(dramatic music) - [Announcer] We are live at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis with performances, interviews, and more.

- Music is exuberant.

- Beautiful and uplifting.

- Joyful and profound.

- Exhilarating.

(bright orchestral music) - [Announcer] This is Minnesota Orchestra.

(audience applauding) - Welcome to "This is Minnesota Orchestra".

I'm your host, Ariana Kim, and we're thrilled that you're here on this incredible fall evening for an historic event here at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.

Tonight, we welcome to the stage for the very first time, Thomas Soøndergård in his new role as our music director designate.

(audience applauding) He'll conduct a sensational program featuring works by Lili Boulanger, Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky, three extraordinary pieces centered on turn of the century, France.

It's an honor to serve as your host tonight and to be here on this iconic stage.

As a violinist and Twin Cities native, I grew up coming to hear the Minnesota Orchestra and sat in these very seats.

And in fact, I made my own solo debut right here on this mark, or maybe a few steps that way As a fifth grader playing Kreisler's Praeludium and Allegro with the Minnesota Youth Symphonies.

(audience applauding) I remember walking out on stage and thinking these brilliant acoustic cubes looked like giant blocks of astronaut ice cream.

Does anybody remember astronaut ice cream?

They were sort of larger than life versions of that treat I used to get after visits to the Minnesota Science Museum, kind of missed those good old days.

When I was thinking about tonight's program and the huge array of sound world will travel through, I started to visualize the sensuous flutters of the Boulanger, the English horn melodies of the ravel and the spell binding primal energy of the Stravinsky bouncing off those cubes as if watching beams of musical matter dancing from place to place.

As you listen tonight, whether you're here live or tuning in at home, I invite you to get lost in the colors that Thomas Soøndergård and the orchestra create.

Perhaps imagining a G-sharp that attaches to the bottom of your chair or a percussion outbursts that sticks to the refrigerator door.

Before we get started, I'd like to welcome to the stage Minnesota Orchestra's president and CEO, Michelle Miller Burns, who is here to introduce our next Music Director.

Michelle.

(audience applauding) - Thank you, Ariana.

Hello and welcome to all of you.

This is indeed an historic occasion and we are so glad to share the moment together.

Over the last four seasons, the Minnesota Orchestra has been engaged in a worldwide search for our next music director.

There are many aspects to such a search, of course, but the thing that matters most is what happens right here on this stage, the connection that transpires between conductor, musicians and audiences around the music.

And when you get that chemistry right, it is a very moving experience.

You hear it on stage and you feel it in the audience.

And this is what happened when the Minnesota Orchestra met Danish conductor, Thomas Soøndergård.

Over these last several months, as we've been working with Thomas, I've been struck by the fact that we were searching for an extraordinary artistic leader, and I believe we have also found an extraordinary human being.

Please now welcome in his first concerts as music director designate, Thomas Soøndergård.

(audience applauding) Welcome, Thomas.

- Thank you.

- A lot has transpired since you last conducted a concert here at the Minnesota Orchestra at Orchestra Hall.

You were first here with the Minnesota Orchestra in December of 2021, and then you came back in April of 2022, and now you're returning as the new artistic leader of this organization.

I'm wondering, what are you feeling right now as you come onto this stage tonight?

- Incredibly well, I mean, I must say, as you also said, Michelle earlier, that the connection with the orchestra is of course the music making.

That is the most important thing for me that works.

But to come into the hall both yesterday and tonight and get this kind of welcome, is I'm sure you can understand that that means incredibly much for us up here, both because we feel that there's something that is right with the connection, but we really want to make sure that you also have the same feeling.

- So Thomas, in this season when you are music director, designate, you're here for this week.

Next season will be the true start to your tenure as music director of the Minnesota Orchestra, and we'll see you on the podium much more regularly, and we very much look forward to that.

Give us a sense, if you will, of your approach to conducting and how you're thinking about getting the best out of this amazing orchestra, as your partnership with the Minnesota Orchestra develops.

- There's no doubt that the key word of a conductor's job is to listen and and cooperate with the musicians.

I've always had the greatest respect for musicians.

I've been one myself for many years, and when I had the feeling that the conductor didn't respect what came naturally from the orchestra, then something went wrong.

Of course, I am the conductor to conduct us through a week, through a season, through seasons, but I have the greatest respect for these musicians and what they have done so far, and I feel that those os moments deep in the orchestra soul have warmhearted incredibly wonderful conductors.

So it's just wonderful to take over from him.

(audience applauding) - Thank you, Thomas, and thanks to all of you for being part of this very special evening.

As together we launch this new wonderful partnership with Thomas Soøndergård and the Minnesota Orchestra.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

(audience applauding) - Thank you to Thomas and Michelle for that lovely introduction.

The program will begin shortly with Lili Boulanger's "Of the Spring Morning," or as it's known in French, "D'un matin de printemps" And if you're ever in need of bonus points on Orchestral Trivia Night, tonight marks the Minnesota Orchestra's very first time performing a piece.

Though I've not played it myself, when I listen, I find there to be a pastoral simplicity to it.

Spoken with a language of 20th century France in the early 1900s, yet laced with hope and joy, we will set the podium and turn to content master, Erin Keefe, to get things underway and welcome Thomas Soøndergård for his debut performance with the Minnesota Orchestra as Music Director Designate.

(audience applauding) (light music) (bright music) (audience applauding) (orchestral music) (audience applauding) What a scrumptious performance of Boulanger's "Of a Spring Morning" and how special to know that this was the Minnesota Orchestra's very first time performing it, more Minnesota Orchestra history in the making.

Lili Boulanger is often known as the little sister of Nadia, one of the most important composition pedagogues of the 20th century.

But Lili was a star in her own right.

As a youngster, She had caught the eye and ear of Gabriel Fauré, who after discovering she had perfect pitch, encouraged her to pursue a career in composition.

Sadly, this piece turned out to be one of her last, a push she made toward the end of her all too short life to complete a series of orchestral works, and I'm convinced that this hope and joy we hear in "Of Spring Morning" was a brief escape from the inevitability of her failing health.

From the sparkly percussion to the bubbling woodwind motives and romantic lilt in the string melodies, this sets up our ears perfectly for Ravel's "Mother Goose," which is up next on tonight's program.

The version of "Mother Goose" that you'll hear tonight is actually its third iteration.

Ravel was smitten with two of his friends' children, Jean and Mimi Godebski,, with whom he spent much time as an uncle figure and wrote a series of pieces for piano four hands inspired by their fairy tale books.

Within two years, Ravel had orchestrated the piano work and further expanded it into a ballet, which is less often played as a concert piece, but it's the version we'll get to hear tonight.

I personally love playing the whole ballet as it allows me to get lost in Ravel's mesmerizing soundscapes for just a little bit longer, and we get to hear some enchanting interludes, one that features one of the most special orchestral instruments of all time, the celeste.

Each vignette here paints a vivid picture.

One of my favorite moments in the piece is the contrabassoon serving as the voice of beast.

In "Conversations of Beauty and the Beast" in the fourth movement.

I always had a soft spot for the Beast in that story, and it always transports me back to my childhood.

Remembering, watching that iconic Walt Disney animated film with my family just across the river on movie night.

We invite you to become intoxicated with the spell binding music of Ravel's "Mother Goose," or as it's known in French, Ma Mère L'Oye, in seven movements performed by the Minnesota Orchestra led by Thomas Soøndergård .

(soft music) (audience applauding) (orchestra music) (audience applauding) And they lived happily after.

That was the "Mother Goose" by Maurice Ravel.

The Director Designate, Thomas Soøndergård, conducting the Minnesota Orchestra.

In 1910, Ravel wrote some pieces about Sleeping Beauty and Tom Thumb, about fairies and empresses in order to encourage some young friends of his to practice the piano.

The next year, he created an orchestration of that piece, Thomas Soøndergård recognizing concertmaster, Erin Keefe.

Now, some great soaring work, Jenny Seo, newly appointed Assistant Principal Viola, getting solo bow.

Clarinetist, Gabriel Zamora, contrabassoonist, Norbert Nielubowski, and the oboists, Julie Gramolini Williams and Marni Hougham, and Roma Duncan, playing the piccolo.

Last but not least, Katherine Siochi is the newly appointed Principal Harpist for the Minnesota Orchestra.

Another bow for the entire Orchestra, you're listening to a live broadcast of the Minnesota Orchestra here on your Classical Minnesota Public Radio and Twin Cities PBS.

I'm Valerie Kahler sitting in for Melissa Ousley, who is currently on the Danube with a couple of Minnesota Orchestra musicians.

As I mentioned, tonight's concert is being broadcast live on your Classical Minnesota Public radio and Twin Cities PBS, and my friend Ariana Kim is doing the onstage hosting duties for the TV audience.

Hello, Ariana.

I see that you're backstage.

How's it going?

- Hi, Val.

It's lovely to chat with you tonight.

The Orchestra sounds phenomenal.

- What a moment to experience the excitement here as tonight's host.

- As a violinist, most of your playing these days is chamber music or as the soloist.

Do you miss playing this kind of orchestral music we just heard?

- I do sometimes, and in fact, I got the best of both worlds two weeks ago when I premiered a new double violin concert by Laura Schwendinger with fellow Twin Cities native, Eleanor Bartsch and the Dubuque Symphony.

After we finished the first half of the program, Eleanor and I joined the band sitting into play with them, Brahms' Second Symphony.

It was so much fun to be in a big section like that and particularly for Brahms' No.2, because for me, the orchestral rep doesn't get much better than that.

So Val, I think you have a musical life beyond the studios at MPR.

Am I remembering right that you're also a cellist and still play rather actively these days?

- Yep.

I have been playing the cello since I was a kid, but when I moved to Minnesota 20 some years ago, I kind of stopped.

Basically, I would just play at my friend's church on holidays, but then I got invited to fill in at this adult chamber music camp.

We take over an entire family run resort, shout out to Hoot Owl in Waubun, Minnesota.

We play chamber music all day, chamber orchestra stuff at night, and then cello choir stuff, if we have any juice left.

After that experience, that's when I started playing again in earnest.

I joined the Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis and recently the Mankato Symphony as well.

But it is really chamber music that holds my heart.

In fact, I am now playing in a string quartet with my MPR buddy Steve Staruch, who is a phenomenal realist.

- No kidding, I love to know that and say hi to Steve for us.

- Absolutely.

- It's been great catching up with you, Val.

Thanks so much.

- You too, Ariana.

Enjoy the second half of the concert and Thomas Soøndergård debut, as Music Director Designate.

- Will do, same to you in the studios.

Bye.

- Bye.

Next up, we had the opportunity to talk with Thomas Soøndergård about his journey to the Minnesota Orchestra music directorship when his appointment was announced this past summer.

Let's have a listen.

- Hello and welcome to everyone here in Orchestra Hall and viewing online around the world.

The selection of a new Music Director is a milestone occasion in the life of an orchestra.

It heralds new directions and new opportunities.

It is my great pleasure and honor to introduce to you the Minnesota Orchestra's next Music Director, Thomas Soøndergård.

(audience applauding) - Well, it's been one of the most spectacular moments in my life.

Not only did I get married two weeks ago, but also to come over here and see the Orchestra that I love so much already.

It all looks as if this is gonna be a very exciting journey.

(instrumental music) - He has conducted and recorded with great orchestras around the world and has the artistic ability and standards to challenge and inspire our Orchestra in new ways.

Thomas first conducted the Minnesota Orchestra last December.

Some of you may have been there for those performances of Strauss' "Ein Heldenleben."

It was a concert that left us absolutely buzzing afterward.

(instrumental music) - The chemistry between a conductor and a hundred musicians on stage can be somewhat of an unexplainable phenomenon.

Let me tell you, sometimes it doesn't work, but other times it's the most natural thing in the world and not always for reasons that you can put your finger on.

Thomas has a warm, inviting and trusting presence on the podium that extends from the front of the stage to the back.

His energy and style of communicating in rehearsals and concerts, it feels collaborative, and it makes some of the most challenging music feel easy to play.

Thomas, thank you for joining the Minnesota Orchestra as our next artistic leader and Music Director.

And on behalf of the musicians, Thomas, I'd like to offer you a very warm and enthusiastic welcome.

We are so excited to have you as our next Music Director.

(audience applauding) - It happens a few times in my life that the connection is so strong at the very first moment.

It's a little bit like I can imagine when you meet a person for the first time, you are not sure how much of yourself that you dare to show.

Everybody is a little vulnerable, but with this Orchestra, it felt as if there was no wall there.

It felt like, I was stretching out a hand and it was met with a very warm welcome from the Orchestra immediately.

And when that happens so quick, it's much easier to create music at the spot.

So the chemistry felt as if we've known each other actually far more than just a week or two.

(orchestra music) Coming back to Minnesota and knowing that the Orchestra was not really aware, and of course it's an exciting moment.

I of course hope that they would be as excited as I was about the announcement, and that was surely clear when they were told that we were gonna have a closer relationship.

I stood outside the door and while I was walking in, I could hear the cheering, (audience cheering and clapping) and that's of course a moment that will stick with me for a long, long time.

It's an enormous luxury for me to actually take over an assemble that is in such great shape that is in such great spirit.

So actually it feels to me as if it's just finding the right way to place my arm around the shoulders of this Orchestra and will continue the journey that is already so well on its way.

(instrumental music) So I grew up in a beautiful little spot in Jutland, as it's called.

It's the bit that comes up from Germany.

In the middle of that space, there's a little town called Holstebro.

It was a center for art, actually for music, for theater for many years.

I remember walking in the shopping area in that little city where I grew up and hearing a marching band around the corner and I just took off from my parents.

They actually got quite scared.

They couldn't find me.

I stood next to this band, and I made them understand that I wanted to be a part of this.

So I came into the music school, only seven years old -- started on the drums because in the percussion section of the music school, they had more instruments than any academy in Scandinavia when I grew up.

Little by little, I just learned so much about music and found the passion for this.

And then, I went to Copenhagen to study at the academy there.

I got a job in the Royal Danish Opera, and at the same time, I got into the European Community Youth Orchestra, where the conducting ideas began because that's where I got to know and work with conductors like Claudio Abbado, Haitink, Zubin Mehta, Giulini.

They were a big part of my inspiration for actually working more and more close with music than as a percussion player.

The role of art in in Denmark is big.

I don't know Minneapolis, Minnesota so well yet.

But I do understand already that the arts has a big, big role in this society, which is very good news for me.

I can't wait to go into the theaters here.

I wanna make sure that there are some days where I can go and explore.

If I meet a person for the first time, it's important to tell a bit about yourself, but I find it far more important to actually listen, and that's the real job -- I think of a conductor.

Naturally, in the beginning of our studies, we are so focused on what we bring to the work, but actually the older we get, the more experience we get, the more we should leave that and just listen.

So the ears should get bigger as we get older and it's far less to do with ourselves.

- Orchestra Hall is electric with excitement with Thomas Soøndergård here tonight.

Thomas will be Minnesota Orchestra's 11th music director since the organization began as the Minneapolis Symphony back in 1903.

From its early days with Eugene Ormandy and Dimitri Mitropoulos, to most recently with Conductor Laureate, Osmo Vänskä.

Let's take a look back at those who have made history on the Minnesota Orchestra podium.

- I'm Phillip Gainsley.

Since 1903, each one of the past ten Minnesota Orchestra Music Directors has contributed to the sound and reputation of this ever evolving organization.

It's both a privilege and a responsibility to lead an orchestra with such a rich history.

A sentiment that rings as true today as it did more than a century ago.

From its earliest years, the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, as it was first known, set at sites on making music history worldwide.

A lineage of esteemed music directors.

Each made his mark regarding repertoire, guest artists, recordings, and significant performances.

German-born, Emil Oberhoffer, founded of the Minneapolis Symphony as the eighth major orchestra in the US.

He established what would be a long history of touring, including the orchestra's debut at Carnegie Hall in 1912.

Oberhoffer initiated the first Young People's Concerts and brought in numerous internationally renowned soloists and artists.

Belgian violinist and conductor, Henri Verbrugghen continued the touring tradition by leading the Minneapolis Symphony to Cuba in 1929.

And although that trip was by steamship, the ensemble continued to rack up miles by rail, living up to its nickname, Orchestra on Wheels, and he spearheaded the Orchestra's live radio debut on WCCO in 1923.

Hungarian born violinist, Eugene Ormandy was respected for elevating the orchestra to a class group of American orchestras, as well as for his recordings, including what has become one of the largest box sets, in Sony classical history.

He was an experienced producer of radio concerts, providing opportunities for the Orchestra to perform on CBS and NBC Radio, gaining high visibility during the Depression.

Greek conductor, pianist and composer, Dimitri Mitropoulos was a gregarious man, known for his ability to memorize scores and for his exuberant conducting style.

He's credited with building audiences to one of the highest levels in the country.

Afterwards, the Orchestra was contracted by Columbia Records to make the first commercial recording of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No.

1.

Hungarian born composer and conductor, Antal Dorati led the Orchestra on the tour of a lifetime in 1957 to the Middle East, where under the auspices of the US State Department, they performed in Hiran and Baghdad among other cities.

His recording of the Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture, sold more than one million copies.

And for the 1952-'53 season, he conducted a series of televised hour long performances on WCCO TV.

Throughout the decades, Minnesota took pride in this organization, driven by high expectations and a strong Midwestern work ethic.

Another stream of renowned music directors took the orchestra to a new level.

Born in Poland, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski held one of the longest 10 years as Music Director, during which the organization became the Minnesota Orchestra.

In the 1968-'69 season, he conducted its much publicized performance at the United Nations in 1968, and he was behind the design and building of Orchestra Hall as the permanent home for the Orchestra.

He was awarded Conductor Laureate status in 1979.

British violinist and International Conductor of Merit, Sir Neville Marriner was a passionate conductor who led the Minnesota Orchestra to Australia, marking its first visit to the southern hemisphere.

He also took part in planning and conducting one of the Orchestra's largest events to date -- the televised "Scandinavia Tonight" in 1982 -- attended by representatives from multiple royal families.

Dutch conductor, Edo De Waart, was an assistant conductor to Leonard Bernstein before kicking on his role with the Minnesota Orchestra.

He expanded the Orchestra's repertoire with works by new composers.

He named Jorja Fleezanis as the Orchestra's first female concertmaster, and he established a tradition of concert performances of opera with Giuseppe Verdi's, magnificent "Otello," as his farewell concert in 1995.

Japanese conductor Eiji Oue presented over the Orchestra's much anticipated first tour of Europe and its inaugural tour of his homeland of Japan in 1998.

Known for his 17 recordings with the Orchestra, he also designated Dominick Argento as the Minnesota Orchestra's first Composer Laureate.

Then under the direction of Osmo Vänskä, the Minnesota Orchestra solidified its standing as an Orchestra of international acclaim.

Finnish conductor, clarinetist, and composer Osmo Vänskä began his music directorship in 2003.

His list of accomplishments includes high profile international tours to Cuba, South Africa, and Europe.

His prolific recording relationship with Beast Records resulted in the Orchestra's first Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance and complete recorded sets of the symphonies of Beethoven, Mahler, and Sibelius.

Now the transition begins as we usher in the era of Music Director Designate, Thomas Soøndergård.

Danish conductor Thomas Soøndergård is a supremely skilled conductor and an experienced music director.

He impressed Minnesota Orchestra musicians with his collaborative style and his invitation to make music together.

These music leaders have all shaped the Minnesota Orchestra.

They've all had a role to play in the legacy that is the Minnesota Orchestra.

(audience cheering and clapping) - What a fascinating journey that was with Phillip Gainsley.

I loved learning so much about the many esteemed music directors of the Minnesota Orchestra.

I'm delighted now to welcome third horn, Ellen Smith, who joins us for a quick inside the scenes conversation.

Welcome Ellen.

- Thank you, Ariana.

It's wonderful to be here with you.

- Thanks for chatting.

- We have such a wonderful shared history, including the fact that your mother taught my two sons violin.

And you've also been a soloist with my husband conducting the Richmond Symphony.

- Exactly.

So Ellen, I heard that this is your 30th season with the Minnesota Orchestra.

Is that right?

- It is.

- Unbelievable.

So in those three decades you've undoubtedly seen the quite literal passing of the baton between music directors.

Do you remember, A, how many times you've played "Rite of Spring," and are there any performances that stand out in your memory?

- Yes, I do remember how many times because I took the time to count and this weekend I will hit 40 times playing the "Rite of Spring."

- What?

Yeah.

- 40.

- Yeah.

- Incredible.

- And the most memorable for me was when we played it for young people's concerts.

We had to play it two times each morning for a whole week for a total of 12 times in one week.

Very athletic.

- More than once a day.

- Yeah.

- No kidding.

I think there should be like a world record plaque somewhere backstage.

(Ellen laughs) I also heard through the grapevine that the first time you played this piece, you were playing an instrument that's slightly different from the one you'll play tonight.

Can you tell us a little bit about that?

- Sure.

The first time I played the Wagner tuba, the Wagner tuba is an instrument that was developed in the late 1800s.

And used by many composers because of its unique sound.

- Yeah, exactly.

- And you'll see it tonight at the end of the horn section.

- Fabulous.

Well, it looks like the stage has been reset and your horn awaits.

So I look forward to hearing you and your colleagues in the Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" shortly.

- Thank you so much.

- Good luck.

That was Ellen Smith, third horn of the Minnesota Orchestra.

Intermission is coming to an end, so I'll make my way to the stage as well and see you in just a few minutes.

(light music) Hi again, everybody.

Welcome back.

What a scrumptious first half.

I loved sitting backstage, being able to hear and see everything firsthand and greet the musicians as they came back from their first half performance.

Up next, we're going to hear Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring."

When the piece was first premiered, there were accounts of near riots.

They thought that Stravinsky had perhaps lost his mind.

He had decided to create a piece that was a collection of pieces based on Pagan rituals welcoming the beginning of spring.

In the final movement, there's a girl that's chosen as the sacrificial lamb as an offering to the gods, and she actually dances herself to death.

This is never unaffecting, and whether you're playing it for the 40th time or hearing it for the hundredth, or perhaps sitting in the audience for that premiere in the early 1900s, there is something visceral and primal that ends up happening to the system.

Maybe something that then caused outrage in the audience.

Though the subject matter is inherently dark, the human experience and its relationship to the earth takes center stage.

This concert book ended by two contrasting oral representations of the coming of spring.

We conclude today's concert with Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring," Le Sacre du printemps.

Please, welcome once more, Thomas Soøndergård to take the podium with the Minnesota Orchestra.

(audience applauding) (orchestral music) (audience applauding) (instrumental music) (audience applauding)