If you believe classical music has a vibrant future, you know it’s important to nurture the next generation of creators. The Minnesota Orchestra’s Composer Institute, a residency for emerging composers, culminates in this concert featuring exciting new music played with rigor, conviction and heart by the orchestra. Listen to the concert now!

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård, conductor
Kevin Puts, host and Composer Institute director

KEVIN PUTS Heartland
BENJAMIN WEBSTER Autumn Movement
ELISE ARANCIO Bite Your Tongue for Orchestra and Tape
SOOMIN KIM star / ghost / mouth / sea
ANDREW FAULKENBERRY portrait through a prism

Previous concerts

Celebrate Juneteenth with the Minnesota Orchestra

In celebration and remembrance of Juneteenth, the annual commemoration of the emancipation of enslaved African Americans, the Minnesota Orchestra, alongside guests and members of the Twin Cities community, performed a program featuring music by African American composers. Listen to the concert now!

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Jonathan Taylor Rush, conductor
Wordsmith, soloist
John Holiday, countertenor

JAMES P. JOHNSON Victory Stride
MARY D. WATKINS Soul of Remembrance from Five Movements in Color
MICHAEL ABELS Delights and Dances
JAMES LEE III Freedom’s Genuine Dawn
VALERIE COLEMAN Umoja
CARLOS SIMON “Ring Shout” from Four Black American Dances

Sondergard led the Minnesota Orchestra season finale alongside Bruce Liu

In this Minnesota Orchestra season finale concert, Carlos Simon’s music challenges us to explore our past to mourn, celebrate and take ownership. This time, the gateway is dance — with ties to American slavery, Reconstruction and Jim Crow. Then, Chopin Competition winner Bruce Liu performed Sergei Prokofiev’s dazzling Piano Concerto No. 3. The season concluded with Sergei Rachmaninoff’s rhythmic Symphonic Dances.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård, conductor
Bruce Liu, piano *

CARLOS SIMON Four Black American Dances
SERGEI PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 3 *
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF Symphonic Dances

Fei Xie plays Jolivet with the Minnesota Orchestra and Cristian Macelaru

A message from Minnesota Orchestra: “This week’s performances are dedicated to our wonderful colleague, Arek Tesarczyk. Arek passed away last month after a long illness he faced with great dignity. Originally from Poland, Arek spent 11 years as Principal Cello of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra before joining us in 2004. He was humble, kind, ‘devastatingly funny,’ (according to Principal Cello Tony Ross) and was a rock in our cello section. Our thoughts and condolences go to Arek’s wife Claudia Chen and his children Viktor and Katia.”

On last week’s Minnesota Orchestra broadcast, Wynton Marsalis’ Blues Symphony takes the 12-bar blues and explodes it into a lyrical, kaleidoscopic history of American music. A frequent Marsalis collaborator, special guest Cristian Măcelaru has conducted the symphony in performances and a recording. Also on the program, listeners enjoyed what many consider to be the most difficult concerto in the bassoon repertoire, played by the orchestra’s beloved principal bassoon Fei Xie. Listen to the concert now!

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Cristian Măcelaru, conductor
Fei Xie, bassoon *

WYNTON MARSALIS Selections from Blues Symphony
ANDRÉ JOLIVET Bassoon Concerto *
GEORGE ENESCU Symphony No. 1

‘Thomas Søndergård: Taken by the Sound’

Melissa Ousley joined Minnesota Orchestra music director Thomas Søndergård in his native Denmark last year to explore some of the most important places in his life. Join them as they walk through his memories, musical and otherwise, in this documentary short.

‘Celebrating a Century on the Airwaves’

On most Friday nights, no matter where you are in the state — or in the world, for that matter — you can look forward to tuning into YourClassical Minnesota Public Radio to hear a live concert. From a radio debut in 1923 under Bruno Walter to television transmissions in the 1950s and the ensemble’s unprecedented international broadcast from Havana in 2015, the orchestra has always been on the forefront of finding new ways to connect audiences with music.

Reflecting on 100 years of radio broadcast history, MPR host Melissa Ousley sat down with historian John Michel, technical director Michael Osborne and former broadcast host and current orchestra staffer Brian Newhouse for a spirited retelling of this vital history.

Opera returns to the Minnesota Orchestra this week, marking the ensemble’s first full concert opera under music director Thomas Søndergård, who took over leadership of the orchestra in 2022.

“If you can imagine that there are musicians in this orchestra that might just be playing this opera once in their life, and that's a little bit of a difference to their everyday life,” Søndergård said. “It is a very, very special occasion for our musicians, and I can hear and see that in the way that they approach this music.”

The opera in question is Giacomo Puccini’s “Turandot.” For two performances, the Minnesota Orchestra will be joined by opera vocalists, the Minnesota Chorale and the Angelica Cantanti Youth Choirs at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.

“Turandot” is famous for its soaring score and towering vocal parts. It was the final opera that Puccini worked on, which he left unfinished. Eventually, it was completed by Franco Alfano.

Singing the title role is Christine Goerke, one of the world’s top dramatic sopranos with a long history in Turandot.

“That made the decision very easy,” Søndergård said about picking “Turandot” for the season.

In his youth, Søndergård remembers shadowing an orchestra in his native Denmark performing opera, which left a lasting impression on him.

“Opera was immediately one of my big dreams, to be part of an orchestra that plays for opera,” Søndergård said, adding that he has prioritized having the Minnesota Orchestra play more opera.

“The process has been really exciting. I mean, it is different from an opera house, because in an opera house, you would have normally six weeks of rehearsals with the singers,” Søndergård said. “We speed up the whole process. We don’t have any staging, but we’re just presenting the music and putting 100 percent focus on the music.”

He wasn’t kidding when he said the process moved fast — the orchestra began rehearsing with the vocalists April 28 and has its first performance May 1.

“I believe the first time we’re going to run it through without stopping at all will be the first concert,” said Orchestra concertmaster Erin Keefe. She added that the orchestra doesn’t play much music by opera composers like Puccini.

“It sort of feels like a new skill set in some ways, and that's, I think, a really good challenge for any orchestra to do something a little bit outside of their comfort,” Keefe said.

“Turandot” tells the story of a princess who refuses to marry unless a suitor can solve three riddles. Many have failed — but one man, Calaf, is determined to succeed.

“This is quintessential Puccini, with these soaring melodies ...” said Limmie Pulliam, who plays Calaf.

According to Pulliam, the opera’s melodies are beautiful, “but they’re not beautiful just to be beautiful. There’s always meaning behind them.”

Traditionally, “Turandot” is set in mythical ancient China, and can fall into stereotypes with costumes and scenery. Pulliam explained that when performed in concert, the focus becomes the music and the story of the Opera. Doing so also avoids being weighed down by the costumes — both figuratively and literally.

“You don’t have a 30-pound costume on top of you weighing you down. And so, you’re really able to really concentrate and do what it is we all do best, and that’s sing operatic music and allow their audience to enjoy opera, and it’s in its purest form,” Pulliam said.

“I consider myself the luckiest tenor right now ... they’ve assembled an amazing cast of soloists. And of course, you have the wonderful Minnesota orchestra and maestro Thomas Søndergård.”

While “Turandot” might be the first time in years that the Minnesota Orchestra has performed an opera, if maestro Søndergård has his way, it may become a fixture of the ensemble’s performance schedule.

“Turandot” at the Minnesota Orchestra will be performed in Italian on May 1 and 3.

This story originally published on the MPR News website.

Innovative composer and conductor Steve Hackman brought his program, Brahms X Radiohead, to Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis on Friday night. The Minnesota Orchestra and three vocalists — Brooke Simpson, Khalil Overton and Rich Saunders — captivated a capacity audience.

The program addresses the question: What could Johannes Brahms’ First Symphony and Radiohead’s groundbreaking 1997 alternative rock album, OK Computer, have in common? Hackman’s genre-bending fusion, composed for full orchestra and three solo vocalists, offered a reimagined experience of each work through the lens of the other.

Thoughtful use of stage lighting augmented the performance, providing nonverbal cues as to when the music being performed was composed by Brahms or by Radiohead. The vocalists enhanced the lush performance, each one offering a different flavor and interpretation.

View a gallery of photos from the event:

Brahms X Radiohead concert photos

Fullscreen SlideshowPrevious Slide

41 of 41

1 of 41

2 of 41

Next Slide

The American tours of Russian composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff included seven engagements with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. Nearly all of these concerts included performances of the composer’s work with Rachmaninoff himself at the piano. Rachmaninoff’s programs featured the Minneapolis premieres of his First Piano Concerto in 1938 and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in 1935. On four occasions — including his first and last visits to Minneapolis in 1920 and 1942 — Rachmaninoff performed his Second Piano Concerto, which appears on the opening concerts of the Minnesota Orchestra’s 2024-25 season this weekend with pianist Yunchan Lim as soloist.

Although Rachmaninoff would express interest in performing his monumental Third Piano Concerto (1909) in Minneapolis, the opportunity never materialized. Luckily, the local premiere of the work would be in the hands of Vladimir Horowitz, whose connection to the piece figures into his legendary status as one of the great pianists of the 20th century.

By the time of his March 10, 1933, performance with conductor Eugene Ormandy at Northrop Auditorium, Horowitz had already made the first recording of Rachmaninoff’s Third in 1930 with Albert Coates and the London Symphony Orchestra. (Rare silent movie footage [below] made during that visit shows Ormandy picking up Horowitz at the 510 Groveland Hotel in Minneapolis — probably shot by Ormandy’s wife, Stephanie — and then — perhaps shot by Ormandy himself — shows Horowitz with others at the back door to Northrop Auditorium. The woman on the left is then-Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra manager Carlyle Scott, who probably booked Horowitz for solo recitals when she oversaw the University of Minnesota's visiting artist concert series before she became the orchestra’s manager.)

Two years before, Horowitz’s memorable first meeting with Rachmaninoff in the basement of Steinway & Sons in New York had been arranged so that he could play through the concerto for the composer, who performed the orchestral part on a second piano. Horowitz biographer Glenn Plaskin’s account of the occasion describes Rachmaninoff as typically reserved except to make a few interpretive suggestions to the younger pianist. Later, Rachmaninoff would tell friends that Horowitz had swallowed the score whole, pouncing “with the fury and voraciousness of a tiger.” Decades before Van Cliburn’s sublime traversal of the Rachmaninoff Third in Moscow and Lim’s jaw-dropping performance of the concerto at the 2022 Van Cliburn Competition, Horowitz was the great champion of this now widely-known work, which is regarded by pianists as one of the most technically and emotionally demanding in the literature.

At the time of his meeting with Rachmaninoff, Horowitz had already been playing the Third Concerto for nearly a decade, having first studied the piece with Sergei Tarnowsky, who was his teacher at the Kiev Conservatory from 12 to 16. Plaskin regards Tarnowsky as “the most decisive influence in the formation of Volodya’s [Horowitz’s] pianism.” Horowitz’s friend and biographer David Dubal also has commented that “without his [Tarnowsky’s] psychological insight, Horowitz’s pianistic gift might have perished.”

Regarding the Rachmaninoff Third, which is the last piece Horowitz studied with Tarnowsky, Plaskin remarks that Tarnowsky “sculpted every phrase with his student, laying the groundwork for an interpretation that would someday astound audiences.”

There is a surprising Minnesota connection to Tarnowsky through the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, where he taught from 1934 to 1937. Tarnowsky had moved to the United States in 1930, teaching briefly at the Bush Conservatory in Chicago, where Sister Martina Hughes — a future prioress of St. Scholastica Monastery and college president at St. Scholastica — was a graduate. According to articles from St. Scholastica’s student newspaper, the Scriptorium, Tarnowsky gave private lessons and master classes during his time at the all-women’s college. (St. Scholastica became co-ed in 1969.) He gave a private performance in early 1935 for the Monocle Club — the college’s social and literary society. The pianist also made at least one public appearance as a performer when he presented a recital on Feb. 1, 1935, at the downtown Hotel Duluth.

Duluth must have seemed a remote place for Tarnowsky, who had achieved impressive successes as a pianist and teacher before going to St. Scholastica. He was awarded the Anton Rubinstein Prize when he graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1907. His tours of Europe included an engagement with the Berlin Philharmonic and a performance of Rachmaninoff’s First Piano Concerto in Rome, which prompted a written note of congratulations from Cosima Wagner.

Tarnowsky taught at the Odessa Conservatory before he was appointed to the faculty of the Kiev Conservatory by Russian composer Reinhold Gliere. Tarnowsky’s lessons with the teenage Vladimir Horowitz were from 1914 to 1919. Horowitz’s talented sister Regina (Genya) also studied with Tarnowsky during this time. In 1928, Tarnowsky married the stepdaughter of another Russian composer, Alexander Glazunov. The two families moved to Paris in the late 1920s before Tarnowsky emigrated to Chicago in 1930.

Tarnowsky’s longest affiliation in the United States was with DePaul University in Chicago, where he taught from the early 1930s until his retirement in 1950. The pianist and his second wife, Maxine Matlavish, then moved to Los Angeles, where he continued to teach privately. His most well-known student from this time was outstanding Cuban-American pianist Horatio Guttierez — who, like Horowitz, studied with Tarnowsky during most of his teenage years. (Guttierez also would play Rachmaninoff — the Second Concerto rather than the Third — with the Minnesota Orchestra, in 1995.)

Several years before his death in 1976, Tarnowsky made a recording of piano miniatures, Vignettes of Old Russia, which is admired by pianophiles for its evocative performances of rarely played works.

A January 2000 article in Clavier magazine indicates that, just a few weeks before his death, Tarnowsky was able to attend a Los Angeles recital by his old student Horowitz. Although there had been some tension between the two men over the years, which was due, in part, to Tarnowsky’s willingness to freely impart criticism to his famous pupil, there appears to have been a poignant meeting a day before the recital. During their conversation, which quickly drifted to Russian, Horowitz remarked with great emotion that Tarnowsky was the last person alive who had known his family in Kiev.

After Tarnowsky’s death, Horowitz wrote to a friend of Tarnowsky, “I was desolated to receive your news that my old friend and teacher, Sergei Tarnowsky, passed away. I am happy that I was able to be reunited with him once more — after so many years. His last days, as you describe them, must be an inspiration to all of us, this indomitable man, this gentle soul.”

In a collection of Horowitz’s papers at Yale University, there is a charming musical souvenir of Tarnowsky and Horowitz’s friendship via a student piece, the etude-fantasie Les Vagues, which Horowitz dedicated to his teacher while both men were still living in Kiev. The work is very much in the style of Rachmaninoff, whom Horowitz once described as “the musical god of my youth.” Russian pianist Valery Kuleshov has studied the unpublished manuscript and made an excellent recording of the piece, which is included on his 2005 album, Hommage à Horowitz.

Brad Snelling is a librarian at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth. He also writes historical notes for Matinee Musicale, the city's classical music series, which has been presenting concerts since 1900.

Conductor Lina González-Granados made her Minnesota Orchestra debut in a concert focused on music that both drew from and canonized the sounds of the Roaring '20s. Two works from George Gershwin highlighted the program, including his Concerto in F for solo piano and orchestra, which featured Jon Kimura Parker, and a selection from his opera Porgy and Bess. Two pieces inspired by the sights, scenes and sounds of this incredible decade rounded out the program: John Harbison’s Remembering Gatsby, a 1985 composition inspired by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age short story collection, and Darius Milhaud’s Le Bœuf sur le Toit, conceived as incidental music for Charlie Chaplin’s silent films. Listen to the concert now!

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Lina González-Granados, conductor
Jon Kimura Parker, piano *

JOHN HARBISON Remembering Gatsby (Foxtrot for Orchestra)
GEORGE GERSWHIN Concerto in F *
DARIUS MILHAUD Le Bœuf sur le Toit
GEORGE GERSHWIN Catfish Row Suite from Porgy and Bess

‘Thomas Søndergård: Taken by the Sound’

Earlier this year, Melissa Ousley joined Minnesota Orchestra music director Thomas Søndergård in his native Denmark to explore some of the most important places in his life. Join them as they walk through his memories, musical and otherwise, in this new documentary short.

Previous concerts

Jon Kimura Parker and Stephanie Childress explore 1920s with Minnesota Orchestra

On Friday, Summer at Orchestra Hall creative partner Jon Kimura Parker took the stage to perform Maurice Ravel’s sparkling Piano Concerto in G. Ravel composed this concerto after a four-month concert tour of North America, which included frequent visits to Harlem’s jazz clubs with George Gershwin. The concert also featured rising star Stephanie Childress, who conducted lively suites from three pieces written for the stage that illustrate the enduring influence of jazz on orchestral music. Listen to the concert now!

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Stephanie Childress, conductor
Jon Kimura Parker, piano *

KURT WEILL Suite from The Threepenny Opera
MAURICE RAVEL Piano Concerto in G *
FRANCIS POULENC Suite from Les Biches
SERGEI PROKOFIEV Suite from The Love for Three Oranges

Delyana Lazarova and Natsuki Kumagai kick off the Minnesota Orchestra summer season

Minnesota Orchestra’s summer season kicked off with a program from the heart of the classical period of Western music, led by conductor Delyana Lazarova. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Overture to Don Giovanni opened the program. Then, Minnesota Orchestra violinist Natsuki Kumagai performed Chevalier de Saint-Georges’ dazzling and dynamic Violin Concerto No. 2. Rounding out the program was Ludwig van Beethoven’s cheerful Symphony No. 4. Listen to the concert now!

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Delyana Lazarova, conductor
Natsuki Kumagai, violin *

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Overture to Don Giovanni
JOSEPH BOLOGNE, CHEVALIER DE SAINT-GEORGE Violin Concerto No. 2 *
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 4

Erin Keefe stars with Minnesota Orchestra in Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1

On Friday, April 12, Thomas Søndergård led the Minnesota Orchestra in Robert Schumann’s bright and joyful Symphony No. 1 and collaborated with concertmaster Erin Keefe for a performance of Max Bruch’s elegant Violin Concerto No. 1. The singers of the Minnesota Chorale lent their voices to two works on the program, Johannes Brahms’ Schicksalslied and the U.S. premiere of Eleanor Alberga’s Rise Up, O Sun! Watch as host Steve Staruch speaks with Keefe regarding her preparation for the performance.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård, conductor
Erin Keefe, violin *
Minnesota Chorale **

ELEANOR ALBERG Rise Up, O Sun! **
MAX BRUCH Violin Concerto No. 1 *
JOHANNES BRAHMS Schicksalslied **
ROBERT SCHUMANN Symphony No. 1 (Spring)

Anthony Ross plays Dvorak's Cello Concerto with the Minnesota Orchestra

Not long before he wrote his famous Cello Concerto, Antonín Dvořák spent time exploring places Minnesotans might recognize — staying for a summer in the tiny town of Spillville in northern Iowa and visiting Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis — as he sought out new sparks of inspiration. On Friday, Jan. 12, principal cello Anthony Ross performed the piece alongside the Minnesota Orchestra and conductor Jun Märkl in a program featuring music by Dvořák and Brahms. Listen below to Ross’ talk with host Steve Staruch about his preparation for the performance.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Jun Märkl, conductor
Anthony Ross, cello *

ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK Cello Concerto *
JOHANNES BRAHMS Symphony No. 3

‘Celebrating a Century on the Airwaves’

On most Friday nights, no matter where you are in the state — or in the world, for that matter — you can look forward to tuning into YourClassical Minnesota Public Radio to hear a live concert. From a radio debut in 1923 under Bruno Walter to television transmissions in the 1950s and the ensemble’s unprecedented international broadcast from Havana in 2015, the orchestra has always been on the forefront of finding new ways to connect audiences with music.

Reflecting on 100 years of radio broadcast history, MPR host Melissa Ousley sat down with historian John Michel, technical director Michael Osborne and former broadcast host and current orchestra staffer Brian Newhouse for a spirited retelling of this vital history.

Minnesota Orchestra music director Thomas Sondergard shares a tongue-in-cheek secret of conducting during a chat with YourClassical MPR host Melissa Ousley at an MPR event.

Minnesota Orchestra music director Thomas Søndergård explains how he and his husband, baritone Andreas Landin, share their love of music during a chat with YourClassical MPR host Melissa Ousley at an MPR event.

Monday, April 15, marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Neville Marriner. He was the music director of the Minnesota Orchestra from 1979 to 1986. To mark the occasion, we're going back to a concert from April 2008, when he served as guest conductor. Melissa Ousley and Brian Newhouse host this special encore. Listen now!

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Neville Marriner, conductor
Jorja Fleezanis, violin *

EDWARD ELGAR Violin Concerto *
JOHANNES BRAHMS Symphony No. 4

While it might be unseasonably mild in the Twin Cities lately, don’t get too excited. Remember, there’s February. And March. And, yes, April. The cold will return. That’s a guarantee.

A cold spell had burrowed its way into eastern Minnesota by the second Saturday of January, about a month later than usual. We had tickets for a Minnesota Orchestra concert at Orchestra Hall that night. After the fact, it was learned that idle thoughts by both parties included the idea of actually scrapping a night out into the deep freeze in favor of the warm confines of home and whatever might be playing on Netflix.

Fortunately, those thoughts were never verbalized.

First of all, it’s Minneapolis in mid-January. It’s supposed to be cold. Rattle-your-teeth cold. You know, cover-every-part-of-exposed-skin-before-heading-out-the-door cold. Sure, it might’ve been single digits this particular Saturday night, but it was above zero. That’s go-time. So you bundle up — and you go.

Walking from our parked car into the skyway of downtown Minneapolis, crossing over 11th Street and then west, over Marquette Avenue, it didn’t take long to realize — oh, this was a very good decision.

It was 6:30 p.m., a half-hour before the start of the concert. There were coats and scarves and hats of all sizes, shapes and colors. And there were smiles — lots of them. Anticipation buzzed. Being part of a large group of people moving in one direction, knowing we were about to be entertained, provided this wonderful sense of comfort and satisfaction. I could literally feel the blood returning to the tips of my frigid fingers.

And then there was the accordion guy.

As you arrive at Orchestra Hall via the skyway, the crowd of people intensifies and you subconsciously begin to jockey for position among the masses. But then you hear it — the familiar sounds of the accordion guy’s gentle playing slows you down and puts you back in the proper mindset. Dan Turpening has been playing in that same spot for years now — supposedly there was talk of kicking him out a decade or so ago, but Minnesota Orchestra members said no way. As you pass by, Turpening’s subdued playing and sincere smile nudges the bleak midwinter a little further south, creating the final promenade into Orchestra Hall.

The volunteers who greet patrons at the entrances to the lobby of Orchestra Hall create a welcoming feel to the place. Stuffy it is not. You can certainly get by with a decent pair of jeans and a sweater. Feel like trotting out your wardrobe’s best bells and whistles — the fanciest of your fancy clothes? Go for it. Concert night offers an amalgamation of fashion, style and attitude. But there are no noses in the air. “You don’t belong here” does not belong at Orchestra Hall, and I love that about the place.

Seeing a rock star

That first stroll into the concert hall is always kind of a rush for me. The place is 50 years old (with a major renovation a decade ago) but still has a modernistic feel, thanks to all those marvelous cubes. There are over a hundred massive, acoustic cubes that come bounding out from the ceiling above you and from the wall behind the stage in front of you. They truly make a unique, signature statement aesthetically while effectively dispersing sound throughout the hall.

This particular night, everything was backlit in blue creating almost an igloo effect — not icy, but as if to say, “Come on in. Have a seat. Get comfortable. It’s at least 68 degrees, and there’s live music.”

Ah, yes. The live music.

It was five minutes before the downbeat. Orchestra members were in their seats warming up. But the first thing that caught my eye was the chair. The lone, empty chair on its own small platform, slightly raised and to the conductor’s left. The soloist’s chair. It’s why we had ventured out in single digit temperatures — to hear Anthony Ross play the cello.

You can talk about Prince and Bob Dylan all you want. But in my world, Ross is every bit the Minnesota rock star as those legendary names. He has been the principal cello with the Minnesota Orchestra for over 30 years and he’s been around the block a time or two with Antonin Dvořák’s Cello Concerto.

After nearly a four-minute wait in the music, the cello finally enters, briefly alone with no orchestra. The main theme is played with a defiant sturdiness, but also with a sense of longing. From that point on, over the next 35 minutes or so, Dvořák takes you on a musical ride through his life.

Dvořák is the cello. The orchestra is life.

The concerto was composed when Dvořák was 53, during the winter of 1894-95, in a house that no longer stands on E. 17th Street in Gramercy-Manhattan, just north of the East Village, in New York City. He also wrote his Ninth Symphony (From the New World) at that location. The composer was at the end of his time in America, where he had spent the past three years as the director of the new National Conservatory of Music. During that time, Dvořák also had ventured west, discovering a community of Czech immigrants in Spillville, Iowa. He had gained inspiration from places such as Minneapolis’ Minnehaha Falls and learned about the music and traditions of Native and African Americans from people such as Harry T. Burleigh.

But Bohemia was home, and Dvořák dearly missed it.

With him in America was his wife, Anna, whom he had married after courting her older sister, Josefina. During that courtship, Dvorak had started an early cello concerto, expressing his love for Josefina — unrequited love. Now, years later and 4,000 miles from home, he learned that Josefina was seriously ill. So into the new concerto, Dvořák wove one of Josefina’s favorite songs, which cries out in the slow movement.

The final movement is lively and dancelike. It’s the composer anticipating his return to Bohemia. To home. Hopefulness. Dvořák’s words:

“The finale closes gradually diminuendo, like a sigh, with reminiscences of the first and second movements — the solo dies down — then swells again, and the last bars are taken up by the orchestra and the whole concludes in a stormy mood. That is my idea, and I cannot depart from it."

Life.

It’s all there, in Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, splendidly brought into our lives by Ross and the Minnesota Orchestra on a frigid January night.

As if our internal temperature hadn’t gone up enough, Ross gave us an extra dab of whipped cream on the evening’s hot chocolate with a brief encore — a delightful taste of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” arranged by St. Paul composer David Evan Thomas, that absolutely oozed tenderness and warmth.

More musical delights

But there was still a symphony to hear.

Johannes Brahms was a champion of Dvořák’s music and was a most influential figure in the young Czech composer’s career. They also became fast friends in the latter half of the 19th century, so it was only fitting that our Saturday night out ended with another log on the fire, courtesy of Brahms’ Symphony No. 3.

In the autumn of 1883, Dvořák visited Vienna and spent some quality time with his friend and fellow composer. He wrote to his publisher:

“You know, of course, how very reticent he [Brahms] is even to his dearest friends and musicians in regard to his work, but towards me he was not so. At my request to hear something of his new symphony, he was immediately forthcoming and played its first and last movements for me. I say without exaggerating that this work surpasses his first two symphonies; if not, perhaps, in grandeur and powerful conception, then certainly in beauty. What magnificent melodies there are for the finding!”

For me, it was enough to just sit back, close my eyes, and let those magnificent melodies take me to all the good places — mostly to memories of my father and his deep love for Brahms’ music. Dad would actually air-conduct listening to Brahms while driving the tractor on the family farm in Nebraska.

That’s a visual you don’t forget.

No surprise, by the time the Brahms’ Third was finished, there were a few tears — warm, happy tears. Conductor Jun Markl then introduced the encore, calling it “one of the hottest pieces Brahms had ever written,” the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 5. Now let’s be honest — after a stomp your feet, get outta your seat and clap your hands kind of piece like that, nobody is going home cold.

Then we all zipped up our coats and made our way back out into the Land of 10,000 Frozen Lakes, making one last pass by the accordion guy in the skyway. He was still smiling, easing us back into reality with the most gentle and tender playing.

Warmth.

I don’t get to Orchestra Hall as much as I’d like, but it is not lost on me how fortunate we are to have a world-class orchestra in this state and a world-class cellist like Anthony Ross. On this particular Saturday night, the addition of a healthy dose of Dvořák and Brahms made for the ideal elixir for the post-holidays, January blahs. In two hours’ time, I had stored up enough warmth to at least get me to March!

On Jan. 1, Thomas Søndergård and the Minnesota Orchestra, along with pianist Stephen Hough, welcomed 2024 with a sparkling concert. The audience experienced the intimacy of a snowy evening through Sergei Prokofiev’s Winter Bonfire, the fireworks of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s famous Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and the joy of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. Listen to the concert now!

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård, conductor
Angelica Cantanti Youth Choirs
Stephen Hough, piano *

SERGEI PROKOFIEV Selections from Winter Bonfire
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini *
PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY Suite from The Nutcracker

For more information about tickets and program notes, visit the Minnesota Orchestra’s official webiste.

When British pianist Stephen Hough returns to Minneapolis to perform Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Minnesota Orchestra on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, he will be following in the footsteps of the great Russian composer, who gave the Minnesota premiere of his work on Nov. 29, 1935, with conductor Eugene Ormandy and the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. It was only Rachmaninoff’s fourth public performance of the Rhapsody after its November 1934 world premiere in Baltimore with Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Rachmaninoff and Ormandy’s performance at Northrop Auditorium received rave reviews from the local press. Writing for the Minneapolis Star, John Sherman described Rachmaninoff as “the same crafty sorcerer, the gaunt wise ogre in evening dress who shambles to the piano to draw from it the blazing fires of eloquence and the slow flame of poetry.” Sherman was impressed by the virtuosity of the new work — its “flashing rhythms” and how, even in the most dazzling variations, Rachmaninoff established “a mood of elaborate pathos, of regal melancholy.”

It is likely that this particular performance in Minneapolis played a role in securing Rachmaninnoff’s confidence in Ormandy as a trusted collaborator and conductor of his work. Ormandy, who had just celebrated his 36th birthday and was only in his fourth year as conductor in Minneapolis, spoke in considerable detail about the concert in an interview decades later. In it, he recounted how he had requested an appointment with Rachmaninoff (probably in New York) to discuss interpretation of the Rhapsody and also how, on returning to Minneapolis, he imparted the details of this meeting to his orchestra.

“I rehearsed that work so hard,” he said.

The interview with Ormandy is especially notable for its description of an uneasy moment during the 1935 performance that had gone unmentioned, and perhaps unnoticed, by the Minneapolis critics. In one of the Rhapsody’s late variations, where the pianist plays without accompaniment, Rachmaninoff had a memory slip.

“He got lost almost immediately, and he began to play all over the place in different keys,” Ormandy said. “… I looked, gave him a ‘scared to death’ look, and he looked at me while playing; he says, ‘Play!’”

Ormandy and the orchestra did just that, managing to get the performance back on track. After finishing the piece, Ormandy remained uneasy.

“I didn’t know what he was going to do. He got up … and walks over to me, shook hands with me. He says, ‘I am sorry.’”

As the two men responded to tumultuous applause, the towering Rachmaninoff insisted that Ormandy should stick by him.

“Every time he took a bow, he pulled me along, six and a half feet, with five and half feet, like a little boy, and he was just so grateful to me.”

After Ormandy left Minneapolis in 1937, the two men continued to collaborate, both on the concert stage and, from 1939 to 1941, through treasured RCA recordings of the composer’s first, third and fourth piano concertos with Ormandy’s new band — the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Hough’s performances of Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 will come at the end of the sesquicentennial of the composer’s birth. Rachmaninoff was born on April 2, 1873, in Oneg, Russia. He died on March 28, 1943, just months after his final appearance in Minneapolis on Nov. 20, 1942. According to an invaluable dissertation on Rachmaninoff’s American years by Robin Gehl — a faculty member at Concordia University in St. Paul who also works in classical music programming at YourClassical MPR— this was the composer’s 16th performance in the Twin Cities.

Brad Snelling is a librarian at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth. He also writes historical notes for Matinee Musicale, the city's classical music series, which has been presenting concerts since 1900.

On Jan. 1, 2023, conductor Mei-Ann Chen and the Minnesota Orchestra rang in the new year with a program that opened with Leonard Bernstein’s animated Candide Overture. Then, special guest Awadagin Pratt performed the Minnesota premiere of Jessie Montgomery’s Rounds for Piano and Orchestra, a work written specifically for him. Finally, a New Year’s celebration wouldn’t be complete without the adventure and passion that the orchestra brought with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s beloved Scheherazade. Listen to the concert now as we prepare for 2024!

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Mei-Ann Chen, conductor
Awadagin Pratt, piano

LEONARD BERNSTEIN Overture from Candide
JESSIE MONTGOMERY Rounds for Piano and Orchestra
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Scherherazade
EDUARDO LOBO Péde Vento from Suíte Popular Brasileira (encore)
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Final Movement from Symphony No. 9 (recording from 2006)

Editor’s note: Due to rights restrictions, on-demand audio for this program will not be available.

In this season of holiday traditions, few are as magnificent and memorable as Handel's Messiah. British conductor Christopher Warren-Green has achieved more than 50 years of world-class conducting engagements around the world. He and the Minnesota Orchestra are joined by the heavenly voices of the Minnesota Chorale and four soloists for this glorious December gathering. Listen to the live broadcast with host Melissa Ousley at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 8, on YourClassical MPR.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Christopher Warren-Green, conductor
Minnesota Chorale
Georgia Jarman, soprano
Reginald Mobley, countertenor
Toby Spence, tenor
Jordan Bisch, bass

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL Messiah

For more information regarding tickets and program notes, visit Minnesota Orchestra’s official webiste.

When you hear Michael Giacchino’s name, you think of all of his terrific movie music — the Oscar-winning Up, Coco, The Incredibles, Ratatouille and the rebooted Star Trek film franchise. You might even know that he started his compositional career working with Steven Spielberg on — wait for it — video games!

But you probably don’t think of him as a filmmaker or director, and yet that is precisely Giacchino’s background, his first love. That’s how he ended up directing — and composing the music for — the Marvel movie Werewolf by Night, which will be screened with a live performance of his score by the Minnesota Orchestra on Wednesday, Oct. 4, at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.

Giacchino studied filmmaking at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, and, as his mother, Josephine, says, “He went to Julliard in his spare time.” The concept of Julliard as a side gig is amazing, but the Giacchino family seems to take everything in their South Jersey stride without a lot of fuss or fanfare. Talking with Giacchino is no different. He’s approachable, friendly, funny, warm and down to earth. 

Making Werewolf by Night was a return to childhood for Giacchino. He was the geeky kid with his movie nerd buddies, watching Creature Double Feature on TV by night, and by day making Super 8 movies all over his hometown, proud of their special effects — which included dueling with real swords, throwing real knives, taping firecrackers to each other for the effect of being shot and clambering on suburban rooftops.

Werewolf by Night was one of his favorite comic books, especially because it was an outlier in the Marvel Universe. He loved the character, his flaws, persecutions and tribulations, feeling it was the stuff of a good film. It was an easy choice.

Giacchino also wrote the music for Werewolf by Night, although he’s most assuredly right at home in the director’s chair, bringing his effusive and contagious love of films and filmmaking to cast, crew and audience. 

Listen to his interview above, or read below, in advance of the Minnesota Orchestra’s Oct. 4 performance of Werewolf by Night.

What are the challenges of directing and being responsible for a crew, as compared with the relatively isolated job of scoring a film?

“Growing up wanting to be a director and wanting to make movies, it absolutely informed how I wrote music for films. I always approached it from the mind of a filmmaker, and it was all about storytelling. Over the years, I've met a lot of people that write music for films, and some of them really are just interested in the music and others are also interested in the story. And for me, if you're not interested in the story, just go write concert music. That's fine, because we need that, too. But a lot of people look at this career and say, ‘Oh, it's like a good job. I could write music for a living.’ But I really feel like to do this correctly, you have to love movies.

“You have to love telling stories, and you have to love sharing this excitement of an unfolding parable in front of you with an audience, with a bunch of people, with millions of people, hopefully. For me, so much of what I do today is really rooted in my childhood love of movies, and it all comes out of that. It's not a music-first thing for me, which seems to surprise people.”

Well, you win an Oscar for film composing and people begin to guess. 

“Well, that's the funny thing. They think, ‘Oh, wait, you can actually can do something different, too?’ And that's the other thing about this town is, like, the second you do one thing fairly well, then that's all you're allowed to do for the rest of your life. And trying to break that mold or break that paradigm that is sort of instilled in this entire industry is very difficult.”

Now that you're behind the camera and you’re running the show, how did it feel? How was it different for you than what you could do when you're composing?

“When I'm writing music for a film, I'm home in my office. I work 9 to 5. I'm pretty much in control of my whole world. But when I’m directing, I’m at the mercy of God knows what. Anything could go wrong. The schedule doesn't work, whether it’s happening or you go over time; there's all kinds of things that could go terribly wrong while you're directing. But I loved it. When I first got on set for Werewolf by Night, I honestly felt more at home there than I ever have writing music for movies, because I felt like I was getting back to the roots of what I wanted to do when I was growing up.

“My whole life I grew up making movies as a kid, that's all I ever did. I never really wrote music while I was growing up. I took piano lessons and I loved music, I listened to film scores and I was incredibly nerdy about all of that. But at the same time, I was also incredibly nerdy about blowing up miniatures and filming them and doing stop-motion films or using my friends to make these crazy science-fiction sort of Twilight Zone-ish-type things.

“My real love was all of that. And I ended up in this sort of path where it became a specialized thing as opposed to when I was a kid, when I could do everything, and I really missed that. I missed this idea that I didn't have to do just one thing. I can do all of this. I want to try all of it! So that was a great joy on the set. I could say, ‘Hey, I want to try that crane,’ and they would let me move the crane. Or, ‘I want to move the dolly,’ and they'd be like, ‘Great! Move the dolly.’ I was, like, I want to do all of it, because I have such respect and love for everyone that works on a film set. It's an incredibly hard job. And when everyone is in sync and when it's all working together, it's one of the most fun experiences you could ever have. I just love it.” 

In your brother Anthony’s documentary, Director by Night, you talk about loving horror films and how they're an allegory of humanity, of the things we go through as human beings. Could you talk a little bit about that?

“As a kid watching monster movies, my brother and I, we would watch Creature Double Feature out of Philadelphia every single Saturday. That was our church; that's the way we worshiped, by watching these old movies from the ‘30s, ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s. And it was filled with all kinds of things, whether it was King Kong or Vincent Price movies, or whether it was The Mummy, all of those classic horror films. And the one thing I remember in watching them was that I always felt so bad for the monster, because in almost every case this monster was here accidentally or was created accidentally, or landed here from another planet, at no fault of its own. And they're just being themselves, and the rest of the world is like, ‘Oh, there's a thing that's different. Let's kill it.’ And it was always so sad to me. I always felt bad for Frankenstein's monster.

“And I never forgot the idea of the ‘other’ being treated in a terrible way. It made me feel bad. So when we went to go make Werewolf by Night, I wanted to make sure that this was a story about somebody who had a problem they can't handle and they need help. They don't need persecution, they need understanding and empathy. They don't need violence against them.

“And that's something that you could look at across the board in our society, which is just one of the biggest problems that we have, is this lack of understanding for anything that is different from you or what you know. And there tends to be a reactionary thing that happens where people just lash out and want to destroy whatever isn't something that they feel is right. So for me it was important to lean into that because I couldn't get away from it. Every time I think of those movies, that's what I think about, my sadness for these creatures.” 

While watching Werewolf by Night, I was very interested in the actors, like Gael García Bernal and the fabulous villain, Harriet Sansom Harris.

“Harriet is the greatest; she was amazing. You don't know how it's going to be on set with certain people. You're hoping it's all going to work out and everyone's going to get along. And I have to say, we got so lucky with everyone. Harriet, Laura [Donnelly] and Gael set a tone that was both professional but also fun and also incredibly flexible. Harriet, for example, would come in, say her line, and she’d kill it right off the bat. And then you'd say, ‘Oh, but what if at the end you actually held it for a moment before you say that last word?’ And she goes, ‘I know exactly what you're talking about; yes, let's do it again.’ She was just so game to jump in and be a part of the creative process.

“And I love when there's a sense that the person you're working with is as excited about what you're doing as you are, that just makes all the difference in the world. It didn't feel like anyone was there because it was a job. This was a weird Marvel project, right? This was the weirdest Marvel project on the planet. And I think that because it was so weird and so different, everyone just wanted to be a part of it. And I was so lucky to have so many great people involved.

“But, yeah, the cast! Gael is sort of like the Buster Keaton of our times. He can do the smallest look and give you everything you need. He can be hilarious without almost doing anything. He's just a brilliant actor. And Laura Donnelly, how do you get better than her? What I was amazed at was that you could change a whole page of dialogue with her and she would remember it instantly. You didn't have to worry about it. She was so impressive and so amazing. They were all such a huge lift to the entire project. I was lucky to have them.”

I was noticing when you were directing Gael you giving him directions according to how the music would play out in the scene. Not many directors do that. What came first in this project, the music or the filming?

“It was sort of a concurrent thing. I would be working on the story with Heather Quinn, who was the writer. We had so much fun building this story together, and while we were doing that, I would write down themes and things that would indicate the tone of the scene. It's one thing when you read it on paper because everyone has a different interpretation in their head of how a scene is going to play out and what it's meant to say. But I'm the one that has to have the final word on that.

“So what I would do is write the music and I could play it for the actors, and it would instantly put them in the right mood. They would know the tone, they would understand it, and there were no questions about it. And if there was a question about it, we could discuss it. The music tells you everything that you need emotionally from a scene. And so it was just a great way to get everyone on the same page very quickly, as opposed to going in there and saying, ‘Just trust me,’ which is hard.”

Is there a moment in the score that you really want the audience members to listen for?

“I want them to just be engrossed in the experience the way that I was as a kid. Watching a movie, you're just lost in this story, and the fun thing is that you're sort of getting a tutorial on how movies are made, in a way. When you get to go to see a symphony perform a score, take a moment and actually look down from the movie screen and look at those people playing the instruments. You don't get to do that unless you have practiced for years and years to get good at what you do. That is not an easy job to do on that stage.

“It is so hard and I'm always so incredibly thankful to the players because without them, a score is literally just little black dots on a piece of paper. If I were to just show that to somebody, 99.9% of the people would not know what the heck that is. But until a player plays it and brings it out, suddenly they're spreading emotion all over the place with their performance.

“And I always tell audiences, just take a beat while you're watching. Yes. Enjoy the show, boo the villains, cheer the heroes, but also watch that orchestra. Because honestly, that night, they’re the biggest heroes of the experience and they're guiding you through this emotional journey that you're experiencing. So that's it for me, simply take a moment to look at them, see what they do, and appreciate the fact that they just spent 20 years of their life to get that good so they could do this for you. To me, that’s really cool.”

Find out more about the Minnesota Orchestra’s performance and screening of Werewolf by Night on its official website.

If you weren’t in the Orchestra Hall audience in May to hear the premiere of brea(d)th, the work inspired by the death of George Floyd and the struggle for racial justice across history, Decca Records has now released a recording of it on all streaming platforms.

The piece, by Grammy-winning composer Carlos Simon and librettist Marc Bamuthi Joseph, was recorded over three live performances May 18-20, with the Minnesota Orchestra joined by 150 choral musicians and directed by Jonathan Taylor Rush.

The orchestra commissioned Simon and Joseph in 2021 to create the work, which asks listeners, “How do we move forward? What is the breadth of the task at hand?” The recording features the voices of the Minnesota Chorale, Twin Cities Choral Partners and the South African ensemble 29:11 International Exchange, as well as Joseph’s spoken-word performance.

In related news, a forthcoming recording, African American Voices II, features three pieces that were included in the Minnesota Orchestra’s 2021 Listening Project but had not previously been recorded. Conductor Kellen Gray leads the Royal National Scottish Orchestra in performances of Margaret Bonds’ Montgomery Variations, Ulysses Kay’s Concerto for Orchestra and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s Worship: A Concert Overture on the recording, which will be released by Linn Records on Oct. 13.

Jon Kimura Parker shares his love and admiration for British singer, pianist and composer Elton John. Listen as he shares a snippet of a song that shaped his youth with YourClassical MPR host Melissa Ousley.

Acclaimed pianist Jon Kimura Parker shares his passion for Sergei Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with YourClassical MPR host Melissa Ousley. Find out what makes this well-loved classical piece tick.

Summer at Orchestra Hall returns for it’s 2023 season! Join creative partner and pianist Jon Kimura Parker and the Minnesota Orchestra for a concert series featuring musicians and performers from across the Twin Cities, as well as a wide variety of music inspired by the warmest season of the year. Tune in to YourClassical MPR for two live broadcasts of the events at 8 p.m. July 14 and 21.

Summer at Orchestra Hall Concerts

8 p.m. Friday, July 21 - Stravinsky’s Firebird

Regarded for his lively interpretations of both operatic and orchestral repertoire, conductor Elias Grandy led this multirhythmic program featuring the suite from Igor Stravinsky’s famous ballet score for The Firebird. American composer Daniel Bernard Roumain wrote his Dancers, Dreamers and Presidents in honor of a dance between Barack Obama and Ellen DeGeneres in 2007; during this staging, performers from BRKFST Dance Company presented the world premiere of the complete choreography they set to the powerful piece. The program opened with Maurice Ravel’s La Valse, a tribute to the waltz, and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, featuring soloist Jon Kimura Parker. Listen to the concert now!

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Elias Grandy, conductor
Jon Kimura Parker, piano *

MAURICE RAVEL La Valse
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini *
DANIEL BERNARD ROUMAIN Dancers, Dreamers and Presidents
IGOR STRAVINSKY Suite from The Firebird 

Video Pick: Jon Kimura Parker shares his passion for Sergei Rachmaninoff's 'Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini,' the centerpiece of his July 21 concert with the Minnesota Orchestra.

Previous Concerts

July 14 - Listen: Minnesota Orchestra presents Summer at Orchestra Hall with Jon Kimura Parker
Lee Mills conducted Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 in his first appearance with the Minnesota Orchestra since the former Seattle Symphony associate conductor’s debut in February 2022. At the heart of the program was Jon Kimura Parker’s performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s momentous Piano Concerto No. 1. Listen to the concert now!

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Lee Mills, conductor
Jon Kimura Parker, piano *

CLARICE ASSAD Brazilian Fanfare
FELIX MENDELSSOHN Piano Concerto No. 1 *
RODRIGO CICCHELLI VELLOSO Sketch of a Butterfly
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 8 

Video Pick: Jon Kimura Parker shares his love and admiration for British singer, pianist and composer Elton John. Listen as he shares a snippet of his encore from his July 14 performance with YourClassical MPR host Melissa Ousley.

Feb. 3 - Watch: Minnesota Orchestra celebrates a century on the airwaves

On most Friday nights, no matter where you are in the state—or in the world, for that matter—you can look forward to tuning into YourClassical Minnesota Public Radio to hear a live concert. From a radio debut in 1923 under Bruno Walter to television transmissions in the 1950s and the ensemble’s unprecedented international broadcast from Havana in 2015, the orchestra has always been on the forefront of finding new ways to connect audiences with music.

Reflecting on 100 years of radio broadcast history, MPR host Melissa Ousley sat down with historian John Michel, technical director Michael Osborne and former broadcast host and current orchestra staffer Brian Newhouse for a spirited retelling of this vital history.

By Max Sparber and Jacob Aloi

The Minnesota Orchestra announced its 2023-24 season with new music director Thomas Søndergård, a Danish conductor and percussionist. 

He was previously the music director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He was appointed as the new music director for the Minnesota Orchestra in July 2022, succeeding Osmo Vänskä, who served in the position for almost two decades.

At a press event Tuesday morning, Søndergård explained his goals: “I want to be the music director for all generations,” he said. 

Søndergård especially focused on programming for children. “I will never forget when I was a child … there were four tickets to the theater that would tour through the city, and I was just looking forward to escape into that little world.”

“So I think it's important to give kids the absolute best possible quality that we can give them,” he said.

Programming for children includes Orchestra's Young People's Concerts, which will present five different programs intended for students in grades 1-6. 

The season also includes Relaxed Family Concerts, designed for audiences of all ages, including individuals with autism or sensory sensitivities.

Other plans include:

• Spotlighting and recording works by underrepresented composers as part of its Listening Project initiative, now in its third year

• Kristin Chenoweth, Ben Folds and Audra McDonald will appear as part of the Live at Orchestra Hall program, as well as Minneapolis-based hip-hop artist Nur-D

• The Orchestra will play live accompaniment to movies, including “Get Out” and “Frozen”

• Most Saturday Classical concerts will include earlier start times, Choose Your Price tickets and matinee concerts with Thomas Søndergård on select Saturdays

Classical concerts

The season will see a range of musicians and performances, including Yuja Wang and Yefim Bronfman playing Béla Bartók’s “Piano Concerto No. 2” and Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Fourth Piano Concerto,” respectively. 

The season also includes the Orchestra's first performance of James MacMillan’s Trombone Concerto and a Saxophone Concerto by Billy Childs commissioned by the Orchestra that explores Black experiences in America. 

A number of conductors will make their debut performances with the Orchestra, including Eun Sun Kim and Domingo Hindoyan. The Minnesota Chorale and Osmo Vänskä will also perform.

Also planned for the season:

• Søndergård's first concerts will include Richard Strauss' “Don Juan” and “An Alpine Symphony” and Mozart's Oboe Concerto featuring Principal Oboe Nathan Hughes

• He will conduct the U.S. premiere of Eleanor Alberga’s “Rise up, O Sun!” and feature performances by Augustin Hadelich and Kirill Gerstein

• Søndergård's first Relaxed Family Concert, “Classics with Thomas Søndergård,” will take place on January 7 and feature music from “The Nutcracker”

The season will end with a program in June 2024 featuring music by LGBTQ+ composers, including works by Karol Szymanowski and Dame Ethel Smyth.

“Being gay myself, this is really important to me,” Søndergård said. He explained that the event was inspired by a program in WorldPride in Copenhagen a few years ago, which was “a real success, people loved it.”

Last December, Border CrosSing and artistic director Ahmed Anzaldúa joined the Minnesota Orchestra in El Mesías, a bilingual Spanish-English cross-cultural combination of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah and Navidad Nuestra, a Christmas cantata by Argentinian composer Ariel Ramírez. Together with the vocal soloists and choir, the unique combination of Andean instruments and the Baroque orchestra blured the lines between Western classical and South American folk traditions. Listen to the concert now!

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Ahmed Anzaldúa, conductor
Border CrosSing, chorus and Andean ensemble

ARIEL RAMÍREZ Navidad Nuestro
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL Messiah [Part I and Hallelujah chorus]

For program notes, visit the Minnesota Orchestra’s official website.

A first-of-its-kind concert from the Minnesota Orchestra last fall put the spotlight on rarely heard music by Black composers. Dubbed “The Listening Project,” the performance occurred on Oct. 7.

It included works from composers both contemporary, like Eleanor Alberga and Hale Smith, and historic, like Margaret Bonds. Louise Toppin, performer, scholar and professor and host of the performance spoke at the time with host Cathy Wurzer about the composers being highlighted.

Transcript

CATHY WURZER: A concert from the Minnesota Orchestra will spotlight rarely heard music by Black composers dubbed, The Listening Project. The performance is this Friday, October 7. It'll include works from composers, both contemporary like Hale Smith, and historic, like Margaret Bonds. Louise Toppin is here right now to share more about the project. She's a performer, scholar, and professor, and host of Friday's Performance. Louise, I'm so happy you're here thanks for joining us.

LOUISE TOPPIN: I appreciate being here.

CATHY WURZER: So I'm wondering, how were the composers and the songs selected?

LOUISE TOPPIN: So I founded a database, and I have a co-conductor, James Blachley, who helped. But we're also looking at composers who have been influential in the whole narrative of African American composition. From the historic, the first African American woman who's internationally recognized, Florence Price and her protege Margaret Bonds.

You have Hailstork, who is one of the most important symphonic composers today. And you have Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, who brings in a perspective from Europe, and influences the work of early African American composers. So working together, it's really telling you quite a beautiful story about these composers who fought to have their works recognized, but were also activists in their own way.

CATHY WURZER: Let's talk a little bit about some of these composers. I know the show is going to open with a work from Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. I want to play some of his music here. This specifically is "Four African Dances," number three.

[MUSIC - SAMUEL COLERIDGE-TAYLOR, "FOUR AFRICAN DANCES #3"]

Oh, that is beautiful. That is beautiful. Wasn't he a British composer?

LOUISE TOPPIN: He was. He was Afro-British. His father was British. His mother was African. So he grew up in England studying music, and became one of their most celebrated composers.

CATHY WURZER: And how would you characterize his music?

LOUISE TOPPIN: Oh, his music is lyrical. It's beautiful melodies. But he also was so important coming to the United States, he had an encounter with the Fisk Jubilee singers while he was in England. They toured there. And he learned about spirituals. And he began to really enjoy spiritual melodies. And then he also met Paul Laurence Dunbar, who visits in England, and the two of them become close friends. They actually wrote one opera together.

But more importantly, it allowed him to find a space to explore his blackness. And so he began to use things such as writing negro folk melodies, or African American, or African music with those titles at a time that people weren't really talking about or celebrating being a Black composer. And when he comes to the United States, he is the one that influences that early generation, including Burley, to say your music of spirituals, this is the music we should be celebrating.

CATHY WURZER: Another important figure, as I mentioned in the intro, and you also touched on her, is Margaret Bonds. For folks who don't know, she was one of the first Black composers to receive critical recognition in the United States, though. This is one of her most famous compositions for listening to, "Troubled Water."

[SOFT PIANO MUSIC PLAYING]

That has a little flavor of a spiritual, doesn't it?

LOUISE TOPPIN: It actually is. It's based on the spiritual weight in the water. And the piano piece that you just played is actually a part of a suite that, for many years, that movement was the only one that we knew existed. And then more recently, I found the other two movements. It's actually one about the bells and dry bones, are the three movements. And so it takes on a different connotation, if you realize these other two spirituals lead up to that spiritual. Instead of it's just the standalone spiritual virtuosic, though it is. It's a complete set that Margaret Bonds put together.

CATHY WURZER: And she had frequent collaborations with Langston Hughes. Now that is a powerful combination.

LOUISE TOPPIN: Absolutely. She found a Langston Hughes poem, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" when she was a grad student at Northwestern, and having a lot of trouble in her life because of segregation. And so she goes to the public library, which is the only place she could study. And she finds this poem that he had written many years earlier.

And she always said that poem is what got her through those difficult times. And then when she met him, so many years later, her mother Estella Bonds had a home that featured lots of famous artists and poets. And so she met Langston Hughes. They become fast friends and they collaborate on musical theater, on art song, on a myriad of works.

CATHY WURZER: By the way, if you're tuning in, we were talking about The Listening Project. This is going to be a performance this coming Friday, October 7, with the Minnesota orchestra, Louise Toppin, is with me right now. The program is going to conclude with Florence Price. We want to listen to a little of her most famous composition, which is "Symphony Number 1."

[MUSIC - FLORENCE PRICE, "SYMPHONY #1"]

Now, Miss Price was a pioneer, because, isn't she one of the first or the first Black woman to have her music played by a major symphony orchestra?

LOUISE TOPPIN: She was. And she was the first to have international recognition. Price goes on to have her work premiered by the Chicago Symphony. The tragedy in her life is that she tried to get other orchestras to perform the work in her lifetime and she was unsuccessful.

CATHY WURZER: My gosh. I know that some of these works have never been recorded. I'm wondering about the impact of recording them now.

LOUISE TOPPIN: Well, I think it's hugely important, and you asked me at the beginning why these pieces that was also a part of the criteria, was looking for works that have not been previously recorded. And in the case of all of these composers, they're well-documented and well-known composers. But when you look at the number of recordings that they have had, it's pretty small.

And if we have recorded them, it also makes it possible for other orchestras across the country and across the globe, can hear the sounds and can program-- people don't program repertoire if they can't hear it. This project is doing a huge service to the field by making these available in recorded form.

CATHY WURZER: So this next question of mine is an offshoot of what you just said. The Minnesota Orchestra says it's been working toward including more historically underrepresented composers of color. But as you know, the classical music world, pretty much, centers around white and European artists. What needs to happen for that to shift?

LOUISE TOPPIN: Well, for that to shift is part of what I just said, is having the recordings but also having scores available. So the publishing industry has to begin to catch up so that once they hear them, there's music available. But also we have to have a mind shift that programming does not mean we are taking away composers that we've known and loved. But it is making space for other American composers that we haven't heard from of all ethnicities.

CATHY WURZER: You sound like you're really excited about this effort.

LOUISE TOPPIN: Oh, I am so passionate. I've spent 32 years working on convincing people that there are more stories that are worth being told and being heard. I'm thrilled that my organization is partnering with the Minnesota Orchestra to do this work.

CATHY WURZER: Well, we look forward to the performance. Thank you so much for giving us a little taste of what to expect.

LOUISE TOPPIN: Thank you, appreciate it.

[SOFT PIANO MUSIC]

CATHY WURZER: Louise Toppin is a performer, and scholar, and host of the Minnesota Orchestra's performance this Friday. She's also the founder of the African Diaspora Music Project. Tickets for Friday's performance, by the way, are available at minnesotaorchestra.org. You can also listen live 8:00 PM on your classical Minnesota public radio, 99.5 FM in the Twin Cities.

Transcription services provided by 3Play Media.

Minnesota Orchestra’s longest-serving concertmaster and the second woman to serve in that position in a major U.S. orchestra at the time of appointment, Jorja Fleezanis, died in her home in northern Michigan at 70.

Violinist Jorja Fleezanis was devoted to music. A graduate of the Cleveland Insitute of Music and Cincinnati Conservatory, Fleezanis performed with the Chicago Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony as associate concertmaster before joining the Minnesota Orchestra.

Edo de Waart was the conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra when Fleezanis joined in 1989. At the news of her passing, de Waart stated, “Jorja Fleezanis was a force of nature. She and I first met in an audition at the San Francisco Symphony, where she played Sibelius. I was immediately inspired by the way she played. It was marvelous, and so I offered her the position. When I became music director of the Minnesota Orchestra, I invited her to serve as concertmaster.

“Jorja put more into her music than anyone I ever worked with,” he said. “She had a tremendous instinct for how things should be played. In my experience, that is a rare talent—as was her ability to be absolutely charming and frank at the same time. She called things exactly as she saw them. Jorja was a great friend, and her passing is a tremendous loss to me and the world of classical music.”

Minnesota Orchestra conductor laureate Osmo Vänskä, who Fleezanis spent her final years at the orchestra performing with, said, “Jorja was a wonderful musician, and she had so much passion and love for music. She was always open-minded when speaking about life, food and wine, new ideas and, of course, music. I look back on my years working with her with great fondness and appreciation.”

During her tenure at the Minnesota Orchestra, Fleezanis had two pieces commissioned for her by the orchestra. The first was the John Adams Violin Concerto, which she debuted in 1994 with Edo de Waart conducting, and the second was Ikon of Eros, composed by John Tavener. Recorded in the Cathedral of St. Paul for the centennial of the Minnesota Orchestra in 2003, the work is a magnificent expression of conflicting forces. The Divine Spirit, voiced by the orchestra, and the Divine Eros, played by Fleezanis on violin, represent a transcendence that unites us all. Here is the third movement from that performance.

Following her departure from the Minnesota Orchestra in 2009, she joined the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music faculty.

The Minnesota Orchestra announced the appointment of Thomas Søndergård as its next music director on July 28. Listen to on-demand audio of his December debut with the orchestra, plus watch five other great moments with the exciting Danish conductor from the concert stage.

Minnesota Orchestra debut

In December, Søndergård conducted the Minnesota Orchestra for the first time. On the program was Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben, which principal trombone R. Douglas Wright called the best performance of the work that he’d ever been part of. The conductor also showed his range with Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade for Orchestra and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23, featuring Argentine pianist Ingrid Fliter. Listen now to YourClassical MPR’s broadcast of that concert using the player above.

Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 (‘New World Symphony’)

Dvořák’s love of the Midwest and visits to the Twin Cities from his home in Iowa will not be forgotten by the orchestra’s new director. Søndergård’s 2021 performance of the New World Symphony should delight and inspire listeners. His leading a different orchestra in this work was hailed by a review in the Scotsman newspaper as "a refreshed vision of a venerable warhorse.”

Jean Sibelius: ‘Finlandia’

Both the New World Symphony and Jean Sibelius’ Finlandia are YourClassical MPR listener favorites and must-haves on this list. While Søndergård will bring new and exciting sounds to the region, listeners can rest assured that he will continue to program works that the Minnesota Orchestra is known for performing.

Thomas Adès: ‘… but all shall be well’

Composer Thomas Adès is known for his modern compositions of art music, and in this 2018 performance with the SWR Symphonieorchester, Søndergård demonstrates skill and precision in conducting new and interesting repertoire. We will get a taste of that sooner rather than later, because he'll be conducting a work by Lili Boulanger when he returns to lead the orchestra in October as music director designate.

Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges: Violin Concerto in A Major

Violinist Maya Iwabuchi joins Søndergård in an amazing performance of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges’ Violin Concerto in A Major, which was part of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s digital season during the pandemic.

Thomas Søndergård on Stravinsky

Every conductor has unique ideas about composers and their compositions. In this 2016 interview, Søndergård discusses his interpretations of Igor Stravinsky and how he approaches conducting works from the legendary composer, whose music he led in April with the Minnesota Orchestra and will conduct again when he returns in October.

Enjoy highlights of Minnesota’s 2022 Latvian Song and Dance Festival, featuring music by world-renowned choral composer Ēriks Ešenvalds and the melded voices of two outstanding choirs: Anima from Latvia and Magnum Chorum from the Twin Cities. The concert featured the premiere of a piece by Ešenvalds in the magnificent acoustical space of the Cathedral of St. Paul, one of the largest houses of worship in the United States. Listen to the concert now!

Program

Anima of Saulkrasti, Latvia

• Arr. Emīls Melngaiļis and Laura Leontjeva: Dark Night, Green Grass (Latvian folk song)

• Arr. Laura Leontjeva: Huff and Puff (Livonian folk song)

• Ērika Ešenvalda: Landscape With Shepherds (Latvian folk song)

• Laura Leontjeva: The Sun Rising Upon Me (Latvian folk song)

• Ēriks Ešenvalds, composer; Charles Francis Hall and Fridtjof Nansen, lyrics: Ziemeļu Gaisma

Magun Chorum of Minnesota, USA

• René Clausen: Kyrie and Sanctus from Mass

• Rosephanye Powell: The Word Was God

• Ken Burton: Rest

• Ēriks Ešenvalds: Magnificat

• Ēriks Ešenvalds, composer; Sara Teasdale, lyrics: Evening

• Ēriks Ešenvalds, composer; Bai Juyi, lyrics: Ancient Prairie

• Ēriks Ešenvalds, composer; Sara Teasdale, lyrics: I Thought of You

Magnum Chorum and Saulkrastu koris ANIMA

• Ēriks Ešenvalds: Stars in the Sky

• Ēriks Ešenvalds: O Saving Victim

• Arr. Ēriks Ešenvalds: My Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose (Scottish Tune with Robert Burns lyrics)

• Ēriks Ešenvalds, composer; Anita Kārkliņa, lyrics: Song of the Soul

For more information, visit the Latvian Song and Dance Festival official website and the official Welcome Concert program.

On Friday, July 9, Yue Bao, assistant conductor of the Houston Symphony, examined the role of destiny as she led the Minnesota Orchestra in works by Giuseppe Verdi, Richard Strauss and Ludwig van Beethoven. Soprano Jessica Rivera sang Strauss’ poignant Four Last Songs, which was followed by Beethoven’s Grosse Fugue. Finally, the program culminated in a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. Listen to the concert now!

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Yue Bao, conductor
Jessica Rivera, soprano*

GIUSEPPE VERDI Overture from La forza del destino
RICHARD STRAUSS Four Last Songs *
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN/MARK STEINBERG Grosse Fuge
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 5

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the official Minnesota Orchestra website.

Gramophone has selected the Minnesota Orchestra as its 2021 orchestra of the year.

The prestigious U.K. classical music magazine’s critics scanned the globe and nominated their top 10 orchestras, based on each ensemble’s artistic merit and body of work over the past year. Then voters worldwide had their say.

Minnesota Orchestra fans — some close to home, others in far-flung corners of the world — gave the Minnesotans nearly one-third of all votes. Many of the fans no doubt discovered the orchestra last season through its free series of 19 live-streamed concerts.

Although less well known in the United States, the Gramophone Awards carry Grammy-like cachet in the United Kingdom and Europe, and are among the highest honors in classical music today. This win comes as part of the final season of music director Osmo Vänskä's 19-year tenure with the orchestra.

“It means a lot to us that this is an award decided by the public, by people who listen to and love and need classical music in their lives,” he said. “Music is such a vital force that it must be part of how we make sense of the world, especially in challenging times. Over the last year, we have reflected the full range of human experience on this stage: grief and anger and joy and laughter and hope.”

Watch his acceptance speech:

While the search for Vänskä's successor is underway, he and the orchestra this season will perform the full cycle of Jean Sibelius’ symphonies, a house specialty (their recording of the First and Fourth Symphonies won the 2014 Grammy for best orchestral performance); and they’ll record Mahler’s Third and Eighth Symphonies as part of a complete Mahler cycle.

Brian Newhouse is the former classical director of Minnesota Public Radio, where he hosted the weekly Minnesota Orchestra broadcasts. He now serves as associate vice president of individual giving for the orchestra.

With fire and smoke, violin bows and tympani strokes, two of Minnesota's biggest brands teamed up Sunday for an unlikely partnership. Just before kickoff of the Seattle Seahawks-Minnesota Vikings game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, the Vikings unveiled a new video mashup featuring their players and the Minnesota Orchestra, plus a few special effects. Watch below.

Vikings COO Andrew Miller said the team wanted to treat the first regular season home game in nearly two years “like a grand reopening of the stadium.” They commissioned keyboardist Tommy Barbarella, a former member of the New Power Generation, to write Symphony of the North. Osmo Vänskä, in his final season of a 19-year run as the orchestra’s music director, recorded it with his instrumentalists this summer.

This was the orchestra’s second Vikings collaboration: The first was a halftime hit in 2016, when the Vikings opened their new stadium. The team plans to play the new video before every home game this season. 

The Minnesota Orchestra is the latest organization to require proof of full vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test to attend events. In a statement the orchestra said that effective Sept. 20, the policy applies to all people entering Orchestra Hall, including audience members, musicians, guest artists, staff and volunteers. Children under 12 are welcome, but only with a recent negative test. Masks also must be worn in Orchestra Hall. Ticketholders unable to adhere to the policy may apply for a refund.

The Minnesota Orchestra, conducted by Karina Canellakis, ends its summer season with a concert featuring Peter Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, plus selections from William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 1 and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21, with pianist Jon Kimura Parker. Listen now, with host Steve Seel.

8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 27

Minnesota Orchestra
Karina Canellakis, conductor
Jon Kimura Parker, piano

TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 4
STILL: Symphony No. 1 (Afro-American) — final movement
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 21 — second and third movements

The Minnesota Orchestra will begin welcoming live audiences back into concerts in late June, but only in limited numbers.

The orchestra's concerts have been broadcast and streamed live in recent months without any audience in the hall due to the pandemic. Music director Osmo Vanska says audience size will be limited initially as they work out the best way to move people safely to their seats.

"Someone might think that ... it's so simple: you just open the doors, and then it goes. Not with the virus," he said. "We need to find the way to go in, which way to go out, so we don't want people to meet at any part of the hall."

Musicians will still have to be socially distanced, which will limit the number of people on stage to around 45. However, Vanska says the musicians are really looking forward to having an audience in the hall. The concert broadcasts and livestreams will continue through at least the end of August.

Vanska says audience numbers will be gradually increased as staff develop ways of moving people safely in and out of the hall. He says the orchestra learned through the pandemic to limit ambitious plans because they may have to change quickly.

"We don't want to build up a castle when we now have to live in a tent. And that will continue," he said. "Hopefully, getting better and better but I don't think we can do anything 'regular' in this year," he said, predicting a return to something more like the old normal in 2022.

Vanska says the orchestra continues to plan in three-month increments. For the moment, all concerts will be from Orchestra Hall. There are no plans to do outdoor concerts because of safety considerations.

The orchestra will contact season ticket holders first about seat availability, and then open up any remaining seats to the public.

Looking back at the experience of moving to digital presentation of live music, Vanska is blunt.

"I think it's right to say those concerts kept the orchestra alive," he said. "We had the chance to play twice-a-month concerts for the audience through the cameras and microphones. And thinking about how many orchestras in the U.S. have closed totally. So we are very lucky."

Vanska said he hopes the broadcasts and streaming will continue into the future. Still, he believes everyone in the orchestra is excited about seeing audiences in the hall again.

"The cameras and the microphones are great but they cannot replace the audience," he said. "When we have a live audience that's the best way. That's why we are practicing. That's why we are rehearsing to be able to perform the music for people who are in the same room, the same hall, listening to us."

Vanska says he hopes the audience will include those who discovered the orchestra through the broadcasts and streamed shows.