“Building on the ‘musical diplomacy’ of high-profile trips to Cuba and South Africa, the Minnesota Orchestra announced Thursday its next destinations: Vietnam and South Korea,” writes Jenna Ross in Thursday’s (10/10) Star Tribune (Minneapolis). “The June 2020 trip is inspired by… the 25th anniversary of restored relations between the United States and Vietnam, and maestro Osmo Vänskä’s new post as music director of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra [in 2020]…. The orchestra has never been to Vietnam or Korea…. Classical Movements, the touring company that worked with the orchestra on its 2015 tour of Cuba and 2018 trip to South Africa … will act as creative adviser for Vietnam [and] is whittling the list of possible cities in which the orchestra might perform…. A new work by a Vietnamese composer will be commissioned … The orchestra views the tour as a crowning moment in Vänskä’s career in Minnesota. His final season as music director will be 2021-22…. As they have in Cuba and South Africa, the musicians will work with students in side-by-side rehearsals.” Said CEO Michelle Miller Burns, “This idea of really engaging in each of the cities where we perform has become a hallmark of this orchestra.”
Posted October 15, 2019
In photo: In 2015, the Minnesota Orchestra and Music Director Osmo Vänskä (center) performed in Cuba, following the renewal of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba. Photo: Euan Kerr
