The Minnesota Orchestra is on a Midwestern U.S. tour that features an immersive residency at Indiana University, as well as the Orchestra's first performance at the University of Michigan since 1972. Follow along for updates including masterclasses, side-by-side rehearsals and other highlights in this blog from the road. 

Over four decades, Kinder Konzerts have introduced thousands of children to classical music and given many their first experience at Orchestra Hall.

We know what you're thinking. An orchestra concert. Audiences formally clad in tuxes and gowns. A light smattering of polite applause. An uncomfortable seat with lots of shushing. Not an ideal way to spend your Saturday night, right?

Forget about it.

We get this question a lot, so we put together a few outfit suggestions for inspiration. 

Seven emerging composers have been selected as participants for the Minnesota Orchestra’s 17th annual Composer Institute, Institute Director Kevin Puts and the Orchestra announced today. The selected composers, whose works encompass a variety of musical styles, were chosen from a pool of 156 applicants through a highly competitive process.

From January 21 through 27, 2019, Minnesota Orchestra musicians participated in approximately 25 events throughout North Minneapolis in the Orchestra’s first-ever Twin Cities-area Common Chords residency week.

A Generous Policy, Now Even Easier for You

Orchestra Hall is quiet and tuba player Jason Tanksley sits alone on the stage, performing some of the most challenging passages in the tuba’s repertoire. He plays behind a large opaque screen; on the other side sits a committee of Minnesota Orchestra musicians, each of whom is listening carefully. It’s a typical set-up for an orchestral audition, but this one is out of the ordinary.

Young musicians from two local organizations will perform before Minnesota Orchestra concerts at Orchestra Hall Thursday and Friday.

For many Minnesotans, summer camp means mosquitos, al fresco cooking, fishing, and fireside singalongs of old-time camp tunes. Few campers, however, can report learning to play the boisterous Roman Carnival Overture by Hector Berlioz. Or performing it in a sold-out concert hall alongside world-class members of the Minnesota Orchestra led by Osmo Vänskä. Or earning a standing ovation.

Great music, sumptuous refreshments, the incomparable Andrew Litton on the podium and at the piano—what more could you want from Sommerfest? We have the answer: new this summer are “Experience Cafés,” a variety of interactive events and exhibits held at stations throughout the Orchestra Hall lobby and adjoining outdoor spaces at all Sommerfest performances.