe, you’ll enjoy famous tunes and performers’ favorites in this Night at the Opera.
GIVING THANKS
Sunday, August 2 | 2 p.m. Central Time
Beethoven wrote his String Quartet Op. 132 late in life, after recovering from a near-fatal illness. This “Holy Song of Thanksgiving” is a profoundly personal reflection on mortality and one of the most revered monuments of the chamber music repertoire. Resilience in the face of hardship and directly facing death are also two essential elements of the Black experience. Grammy Award-winning bass-baritone, Dashon Burton, will offer one of the musical monuments of the USA: African American spirituals.
IMAGINING AMERICA
Wednesday, August 5 | 7:30 p.m. Central Time
The descendent of American slaves, British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was fascinated by the New World. His buoyant Nonet for strings, winds, and piano is presented here alongside another composer with an appreciation of Black American music: Antonin Dvořák, whose kaleidoscopic Piano Quintet will feature Van Cliburn and Tchaikovsky competition prize-winner Kenny Broberg, piano.
CITY OF
ANGELS
Friday, August 7 | 7:30 p.m. Central Time
Many great composers have brought their talents to the silver screen, especially in the 1930’s, when a wave of European Jewish refugees shaped Golden Age of Hollywood. Prior to his exodus from Austria to LA, Erich Korngold wrote a Piano Quintet which foreshadows the lush glitz and glam of his career to come. Philip Glass’ third string quartet, written for film, and Ennio Morricone’s ‘Gabriel’s Oboe’ from The Mission complete this exploration of identity and nationality.
PARADOX OF PRAISE
Saturday, August 8 | 7:30 p.m. Central Time
Grammy award-winning bass-baritone, Dashon Burton opens this program with a mixed set of art song and German lieder, featuring selections from Schumann’s Dichterliebe (Poet’s Love) and Margaret Bond’s incisive settings of Langston Hughes. Paired with Felix Mendelssohn’s second piano trio, with a final quotation of the Psalm 100 Doxology, this production explores praise and rejection.
SUITES FRANÇAISES
Sunday, August 9 | 2 p.m. Central Time
The French dance suite has been one of composers’ favorite genres for centuries. The variety and contrasts inherent to this form – from sensuous sarabands to jaunty gigues – makes them a perfect platform to highlight individual style. From one of the first published female composers, Élizabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, and Johann Sebastian Bach to modernists like Camille Saint-Saëns and György Ligeti, we explore the simple charm of dance music.
REQUIEM
Wednesday, August 12 | 7:30 p.m. Central Time
Valerie Coleman and Caroline Shaw are two of the great living American composers. Coleman’s Requiem Milonga offers a haunting, mournful vignette, while Shaw’s By and By uses texts and textures from southern Appalachian folk music to create an ecstatic meditation on death and the afterlife. Mozart’s Wind Serenade in E-flat then brings us from death to rebirth, with a solemn fanfare leading to cheerful Minuets, an intimately expressive Adagio, and festive finale.
REFLECTION
Friday, August 14 | 7:30 p.m. Central Time
This introspective evening begins with the transcendent simplicity of Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel (Mirror in the Mirror), followed by the world premier of a new dance choreographed by Amsterdam-based House of Makers. Featuring Queen Elizabeth Competition-winning pianist, Henry Kramer, this newly created ballet weaves together works of Erik Satie, John Adams, and Maurice Ravel. Derrick Spiva Jr.’s innovative and haunting American Mirror rounds out the program and is sure to be another season highlight.
NIGHTMARES
AND DREAMS
Saturday, August 15 | 7:30 p.m. Central Time
Featured artist, Chloe Fedor leads the LAMF baroque ensemble in a program of dreamscapes. From the hellish ‘Devil’s Trill’ by Giuseppe Tartini (which legend says was dictated to him in a dream) to the whimsy of Georg Philipp Telemann’s Don Quixote Suite, this program highlights the opulence and wonder of the High Baroque.
DIGITAL FINALE
Sunday, August 16 | 2 p.m. Central Time
After enjoying 10 concerts of music produced at Tornstrom Auditorium, we turn to honor the dozens of Festival favorites who weren’t able to join us this summer. We will hear from LAMF artists around the globe in this Digital Finale. Though this season will be enjoyed from a distance, we look forward to a grand reunion of artists and audiences next summer when we gather again for the 2021 LAMF season!