A major world premiere, numerous guests and a new Dessa collaboration fill Minnesota Orchestra’s new season

Ross Raihala, Pioneer Press
·2 min read
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A major world premiere by composer Carlos Simon and librettist Marc Bamuthi Joseph, a new collaboration with hip-hop star Dessa and the (brief) return of Osmo Vanska are on tap for the 2022-23 Minnesota Orchestra season, which was announced Wednesday.

Subscription packages are available now at minnesotaorchestra.org or by phone at 612-371-5642. Single tickets go on sale July 18.

“This new season brings many outstanding artists to the Minnesota Orchestra and explores the great music of the past alongside thrilling new work by composers who are responding to our world today,” said violist Kenneth Freed, chair of the Musicians’ Artistic Advisory Committee, in a news release. “We look forward to sharing these voices, each of whom have something musically powerful to express.”

“Brea(d)th” — a new, large-scale work by Simon and Joseph (May 18-20) — is an embrace of what the pair call “the aspiration of racial equity through music-centered community healing.” It features vocal soloists, the orchestra, the Minnesota Chorale and Twin Cities Choral Partners.

The classical concert season also includes Wynton Marsalis’ distinctly American Swing Symphony (Sept. 23-24); a multitude of works new to the orchestra’s repertoire, most written by 21st-century composers; a New Year’s program (Dec. 31-Jan. 1) led by Marin Alsop and featuring pianist Awadagin Pratt; returning guest conductors and artists like conductor Sir Donald Runnicles (Oct. 13-15), conductor-violinist Leonidas Kavakos (May 11-12) and pianists Kirill Gerstein (Jan. 5-6) and Garrick Ohlsson (April 28-29); and the return of Osmo Vanska, the orchestra’s music director from 2003 to summer 2022, to conduct and record Mahler’s Third Symphony (Nov. 10-12).

The holiday season features orchestra trumpet player Charles Lazarus (Dec. 11); an evening with Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth (Dec. 13); a solo concert from pianist George Winston (Dec. 19); a live movie screening of “Elf” backed by the orchestra (Dec. 17-18); and a bilingual Spanish-English performance interweaving portions of Handel’s Messiah with Ramírez’ Navidad Nuestra (Dec. 9-11).

Live at Orchestra Hall highlights include a new collaboration with singer, rapper and writer Dessa (Aug. 4-5); Lazarus performing music inspired by the tropics (June 3); and “Symphony for Our World,” a new experience that combines National Geographic footage from the Earth’s eight biospheres set to a score by Bleeding Fingers Music (March 16-17).

Movie screenings with the orchestra performing the score live include “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (Oct. 28-29), “The Princess Bride” (Nov. 26-27), “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” (April 21-23) and “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” (Feb. 9-12).

For the full season schedule, see minnesotaorchestra.org.

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