Minnesota Orchestra

The Minnesota Orchestra is a full-size symphony orchestra based in Minneapolis, performing at Orchestra Hall, a downtown concert space known for its distinctive acoustic ceiling of angled cubes. The orchestra offers a mix of classical programs, pops concerts featuring popular and film music, and holiday programming that draws families each winter. A first-timer can expect a large ensemble of roughly 80 to 90 musicians tackling core symphonic repertoire alongside more casual, accessible programs. The hall's design puts listeners close to the stage even in upper seating areas, and the orchestra is known for a rich, blended string sound. Concertgoers new to classical music will find pops and holiday shows a comfortable entry point, while classical series concerts offer the deeper repertoire the ensemble is best known for internationally.

The orchestra began in 1903 in Minneapolis as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, founded largely through the efforts of Emil Oberhoffer, a German-born conductor who had been leading choral groups in the city and gathered local players into a professional ensemble. Oberhoffer led the orchestra for its first two decades and took it on tour early, building the touring habit that later became part of its identity.

Its early home was the Minneapolis Auditorium, and for many years the orchestra played at Northrop Auditorium on the University of Minnesota campus, a cavernous hall seating several thousand. In 1968 the ensemble changed its name to the Minnesota Orchestra to reflect the wider region it served, and in 1974 it moved into Orchestra Hall, a purpose-built room on Nicollet Mall designed with sound in mind rather than with a stage for opera or graduation ceremonies. Orchestra Hall reopened in 2013 after a major renovation of its lobby and public spaces.

Conductors who shaped the orchestra include Eugene Ormandy, who left Minneapolis for Philadelphia; Dimitri Mitropoulos, remembered for conducting from memory; Antal Dorati; Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, who led the move into Orchestra Hall and stayed associated with the orchestra for decades; Neville Marriner; Edo de Waart; Eiji Oue; and Osmo Vanska, whose tenure produced widely admired recordings of the Beethoven and Sibelius symphonies for the BIS label. The orchestra made recordings under Mitropoulos and Dorati as well, and it has toured widely, including a 2018 trip to South Africa. A labor dispute locked out the musicians for the 2012-13 season; concerts resumed in 2014, and the orchestra has continued its full year-round schedule since.