The Minnesota Orchestra will unveil its new Common Chords initiative this fall with a weeklong residency and festival in Grand Rapids, Minnesota from October 10 to 15. Festival highlights include visits by orchestra musicians to elementary and high schools; a cultural exchange with the local Ojibwe community; coaching sessions with the Itasca Symphony Orchestra and Itasca Youth Chamber Orchestra; a conducting workshop at the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce; chamber concerts; and four full-orchestra concerts at Grand Rapids’ Reif Center, led by Principal Pops Conductor Sarah Hicks and Associate Conductor Courtney Lewis. The festival came about following yearlong planning between Grand Rapids community leaders and orchestra staff. “The initiative will allow us to foster deeper relationships with a community than a one-night performance typically offers,” said President and CEO Michael Henson in a statement. Common Chords, which establishes partnerships and festival weeks between the orchestra and Greater Minnesota cities, is supported by major funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, and the Mardag Foundation.
Posted September 12, 2011
