Echoes of History: Osmo Vänskä & the Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra

Osmo Vänskä, conductor William Wolfram, piano University of Minnesota Marching Band, University of Minnesota Chorus, Kathy Saltzman Romey, director Craig J. Kirchhoff, director

Program:Richard Wagner: "Overture to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg"Antonin Dvorak: "Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, From the New World" and "II. Largo"Franz Liszt: "Les préludes, Symphonic Poem No. 3" and "Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major for Piano and Orchestra" (William Wolfram, piano)Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: "1812, Overture solennelle" (University of Minnesota Marching Band, University of Minnesota Chorus)

Come be a part of history as Osmo Vänskä leads the Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra and celebrated piano soloist William Wolfram at the opening of the newly remodeled Northrop at the University of Minnesota! The evening will re-create the first concert ever heard in this Twin Cities musical and educational landmark; the original program played by the then-Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra on October 22, 1929. Beautifully re-configured Northrop will be filled with the sounds of Wagner, Dvořák, and Liszt, as the University of Minnesota's own Marching Band and Chorus join forces with the Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra for a most triumphant finale - Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. We hope you will join us for this unforgettable celebration of Minnesota history and culture!

The Minnesota Orchestra Musicians, a pending tax-exempt, 501(c)(3), is an organization dedicated to providing orchestral performances of unsurpassed excellence that contribute to the health, education and cultural vibrancy of the Twin Cities and the State of Minnesota. We wish to inspire an ever-widening audience to seek a lifelong relationship with great symphonic music.

The Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra are recognized around the world as world-class professional orchestral musicians. In 2010, renowned New Yorker orchestra critic Alex Ross called their performance in New York that of the “greatest orchestra in the world.”