“The Minnesota Orchestra continues to add to its international profile with a four-city summer tour that includes three top European festivals,” writes Kristin Tillotson in Wednesday’s (4/6) Star Tribune (Minneapolis). “It announced details Wednesday morning of the Aug. 18-27 tour, which will begin in Lahti, Finland, where music director Osmo Vänskä was chief conductor for 20 years before coming to Minnesota. The Edinburgh International Festival, Robeco SummerNights at the famed Concertgebouw hall in Amsterdam and the Tivoli Festival in Copenhagen will follow. Featured works include two Beethoven symphonies and American composer Steven Stucky’s ‘Rhapsodies for Orchestra.’ Finnish violin star Pekka Kuusisto, who will also be an artistic partner with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in the coming season, will perform the Sibelius and Prokofiev violin concertos…. This will be the orchestra’s sixth international tour led by Vänskä, who has taken it to Europe four times between 2004 and 2010, and Cuba last May…. Beyond showcasing the orchestra, touring is ‘an opportunity for us to “brag to the world,” so to speak, about the great cultural heritage we have in Minnesota,’ said musician Greg Milliren, co-chair of the orchestra’s artistic advisory committee.”
Posted April 7, 2016
