Music

September 18, 2003 5:00 AM

Minnesota Orchestra hoping to learn from its mistakes

The Minnesota Orchestra is celebrating its centennial year with its new music director, Osmo Vänskä, finally in place. He is the orchestra's 10th music director and like others, he will be compared with his predecessors. Some critics say they hope the orchestra doesn't repeat mistakes made when it appointed Eiji Oue as music director.

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September 12, 2003 10:09 AM

Country singing legend Johnny Cash dies

Johnny Cash, "The Man in Black" who became a towering figure in American music with such hits as "Folsom Prison Blues," "I Walk the Line" and "A Boy Named Sue," died Friday. He was 71. Cash died of complications from diabetes that resulted in respiratory failure, according to his manager. Cash died at a Nashville hospital early this morning.

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September 11, 2003 5:00 AM

Vanska begins new era for Minnesota Orchestra

Osmo Vänskä will lift the baton for the first time Thursday night as music director of the Minnesota Orchestra. The Finnish conductor arrives as the orchestra celebrates its centennial. Vänskä's opening concert at Orchestra Hall will feature works by Neilsen, Rachmaninoff, and Beethoven's 5th Symphony. Vänskä says he realizes he has to live up to many expectations.

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August 22, 2003 10:45 AM

Dissension at Minnesota Orchestra over new president

A significant board member and supporter of the Minnesota Orchestra Association has resigned over the search process for its new president. This week the orchestra announced it has chosen Tony Woodcock to replace outgoing president David Hyslop. The new music director, Osmo Vänskä, appears to have played a controversial role in the selection process.

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August 15, 2003 8:00 AM

Songs from the Tallgrass Prairie

A bit of Americana is on stage at a Center for the Arts in Fergus Falls. Songs From the Tallgrass Prairie is a musical created by Los Angeles songwriter Randy Hale.

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August 8, 2003 11:56 AM

Understanding the changing voice

Adolescent boys pose a real challenge for choir directors. Their changing voices are difficult to place in a choir. At the beginning of year a young man may be an alto, a few months he could be a tenor. The time in between can be awkward and uncomfortable for young singers. A group at St. John's University in Collegeville is spreading the word about the science of changing voices.

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August 3, 2003 9:00 AM

Music@Menlo music festival, 2003

The brainchild of a pair of dynamic musicians: pianist Wu Han and her husband cellist David Finckel. They'd had a longstanding dream to create a chamber-music celebration that embraced students, an eager audience, and an A-list of performers from around the world. They found the perfect site a half-hour south of San Francisco, in the city of Menlo Park, California, and last August opened their doors. Over the course of the festival's three weeks, critics, performers, the organizers, everyone remarked on the strikingly high level of execution. Audiences, though, spoke loudest about this event: Californians lined up by the hundreds to get in, many were turned away at the door.

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August 3, 2003 9:00 AM

Masterwork Symphonies of Beethoven

Professor David B. Levy of Wake Forest University and MPR's Michael Barone explore the masterwork Symphonies of Beethoven, movement by movement with musical examples.

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July 25, 2003 3:30 PM

Local band gb leighton is music phenomenon

The Minnesota rock band gb leighton is a bona fide phenomenon in the regional music scene. Over 14 years, the group has become one of the top drawing acts in Minnesota. Rarely does a night pass when gb leighton isn't performing somewhere, usually in the Twin Cities. MPR's Chris Roberts spoke with the band's founder, Brian Leighton, about his earnest songwriting style, the band's reception among critics, and its legions of fans. He also took in a gb leighton show to witness the "phenomenon" in person.

by Chris Roberts

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July 24, 2003 5:15 PM

New director takes over Sommerfest

The Minnesota Orchestra has dropped the Viennese and added video screens to its Sommerfest. Perhaps the most substantial change concert-goers will notice is the addition of conductor Andrew Litton as the new director. Litton makes his debut Friday night with an ambitious program of Mahler's Symphony No. 1 and Beethoven's Triple Concerto. The Julliard-trained pianist will be playing and conducting during the Friday night performance at Orchestra Hall. Litton told MPR's Greta Cunningham he's honored to be leading Sommerfest into the future. He says it's a great time for people and players to have fun.

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