“Thirteen guest conductors, 21 returning and debuting soloists, 20 pieces new to the Minnesota Orchestra repertoire and Mahler’s Third,” writes Kathy Berdan in Friday’s (3/29) Pioneer Press (St. Paul, MN). “The Minnesota Orchestra’s 2019-20 season, announced Friday, features 23 weeks of classical programming as well as holiday music, chamber music, Young People’s Concerts, family concerts and sensory-friendly performances…. Music director Osmo Vänskä will lead the orchestra, along with 13 guest conductors and associate conductor Akiko Fujimoto in her subscription concert debut.… Vänskä and the orchestra will perform and record Mahler’s Third Symphony—part of the ongoing Mahler recording project…. The season will feature more than 20 pieces new to the orchestra’s repertoire, most written by 21st century composers,” including Kalevi Aho, Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, Anna Clyne, Michael Daugherty, Brett Dean, Zosha Di Castri, Sebastian Fagerlund, Hannah Kendall, Polina Nazaykinskaya, and Kaija Saariaho. Pianist Kirill Gerstein will begin a two-year project performing Rachmaninoff’s major works for piano and orchestra, and the orchestra will spotlight Great Britain with music by Vaughan Williams, Britten, and Elgar. The Minnesota Chorale will perform with the orchestra in Mahler’s Third, Vaughan Williams’s Dona Nobis Pacem, and Handel’s Messiah. The orchestra’s Common Chords residency will take place in April 2020 in Austin, Minnesota.
Posted April 1, 2019
