The 13th annual Lake George Music Festival will be held August 6th to the 17th. The festival will take place at the historic and lakeside Carriage House on the grounds of the Fort William Henry Hotel.
Lake George has often received wide-spread admiration and reverence as a cultural destination, yet that public sentiment seems to have lost its relish in recent years. This culturally vibrant location was once heavily influenced and supported by the presence of 20th century artists such as composer Samuel Barber and visual artist Georgia O’Keeffe. Though lacking these spirited artists and musicians today, The Lake George Music Festival hopes to shift the open opinion of the location back in this direction.
The festival aims to make that change with the assistance of classical music. Individuals from the classical music world remain adamant in the town’s position as a cultural and musical staple, as it is known as one of the most loved classical artist retreat locations in the nation.
This year’s musicians represent numerous professional orchestras including The Cleveland Orchestra,
Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, and the Czech Philharmonic. Students in the festival’s
fellowship program represent nearly every music school in the nation including The Juilliard School, the
Yale School of Music, and the Curtis Institute of Music. Musicians from as far away as New Zealand,
China and the Czech Republic will be in attendance this season.
This year, the festival will bring together over 100 classical artists, composers, podcasters, radio hosts, and pedagogues for public concerts and other events. The venue will offer festivalgoers an intimate experience bringing them up close to some of the nation’s best and brightest artists.
The Festival is committed to commissioning and premiering new works. This year’s commissions include
a new solo violin work by Juilliard School Dean, David Serkin Ludwig, a full Symphony Orchestra piece by
Curtis alumni Sheridan Seyfried, and a chamber work by Curtis and Princeton graduate Alyssa Weinberg.
Building off last year’s successful opening night where they presented Grammy award-winning trio Time
for Three, the first public performance will be held on Aug. 9 in Shepard Park. Famed electroacoustic violin/cello duo ARKAI is set to perform with the Lake George Music Festival Symphony.
The festival along with Lake George’s other music staple, the Lake George Jazz Weekend hosted by the Lake George Arts Project have both brought musical enrichment to the town. Still, the aura of summer tourism and people’s avoidance because of that make their enrichment difficult to solidify and bring to light.
Founder and CEO of the festival, Alexander Lombard, claims, “Great arts and culture is happening in Lake George and now is your chance to be there for it vs. lamenting about missing what happened. The Curtis Institute of Music, where one of the Music Festival’s founders studied, as well as many of our alumni, uses the phrase “tomorrow’s artists today.” This, I feel, is especially relevant to what’s happening now in Lake George.”
Festival passes are available for sale now for $149/$49, or, single tickets will be available at the door for
$25. Parking is affordable and convenient only steps from the venue.
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