The Lakes Area Music Festival (LAMF) 2025 season, MYTHS AND MAGIC, brings world-class orchestra, opera, and chamber music to central Minnesota from July 25 to August 17. This year’s festival will transport audiences to enchanted realms, where fairy tales, legends, and epic sagas come to life through the power of music, with fairy-tale favorites like Hänsel & Gretel and The Nightingale, alongside epic sagas including The Lord of the Rings and Wagner’s Ring Without Words.
The Lakes Area Music Festival is Minnesota’s summer home for world-class opera, orchestra, and chamber music. Celebrating its 17th anniversary season, more than 200 artists from the nation’s top orchestras and opera companies will present 60 concert, education, and community outreach activities this July and August. Under the leadership of Executive and Artistic Director Scott Lykins, Artistic Director John Taylor Ward, and Music Director Christian Reif, LAMF continues its rise as one of the nation’s fastest-growing classical music organizations. The festival’s hallmark is its vibrant community of internationally acclaimed musicians who return each summer.
“We are thrilled to return with a season that celebrates the transformative magic of music,” Lykins says. “This summer’s programming will explore myths, folklore and legendary storytelling, featuring works that highlight the supernatural and the sublime. As hundreds of artists from around the globe return to their summer home for music-making, we’ll be reminded of the enchanting experiences that bring them back year after year: sharing laughter, reuniting with friends, and — of course — creating unforgettable music.”
Even if you can’t attend in person, concerts will air on YourClassical MPR. Listen Monday to Thursday, Aug. 11 to 14, at 9 a.m. at 6 p.m., and on Friday, Aug. 15, at 3 p.m.
We’ll also add concert audio below as the week progresses so you can listen on demand. All audio engineered by Michael DeMark.
Monday, Aug. 11
9 a.m. Jonathan Cziner: North Long Lake, MN (world premiere)
Recorded Sunday, July 27, at the Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts in Brainerd
Composer Jonathan Cziner (silent C, rhymes with “minor”) describes a friendship that is at the heart of his work, North Long Lake, MN. “Ever since my wife Emily’s first summer as a harpist at Lakes Area Music Festival in 2017, Mary Anne and Don Bennett have been a big presence in both our lives,” Cziner writes. “Emily had the pleasure of staying with them as their guest that summer, and the rest was history. … I think this is one of the many things that makes LAMF such a special place: the lasting relationships and bonds that the artists cultivate with their host families.
After Mary Anne Bennett’s passing, Cziner composed North Long Lake, MN, both as a tribute to Mary Anne and as a comfort to Don and the rest of the Bennett family. “North Long Lake, MN is both a character portrait of Mary Anne, as well as a tone painting of the lake itself, on which Mary Anne and Don have made their beautiful home,” Cziner explains.
Tuesday, Aug. 12
9 a.m. Paul Dukas: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Recorded Sunday, July 27, at the Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts in Brainerd
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (1897) by Paul Dukas was inspired by a story poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe written 100 years earlier. Forty-three years after composer Dukas created his work, Walt Disney used the music in the 1940 animated classic, Fantasia, boosting awareness and appreciation for Goethe’s story and Dukas’ music to generations around the world. Performed by the Lakes Area Music Festival Symphony, conducted by Christian Reif.
6 p.m. Mel Bonis: Femmes de légende (Legendary Women) – Salome
Recorded Sunday, July 27, at the Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts in Brainerd
Composer Mel Bonis deserves to be called a legendary woman herself. Born Mélanie Bonis, the composer pushed against the sexist currents of her day, which frequently refused work by women composers, to create more than 300 pieces, including this 1909 work, Femmes de légende. These seven pieces spotlight a different woman from literature; the work featured at the Lakes Area Music Festival is about Salome, a biblical figure that appears in the New Testament alternately as a) the daughter of Herod; or b) a disciple of Jesus. Performed by the Lakes Area Music Festival Symphony, conducted by Christian Reif.
Wednesday, Aug. 13
9 a.m. Mykola Lysenko: Taras Bulba (Overture)
Recorded Sunday, July 27, at the Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts in Brainerd
Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko (1842 – 1912) composed his opera, Taras Bulba, between 1880 and 1891, and it remained unheard on the composer’s death in 1912. It finally received its premiere in 1924 — and since that time, its Overture has become an anthem of Ukrainian patriotism and national pride. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, works by Lysenko, considered the father of Ukrainian classical music, were carefully preserved in a digital archive by members of the National Presidential Orchestra of Ukraine. This Overture was naturally among those works, and it remains of utmost importance to the Ukrainian people. Performed by the Lakes Area Music Festival Symphony, conducted by Christian Reif.
6 p.m. Camille Saint-Saëns: “Aviary” from Carnival of the Animals
Olivier Messiaen: Le merle noir (The Blackbird)
Recorded Wednesday, July 30, at the Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts in Brainerd
Wednesday evening’s music highlights are something for the birders. First, we’ll hear a piece from Saint-Saëns. What started as something of a joke has become a beloved collection of music. French composer Camille Saint-Saëns began the Carnival of the Animals as a work of satire, yet left us with one of his most cherished creations. This piece, “Aviary,” attempts to reflect the sounds of birds through music. Performed by the Lakes Area Music Festival Symphony, conducted by Christian Reif.
Next, we’ll hear a similarly inspired piece by Olivier Messiaen, whose Le merle noir (The Blackbird) was his attempt to capture the song of the common blackbird with flute and piano. Performed by Brook Ferguson (flute) and Adam Golka (piano).
Thursday, Aug. 14
9 a.m. Ernest Chausson: Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet, Opus 21
Recorded Wednesday, July 30, at the Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts in Brainerd
Performed by the Thalea String Quartet — Christopher Whitley and Kumiko Sakamoto, violin; Lauren Spaulding, viola; and Alex Cox, cello — with soloists Grace Park (violin) and Adam Golka (piano).
Friday, Aug. 15
3 p.m. Hector Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique
Recorded Sunday, July 27, at the Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts in Brainerd
Born out of darkness and obsession, Hector Berlioz wrote the Symphonie Fantastique after becoming smitten with Irish stage actor Harriet Smithson. Berlioz’s symphony — written in five movements following the model of his hero, Beethoven — is the composer’s attempt to capture his powerful feelings in music, while also perhaps giving himself a cautionary tale through the allegorical March to the Scaffold and Witches’ Sabbath movements. Seven years after writing this symphony, Berlioz and Smithson did finally get together, and they even married … but that didn’t end very well for anyone. Nevertheless, we’re left with this captivating and enduring piece of music. Performed by the Lakes Area Music Festival Symphony, conducted by Christian Reif.
You can also watch the performance, below. Concert begins at approximately 4:13 in the video.
This activity is made possible in part by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment‘s Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.
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