The Minnesota Orchestra and Music Director Osmo Vänskä perform at Orchestra Hall, in a pre-pandemic photo.
“The Minnesota Orchestra announced its 2021-22 season Friday, which will be longtime music director Osmo Vänskä’s final season conducting the orchestra,” writes Ross Raihala in Friday’s (7/16) Pioneer Press (MN). “The 2021-22 season opens with guest violinist Joshua Bell and features nearly 30 returning and debuting guest soloists as well as 13 guest conductors…. The orchestra plans to continue offering livestream and broadcast concerts for the season.” Highlights include three programs with the Minnesota Chorale: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony; Joel Thompson’s Seven Last Words of the Unarmed, with Twin Cities choral partners; and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (“Symphony of a Thousand”) joined by National Lutheran Choir, Angelica Cantanti Concert Choir, and Minnesota Boychoir. The Mahler 8 concert and a separate Mahler’s Ninth Symphony performance will be recorded, as part of the orchestra’s ongoing Mahler symphony recording project. The orchestra will perform a three-week Sibelius festival in January, and resume its Live at Orchestra Hall concerts, U.S. Bank Movies & Music concerts, and Relaxed Family Concert offerings. Four Minnesota Orchestra musicians will be featured as soloists during the season: Principal Cello Anthony Ross, Assistant Concertmaster Rui Du, Principal Flute Adam Kuenzel, and Concertmaster Erin Keefe.
