“Ode to Joy” resonates through the Dunes

Press release
One of the most-anticipated events of the summer, the Manitou Music Festival’s annual Dune Climb Concert, will be held Sunday, July 17, at 7 p.m. Free to the public, this popular event opens the Festival and is held at the base of the Sleeping Bear Dune Climb. Families are encouraged to bring chairs, blankets, and picnic suppers.
The concert, entitled “Ode to Joy”, features the virtuosity of the world-renowned California Guitar Trio, which will perform a whirlwind of instrumental styles fusing classical, rock, blues, jazz, world music and bluegrass, as well as the quintessential California musical genre surf music. “Ode to Joy” presents music celebrating our national spirit and closes with a gorgeous and energetic rendition of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. The California Guitar Trio was featured on television coverage of the 1998 and 2000 Olympics and at the 2003 Grammy Awards. Their music was sent into outerspace as a wake-up for the Space Shuttle Endeavor’s crew.

The always-popular band Songs of the Lakes, Traverse City’s “musical ambassadors of the Great Lakes” will open the concert. Since forming in 1983 they have performed in over 1,000 concerts in festival settings or civic events in the United States and Europe. They have also been featured on a number of radio and television shows and have performed with symphony orchestras, choirs, classical and jazz players and dance troupes. Song of the Lakes will be featuring music from their new album “Poets Say”.
The Manitou Music Festival is part of the Glen Arbor Art Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to furthering the arts in the Glen Lake area. The Dune Climb Concert is co-sponsored by the Traverse City Arts Council and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, and is the result of a creative partnership with the National Park’s Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.