Michelle Miller News

The Minnesota Orchestra announced today that Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård will succeed Osmo Vänskä to become the 11th music director to lead the Orchestra in its 120-year history.

The Minnesota Orchestra announced today the appointment of Osmo Vänskä as the Orchestra's Conductor Laureate, an ongoing role that recognizes his deep and far-reaching impact on the Minnesota Orchestra over 19 years as its music director. The appointment takes effect in September 2022.

The Minnesota Orchestra today unveiled plans for 2022-23, a wide-ranging season that pairs the music of Beethoven, Brahms and Mendelssohn alongside newer compositions by Alberga, Mazzoli and Montgomery; spotlights masterpieces of the piano repertoire, and more.

Music lovers will be able to watch six additional live Minnesota Orchestra concerts on Twin Cities PBS (TPT-2), as well as on the Orchestra's website and social media channels, in the months ahead as part of the This Is Minnesota Orchestra series.

Hosted by Gayle King, Tony Dokoupil, and newcomer Nate Burleson, the program will be filmed at CBS' new studio in Times Square, featuring multiple interview areas, new touch-screen technology, augmented reality, monitors throughout the room, and LED walls that bring it all to life.

As orchestras emerge from the pandemic and lean into recovery, the League of American Orchestras' 76th National Conference, Embracing a Changed World, will tackle the big questions about the future through new perspectives, actionable content, and provocative discussion.

When The World Was Young, a family drama that tells the story of siblings Benjamin (Jason Ma) and Audrey (Lia Chang) who return home to confront their Mother's (Virginia Wing) memory loss and discover a hidden key to her past, was voted Audience Choice for Best Short Narrative at the 16th annual DisOrient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon.

The Minnesota Orchestra will conclude its 2020-21 Classical season with concerts in June that will re-introduce in-person audiences to Orchestra Hall, after nine months of performances that have been designed solely for at-home viewing and listening.

The characters in “One Night in Miami” discuss using their fame and their voices to make a difference, something King tells Miller, co-host of CBS THIS MORNING: Saturday, that she thought a lot about after the killing of George Floyd. So much so, she wanted to get the film out as quickly as possible.

The Minnesota Orchestra will return to the Orchestra Hall stage this fall with a revised concert season designed for television, radio and streaming audiences.

Lenny Kravitz has had hit records and packed concert venues.

Upcoming hip-hop artist and producer Kevin Robert Harris II was just 21 when he was gunned down outside of a music studio in Los Angeles on Sept. 20, 2009. The case remains unsolved.

The Minnesota Orchestral Association and its musicians have approved an extension of the musicians' collective bargaining agreement to run through August 31, 2022. The 2 year extension is accompanied by a side letter (an amendment to the contract) that outlines work rules and musician compensation reductions that apply during the pandemic.

The Minnesota Orchestra will return to the Orchestra Hall stage this fall with a revised concert season designed for television, radio and streaming audiences. Beginning on October 2, six Friday night concertsa?"including two led by Music Director Osmo Vänskäa?"will simultaneously be shared live on Twin Cities PBS (TPT)'s MN Channel and online at minnesotaorchestra.org.

The Great White Way remains dark, but a Boston College student group recently brought a bright light of Broadway to entertain the Heights community, as a special guest performer during a Black Lives Matter fundraiser.

Producers Brian Moreland and Arvind Ethan David have announced casting for #WhileWeBreathe: A Night of Creative Protest in benefit of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc and The Bail Project, Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity (BOLD), BYP100 Education Fund, Forced Trajectory Project (FTP), The Justice Committee, and SONG.

The Minnesota Orchestra announced today the cancellation of all full-Orchestra concerts scheduled to take place inside Orchestra Hall in August and early September 2020, as they are not in compliance with the 'Stay Safe MN' current guidelines for large events in the effort to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Minnesota Orchestra CEO Michelle Miller Burns provided an update on what the orchestra is working on in terms of planning to resume performances.

To keep its cast including Broadway veterans engaged and to continue to build an audience during the pandemic, GRACE - a new musical exploring a family's long connection with African American culinary traditions - creator/composer Nolan Williams, Jr. and business partner Dale A. Mott (Edgewood) have teamed-up with celebrity chef Carla Hall.

Minnesota Orchestra Creative Partner for Summer at Orchestra Hall Jon Kimura Parker and President and CEO Michelle Miller Burns announced plans today for Summer at Orchestra Hall, a new take on the Orchestra's summer festival that will run from Friday, July 17, through Sunday, August 9, celebrating the Orchestra's home in the city and its proximity to the revitalized Peavey Plaza.