Photograph by Courtney Perry
Minnesota Orchestra
This month, our state’s largest orchestra returns for its 120th season. Perhaps even more notable? It will be the first season in nearly 20 years without Osmo Vänskä at the helm. Vänskä, who retired as music director this year, will stay on as conductor laureate and hit the stage from time to time.
New to the scene, Royal Scottish National Orchestra music director Thomas Søndergård starts this season as music director designate before officially becoming music director next fall.
And what does the new season hold for orchestra fans? According to director of artistic planning Kari Marshall, the lineup is dynamic and will speak to the orchestra’s growing—and diversifying—audience base. “We’ve learned that people fundamentally need the music,” Marshall says.
Yes, those movies-and-music nights will return, as will Kristin Chenoweth (“She always seems to come in the winter,” Marshall says), but later in the season, audiences can also catch a performance dedicated to George Floyd, as well as the orchestra’s first-ever Juneteenth celebration.
Here’s a look at what—and who—is behind the music.
1974—The year bassist Robert Anderson, the orchestra’s longest-tenured musician, joined the group. That also happens to be the same year Orchestra Hall opened.
60—Number of international candidates that the orchestra considered to replace Vänskä. (New guy Søndergård has even guest-conducted the group before, so he’ll be a familiar face to some in the audience.)
4—Number of Grammys the orchestra has been nominated for. Its lone win came in 2014 for a recording of Sibelius’s First and Fourth Symphonies.
1—Number of instruments in each of the smallest “sections”—harp and tuba. No pressure!
30—Approximate number of violins in the orchestra—the most of any instrument.
23—Age of the orchestra’s youngest musician. Lydia Grimes and her viola will join this season.
80—Approximate number of musicians that play in the orchestra currently.
