Lakes Area Music Festival’s 14th Annual Season Kicks Off July 30-31

The Lakes Area Music Festival opens its 14^th annual season on July 30 and 31 with “Tribute to the Earth.” Saturday’s concert begins at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday’s event is at 2 p.m. – both in the new Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts, located in Brainerd. This orchestral concert, led by music director, Christian Reif, includes Jean Sibelius’ masterful Second Symphony, and the world premiere of a new work by Peruvian American composer, Jimmy López-Bellido.

López-Bellido’s “Pago a la Tierra” (tribute to the earth) is based on an ancient Andean ritual of thanksgiving for nature’s bounty, and it serves as a fitting commemoration of the music and culture to come at this year’s festival. “The Lakes Area Music Festival has always been committed to masterworks of the past – people like Mozart, Beethoven, and others,” said festival artistic director, John Taylor Ward, “And we now have the opportunity to put a classic like Sibelius alongside a work that point to the future of our artform, performed for the very first time locally.”

More information is available at lakesareamusic.org. Tickets can be purchased on a “name-your-price” sliding scale, to ensure universal access to world-class performances, via the festival’s website or by calling (218) 831-0765. General inquiries can be made at (218) ASK-LAMF [275-5263].

Founded in 2009, the Lakes Area Music Festival is a 501(c)(3) non-profit. The 2022 season is  bringing 180 artists from around the world to participate in chamber music, symphonic repertoire, opera, outreach, and education. The renowned series runs through August 21.