Lake Harriet Concerts
Each July the Pops performs concerts at the beautiful Lake Harriet Bandshell.
Programs include a mix of light classics, movie music, popular songs, marches, Strauss waltzes, and Broadway medleys. Check our Events Calendar for a list of this year’s concerts.
Performances are free and open to all.
In addition to the benches in front of the bandshell, there is ample seating on the grounds surrounding the bandshell, so feel free to bring a blanket to sit on, a picnic, lawn chairs, or simply pick your favorite patch of grass! Please respect others’ wishes when it comes to social distancing and mask wearing.
Free Concerts for Seniors
The Pops usually presents Free Concerts for Seniors at the historic Nicollet Island Pavilion each summer and at Elliot Park in Minneapolis, and we hope to return to Nicollet Island in the future.
Historically, seniors have been invited from throughout the Twin Cities via email and free busing is available. Complimentary beverages, treats, and door prizes were provided. The value of this project is clearly illustrated by the fact that the 350 reservations available for each Nicollet Island concert were taken months before the concerts begin and an additional 150 walk-in patrons filled the venue to capacity for each concert.
Kids Play - An Ongoing Collaboration
Minneapolis Pops Orchestra musicians enjoying the stage with local youth musicians for our Kids Play concerts! Unfortunately, due to COVID spacing guidelines, there is not sufficient room on the stage to accommodate this crowd-favorite this year. We hope Kids Play will return in the future!
Our Kids Play concerts are an annual favorite with Pops Orchestra audiences. They are often the best-attended concerts of the season, so come early to get a great seat!
The Minneapolis Pops Orchestra first hosted its annual Kids Play concert in 1999, and the concerts have been growing in quality and popularity ever since. Since its inception, over 500 students have performed on stage with the Orchestra through the Kids Play program. Each year, Kids Play offers area high school students the opportunity to play an eclectic mix of fun and exciting symphonic masterworks and pops repertoire.
Kids Play selections since 2013 include: overtures by Shostakovich and Rossini; Russian Sailors Dance from The Red Poppy by Reinhold Glière; movements from symphonies by Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and Sibelius; Nimrod from Enigma Variations by Edward Elgar; waltzes by Johann Strauss II; selections from Carmen by Georges Bizet; movie music from Raiders of the Lost Ark by John Williams and Pirates of the Caribbean by Klaus Badelt; and music by Duke Ellington.
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