Posted on Facebook 10/29

Halloween night: Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” with our MN Orchestra playing the score live under the direction of Sarah Hicks and the movie playing on the big screen above them. What a concept!

A few tickets remain ($24-$80) – details here:  http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/buy/tickets/browse-calendar/eventdetail/541/-/disney-in-concert-tim-burton-s-the-nightmare-before-christmas#.VjH_-7erTIU

Posted on Facebook 10/28

A huge THANK YOU to MN Orchestra staff & musicians and to the good folks at the Young People’s Symphony Concert Association (YPSCA) for their most excellent and important work with young people’s concerts. This season’s first concerts are this week.

Did you know that YPSCA was founded in 1911? Learn more about them (and maybe even volunteer for their programs) here:  http://www.ypsca.org/

Did you know that MN Orchestra staff develops deep yet accessible curricula for public, private and homeschool teachers? Take a look here:   http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/images/education/pdf/1516_color_of_music.pdf

Read more about the whole program here:   http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/learn/teachers-students-and-parents/young-peoples-concerts

And take a look at this video from today’s concert:   https://www.facebook.com/minnesotaorchestra/videos/vb.54292558044/10153163608783045/?type=2&theater

Please join us in a big round of applause for YPSCA and our Orchestra staff & musicians!

Posted on Facebook 10/23

Conductor Juraj Valčuha making his MN debut. Jennifer Koh playing the lyric and colorful Szymanowski Violin Concerto. Strauss’ fabulous “Don Juan” and Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. What a lineup for tonight and tomorrow night! 

If you don’t have your tickets yet, there’s still time, but hurry because both performances are close to sold out.  http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/buy/tickets/browse-calendar/eventdetail/482/-/strauss-don-juan#.ViohLX6rTIV

Want to learn more? Here’s a link to the program notes:  http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/showcase/62-program-notes-strauss-don-juan

If you can’t be there in person, be sure to listen to the live broadcast on MPR or online tonight (info and a link here:  http://www.classicalmpr.org/program/minnesota-orchestra )
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(Painting “Don Juan” by Paula Arciniega)

Posted on Facebook 10/17

SOLD OUT! Bach: The Cello Suites - Sunday @ 4

If you have a ticket you can’t use, please turn it back so that it can be resold. It’s easy to do, just click here:  https://boxoffice.minnesotaorchestra.org/cart/forms/change.aspx
 
To check on the availability of any turn-backs, call the box office at 612.371.5656
 
Info about this fascinating chamber music concert is here:  http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/buy/tickets/browse-calendar/eventdetail/601/-/chamber-music-bach-the-cello-suites#.ViJ1R36rTIU
 
We hear that demand has been very high for this concert. Hey, MN Orchestra cellists, how about scheduling an additional date?

Posted on Facebook 10/16

“Skrowaczewski captured the special ardor and ecstasy of this music [Bruckner 7] in a way that seemed to make so many other interpretations, either live or on disc, seem prosaic” says Michael Anthony in his review of yesterday morning’s Minnesota Orchestra concert. Read his full review for the StarTribune here: http://www.startribune.com/review-his-beloved-bruckner-continues-to-inspire-mn-orchestra-s-skrowaczewski-at-92/333114711/
 
In the PioneerPress, Rob Hubbard says "Skrowaczewski and the orchestra brought forth its individual character, as well, especially in a striving and ultimately explosive Adagio. And the big-shouldered, emphatic finale dripped with drama, its simplicity taking on a relentless momentum and becoming grandly powerful." Read his full review here: http://www.twincities.com/music/ci_28976978/minnesota-orchestra-review-maestro-may-be-92-but
 
If you don’t have your tickets for tonight or tomorrow night, there’s still time!  http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/buy/tickets/browse-calendar/eventdetail/481/-/skrowaczewski-and-ross#.ViD2h-xViko
 
We hope to see you at Orchestra Hall this weekend.
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Posted on Facebook 10/12

WORLD PREMIERE DOCUMENTARY! “Seeking the Infinite: Stanisław Skrowaczewski—A Life in Music” screened in the Orchestra Hall Atrium 90 and 45 minutes before each performance of this weekend’s concerts. And it’s free! More info here: https://www.facebook.com/Seeking-the-Infinite-237470222951881/timeline/
 
If you don’t have your tickets for the concert, conducted by Maestro Skrowaczewski and featuring Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 and Tony Ross performing Schumann’s Cello Concerto, there’s still time!  Choose from Thursday morning or Friday or Saturday evening. Here’s where to get them: http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/buy/tickets/browse-calendar/eventdetail/480/-/skrowaczewski-and-ross#.Vht3H-xViko
 
$12 Advance Student Rush tickets are available for the Friday and Saturday performances. Details here:  http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/buy/tickets/special-offers/student-rush-tickets
 
Thanks to our friend Emily Hogstad for the amusing and informative meme for this concert!!!
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Posted on Facebook 10/6

Tony Ross playing Schumann! Stanislaw Skrowaczewski conducting Bruckner! What a lineup!

Performances are October 15-17.  You’ll have to wait a week+, but get it on your calendar now and grab your tickets here:  https://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/buy/tickets/browse-calendar/eventdetail/480/-/skrowaczewski-and-ross#.Vg_wRxvlViko

Maestro Skrowaczewski just turned 92 – what a force of nature! 

Anthony Ross, although considerably younger (!), is another force of nature. His consistently gorgeous playing has delighted MN Orchestra audiences for almost 30 years.

Stan and Tony – you don’t want to miss seeing and hearing these guys (and all of their colleagues) in this terrific program. We hope to see you at one of these performances!

And THANK YOU to our friend Emily Hogstad for the amusing and informative meme for this concert!!!

Posted on Facebook 10/2

The Bach Brandenburg #2 was “fast and nimble, but never rushed…lines and phrases were molded with a subtle dynamic nuance” said Michael Anthony in his review in the StarTribune last night.

And “The ensemble was relatively small — 15 or so players. Concertmaster Erin Keefe served as ‘leader,’ meaning conductor in the Baroque use of the term, and she was joined by three other expert soloists: flutist Adam Kuenzel, oboist John Snow and trumpeter Douglas C. Carlsen.”

Read his entire review here:  http://www.startribune.com/orchestra-stakes-a-fresh-claim-to-bach/330335241/

Then grab your tickets for tonight’s or tomorrow night’s performance here:   http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/buy/tickets/browse-calendar/eventdetail/477/-/vaenskae-strauss-and-mahler#.Vgv2D_lViko

We hope to see you at Orchestra Hall this weekend!

Posted on Facebook 9/30

You can forget Mel Gibson, but you’ll never forget Strauss’ “Four Last Songs!”
 
Our friend Sarah Nagle wrote to us with her reflections on this haunting composition and why she is excited to hear it this weekend, performed by soprano Katie Van Kooten and the MN Orchestra under the direction of Osmo Vänskä.
 
Sarah writes, “In 1982 I went to see the movie ‘The Year of Living Dangerously,’ an atmospheric thriller set in 1960s Indonesia and starring Sigourney Weaver and Mel Gibson.  I confess that I was most interested in the exotic setting, the dramatic plot, and Mel Gibson’s new superstar status to pay too much attention to the score. 
 
“Yet I couldn’t help but notice a bittersweet song with German lyrics which was played during some of the film’s more emotional moments – a song half a world away from tropical Indonesia, yet strangely – naturally – fitting.  This being the pre-Internet days – heck, it was the pre-beta/VHS days – I stayed through the entire credits to discover that the piece was ‘September’ from  ‘Four Last Songs’ by Richard Strauss and sung by the radiant soprano Kiri Te Kanawa. 
 
“It took me several years and much confusion before I learned, along with many others, that the song in the score had been misidentified and was actually ‘Beim Schlafengehen’ (‘Going to Sleep’) and not ‘September.’  But no matter.  During the following decades I have heard recordings of several sopranos giving poignant voice to the autumnal simplicity and resolution to Strauss’s penultimate work.
 
“Thirty years on, I can admit that, while I’ve basically forgotten Mel Gibson, the beauty of ‘Four Last Songs’ remains timeless and unforgettable. 
 
“And now, for the first time, I will hear it sung in person.
 
“Note:  Strauss kept this most intimate of works ‘in the family.’  His beloved wife was a soprano and his father a virtuoso horn player – thus the writing of the songs for soprano voice and major presence of the horn in the orchestral instrumentation.”
 
Thank you, Sarah! We hope that hearing it in person will be even more memorable for you.
 
For tickets and more info about this concert (which also includes Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto #2 and Mahler’s Symphony #4), visit the Orchestra website – just click here:   http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/buy/tickets/browse-calendar/eventdetail/477/-/vaenskae-strauss-and-mahler#.Vgv2D_lViko