In Friday’s (4/25) Star Tribune (Minneapolis), Graydon Royce writes that on Thursday the Minnesota Orchestra board “brought back celebrated music director Osmo Vänskä on a two-year contract to rebuild an arts organization that has weathered the greatest crisis of its 110-year history. ‘This brings stability, and we can move forward because we have the pieces in place,’ said board chairman Gordon Sprenger…. In a statement released by the Minnesota Orchestra, [Vänskä] said he was ‘very pleased to have this chance to rebuild the Vänskä/Minnesota Orchestra partnership.’ … Vänskä will lead the orchestra in concerts at Northrop Auditorium on May 2 and 4…. The terms of the two-year deal provide that Vänskä will lead at least 10 weeks of concerts in each of the next two seasons. In addition, his annual salary, reported in the 2012 tax return at $1.176 million, will be cut by the same 15 percent the musicians took. ‘It feels like this chapter of it is over,’ said principal trombonist Douglas Wright of Vänskä’s return. ‘There is a lot of work in front of us and quite a bit of healing that needs to take place. But this is a major step in that direction.’ ”
Posted April 25, 2014
