Posted on Facebook 11/17

Disney’s FANTASIA with live orchestra – Saturday & Sunday of Thanksgiving week – just a few tickets remain – get yours now!

Here’s a challenge for you Baby Boomers and other Disney fans: how many of the classical masterpieces can you name from this 1940 (yikes!) film without looking? The list is on MOA’s webpage for this concert, but here’s a big hint: it includes works of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Stravinsky, Ponchielli, Dukas, Elgar and Respighi.

See the full list and get your tickets here:  http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/…/disney-fantasia-live-in… or by calling 612.371.5656 or 800.292.4141. And don’t worry if only side balcony box seats are available – you will be able to see the big screen from there and hear just fine!

[We are now posting our concert insights to our website as well as Facebook. You can see the November concert info here:  http://www.saveoursymphonymn.org/november-2014 Please share it with your friends who aren't on Facebook. And, as always, let us know if YOU would like to contribute insights on upcoming concerts - just write to us anytime at [email protected] You can remain anonymous if you wish, or we would would be happy to acknowledge you!]

Posted on Facebook 11/18

Gabrieli Brass! Dietter Bassoons! Eiji directing Tchaikovsky 5!

It’s a MN Orchestra Hat Trick this weekend!

The concert opens with four glorious pieces for double brass choir (trumpets, horns, trombones and tubas) by Giovanni Gabrieli (born 1554), featuring our amazing brass section positioned antiphonally on opposite sides of the stage. This is thrilling, chilling stuff!

Next, the mellow double reeds are featured in Christian Ludwig Dietter’s (born 1757) Concerto for Two Bassoons, featuring the Orchestra’s longest-tenured principal musician John Miller, Jr. and his section colleagues. Each movement of the concerto will feature a different bassoonist playing with him, which is very unusual. John says, “To my knowledge, no one has done this before in any major orchestra concert series.”

And after intermission, the warm and wonderful 5th Symphony of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (born 1840). Cellists Beth Rapier and Tony Ross write: “Eiji Oue is one of the most exciting Tchaikovsky conductors in the world. Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony is one of the most lush, exciting, tuneful, and beloved (including the slow movement that inspired the pop version "Annie's Song" sung by John Denver – listen for that!).”

So brave the cold this weekend and be warmed-up in body and soul at Orchestra Hall. Tickets here:   http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/…/musician-spotlight-cele…

[We have started posting perspectives on upcoming concerts to our website (as well as to this Facebook page). We hope that you will find it a convenient location for getting info and sharing it with your friends, especially those who aren’t on Facebook! This program’s page is here:  http://www.saveoursymphonymn.org/novemb…/nov-212223-concerts ]

Posted on Facebook 11/13

"400-year-old stereophonic sound!" We asked Principal Trombone Doug Wright for his thoughts on the Gabrieli Double Brass Choir music that he and his colleagues will be performing a week from now, opening the November 21/22/23 concerts. Not surprisingly, we got some terrific insights and some personal stories to boot! Read on….

Doug wrote: “Did you know that Gabrieli invented stereophonic sound several centuries ago? Well, sort of. Gabrieli wrote numerous pieces for multiple brass choirs to be performed antiphonally, meaning that brass choirs would be positioned in various points of a concert hall, cathedral, courtyard, or any number of performance spaces. The music at times sounds like a statement followed by an echo. At other times, all choirs play together to produce a glorious “stereophonic” sound.

“The Minnesota Orchestra brass section will be performing four of his double choir pieces under the baton of Eiji Oue as part of next week’s concerts. We will position ourselves on opposite sides of the stage in order to create that antiphonal sound. In Orchestra Hall’s acoustics, this will sound truly special.

“Performing these great pieces with the tremendous brass section that we have here is going to be a lot of fun. However, there’s a bit more to it than that for me. One of the first times I ever traveled to Minneapolis was over 20 years ago when I was a member of the Empire Brass Quintet. We came here to perform music by Gabrieli with the Minnesota Orchestra’s brass section on a Sommerfest concert under the direction of--you guessed it--Eiji Oue, who had not yet been named Music Director here. It was a great concert that I still remember some 20 years later. Life can be ironic sometimes....

“As if the brass section taking center stage isn’t enough reason to visit Orchestra Hall next week, there’s Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony (featuring wondrous sounds from our principal horn player, Michael Gast, not to mention more brass!), a bassoon extravaganza, and a “welcome back” to Maestro Eiji Oue to help twist your arm. We hope to see you there!”

Thanks, Doug!

For tickets: http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/…/musician-spotlight-cele…

Posted on Facebook 11/15/14

OK, if some of you STILL are undecided about attending tonight’s concert, check out our friend Emily Hogstad’s post at her Song of the Lark blog:  http://songofthelark.wordpress.com/…/microreview-minnesota…/

A few seats are open in each section, so buy your tickets right now here:  http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/…/the-art-of-russia-the-s… 
or by calling the box office at 612.371.5656 or 800.292.4141. Or you could head down to Orchestra Hall this evening to sang any last-minute turn-backs or “rush” tickets.

An excerpt re. “Winter Bells”: “Ah well. If women could only make one contribution to programming this year, 'Winter Bells' was definitely a fabulous choice. How often does a work by a 22-year-old hold up against Prokofiev and Mozart? The orchestra’s treatment of the gorgeous score felt hugely confident; the lower brass blasted away with spectacular abandon. And the way the sound evaporated away at the end? Pure magic.”

And an excerpt re. the Prokofiev 5th Symphony: “Prokofiev 5 was the meat of the program. Gleaming propulsive meat, with an earnestly, sometimes nostalgically, beating heart…and a dash of insanity. The intensity of the last few notes of the first movement was simply shattering.”

See our other posts about this concert here:http://www.saveoursymphonymn.org/novembe…/nov-131415-concert

Posted on Facebook 11/14/14

If you’re undecided about attending this weekend’s concert, check out Rob Hubbard’s review for the PioneerPress: http://www.twincities.com/…/minnesota-orchestra-creates-chi…

Then get your tickets here: http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/…/the-art-of-russia-the-s…

If you’d like to read our prior posts about this concert, we’ve assembled them here: http://www.saveoursymphonymn.org/novembe…/nov-131415-concert Please share this with non-Facebooker friends who might be interested!

And don’t forget Saturday’s 10:30 pm “NightCap” performance of Tchaikovsky’s “Souvenir de Florence.” Insights on that event from Ken Freed are here: http://www.saveoursymphonymn.org/no…/nov-15-nightcap-concert

Posted on Facebook 11/13/14

"Come for the music, stay for the conductor!" So writes an SOSMN friend who wants to remain anonymous, but who provides even more good reasons to grab tickets for this weekend’s concerts. Read on….

“So maybe you're more into the visual kind of entertainment, like movies and plays. Maybe sitting and listening doesn't sound like your thing. Come to this weekend's concerts. You will find it a very engaging audio-visual experience!

“Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu is more than just an awesome name - he is a podium presence. A shape-shifter, a Gollum, a giant, he absorbs and projects the emotions of the music with every pore. He moves his arms, wrists and hands like a skeleton on a pole, or a marionette, or with the undulations of ocean waves. Don't miss this Finn's Minnesota debut - he won't disappoint! [See a 1/2-minute sample of Lintu's technique here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLfVmgflYrE ]

“And more eye [and ear] candy for concertgoers: In the very last minute of his 5th symphony, Prokofiev takes the orchestra from a full-bore tutti fortissimo - everyone playing as loud as possible - and drops it down to just a handful of string players and a piano. For about 10 seconds they carry all of the accumulated energy of the past 45 minutes before the rest of the orchestra rejoins in a final build to the last note. Watch those string players. Bow hairs will be flying - strings, possibly, as well - and you'll never think the same about playing an instrument!”

We hope to see you this weekend! Ticketing and more info here:http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/…/the-art-of-russia-the-s…

Posted on Facebook 11/12/14

Sandwiched between the Russians this weekend is some MOZART greatness – his Piano Concerto No. 20, performed by the amazing Jonathan Biss.

Our friend, blogger Scott Chamberlain, is pretty passionate about Mozart and this concerto. Of the performance played during the credits of “Amadeus” Scott writes, “As the scene faded to black, and I was still contemplating the tragedy of what had happened, this gentle piano music began. It perfectly—perfectly—captured the pathos of the scene, as if Mozart had been commissioned to write the music to order. There was no overt teeth-gnashing, no maudlin sobbing, just a melody that somehow managed to express… everything. And I turned into a ball of emotional goo.”

Learn more about what Scott and other composers think about this concerto and Mozart’s music (and why it turns them to goo!) here:http://maskoftheflowerprince.wordpress.com/…/how-i-fell-in…/

And join us in welcoming back, Jonathan Biss! He’s been absent from the Orchestra Hall stage for almost 15 years – way too long – and it will be very exciting to hear him again! Jonathan has been busy performing all over the world, teaching, recording, and writing books, essays, articles and blogs. Check out his website to learn more:http://www.jonathanbiss.com/

There’s still a seat for you at one of this weekend’s concerts! Grab yours here: http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/…/the-art-of-russia-the-s…

[We have just started posting these perspectives on upcoming concerts to our website (as well as to this Facebook page). We hope that you will find it a convenient location for getting info and sharing it with your friends, especially those who aren’t on Facebook! This program’s page is here:http://www.saveoursymphonymn.org/novembe…/nov-131415-concert ]