“Saying it offers ‘a burst of culture for busy lifestyles,’ Minnesota Orchestra will launch a series of hour-long concerts in January,” writes Graydon Royce in Friday’s Star Tribune (Minneapolis). “ ‘Symphony in 60’ breaks down some of the formality of the concertgoing experience and gets audiences in and out of Orchestra Hall in the time it takes to watch an episode of ‘The Good Wife.’ … ‘Opting out of starters and dessert, this is purely the main course—a one-hour performance of great works,’ said music director Osmo Vänskä…. The program grew out of a 2008 Wallace Foundation audience-development grant. A pilot concert in 2012 was viewed as a success, and the results persuaded the orchestra to move ahead. ‘Symphony in 60’ will be performed on three Thursdays between January and June. … Afterward, audiences will be invited to mingle with musicians on the Orchestra Hall stage. Vänskä will lead the first program, Jan. 29, with symphonic dances from Bernstein’s ‘West Side Story’ and selections from Prokofiev’s ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ Frequent guest conductor Mark Wigglesworth will lead Mahler’s ‘Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth)’ on April 9.”
Posted October 27, 2014
