While many companies and festivals in the U.S. remain closed due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Lakes Area Music Festival has announced the successful completion of this year’s performances, which ran from July 13 to August 16, 2020.

The Minnesota-based festival was able to reach a larger audience through its partnership with Minnesota Public Radio, bringing music to those who could not attend in person. Among the artists who performed live were bass-baritone Dashon Burton, tenor David Portillo, pianist Henry Kramer, Consensus Vocal Ensemble, and baritone and co-Artistic Director John Taylor Ward.

Committed to inclusivity in classical music, the festival also presented works from composers of color such as James Weldon Johnson, Harry T. Burleigh, Uzee Brown Jr, Margaret Bonds, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

The festival was brought to a close with a finale from soprano Julia Bullock, singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Carousel.”