On Thursday (1/30), Graydon Royce writes in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, “The Minnesota Orchestral Association is expected to name Gordon Sprenger as its new board chairman Friday morning. Three sources have told the Star Tribune that Sprenger, 76, will take over from Jon Campbell, who had agreed to step down once a new contract was negotiated with musicians. Following a lockout that lasted 16 months, that agreement was ratified Jan. 14 by musicians and the board of directors. Sprenger, retired CEO of Allina Health Systems, was described by one source as ‘a healer.’ … The former CEO of Abbott Northwestern Hospital has been a member of the orchestra’s board for several years. The musicians will play for the first time in a newly remodeled Orchestra Hall on Feb. 7. That ‘welcome-home’ concert will be led by Stanislaw Skrowaczewski. It is expected that Sprenger will address the audience that night.… Of immediate concern for Sprenger and the board is the issue of artistic leadership. Osmo Vänskä resigned as music director Oct. 1 to protest the inability of the board and musicians to reach a contract by then. He has indicated informally that he might entertain a return to Minnesota if he were asked.”
Posted January 31, 2014
