In Friday’s (4/11) Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul), Graydon Royce writes, “The Minnesota Orchestra’s main fundraising gala, September’s Symphony Ball, has been canceled. The co-chairs of the event resigned last week, saying in a letter to board chair Gordon Sprenger that the current climate at the orchestra did not lend itself to celebration. The organization will appoint new chairs, but feels it would be too difficult to get the event ready by September. The ball … routinely raises a gross of $1 million toward the orchestra’s annual budget.… In a statement, the orchestra acknowledged that there will be no ball in 2014, but the statement said that a ball held in June 2015 would still fall within fiscal 2015, ‘which is important from a revenue perspective.’ ” The article also reports that two of the board members who had recently resigned have since rejoined the board. “Meanwhile, negotiations are continuing with Osmo Vänskä on a possible return to the orchestra. Vänskä resigned as music director last October in protest over the labor dispute.… Vänskä will lead the orchestra Tuesday in a one-night-only concert with violinist Joshua Bell at Orchestra Hall. The event is sold out.”
Posted April 15, 2014
