The festival opens on June 15 with a performance of Mendelssohn's incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream led by principal conductor Carlos Kalmar. It ends on August 20 with a gala performance featuring bass-baritone Samuel Ramey and mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer.

Other highlights include performances of Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony, Ravel's "choreographic symphony" Daphnis et Chlo_, and an evening of bel canto arias, featuring Larmore.

The festival moved last July to the Frank Gehry-designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion, a high-tech outdoor performance space with speakers suspended from a trellis over the audience.