The Score | Common Chords in Minnesota

The Minnesota Orchestra, based in Minneapolis, launched its annual Common Chords residency program in 2011, bringing a week of music and other events to far-flung Minnesota cities, in settings ranging from concert halls and schools to coffee shops, pubs, and community centers. This winter, the orchestra stayed closer to home with a Common Chords residency featuring more than 25 events, many of them free, throughout the city’s working-class North Minneapolis neighborhood, January 21-27. Highlights included Music Director Osmo Vänskä leading the orchestra in a concert at North High School featuring artists from the community including The Steeles, MacPhail Northside Youth Orchestra Bucket Drummers, and Juxtaposition Arts. The program included Michael Abels’s Dance for Martin’s Dream, Alejandro García Caturla’s Danzón, Bernstein’s Overture to Candide, Sibelius’s Finlandia, and Barber’s Symphony No. 1. Other activities included a Community Meal and Sing-Along at Sanctuary Covenant Church, musician visits to elementary and high schools, and chamber performances at locations ranging from the University of Minnesota Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center to Wilson’s Image Barbers and Stylists and Sammy’s Avenue Eatery. The 2019 residency was designed over twelve months by a steering committee of North Minneapolis leaders representing a cross-section of the community.