Minnesota Symphony Orchestra

The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded originally as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, the Minnesota Orchestra plays most of its concerts at Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall.

History

The eighth major orchestra established in the United States, the Minnesota Orchestra was founded by Emil Oberhoffer as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903. It gave its first performance on November 5, 1903, in Minneapolis's Exposition Building. In 1911, it began a series of children's concerts under the sponsorship of the Young People's Symphony Concert Association (YPSCA), which continues to this day. Early in the 1920s, the orchestra was one of the first to be heard on recordings and on the radio, playing a nationally broadcast concert with guest conductor Bruno Walter in 1923. In 1968, the orchestra changed its name to the Minnesota Orchestra. It makes its home in downtown Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall, which was built for the ensemble in 1974. The orchestra's previous hall, starting in 1929, was Northrop Memorial Auditorium on the University of Minnesota's Minneapolis campus.

Financial concerns

In 2007, the Minnesota Orchestra's assets began declining, a trend exacerbated by the 2008 financial crisis. In August 2008, the Minnesota Orchestra Association's invested assets totaled $168.5 million, 13% less than the $192.4 million the Association had projected in its 2007 Strategic Plan. In fiscal year 2009, the Minnesota Orchestra's board "sold $28.7 million in securities at a nearly $14 million loss".

During 2009 and 2010, the orchestra's board reported a balanced budget and drew on its endowment to cover operational deficits. At the time, it was trying to secure $16 million in state bonding for renovations of Orchestra Hall and Peavey Plaza. The orchestra posted operational deficits of $2.9 million in 2011 and $6 million in 2012.

2012–2014 lockout

On October 1, 2012, the Minnesota Orchestral Association (the orchestra's governing body) locked out the orchestra's musicians and canceled concerts through November 18 after failing to reach a new collective bargaining agreement. The MOA stated that spending on musician salaries and benefits was depleting the organization's endowment, and that labor costs needed to be reduced by $5 million per year. The musicians and their union took the position that the proposed cuts were so deep and draconian as to represent an existential threat to the future of the orchestra.

The entire 2012–13 concert season was canceled. During the lockout, the musicians periodically presented concerts on their own. In December 2012, Vänskä sent the board of directors and the musicians a letter warning that the lockout was severely damaging the orchestra's reputation at home and abroad. On April 30, 2013, Vänskä said he would resign if the lockout continued:

: I must make it clear that in the case Carnegie Hall chooses to cancel the Minnesota Orchestra's concerts this November, i.e. if they lose confidence in our ability to perform … then I will be forced to resign.

After the orchestra management canceled the concerts in question, Vänskä resigned as music director on October 1, 2013. On October 4 and 5, he conducted three final concerts with the locked-out orchestra at the University of Minnesota's Ted Mann Concert Hall, with Emanuel Ax as guest pianist. As an encore, Vänskä conducted Sibelius's ''Valse Triste'' and requested that the audience withhold its applause afterward.

Post-lockout

On January 14, 2014, the Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra announced that they had reached a collective bargaining agreement with the Minnesota Orchestra Association to end the lockout on February 1, 2014. Concerts resumed at Orchestra Hall in February. On April 24, 2014, the orchestra announced Vänskä's return as music director effective with the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons. In July 2017, the orchestra announced the extension of Vänskä's contract as music director through the 2021–22 season. In December 2018, the orchestra announced that Vänskä would conclude his tenure as music director at the close of the 2021-2022 season. He is to take the title of conductor laureate.

In May 2015, the Minnesota Orchestra performed in Havana, Cuba

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