2024 Season: Heroic Journeys
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…
By Series
Winter Series
Outside the busy summer season, LAMF presents concerts featuring duo recitals and small ensembles of your favorite LAMF musicians. October through April LAMF presents four programs, both in Brainerd and…
Special Events
The Lakes Area Music Festival hosts special events and fundraisers throughout the summer to support the concerts, education, and outreach activities that impact our region. Mark your calendar for our…
Casual Classics
Our Casual Classics series brings our world-class roster of musicians outside the concert hall and into the community. Get to know these artists in an informal setting, and bring a…
Live Streaming
Over the past years the Lakes Area Music Festival has streamed its concerts and drawn many thousands of views from around the world. This season we remain committed to accessibility…
All Upcoming Events
Summer Solstice
Enjoy the longest sunset of the year lake-side at Madden's and support the Lakes Area Music Festival's Education Programs! Summer Solstice is a celebration of great food and music, featuring a quartet of opera singers performing familiar hits by Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Bizet, and more.
Cabaret - AITKIN
The Ripple Center
7:30PM, Saturday, July 20, 2024
from $40
Life is a Cabaret! Spend the evening being serenaded by our international vocal talents as they perform musical theater classics and American songbook favorites. Cash bar will be available for your enjoyment. These events typically sell out in advance. Tickets will go on sale in May.
Cabaret - NISSWA
Grandview Lodge - Norway Center
7:30PM, Sunday, July 21, 2024
from $40
Life is a Cabaret! Spend the evening being serenaded by our international vocal talents as they perform musical theater classics and American songbook favorites. Cash bar will be available for your enjoyment. These events typically sell out in advance. Tickets will become available in May.
Open Rehearsal: Beethoven's Ninth
Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts
2:15PM, Wednesday, July 24, 2024
Meet JASON HAAHEIM, timpanist for our performance of Beethoven's Ninth
Musicians Night Out
Roundhouse Brewery
7:00PM, Thursday, July 25, 2024
A perfect pairing: Beethoven and Beer! Our Musicians Night Out is a chance for our musicians to let loose playing music with colleagues and friends, new and old. Grab a pint and chat with musicians from around the world between sets of informal chamber music sight-reading performances outdoors at Roundhouse Brewery in Nisswa. Free and open …
Gala: Summon the Heroes
Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts
6:00PM, Friday, July 26, 2024
($150 – $1250)
Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts
8:00PM, Friday, July 26, 2024
from $50
On July 26 the world's best athletes will gather in Paris for the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. That same night we celebrate the opening ceremonies of our 16th annual season, featuring 250 of the world's best classical musicians. 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.
Beethoven's Ninth
Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts
3:00PM, Sunday, July 28, 2024
The season begins with our most epic and joyful journey yet, in a single performance of Beethoven’s monumental Ninth Symphony. Christian Reif conducts the Orchestra in collaboration with a chorus of singers from the Legacy Chorale of Greater Minnesota, Brainerd High School, and the acclaimed Minneapolis-based choral ensemble, VocalEssence singing the powerful "Ode to Joy".
Open Rehearsal: Storms, Shipwrecks, & Sorcery
Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts
2:15PM, Monday, July 29, 2024
Meet BRANDON ACKER who plays the theorbo (a large, bass lute) prior to this rehearsal of music from the baroque period, 1600-1750.
Storms, Shipwrecks & Sorcery
Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts
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 …
Open Rehearsal: A Night at the Opera
Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts
2:15PM, Thursday, August 1, 2024
Meet BRETTON BROWN, pianist and leader of the Opera Resident Artist Program
A Night at the Opera
Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts
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. Our Resident Artist Program provides singers early in their careers with mentorship and performance …
Sound Garden
Northland Arboretum
9:00AM, Saturday, August 3, 2024
We’re bringing music and nature together this summer at the Northland Arboretum. Kids of all ages are invited to walk along the forest trails, where they will encounter LAMF musicians from every section of the orchestra. Then, head over to the Visitor Center to discover your own unique musical skills at a very special instrument …
Thrills & Superheroes
Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts
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 …
Block Party
Mississippi Landing Amphitheater
7:30PM, Wednesday, August 7, 2024
Join us for a block party at the Mississippi Landing Amphitheater 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. NEW LOCATION at Lyman P. White Park. …
Julia Bullock in Recital
Tornstrom Auditorium
7:30PM, Friday, August 9, 2024
($40 – $100)
GRAMMY® award-winning soprano Julia Bullock first connected with the LAMF community in 2009, starred in the festival’s first opera production, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and has made many returns to the festival stage since. This summer, she returns for an exclusive solo recital with collaborator and pianist Bretton Brown.
Yoga + Live Music
Mississippi Landing Amphitheater
10:00AM, Saturday, August 10, 2024
Music, meditation, and fitness come together in this hour-long outdoor yoga class guided by Jennifer Smith of Nisswa Yoga. Sun salutations under the morning sun, with music provided by a quintet of LAMF musicians from around the country. All levels are welcome! Held at the Mississippi Landing Amphitheater at Lyman P. White Park, along the Mississippi …
The Rake's Progress
Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts
7:30PM, Saturday, August 10, 2024
Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts
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 seductive delights of London.
Open Rehearsal: Jackiw Plays Dvorak
Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts
2:15PM, Monday, August 12, 2024
Years of practice and hours of preparation go into each of our world-class performances. Now, you are invited to join us in our new venue for open rehearsals, giving you a glimpse of the process from the initial read-through to the final performance. Each open rehearsal is preceded by an informal discussion with one of …
Jackiw Plays Dvořák
Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts
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) …
Open Rehearsal: A Hero's Life
Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts
2:15PM, Thursday, August 15, 2024
Years of practice and hours of preparation go into each of our world-class performances. Now, you are invited to join us in our new venue for open rehearsals, giving you a glimpse of the process from the initial read-through to the final performance. Each open rehearsal is preceded by an informal discussion with one of …
Musicians Night Out
Jack Pine Brewery
7:00PM, Thursday, August 15, 2024
A perfect pairing: Beethoven and Beer! Our Musicians Night Out is a chance for our musicians to let loose playing music with colleagues and friends, new and old. Grab a pint and chat with musicians from around the world between sets of informal chamber music sight-reading performances outdoors at Jack Pine Brewery in Baxter. Free and …
A Hero's Life
Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts
7:30PM, Saturday, August 17, 2024
Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts
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. …