Minnesota Orchestra

From Minnewiki

The Minnesota Orchestra formed in 1903 as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, a name the group held until 1968. Emil Oberhoffer was a founder and the first principal conductor.

Since 1974 the Orchestra has performed in its own auditorium, Orchestra Hall, in downtown Minneapolis. In 1980 the orchestra began presenting a summer music festival, called Sommerfest, also at Orchestra Hall.

Among the works which were given their world premieres by the orchestra are Rounds by David Diamond, Bartók’s Viola Concerto, and Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee by Gunther Schuller.

The orchestra made its first recording in 1924; since the 1930s it has recorded extensively. Notable recordings by the orchestra include the first recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, under Mitropoulos, Doráti’s best-selling version of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, and Skrowaczewski’s traversal of the orchestral music of Ravel. In 2005 Osmo Vänskä and the orchestra began a complete recording of the Beethoven symphonies on the Swedish label BIS.