Wednesday night many lucky people were able to attend the Lakes Area Music Festival’s first operatic presentation, “The Magic Flute.” It was indeed magical from the very first notes through the final curtain call. It was amazing. Every musician was flawlessly on cue and at the peak of performance after only one week of rehearsals. Ruth Gmeinder’s costumes were so elegant. This was my first opera, and I was completely blown away. Being unfamiliar with the genre, I expected parts would be hard to follow and even boring. Was I surprised! It was humorous, beautiful, uplifting and a perfect way to spend a summer night. As I looked around at the audience after the fourth curtain call, I saw nothing but eager smiling faces wanting to share how happy they were to have been there. The fact that it was only performed one time makes it even more poignant. I tried to list some of the special moments, but there were too many. All of the actors and musicians performed their parts with such gusto, and we could see how much they all enjoyed doing this for us.
It has been said before but bears repeating, we are so lucky to have this festival here in Brainerd.
Marcia Mans
Baxter
