“After a pandemic pause in 2020, the Minnesota Beethoven Festival will re-emerge Sunday, presenting eight concerts by major international artists on the campus of St. Mary’s University in Winona,” writes Rob Hubbard in Saturday’s (6/26) Star Tribune (MN). “Big names have been part of the Beethoven Festival from its beginnings in 2007. ‘The first couple of years, we had the Minnesota Orchestra and [violinist] Joshua Bell,’ … said Ned Kirk, artistic and managing director of the festival since its founding…. ‘Osmo [Vänskä] and the Minnesota Orchestra … were recording all the Beethoven symphonies at the time and it was a perfect fit. Having Osmo come to Winona to conduct all nine symphonies in the first four years was a huge part of getting people’s attention.’ It’s a typically impressive lineup this year, although it has more of a chamber music and recital focus.… Concerts also will reflect the fallout of COVID: Audience members will be in every other seat at St. Mary’s Page Theatre and the Chapel of St. Mary of the Angels. And masking will be recommended.” Among festival performers: Pacifica Quartet, Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, pianists Marc-André Hamelin and Adam Golka, Chanticleer vocal ensemble, Manhattan Chamber Players, and American String Quartet.
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