“If a single dominant message can be construed from the Minnesota Orchestra’s 2015-16 season lineup, it is, ‘We’ve been back for a bit, and building. Now we’re back to where we used to be,’ ” writes Kristin Tillotson in Friday’s (3/27) Star Tribune (Minneapolis). “The orchestra is firmly resettled with a refurbished hall, new president and board chair, and its first full season following a historic 16-month lockout. Next season is short on risk-taking, but long on traditional repertory, featuring works at which the orchestra and its music director, Osmo Vänskä, excel. The season will open Sept. 11-12 with Vänskä conducting … vocalist Audra McDonald, followed by 22 weeks of classical subscription concerts. Vänskä will conduct 12 of those weeks, beginning Oct. 1-3 with Mahler’s Fourth Symphony and ending in June with Mahler’s Fifth … The work of Vänskä favorite Jean Sibelius will receive three weeks of concerts in 2016, the Finnish composer’s 150th birthday year…. The fun, conversational ‘Inside the Classics,’ also is back with conductor Sarah Hicks and host Sam Bergman, a violist.… Contemporary works … include the world premiere of Finnish composer Olli Kortekangas’ ‘Migrations’ ”and works by Peter Lieberson and Kevin Puts.
Posted March 30, 2015
