2016 Lake George Music Festival opens with brass

The Lake George Music Festival opened its 2016 season last night with opening ceremonies and a performance by the Festival’s brass musicians at the Lake George Visitors Center on Beach Road. “We have a very exciting season planned for you,” says Festival Music Director Roger Kalia in opening remarks. “In addition to our chamber music program, which basically happens every night of the Festival, we’re also going to be doing a lot of innovative partnerships and new repertoire this year.” This is the sixth year for the festival, which brings classical musicians from around the world to perform at venues throughout Lake George.

The Opening Ceremonies were originally scheduled for Blais Park, but threatening skies caused organizers to move the event to the adjacent Visitors Center patio. There, LGMF trumpet, French horn and trombone musicians played selections that included fanfares and 1920s ragtime jazz, a taste of the variety festival patrons can expect over the next 11 days.  “There will be music all over the place. All kinds of music from composers from the 1500s to pieces that were composed just a week ago,” comments Artistic Director Barbora Kolářová.

New this year is a project called Sounds of our Time, which Kalia explains is “…a collaboration between two genres that you normally wouldn’t see on the same stage.” The goal of the project is to demonstrate the connection between classical and contemporary music. On Wednesday, Aug. 24, the Sounds of our Time concert will bring together the LGMF Orchestra and the Los Angeles-based EDM group Mako.

Mako is the duo of Juilliard graduate Alex Seaver and veteran DJ Logan Light. Their tracks Smoke Filled Room and Beam both charted in the Top 5 on Billboard’s Dance/Mix Airplay chart. Kalia says he met Seaver, a classically trained horn player, in 2010. “…he is very excited about the collaboration … It’s the type of thing that’s never been done, so we’re really looking forward to that.”  Sounds of our Time will begin at 8 p.m. in Shepard Park. There is no charge for admission.

In addition to daily chamber concerts and open rehearsals, the Festival has night events scheduled, including a performance by Mako at King Neptune’s Pub Friday, Aug. 19 at 10 p.m. and a performance aboard the Minne-Ha-Ha, Saturday, Aug. 20 at 8:45 p.m. Also on Saturday, a Children’s Concert combines the music of the LGMF Symphony Orchestra with acting by Really Inventive Stuff to bring The Story of Babar to Shepard Park. The Children’s Concert begins at 5 p.m. After the concert, children may go on stage for the interactive Instrument Petting Zoo.

The Lake George Music Festival concludes with the full Symphony Orchestra performing at the Lake George High School on Aug. 25, 7:30 p.m. Kalia says the final concert will be performances of “Brahms’s epic Symphony No. 1 and Kodály’s Dances of Galánta, which is a very virtuosic gypsy piece.” For more information about the Lake George Music Festival and a full schedule of events, visit the Festival website.