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MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA ANNOUNCES

2024-25 SEASON

The season will be the second led by Music Director Thomas Søndergård, and reflects his expertise across a range of orchestral and operatic repertoire, and commitment to championing contemporary composers and rarely heard works

With Søndergård at the helm, special projects throughout the 2024-25 season

include a two-week festival spotlighting Nordic composers and culture, the return of the Composer Institute and an opera-in-concert initiative with Puccini’s Turandot

The classical season will feature such virtuosos as violinists James Ehnes and Isabelle Faust, pianists Ingrid Fliter and Alice Sara Ott, fast-rising stars Yunchan Lim, Bruce Liu, Randall Goosby and more; seven Minnesota Orchestra musicians will perform as soloists

The Minnesota Orchestra will commemorate 50 years at Orchestra Hall,

with several classical programs featuring works that the ensemble performed

during its 1974-75 season—the first in its orchestral home

Innovative Live at Orchestra Hall programming includes concerts dedicated to the music of John Williams, John Denver, the Beatles, and a fusion of Brahms and Radiohead; films to be presented live-in-concert include Hocus Pocus and Back to the Future

Special holiday programs include a full lineup of December concerts,

a Lunar New Year celebration and a Juneteenth commemoration

Also returning: Chamber Music concert series, Symphony in 60, Young People’s Concerts, Relaxed Family and Sensory-Friendly Concerts

For a chronological listing of all Orchestra events for

the 2024-25 season, please see the separate season calendar

MINNEAPOLIS, MN (April 9, 2024) — Music Director Thomas Søndergård and the Minnesota Orchestra have announced plans for their 2024-25 season—the second led by Søndergård and the 50th anniversary of the opening of Orchestra Hall, the organization’s home in downtown Minneapolis. Søndergård will begin the season in September with two weeks of concerts that together include three works by Andrea Tarrodi and Thomas Adès that are new to the Orchestra. The June 2025 season finale with Søndergård includes a dance-inspired program with music from Carlos Simon, Sergei Prokofiev and Sergei Rachmaninoff.

The forthcoming season will reflect Søndergård’s unique perspective as a conductor as well as his many priorities for his tenure as music director. In January 2025, the Danish conductor will bring the inaugural Nordic Soundscapes festival to Orchestra Hall, with two weeks of programming showcasing the contributions of historic and contemporary composers from Nordic nations. Søndergård also brings large-scale music for voices and orchestra to the Hall, with a presentation of both Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem (November 2024) and Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot (May 2025). And alongside Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts, Søndergård will relaunch the Minnesota Orchestra’s residency program for emerging composers, the Composer Institute, which culminates in a public concert April 25.

The season is intentionally designed for concertgoers of all ages and interests, including Live at Orchestra Hall offerings led by Principal Conductor of Live at Orchestra Hall Sarah Hicks, as well as Holiday, Chamber Music, Symphony in 60, Young People’s Concerts, Relaxed Family Concerts and Sensory-Friendly programming.

CLASSICAL CONCERTS

 SØNDERGÅRD’S SECOND SEASON

Thomas Søndergård began his tenure as the 11th music director of the Minnesota Orchestra at the beginning of the 2023-24 season. His plans for the ensemble’s 2024-25 season demonstrate his range across both standard and contemporary repertoire, as well as his passion for collaborating with classical music’s rising and established stars. Season Opening concerts September 20-21 include the Orchestra Hall debut of 20-year-old Van Cliburn Competition winner Yunchan Lim, who will perform Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. The following week, in concerts September 26-28, Søndergård will lead a program juxtaposing two masters of orchestration—Maurice Ravel and Thomas Adès—with Avery Fisher Prize winner Leila Josefowicz performing Adès’ Violin Concerto, Concentric Paths. Additional soloists appearing on the season with whom Søndergård has a long working relationship include violinist Isabelle Faust (February 2025) and pianist Ingrid Fliter (May 2025).

Søndergård’s expertise in the vocal and operatic sphere will be on full display in the upcoming season. In concerts November 22-23, he will lead performances of Mozart’s Requiem with the Orchestra, the Minnesota Chorale and a collection of this generation’s leading voices, including three-time Grammy Award-winning bass-baritone Dashon Burton and tenor Jack Swanson, a native of Stillwater, Minnesota. Later in the season, Søndergård will be joined by Grammy-winning soprano Julia Bullock for a presentation of Benjamin Britten’s captivating song cycle Les illuminations, March 7-8. And in concerts May 1 and 3, Søndergård will offer the Orchestra’s first complete performance of Puccini’s Turandot since 1985. Soloists will include soprano Christine Goerke in the title role—a part she has recently played at the Metropolitan Opera to great acclaim—as well as bass Adolfo Corrado and soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha.

Regarding the presentation of Turandot, Søndergård noted, “My musical upbringing was in an opera house and opera is in my blood! Puccini knew the art of music drama and how to depict feelings through music. I can’t wait to share his Turandot with some of the best singers for these roles.”

Søndergård has earned a reputation for incisive interpretations of works by composers from his native Denmark, and from the Nordic region more broadly. For the depths of Minnesota’s winter, he has curated Nordic Soundscapes, a mid-January festival that includes music from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, as well as culinary and cultural offerings of the region for audiences to enjoy. Taking place January 10-11, the first program features the Orchestra’s Principal Clarinet Gabriel Campos Zamora in the Clarinet Concerto of Carl Nielsen—a composer with whom Søndergård, a recipient of the 2023 Carl Nielsen Honorary Foundation Award, shares special affinity. The program’s second half explores primarily contemporary pieces that evoke Nordic landscapes, including Daníel Bjarnason’s Air to Breath, Bent Sørensen’s Evening Land and Outi Tarkiainen’s Midnight Sun Variations. The second Nordic Soundscapes program January 16-18 is highlighted by the Orchestra Hall debut of Johan Dalene, winner of the 2019 Carl Nielsen Competition, who will perform that composer’s Violin Concerto.

Championing boundary-redefining living composers is a priority of Søndergård’s tenure. He leads a concert on April 25 that marks the return of the Composer Institute, the Orchestra's residency program for emerging composers which will now return on a biennial basis and be led in 2025 by composer Kevin Puts. Søndergård will conduct the culminating concert of the experience, with new music from each composer played by the Orchestra. Of the 12 concert programs Søndergård will lead during the 2024-25 season, at least 13 works will be featured that have never before been performed by the Orchestra, including selections from Elfrida Andrée, Dorothy Howell and Karim Al-Zand.

50-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF ORCHESTRA HALL

The inaugural concert at Orchestra Hall took place in October 1974, and more than 10 million people have attended concerts in the iconic auditorium since. Several initiatives throughout the organization’s fall 2024 programming will commemorate the five decades that the Hall has served as the Orchestra’s home, with specific activities to be announced at a later date.

As another nod to the half-century milestone, select concert programs will renew repertoire that the Orchestra performed during its 1974-75 season. Such works include Maurice Ravel’s Valse Nobles et sentimentales and movements from the composer’s Miroirs suite in the second week of Søndergård’s season-opening concerts. Then, concerts December 5-6 feature a version of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor that was performed during the very first concerts at the Hall and orchestrated by Stanisław Skrowaczewski, who oversaw the Hall’s construction during his tenure as the Orchestra’s sixth music director.

A FOCUS ON CONTEMPORARY AND RARELY HEARD WORKS

The Minnesota Orchestra’s 2024-25 season spotlights music of our time from a diverse collection of contemporary composers, older works that have been historically obscured or otherwise not widely programmed as well as pieces that have not been performed by the ensemble in decades. Within its Classical offerings alone, the Orchestra will perform at least 31 works never played in its 121-year history. Such programming priorities are exemplified in a program June 5-6 led by Romanian conductor Cristian Măcelaru that includes selections from Wynton Marsalis’ Blues Symphony, André Jolivet’s Bassoon Concerto—to be performed by the Orchestra’s Principal Bassoon Fei Xie—and fellow Romanian composer George Enescu’s Symphony No. 1—three works from different eras, all of which will be heard at Orchestra Hall for the first time.

Programming throughout the season reflects the Orchestra’s continued commitment to intentionally building concert programs that feature more works by past and present composers of African, Middle Eastern, Latin, Indigenous and Asian descent. The Listening Project—an annual initiative since the Orchestra’s 2021-22 season to perform and record music of historically underrepresented composers—will move to a biennial format in rotation with the Composer Institute, though works from throughout the 2024-25 season will continue to be recorded for inclusion in the Orchestra’s Listening Project digital catalog.

Many programs showcase well-known concert hall music in unexpected ways, inviting audiences to hear and interpret the works of familiar composers anew, beginning with Søndergård’s September program juxtaposing Ravel and Adès. In a program December 5-6, conductor Jordan de Souza leads concerts that reimagine Bach pieces for larger symphonic forces and include mandolin superstar Avi Avital borrowing concertos Bach wrote for harpsichord and violin to perform on his instrument. And a February 28-March 1 program planned by Søndergård will bookend selections from composer Igor Stravinsky with pieces by Franz Joseph Haydn, examining the 18th-century composer’s enduring influence into the 20th century.

GUEST ARTISTS AND CONDUCTORS

The Orchestra’s 2024-25 season is punctuated by welcomed returns and much-anticipated debuts of artists and conductors pushing classical music forward. Returning soloists include Behzod Abduraimov performing Frédéric Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (April 2025) and James Ehnes taking on Antonín Dvořák’s Violin Concerto (May 2025). Ascendant pianists to perform with the Orchestra for the first time include George Li (January-February 2025) performing Franz Liszt’s virtuosic Piano Concerto No. 1, Alice Sara Ott undertaking Ludwig van Beethoven’s forceful Piano Concerto No. 3 (May 2025) and Bruce Liu, who will offer his interpretation of Prokofiev’s dazzling Piano Concerto No. 3 (June 2025). Rising violinist Randall Goosby—a recipient of the 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant—will present Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto under the baton of Søndergård (November 2024). And Wu Wei will make his Orchestra debut with the United States premiere of Jukka Tiensuu’s concerto Teoton, written for Wei’s 12th-century Chinese instrument, the sheng (October 2024).

Together with the aforementioned soloist performances from Principal Clarinet Gabriel Campos Zamora (January 2025) and Principal Bassoon Fei Xie (May 2025), a total of seven of the Orchestra’s own musicians will take center stage this season: on October 31-November 2, Principal Cello Anthony Ross will perform William Walton’s Cello Concerto; First Associate Concertmaster Susie Park will perform Gabriela Ortiz’s blazing Violin Concerto (February 2025); Concertmaster Erin Keefe will share Beethoven’s beloved Violin Concerto (March 2025); cellist Sonia Mantell will perform James MacMillan’s Kiss on Wood (March 2025); and Acting Associate Principal Second Violin Cecilia Belcher will take on Beethoven’s Romance Nos. 1 and 2 (July 2025).

Conductors returning to Orchestra Hall are headlined by Conductor Laureate Osmo Vänskä, who for the first time will lead the ensemble in Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony (October-November 2024), Dima Slobodeniouk in concerts culminating in Gustav Holst’s The Planets (October 2024) and Edward Gardner—principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra—in folk music-inspired concerts (May 2025). Among the conductors making their Orchestra debuts is Sir James MacMillan, who the Orchestra has championed as a composer since 2002. The program MacMillan leads March 28-29 features works honoring faith and religion, including selections of his own compositions as well as the music of Richard Wagner, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Rachmaninoff. Additional conductors to make their debuts and introduce their unique perspectives and styles to Minnesota audiences include Chilean-Italian conductor Paolo Bortolameolli organizing a program of modern and contemporary works by Latin composers (February 2025); Tabita Berglund with a program dedicated to Franz Schubert (March 2025); Poland-native Marta Gardolińska in concerts that open with an Overture from fellow Pole Grażyna Bacewicz (April 2025); and Jonathon Heyward, music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, with a program that stretches from Hannah Kendall to Robert Schumann (May 2025).

SYMPHONY IN 60

Symphony in 60 concerts are one hour in duration and include earlier start times, a pre-concert happy hour and post-concert onstage reception with musicians. The 2024-25 season includes two such programs that prominently feature Minnesota Orchestra artistic leaders. The first, on November 16, will be led by Søndergård and features a version of Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 1 orchestrated by Arnold Schoenberg. Taking place March 15, the second will comprise an intimate performance by Erin Keefe of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto.

CHAMBER MUSIC IN THE HALL

In recent seasons, the Orchestra’s ever-popular Chamber Music series has been presented in the Target Atrium, a smaller performance space within Orchestra Hall. Reflecting the popularity of this oft-sold-out series, the concerts will move to the Hall’s auditorium, allowing for more concertgoers to experience these performances. The 2024-25 season encompasses three such programs on January 12, April 5 and May 17. The Chamber Music series will continue to feature smaller ensembles of musicians performing without a conductor, while the programs in April and May will include guest soloists Behzod Abduraimov and James Ehnes, respectively, inviting audiences to witness the dynamic collaboration between these renowned artists and the Orchestra’s own musicians; Abduraimov will perform Dvořák’s Piano Trio No. 4 with Susie Park and Anthony Ross, and Ehnes will interpret Beethoven’s Septet alongside six Orchestra musicians.

THIS IS MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA

The Orchestra will continue to offer livestreamed concerts and digital extras as part of its Emmy Award-winning This Is Minnesota Orchestra series through its website and social media channels. Specific concerts to be broadcast will be announced at a later date.

LIVE AT ORCHESTRA HALL

Live at Orchestra Hall presents performances and collaborations with artists of various genres from across the world, films presented live in concert and musical celebrations of a variety of holidays. Most concerts are conducted by Sarah Hicks, the Orchestra’s principal conductor of Live at Orchestra Hall.

AN EXPLORATION OF GENRES

The 2024-25 season of Live at Orchestra Hall showcases the music of artists from the worlds of film, jazz and rock music. Led by Hicks, a program November 8-9 spotlights prolific film composer John Williams. A multimedia concert on January 4 remembers the early years of the Beatles, with many of the band’s #1 hits arranged for orchestra and accompanied by previously unseen photos projected onstage. Wynton Marsalis will return with his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, bringing the jazz club experience to the Hall’s stage on January 28. And on March 21, music powerhouse Steve Hackman will introduce to Minnesota his groundbreaking orchestral fusion Brahms X Radiohead, which fuses the Romantic composer’s First Symphony with the band’s album, OK, Computer.

U.S. BANK MOVIES & MUSIC SERIES

The Minnesota Orchestra’s movies and music programming presents live performances of film scores while the major motion pictures are screened in high definition above the stage. A collection of pioneering and fan-favorite films will be shown throughout the season: first, the Orchestra will restart its Star Wars: In Concert series with four presentations of the 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope that began the franchise (October 2024); the weekend before Halloween, the Orchestra will perform the comedy film Hocus Pocus; just after Thanksgiving, the Orchestra will present the family-friendly time-travel film Back to the Future; in time for Christmas, Ron Spigelman will lead the ensemble in Elf; and from February 20-22, the Orchestra will present the final installment of the beloved Harry Potter Film Concert Series with Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows™ Part 2.

HOLIDAY CONCERTS

The Minnesota Orchestra’s holiday offerings in December 2024 commence with the return of jazz and soul singer and pianist Tony DeSare on December 11. On December 13, former bandmates of John Denver will join the Orchestra for A Rocky Mountain Holiday Celebration, a multimedia tribute to the late singer-songwriter. A brassy staple of the holiday season at Orchestra Hall, trumpeter Charles Lazarus, his all-star band and special guests will present Merry & Bright on December 15. And on December 31-January 1, former Minnesota Orchestra Associate Conductor William Eddins will team up with Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges and virtuoso pianist and friend of the Orchestra Jon Kimura Parker for a jazz-inspired New Year’s Celebration program honoring the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.

Moments of celebration will also welcome community to Orchestra Hall throughout the spring. Now in its fourth year, the Minnesota Orchestra will honor Lunar New Year in a program curated by conductor Norman Huynh that features the return of pipa player Gao Hong, the Orchestra Hall debut of pianist Ying Li and a new Minnesota Orchestra commission by Vietnamese-American composer—and Composer Institute alumnus—Viet Cuong (February 2025). And in its third iteration, a concert commemorating Juneteenth led by Jonathan Taylor Rush will feature music by Black American composers including Michael Abels, Valerie Coleman, James P. Johnson, James Lee III, Carlos Simon and Mary D. Watkins (June 2025).

EDUCATION AND FAMILY CONCERTS

A tradition since 1911, the Minnesota Orchestra’s Young People’s Concerts are designed for students in grades 1-6. Scheduled during the school day, they provide educational field trips for student groups and home school students across the state. Over the course of the 2024-25 season, the Orchestra will present four distinct programs comprising 18 total performances. These include such programs as Orchestra in Orbit (October 2024), The American Musical Tapestry (February 2025), Musical Ups and Downs (March 2025) and Musical Wonders of the World (April 2025).

Three Relaxed Family Concerts will be offered to audiences of all ages, including individuals with autism or sensory sensitivities. With music education an ongoing priority for Søndergård, the Orchestra’s music director will again lead a Relaxed Family Concert on the afternoon of March 2; additional programs will be conducted by Cosette Justo Valdés (October 2024) and Molly Turner (April 2025). Relaxed Family Concerts take place within the main auditorium and include the entire ensemble, while the Orchestra’s Sensory-Friendly Concerts occur in the smaller and more intimate Target Atrium and feature solo musicians or select ensembles. Sensory-Friendly Concerts are hosted by Lyndie Walker, MT-BC, from Toneworks Music Therapy Services, and invite concertgoers of all ages to be who they are while enjoying music (October 2024, February 2025 and April 2025).

MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA 2024-25 SEASON CALENDAR

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

SØNDERGÅRD, LIM AND RACHMANINOFF

Friday, September 20, 2024, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Saturday, September 21, 2024, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Thomas Søndergård, conductor

Yunchan Lim, piano

BERLIOZ Roman Carnival Overture

RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 2

TARRODI Liguria

RESPIGHI Pines of Rome

The Minnesota Orchestra and Music Director Thomas Søndergård will open the 2024-25 season with concerts that transport audiences to Italy. The Orchestra will perform Andrea Tarrodi’s Liguria for the first time, a work that evokes the fishing villages and steep cliffs of the country’s northwest coast, and holds deep resonance with Søndergård. 20-year-old pianist Yunchan Lim became the youngest person to ever win the gold medal at the 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, for which he performed a concerto of Sergei Rachmaninoff; in this program, Lim will play Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, which was inspired in part by the composer’s Italian travels.

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

SØNDERGÅRD, JOSEFOWICZ AND RAVEL

Thursday, September 26, 2024, 11 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Friday, September 27, 2024, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Saturday, September 28, 2024, 2 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Thomas Søndergård, conductor

Leila Josefowicz, violin

RAVEL Valse Nobles et sentimentales

ADÈS The Exterminating Angel Symphony

ADÈS Violin Concerto, Concentric Paths

RAVEL Une barque sur l'océan, from Miroirs

RAVEL Alborada del gracioso, from Miroirs

The second set of season-opening concerts will juxtapose two masters of orchestration with whom Thomas Søndergård shares deep affinity: French Impressionist composer Maurice Ravel and leading contemporary musician Thomas Adès. For the first time, Søndergård will collaborate with frequent Minnesota Orchestra guest soloist and recent Avery Fisher Prize-winning violinist Leila Josefowicz, who will perform Adès’ Violin Concerto, Concentric Paths. And in an ode to the 50th anniversary of Orchestra Hall that will be celebrated this fall, Søndergård will lead the ensemble in works that featured in the ensemble’s inaugural season at the Hall, Ravel’s Valse Nobles et sentimentales and two movements from his Miroirs suite.

U.S. Bank Movies & Music

STAR WARS: EPISODE IV – A NEW HOPE

In Concert with the Minnesota Orchestra

Tuesday, October 1, 2024, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Friday, October 4, 2024, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Saturday, October 5, 2024, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Sunday, October 6, 2024, 2 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Sarah Hicks, conductor

Conducted by Sarah Hicks, the Minnesota Orchestra’s principal conductor of Live at Orchestra Hall, the Orchestra presents Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, the 1977 film that started the franchise. The ensemble will perform John Williams’ iconic score while the movie plays in high definition on a large screen.

[Please note: This film is rated PG. Parental guidance suggested as some material may be inappropriate for children under the age of 8.]

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

HOLST’S THE PLANETS

Thursday, October 10, 2024, 11 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Saturday, October 12, 2024 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Dima Slobodeniouk, conductor

Wu Wei, sheng

Members of the Minnesota Chorale

WENNÄKOSKI Flounce

TIENSUU Teoton

HOLST The Planets

Finnish guest conductor Dima Slobodeniouk will make his much-anticipated return with a spell-binding program that opens with Helsinki-based composer Lotta Wennäkoski’s Flounce, which was premiered in 2017 at the Last Night of the Proms. The program continues with a modern sheng concerto by fellow contemporary Finnish composer Jukka Tiensuu, who wrote Teoton for Wu Wei, the soloist who makes his Orchestra Hall debuts in these concerts; the sheng is an ancient Chinese instrument that will feature in a Minnesota Orchestra program for the first time. Gustav Holst’s astronomical work The Planets will conclude the concerts, featuring members of the Minnesota Chorale singing offstage in the suite’s final movement.

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

SHOSTAKOVICH SYMPHONY NO. 12

Friday, October 18, 2024, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Saturday, October 19, 2024, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Robert Treviño, conductor

Yulianna Avdeeva, piano

ZHOU Gift

BERNSTEIN Symphony No. 2, The Age of Anxiety

SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 12, The Year of 1917

Robert Treviño, music director of Spain’s Basque National Orchestra, will make his Orchestra Hall debut in a program that opens with Gift, a folk-inspired piece from Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute alumnus Zhou Tian. Chopin Piano Competition-winner Yulianna Avdeeva will then perform the exacting piano part in Leonard Bernstein’s unconventional Symphony No. 2. The program concludes with another symphony composed in a more traditional form: Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 12—the first of two symphonies by the composer to feature in the 2024-25 season.

Young People’s Concert

ORCHESTRA IN ORBIT

Wednesday, October 23, 2024, 10 a.m. and 11:35 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Thursday, October 24, 2024, 10 a.m. and 11:35 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Cosette Justo Valdés, conductor

STRAUSS Selection from Also sprach Zarathustra

HAYDN Representation of Chaos, from The Creation

MAZZOLI Excerpt from Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres)

MONTGOMERY Starburst

HOLST Jupiter, from The Planets

WILLIAMS Main Title, from Star Wars

Young People’s Concerts are the Minnesota Orchestra’s flagship education program, bringing student groups from across the metro and state to Orchestra Hall to experience live symphonic music—in many cases for the first time. Guest conductor Cosette Justo Valdés will make her Orchestra debut with a wide-ranging, hour-long program of music that evokes outer space and explores how we see the galaxy.

[Tickets note: Available to school and home school groups.]

U.S. Bank Movies & Music

HOCUS POCUS

with the Minnesota Orchestra

Friday, October 25, 2024, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Saturday, October 26, 2024, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Sarah Hicks, conductor

The week before Halloween, Sarah Hicks will lead the Orchestra in its first live-in-concert performance of the 1993 comedy film Hocus Pocus, which follows three witches who are brought back to life in Salem, Massachusetts, on a Halloween night. The Orchestra will perform John Debney’s score while the movie plays in high definition on a large overhead screen.

[Please note: This film is rated PG. Parental guidance suggested as some material may be inappropriate for children under the age of 8.]

Relaxed Family Concert

ORCHESTRA IN ORBIT

Sunday, October 27, 2024, 2 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Cosette Justo Valdés, conductor

STRAUSS Selection from Also sprach Zarathustra

HAYDN Representation of Chaos, from The Creation

MAZZOLI Excerpt from Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres)

MONTGOMERY Starburst

HOLST Jupiter from The Planets

WILLIAMS Main Title, from Star Wars

In this wide-ranging, hour-long program, guest conductor Cosette Justo Valdés will lead the Orchestra in music that evokes outer space and explores how we see the galaxy. The Orchestra’s Relaxed Family Concerts are designed for audiences of all ages, including individuals with autism or sensory sensitivities. Beginning at 12:30 p.m., fun, multi-sensory educational activities will be available in the lobby prior to each Relaxed Family Concert.

[Tickets note: Free tickets available for young listeners ages 18 and under, thanks to the Hall Pass program.]

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

VÄNSKÄ AND ROSS

Thursday, October 31, 2024, 11 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Friday, November 1, 2024, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Saturday, November 2, 2024, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Osmo Vänskä, conductor

Anthony Ross, cello

SHIN Upon His Ghostly Solitude

WALTON Cello Concerto

PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 5

Conductor Laureate Osmo Vänskä returns to his beloved Minnesota Orchestra with a program of three works never before performed by the Orchestra during his tenure as music director from 2003 to 2022. The first, Donghoon Shin’s Upon His Ghostly Solitude, was composed in 2023 and inspired by W.B. Yeats’ poem “Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen.” Then, Principal Cello Anthony Ross will serve as soloist of William Walton’s melancholic Cello Concerto, a piece Ross last played at Orchestra Hall in 2010. The program will conclude with Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5, which premiered in the summer of 1944.

Live at Orchestra Hall

THE MUSIC OF JOHN WILLIAMS

with the Minnesota Orchestra

Friday, November 8, 2024, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Saturday, November 9, 2024, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Sarah Hicks, conductor

John Williams ranks among the most iconic and prolific film composers of all time and has earned a remarkable 54 Academy Award nominations for his scores for films such as Jaws, Star Wars, E.T. and Schindler's List. A pioneer in the film in concert genre, Sarah Hicks will lead a program that pays tribute to Williams, conducting pieces from classic films he has scored.

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

SØNDERGÅRD CONDUCTS MENDELSSOHN AND BRAHMS

Thursday, November 14, 2024, 11 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Friday, November 15, 2024, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Minnesota Orchestra

Thomas Søndergård, conductor

Randall Goosby, violin

CHIN Frontispiece

MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto

BRAHMS/Schoenberg Piano Quartet No. 1 (orchestration)

Rising violinist Randall Goosby, winner of the 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant, will serve as soloist for the first time with Thomas Søndergård. Goosby will interpret a work with a central place in his instrument’s repertoire: Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. The program will open with Unsuk Chin’s showpiece Frontispiece, which evokes various epochs of classical music. Søndergård will close the program with a work last performed by the Minnesota Orchestra 25 years ago—a version of Johannes Brahm’s Piano Quartet No. 1 as orchestrated by Arnold Schoenberg.

Symphony in 60

ROMANTIC BRAHMS

Saturday, November 16, 2024, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Thomas Søndergård, conductor

BRAHMS/Schoenberg Piano Quartet No. 1 (orchestration)

Symphony in 60 concerts are one hour in duration, and include an earlier start time, a pre-concert happy hour and post-concert onstage reception with musicians. In this iteration, Thomas Søndergård and the Orchestra will present Schoenberg’s orchestration of Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 1, which Schoenberg adapted in 1937 in an effort to showcase a string section that he considered too obscured in Brahms’ original.

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

SØNDERGÅRD CONDUCTS MOZART’S REQUIEM

Friday, November 22, 2024, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Saturday, November 23, 2024, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Thomas Søndergård, conductor

Andrea Carroll, soprano

Jack Swanson, tenor

Dashon Burton, bass-baritone

Minnesota Chorale

MESSIAEN Les Offrandes Oubliées (The Forgotten Offerings)

ORTIZ Tzam

MOZART Requiem

Thomas Søndergård’s second November program with the Orchestra includes three reflective and sorrowful works, beginning with Olivier Messiaen’s theologically-inspired Les Offrandes Oubliées. The ensemble will then take on Tzam, a piece Gabriela Ortiz composed in dedication to her father and two musical mentors after each passed away. The music of Messiaen and Ortiz will segue to the concert’s second half, which presents Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s epic last work, Requiem. The Orchestra will be joined by vocal forces comprised of the Minnesota Chorale and a collection of this generation’s leading vocal soloists, including three-time Grammy Award-winning bass-baritone Dashon Burton and tenor Jack Swanson, a native of Stillwater, Minnesota.

U.S. Bank Movies & Music

BACK TO THE FUTURE

with the Minnesota Orchestra

Saturday, November 30, 2024, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Sunday, December 1, 2024, 2 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Sarah Hicks, conductor

In the days after Thanksgiving, Sarah Hicks will offer the Orchestra’s first live-in-concert performance of the family-friendly classic Back to the Future, the first film in the popular time-travel trilogy starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. The Orchestra will perform Alan Silvestri’s dazzling musical score while the movie plays in high definition on a large screen.

[Please note: This film is rated PG. Parental guidance suggested as some material may be inappropriate for children under the age of 8.]

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

BACH REIMAGINED

Thursday, December 5, 2024, 11 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Friday, December 6, 2024, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Minnesota Orchestra

Jordan de Souza, conductor

Avi Avital, mandolin

MAHLER Bach Suite

PÄRT If Bach Had Been a Beekeeper

BACH Concerto No. 5 in F minor, BWV 1056 (trans. for mandolin)

BACH Concerto No. 1 in A minor, BWV 1041 (trans. for mandolin)

JOLAS Letters from Bachville

BACH/Elgar Fantasia and Fugue in C minor

BACH/Stokowski Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme

BACH/Stokowski Ein feste Burg

BACH/Skrowaczewski Toccata and Fugue in D minor

HINDEMITH Ragtime on a Theme of J.S. Bach

A double Minnesota Orchestra debut will take place when conductor Jordan de Souza and mandolin superstar Avi Avital spearhead concerts that reimagine the music of Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach. As part of the program, Avital will present concertos Bach wrote for harpsichord and violin that he has reimagined for his own instrument. And in a nod to Orchestra Hall’s 50th anniversary, de Souza and the Orchestra will perform a version of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor that was performed during the very first concerts at the Hall and orchestrated by Stanisław Skrowaczewski, whose vision as music director (1960-79) led to the creation of Orchestra Hall.

Minnesota Orchestra Holiday Concerts

MERRY CHRISTMAS, BABY

Tony DeSare with the Minnesota Orchestra

Wednesday, December 11, 2024, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Chia Hsuan-Lin, conductor

Tony DeSare, vocals and piano

Jazz and soul vocalist and pianist Tony DeSare—whose recording credits include the 1950s-inspired Christmas album, Christmas Home—returns to Orchestra Hall for a new, old-fashioned holiday show alongside the Orchestra and conductor Chia-Hsuan Lin.

Minnesota Orchestra Holiday Concerts

JOHN DENVER: A ROCKY MOUNTAIN HOLIDAY CELEBRATION

with the Minnesota Orchestra

Friday, December 13, 2024, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Jason Seber, conductor

The music of the late Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter John Denver is featured in a holiday-themed multimedia concert that includes archival video footage with a live performance from the Minnesota Orchestra and Denver’s former bandmates.

Minnesota Orchestra Holiday Concerts

MERRY & BRIGHT

with Charles Lazarus

Sunday, December 15, 2024, 2 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Charles Lazarus, trumpet

Tonia Hughes Kendrick, vocals

Bruce A. Henry, vocals

Tommy Barbarella, piano and keyboards

Jeff Bailey, bass

Daryl Boudreaux, percussion

David Schmalenberger, drums

The Lazarus Brass

Angelica Cantanti Youth Choirs

Minnesota Orchestra trumpeter Charles Lazarus and his all-star band will again host their annual Merry & Bright celebration, which has become a staple of the holiday season at Orchestra Hall. The band—which includes Grammy Award-winners, former collaborators of Prince and other Minnesota- and world-renowned performers from various genres—will offer their unique twists on holiday classics.

[Please note: The Minnesota Orchestra does not perform on this program.]

U.S. Bank Movies & Music

ELF

with the Minnesota Orchestra

Friday, December 20, 2024, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Saturday, December 21, 2024, 2 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Sunday, December 22, 2024, 2 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Ron Spigelman, conductor

Guest conductor Ron Spigelman and the Orchestra will present the 2003 comedic classic Elf live-in-concert during the holiday season at Orchestra Hall. John Debney’s score—which the Orchestra will perform while the movie plays in high definition on a large screen—is part of one of the all-time highest-selling soundtrack albums for a Christmas-themed film.

[Please note: This film is rated PG. Parental guidance suggested as some material may be inappropriate for children under the age of 8.]

Minnesota Orchestra Holiday Concerts

A NEW YEAR’S CELEBRATION: JON KIMURA PARKER PLAYS GERSHWIN

Tuesday, December 31, 2024, 8:30 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Wednesday, January 1, 2025, 2 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Minnesota Orchestra

William Eddins, conductor

J’Nai Bridges, mezzo

Jon Kimura Parker, piano

ELLINGTON Three Black Kings

Arr. BONDS He's Got the Whole World in His Hands

GERSHWIN Songs to be announced

ANTHEIL A Jazz Symphony

GERSHWIN Rhapsody in Blue

The Minnesota Orchestra will ring in the new year with its former Associate Conductor William Eddins at the podium for a jazz-inspired New Year’s celebration program that includes selections from 20th-century American composers. Virtuoso pianist and friend of the Orchestra Jon Kimura Parker will perform the solo piano role of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue—which premiered 100 years ago—and two-time Grammy Award-winning mezzo J’Nai Bridges will sing selections from Gershwin and Margaret Bonds. Following the December 31 concert, ticketholders will be invited to enjoy vintage jazz from the Minnesota-based group Belle Amour before a complimentary Champagne toast at midnight.

Live at Orchestra Hall

TWIST & SHOUT: THE MUSIC OF THE BEATLES

A Symphonic Experience with the Minnesota Orchestra

Saturday, January 4, 2025, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Sarah Hicks, conductor

Live at Orchestra Hall programming continues in the new year with Twist & Shout: The Music of the Beatles, which looks back at the rock band’s early years in the United States with many of the Beatles’ #1 hits arranged for symphonic orchestra. Presented 60 years after “the British Invasion” of 1964, the multimedia experience is accompanied by hundreds of rare and unseen photos to be projected onstage.

Nordic Soundscapes

NORDIC LANDSCAPES AND PORTRAITS

Friday, January 10, 2025, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Saturday, January 11, 2025, 2 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Thomas Søndergård, conductor

Gabriel Campos Zamora, clarinet

ANDRÉE Concert Overture

NIELSEN Clarinet Concerto

BJARNASON Air to Breath, from Bow to String for Cello and Orchestra

SØRENSEN Evening Land

TARKIAINEN Midnight Sun Variations

SIBELIUS Finlandia

Thomas Søndergård has earned a reputation for incisive interpretations of works by composers from his native Denmark, and from the Nordic region more broadly. This season, he will bring to the Orchestra a two week-long festival celebrating the music of composers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, with additional culinary and cultural activities to activate Orchestra Hall. The first weekend of concerts features Principal Clarinet Gabriel Campos Zamora in Carl Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto; the program’s second half explores primarily contemporary pieces that evoke Nordic landscapes, including Daníel Bjarnason’s Air to Breath, Sørensen’s Evening Land and Outi Tarkiainen’s Midnight Sun Variations.

Nordic Soundscapes

CHAMBER MUSIC IN THE HALL

Sunday, January 12, 2025, 2 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra

BARFIELD Gravity

CLARKE Dumka

NIELSEN Serenata in Vano (Serenade in Vain), for Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, Cello, and Bass

POULENC Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano

SCHOENBERG Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night)

SUNDSTRÖM Chromatic Fantasy for Solo Cello

Small ensembles of Minnesota Orchestra musicians will perform chamber music on the Orchestra Hall stage. This mid-January offering—the first of the season’s three Chamber Music concerts—will feature works that have rarely or never been performed at the Hall, including the inaugural performance of a piece by 20th-century English composer and violist Rebecca Clarke, and Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), which has not been played by the ensemble since 1991. As nods to the Nordic Soundscapes festival, ensembles will also perform Carl Nielsen’s Serenata in Vano and Kari Sundström’s Chromatic Fantasy for Solo Cello.

Nordic Soundscapes

NORDIC TALES AND FOLKLORE

Thursday, January 16, 2025, 11 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Friday, January 17, 2025, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Saturday, January 18, 2025, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Thomas Søndergård, conductor

Johan Dalene, violin

MATRE Lyric Pieces

NIELSEN Violin Concerto

ALFVÉN The Mountain King Suite

GRIEG Selections from Peer Gynt

The second Nordic Soundscapes program is headlined by another virtuosic work by Nielsen, the Danish composer’s Neoclassical Violin Concerto. The two-movement concerto will be performed by Swedish violinist Johan Dalene, winner of the 2019 Carl Nielsen Competition, who will make his first Orchestra Hall appearance in these concerts. Søndergård will also lead the Orchestra in two works the ensemble has never performed—Ørjan Matre’s Lyric Pieces and Hugo Alfvén’s The Mountain King Suite, before concluding with selections from Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt, incidental music written for the play of the same title.

Live at Orchestra Hall

JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA

with Wynton Marsalis

Tuesday, January 28, 2025, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra

Wynton Marsalis, trumpet

Comprising many of the world’s greatest jazz soloists, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra has been led for more than 30 years by internationally acclaimed trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis. The ensemble last appeared at Orchestra Hall in a joint concert to open the Orchestra’s 2022-23 season. Performed without the Orchestra, this January program features swing, big band, jazz and blues, bringing the jazz club experience to the Hall’s stage.

[Please note: The Minnesota Orchestra does not perform on this program.]

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

LISZT AND DVOŘÁK

Friday, January 31, 2025, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Saturday, February 1, 2025, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Nuno Coelho, conductor

George Li, piano

YUN Kraken

LISZT Piano Concerto No. 1

DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 6

Another double debut will take place at Orchestra Hall when pianist George Li joins conductor Nuno Coelho for concerts centered on Franz Liszt’s dramatic Piano Concerto No. 1. Li entered the spotlight in 2015 when he won the silver medal in the International Tchaikovsky Competition, and his most recent recording included solo piano works of Liszt. Coelho and the Orchestra will open the concerts with Du Yun’s Kraken, a piece from the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer’s Mythology series. The program concludes with Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 6, one of the composer’s lesser-performed symphonies.

Young People’s Concert

THE AMERICAN MUSICAL TAPESTRY

Tuesday, February 4, 2025, 10 a.m. and 11:35 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Wednesday, February 5, 2025, 10 a.m. and 11:35 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Thursday, February 6, 2025, 10 a.m. and 11:35 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Kellen Gray, conductor

Program to include:

COPLAND Fanfare for the Common Man

BONDS Decision, from The Montgomery Variations

PRICE Juba Dance, from Symphony No. 1

STILL Animato, from Symphony No. 1, Afro-American

SIMON Tap!, from Four Black American Dances

GINASTERA The Land Workers, from Estancia

WILLIAMS March, from Raiders of the Lost Ark

South Carolina-born and Scotland-based conductor Kellen Gray will lead the Orchestra in an hour-long program that reflects on the origins of American classical music.

[Tickets note: Available to school and home school groups.]

Minnesota Orchestra Holiday Concerts

LUNAR NEW YEAR CELEBRATION

Saturday, February 8, 2025, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Norman Huynh, conductor

Ying Li, piano

Gao Hong, pipa

Fei Xie, artistic consultant

HUANZHI Spring Festival Overture

WEI Awakening Lion

CHIN subito con forza

CHENGZONG/Wanghua Yellow River Piano Concerto

HUANG “Saibei Dance,” from Saibei Suite No. 2

RAVEL “Empress of the Pagodas,” from the Mother Goose Suite

CUONG New Work [World Premiere]

GAO HONG Musical Journey for Pipa and Orchestra

TRADITIONAL Dance of the Golden Snake

The Minnesota Orchestra will present its fourth annual Lunar New Year concert, welcoming the Year of the Snake with music that honors family traditions and themes of unity and health. The concert will be the first led by Norman Huynh, and will feature the world premiere of an Orchestra commission by Vietnamese-American composer Viet Cuong, a Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute alumnus. Pipa player Gao Hong will perform the soloist role in her own composition, Musical Journey, and pianist Ying Li—the first prize winner of the 2021 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions—will make her Orchestra Hall debut performing the Yellow River Piano Concerto, a work premiered during China’s Cultural Revolution.

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

SUSIE PARK PLAYS ORTIZ

Friday, February 14, 2025, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Saturday, February 15, 2025, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Paolo Bortolameolli, conductor

Susie Park, violin

FARÍAS Retratos Australes

ORTIZ Altar de Cuerda for Violin and Orchestra

REVUELTAS La noche de los mayas

Chilean-Italian conductor Paolo Bortolameolli organizes a captivating program with all three pieces to be performed by the Orchestra for the first time. First, Bortolameolli introduces audiences to Chile-born composer Miguel Farías’ evocative Retratos Australes. Then, First Associate Concertmaster Susie Park will take centerstage performing Ortiz’s blazing Violin Concerto. Finally, the program will conclude with Silvestre Revueltas’ La noche de los mayas, a film score for the 1930s film of the same name—both of which drew from Mayan folklore.

U.S. Bank Movies & Music

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS™ PART 2

In Concert with the Minnesota Orchestra

Thursday, February 20, 2025, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Friday, February 21, 2025, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Saturday, February 22, 2025, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Sarah Hicks, conductor

Led by Principal Conductor of Live at Orchestra Hall Sarah Hicks, the Minnesota Orchestra will present the final installment in the beloved Harry Potter Film Concert Series with Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows™ Part 2 in Concert. The ensemble will perform Alexandre Desplat’s epic score while the movie plays in high definition on an overhead screen.

[Please note: This film is rated PG-13. Parents strongly cautioned as some material may be inappropriate for children under the age of 13.]

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

SØNDERGÅRD, FAUST AND STRAVINSKY

Friday, February 28, 2025, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Saturday, March 1, 2025, 2 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Thomas Søndergård, conductor

Isabelle Faust, violin

Minnesota Chorale

HAYDN Te Deum

STRAVINSKY Symphony of Psalms

STRAVINSKY Violin Concerto

HAYDN Symphony No. 92, Oxford

Though Haydn’s music has been a staple of the Minnesota Orchestra since 1905, this program is bookended by two of his lesser-performed works—beginning with his brightly colored Te Deum, which will be played for the first time by the ensemble together with the Minnesota Chorale. Thomas Søndergård’s selections will draw contrast and find unexpected similarities between the 18th-century composer and Neoclassical composer Igor Stravinsky, exploring Haydn’s enduring influence into the 20th century. Søndergård’s long working relationship with Isabelle Faust will be on display for Minnesota audiences for the first time, with Faust undertaking Stravinsky’s virtuosic Violin Concerto.

Relaxed Family Concert

EXPLORE MUSIC AND ART WITH THOMAS

Sunday, March 2, 2025, 2 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Thomas Søndergård, conductor

Committed to conducting programs for the Orchestra’s youngest concertgoers, Thomas Søndergård will lead a Relaxed Family Concert for the second consecutive year. The program will examine orchestral works inspired by visual art pieces.

[Tickets note: Free tickets available for young listeners ages 18 and under, thanks to the Hall Pass program.]

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

SØNDERGÅRD CONDUCTS MAHLER SYMPHONY NO. 1

Friday, March 7, 2025, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Saturday, March 8, 2025, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Thomas Søndergård, conductor

Julia Bullock, soprano

HOWELL Lamia

BRITTEN Les illuminations

MAHLER Symphony No. 1, Titan

For the first time in Minnesota, Thomas Søndergård will lead the Orchestra in a work by Mahler, conducting his monumental First Symphony. The program will open with Lamia, the first significant orchestral work of 20th-century English composer and pianist Dorothy Howell. At the center of the concerts, soprano Julia Bullock—one of the leading American voices in the opera world—will make her Orchestra Hall debut performing Benjamin Britten’s Les illuminations.

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

ERIN KEEFE PLAYS BEETHOVEN

Thursday, March 13, 2025, 11 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Friday, March 14, 2025, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Minnesota Orchestra

Tabita Berglund, conductor

Erin Keefe, violin

BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto

TABAKOVA Fantasy Homage to Schubert

SCHUBERT Symphony No. 8, Unfinished

One of today’s most exciting early-career conductors, Tabita Berglund was recently named principal guest conductor of Detroit Symphony Orchestra. For the first half of her inaugural program with the Minnesota Orchestra, she will partner with Concertmaster Erin Keefe to perform Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, which Keefe last played with the Orchestra in 2012. The concert’s second half is dedicated to the music and influence of Franz Schubert, first with Fantasy Homage to Schubert, an ethereal, contemporary piece by Dobrinka Tabakova who has long admired the 19th-century composer. Tabakova’s homage serves as an apt transition to Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony, a piece that is sometimes considered to be the initial symphony of Western classical music’s Romantic period.

Symphony in 60

BELOVED BEETHOVEN

Saturday, March 15, 2025, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Tabita Berglund, conductor

Erin Keefe, violin

BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto

Part of the Symphony in 60 series, this concert features Berglund at the podium, with Concertmaster Erin Keefe performing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto.

Young People’s Concert

MUSICAL UPS AND DOWNS

Wednesday, March 19, 2025, 10 a.m. and 11:35 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Thursday, March 20, 2025, 10 a.m. and 11:35 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Chad Goodman, conductor

BERNSTEIN Overture to Candide

MENDELSSOHN Selection from Violin Concerto

DVOŘÁK Selection from Suite in A major, American

SHOSTAKOVICH Selection from Symphony No. 10

MOZART Overture to The Marriage of Figaro

FRANKLIN Chrysalis Extended

PRICE Adoration for String Orchestra

MUSSORGSKY Selection from A Night on Bald Mountain

Guest conductor Chad Goodman will lead the Minnesota Orchestra for the first time in a program that examines the ability for music to express a range of emotions.

[Tickets note: Available to school and home school groups.]

Live at Orchestra Hall

STEVE HACKMAN’S BRAHMS X RADIOHEAD

[A Fuse Production] with the Minnesota Orchestra

Friday, March 21, 2025, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Steve Hackman, conductor

Multi-hyphenate music powerhouse Steve Hackman has made it his mission to redefine 21st-century art music, using his classical background to imaginatively integrate the music of popular artists with the sonic worlds of symphony orchestras. Hackman will bring to Minnesota his groundbreaking orchestral fusion Brahms X Radiohead, which overlaps the Romantic composer’s First Symphony with the band’s landmark album, OK, Computer.

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

SIR JAMES MACMILLAN

with the Minnesota Orchestra

Friday, March 28, 2025, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Saturday, March 29, 2025, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Sir James MacMillan, conductor

Sonia Mantell, cello

WAGNER Good Friday Spell, from Parsifal

MACMILLAN Kiss on Wood

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Russian Easter Overture

RACHMANINOFF Isle of the Dead

MACMILLAN Woman of the Apocalypse

Sir James MacMillan—whose theology-inspired compositions have been performed in recent years by the Minnesota Orchestra—will lead concerts that feature works honoring faith and religion, including selections of his own compositions as well as the music of Richard Wagner, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Rachmaninoff. Minnesota Orchestra cellist Sonia Mantell will perform the soloist part in MacMillan’s devotional and serene Kiss on Wood.

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

BEETHOVEN SYMPHONY NO. 6

Thursday, April 3, 2025, 11 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Friday, April 4, 2025, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Minnesota Orchestra

Marta Gardolińska, conductor

Behzod Abduraimov, piano

BACEWICZ. Overture

CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 2

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 6, Pastoral

Poland native Marta Gardolińska will begin her Orchestra Hall debut with the straightforwardly titled Overture from fellow Pole Grażyna Bacewicz—an accomplished 20th-century composer who has received relatively little attention in the United States. Gardolińska will then team up with returning guest pianist Behzod Abduraimov to present Frédéric Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 which—though it was published second—was the composer’s first piano concerto. The concerts will conclude with Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, which reflects the rural, natural landscapes outside of Vienna, which Beethoven enjoyed throughout his life.

Chamber Music Concert Series

CHAMBER MUSIC IN THE HALL

with Behzod Abduraimov

Saturday, April 5, 2025, 2 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra

Behzod Abduraimov, piano

STRAVINSKY The Soldier’s Tale

BOWEN Fantasia for Four Violas

DVOŘÁK Piano Trio No. 4

This iteration of the Minnesota Orchestra’s Chamber Music series includes guest pianist Behzod Abduraimov’s first chamber performance at Orchestra Hall. Abduraimov will perform Dvořák’s Piano Trio No. 4 with First Associate Concertmaster Susie Park and Principal Cello Anthony Ross. Prior to Dvořák’s Piano Trio, small ensembles of Orchestra musicians will perform Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale and York Bowen’s Fantasia for Four Violas.

Young People’s Concert

MUSICAL WONDERS OF THE WORLD

Wednesday, April 9, 2025, 10 a.m. and 11:35 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Thursday, April 10, 2025, 10 a.m. and 11:35 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Molly Turner, conductor

GROFÉ On the Trail, from Grand Canyon Suite

GERSHWIN Selection from An American in Paris

BRITTEN Storm, from Four Sea Interludes

CHEN and HE Selection from The Butterfly Lovers

SMETANA The Moldau, from Má vlast (My Homeland)

BORODIN Selection from In the Steppes of Central Asia

COPLAND Variations on a Shaker Melody, from Appalachian Spring

Guest conductor Molly Turner makes her Minnesota Orchestra debut, leading a program of music inspired by Earth’s unique ecosystems and topographies.

[Tickets note: Available to school and home school groups.]

Relaxed Family Concert

MUSICAL WONDERS OF THE WORLD

Sunday, April 13, 2025, 2 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Molly Turner, conductor

Conductor Molly Turner and the Orchestra present a Relaxed Family Concert featuring music that evokes unique ecosystems from around the world.

[Tickets note: Free tickets available for young listeners ages 18 and under, thanks to the Hall Pass program.]

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

SØNDERGÅRD CONDUCTS FUTURE CLASSICS

Friday, April 25, 2025, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Minnesota Orchestra

Thomas Søndergård, conductor

Kevin Puts, host and Composer Institute director

An initiative launched in 2001, the Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute is a residency program for accomplished emerging composers that includes a week of seminars, rehearsals and a concert featuring their music. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts will again serve as the director of the residency and will host the public performance which will be led for the first time by Søndergård—a major advocate for new orchestral music.

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

SØNDERGÅRD CONDUCTS PUCCINI’S TURANDOT

Thursday, May 1, 2025, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Saturday, May 3, 2025, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Thomas Søndergård, conductor

Christine Goerke, soprano (Turandot)

Adolfo Corrado, bass (Timur)

Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, soprano (Liù)

TBA, tenor (Calaf)

Minnesota Chorale

Angelica Cantanti Youth Choir

PUCCINI Turandot

The Minnesota Orchestra last offered a complete performance of Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot in 1985. In these May concerts, Søndergård—who is regarded for his expertise in the operatic sphere—will lead the Orchestra, Minnesota Chorale and Angelica Cantanti Youth Choir in the highly dramatic work, which features the emotionally-riveting aria “Nessun Dorma.” Hand-picked by Søndergård, the cast of vocal soloists is headlined by star soprano Christine Goerke in the title role.

SYMPHONY BALL 2025

Saturday, April 26, 2025

Symphony Ball is the Minnesota Orchestra’s largest fundraising event of the year, attracting nearly 1,000 guests and raising critical funds to support artistic and educational initiatives. Ticketholders may attend a concert and party or arrive early for a dinner and auction.

[Please note: Tickets will be available in February 2025.]

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

SØNDERGÅRD, FLITER AND MOZART

Thursday, May 8, 2025, 11 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Friday, May 9, 2025, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Minnesota Orchestra

Thomas Søndergård, conductor

Ingrid Fliter, piano

AL-ZAND Luctus Profugis: Elegy for the Displaced

MOZART Piano Concerto No. 17

SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 11, The Year 1905

When Thomas Søndergård made his debut with the Minnesota Orchestra in December 2021, it was alongside guest soloist Ingrid Fliter, who performed a piano concerto of Mozart. In their reunion, Søndergård, Fliter and the Orchestra will again join forces for that same composer’s Piano Concerto No. 17. On either side of Mozart’s concerto are works that address times of upheaval: the concerts will open with Karim Al-Zand’s Luctus Profugis, a lament for string orchestra and percussion that reflects on the 21st-century European refugee crisis while drawing allusions to Virgil’s Aeneid; the program concludes with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11, which vividly portrays the Russian Revolution of 1905 and its aftermath.

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

JAMES EHNES PLAYS DVOŘÁK

Thursday, May 15, 2025, 11 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Friday, May 16, 2025, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Minnesota Orchestra

Edward Gardner, conductor

James Ehnes, violin

WALKER Folksongs

DVOŘÁK Violin Concerto

SMETANA Tábor, from Má vlast

JANÁČEK Sinfonietta

The works of American composer George Walker are influenced by a variety of genres. His Folksongs will start off a folk music-inspired program led by Edward Gardner, principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The remainder of the program focuses on three Czech composers who blended traditional folk and orchestral music to craft a distinctly Czech style. James Ehnes, one of the most sought-after violinists on the international stage, will return to Orchestra Hall to perform Dvořák’s sole Violin Concerto—a piece that epitomizes how Dvořák’s compositions were informed by the musical traditions of his homeland.

Chamber Music Concert Series

CHAMBER MUSIC IN THE HALL

with James Ehnes

Saturday, May 17, 2025, 2 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra

James Ehnes, violin

SMITH Porcupine Wash

STERRETT For the Angels Left Behind

GLASS String Quartet No. 3, Mishima

BEETHOVEN Septet

Grammy Award-winning violinist James Ehnes will join a small ensemble of Minnesota Orchestra musicians in an intimate performance of Beethoven’s Septet. Additional repertoire includes three contemporary works from composers Gabriella Smith, David Sterrett and Philip Glass.

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

HEYWARD, BEETHOVEN AND SCHUMANN

Friday, May 30, 2025, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Saturday, May 31, 2025, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Jonathon Heyward, conductor

Alice Sara Ott, piano

KENDALL He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3

SCHUMANN Symphony No. 2

Two of today’s most distinctive personalities in classical music will make their Orchestra debuts in this late spring program. Jonathon Heyward, the music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, will lead a wide-ranging program that stretches from a new work by Hannah Kendall to Robert Schumann’s 19th-century Second Symphony. Heyward will collaborate with guest pianist Alice Sara Ott for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3; Ott, who has an extensive history recording the music of Beethoven, is among classical music’s most in-demand pianists.

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

FEI XIE PLAYS JOLIVET

Thursday, June 5, 2025, 11 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Friday, June 6, 2025, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Minnesota Orchestra

Cristian Măcelaru, conductor

Fei Xie, bassoon

MARSALIS Selections from Blues Symphony

JOLIVET Bassoon Concerto

ENESCU Symphony No. 1

Cristian Măcelaru makes his much-anticipated return to the Minnesota, conducting three works that are new to the ensemble. A frequent collaborator of Wynton Marsalis, Măcelaru will open the concerts with selections from the composer’s Blues Symphony, which expands the standard 12-bar blues progression into a lyrical history of American music. Măcelaru is also artistic director of the George Enescu Festival and Competition; in this program, he brings that composer’s First Symphony to the Orchestra. At the center of the program, Principal Bassoon Fei Xie will take on André Jolivet’s Bassoon Concerto—which many consider to be the most difficult concerto in the instrument’s repertoire.

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

SEASON FINALE: SØNDERGÅRD CONDUCTS RACHMANINOFF

Thursday, June 12, 2025, 11 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Friday, June 13, 2025, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Saturday, June 14, 2025, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Thomas Søndergård, conductor

Bruce Liu, piano

SIMON Four Black American Dances

PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 3

RACHMANINOFF Symphonic Dances

Thomas Søndergård will open the 2024-25 Season Finale concerts with Four Black American Dances by Carlos Simon, the Washington, D.C.-born composer whose music the Orchestra has championed in recent seasons. Pianist Bruce Liu, first prize winner of the 2021 Chopin Piano Competition, will then make his Orchestra Hall debut performing Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto, which the composer premiered with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The program will conclude with the Symphonic Dances of Rachmaninoff, which he wrote towards the end of his life while living in the United States.

Minnesota Orchestra Holiday Concerts

JUNETEENTH

with the Minnesota Orchestra

Thursday, June 19, 2025, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Jonathan Taylor Rush, conductor

JOHNSON Victory Stride

WATKINS Soul of Remembrance, from Five Movements in Color

ABELS Delights and Dances

LEE Freedom’s Genuine Dawn

COLEMAN Umoja

SIMON Ring Shout, from Four Black American Dances

For the third consecutive year, the Minnesota Orchestra will present a concert in celebration and remembrance of Juneteenth, the holiday commemorating the emancipation of the last African Americans still enslaved in Texas in June 1865. The Orchestra, under the baton of Jonathan Taylor Rush and alongside special musical guests to be announced at a later date, will perform a program featuring music by African American composers from across generations.

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

BEETHOVEN AND BRAHMS

Thursday, July 10, 2025, 11 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Friday, July 11, 2025, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Saturday, July 12, 2025, 7 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

Kensho Watanabe, conductor

Cecilia Belcher, violin

WEBER Overture to Der Freischütz

BEETHOVEN Romance Nos. 1 and 2 for Violin and Orchestra

BRAHMS Symphony No. 2

Kensho Watanabe will return to the Orchestra Hall podium for a concert featuring selections from two of the most widely performed composers in the ensemble’s history: Beethoven and Brahms. Acting Associate Principal Second Violin Cecilia Belcher—who has been with the Minnesota Orchestra since 2014—will enter the soloist spotlight for the first time, performing two of Beethoven’s earliest works: his Romance Nos. 1 and 2. The concerts will open with the dramatic Overture to Carl Maria von Weber’s opera Der Freischütz.

TICKET PURCHASING INFORMATION

Ticket packages of three or more concerts are on sale now, and can be purchased at minnesotaorchestra.org or by calling 612-371-5642. Single tickets will be available

on July 29, 2024. For groups of 10 or more, call 612-371-5662.

The 2024-25 Classical Season is presented by Ameriprise Financial.

The Chamber Music Series is sponsored by Dr. Jennine and John* Speier.

The Movies & Music series is presented by U.S. Bank.

The Relaxed Family Concert series is sponsored by PNC.

Co-sponsored by Eric and Celita Levinson.

These activities are made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State

Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts

and cultural heritage fund.

All programs, artists, dates, times and prices subject to change.

PRESS CONTACTS

Michael Curran, Communications Coordinator

mcurran@mnorch.org

Gwen Pappas, Vice President of Communications and Public Relations

gpappas@mnorch.org

Alexandra Robinson, Content and Communications Manager

arobinson@mnorch.org

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Shuman Public Relations

Lisa Jaehnig | lisa@shuman-pr.com 

Christina Bianco | christina@shuman-pr.com 

Harrison Hicks | harrison@shuman-pr.com

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