Minnesota Orchestra visits Grand Rapids for weeklong Common Chords festival

The Minnesota Orchestra unveils a major new Greater Minnesota outreach initiative with the launch of Common Chords, as the Orchestra and its musicians travel to Grand Rapids, Minnesota, from October 10 to 15 for a celebratory festival week of concerts and more than 30 events specially tailored to the Grand Rapids community.

The festival, the result of an extensive year-long planning process by a committee of Grand Rapids community leaders and Orchestra staff, is the first public experience in the multi-year Common Chords project, which establishes partnerships between the Orchestra and Greater Minnesota cities, each culminating in its own unique festival week.

Highlights of the Grand Rapids Common Chords festival week include multiple visits by Orchestra musicians to area elementary and high schools; an “Art of Conducting” workshop at the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce; chamber group performances at such venues as the Grand Rapids Public Library, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and the Grand Itasca Clinic and Hospital; a cultural exchange with the local Ojibwe community; coaching sessions with the Itasca Symphony Orchestra and the Itasca Youth Chamber Orchestra; three Kinder Konzerts for younger audiences; and four full-Orchestra concerts—two each led by Principal Pops Conductor Sarah Hicks and Associate Conductor Courtney Lewis.

The Common Chords festival week will culminate in four concerts by the full Minnesota Orchestra, all held at Grand Rapids’ Reif Center.  On Friday, October 14, at 12:45 p.m., Courtney Lewis will lead a Young People’s Concert for school students.  The remaining three performances are open to the general public: an “Inside the Classics” concert that delves into Copland’s Appalachian Spring through conversation and performance, with Sarah Hicks as conductor and Orchestra violist Sam Bergman as host, presented on Friday, October 14, at 7:30 p.m.; a family-friendly concert of American works, led by Lewis, offered on Saturday, October 15, at 2 p.m.; and a classical concert led by Hicks, featuring Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, performed on Saturday, October 15, at 7:30 p.m.  Tickets for the three public concerts are priced at $5 and are available at reifcenter.org.

Members of the public from Grand Rapids and beyond can follow the inaugural Common Chords festival week online at minnesotaorchestra.org/commonchords, which features a complete schedule of the week’s events as well as photos and blog entries by Orchestra staff, musicians and community members.

Common Chords is supported by major funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the McKnight Foundation and the Mardag Foundation.

“At the highest level, Common Chords can be a real exchange of people and ideas that builds new and unexpected connections through music,” said Minnesota Orchestra President and CEO Michael Henson.  “The initiative will allow us to foster deeper relationships with a community than a one-night performance typically offers.  In fact, a fundamental component of the program is to jointly plan each festival week with area residents to make sure the experience is tailored specifically to the community.”

All Common Chords events were organized by a steering committee of Grand Rapids residents who represent a broad cross-section of the community through schools, faith groups, local government, businesses, civic and cultural organizations, and individual artists. 

“Our community is delighted to launch Common Chords with the Minnesota Orchestra,” said Kathy Dodge, executive director of the Itasca Orchestra and Strings program.  “It’s intriguing that the Orchestra’s residency will go beyond the standard workshop format.  The musicians will be in spaces and places never before imagined, doing some things ‘un-orchestra’-like!  I hope we’ll be able to reach new audiences and leave a real stamp on the hearts and minds of our community through this initiative.”

Building on a Legacy

Common Chords builds on the Minnesota Orchestra’s long legacy of performing across the state. The fledgling Minnesota Orchestra embarked on its first state-wide journey in 1907, taking the train to Moorhead, Grand Forks and Duluth.  Since then, the ensemble has played 680 concerts in nearly 60 Minnesota cities—from International Falls to Worthington—performing in school gyms, churches, community auditoriums, theaters and the great outdoors.   Music Director Osmo Vänskä has led state-wide tours in 2005, 2007 and 2008, as well as many one-concert visits to communities around the state.

About the Minnesota Orchestra

The Minnesota Orchestra performed its inaugural concert in November 1903, just six weeks before the Wright brothers made their first airplane flight.  Now recognized as one of America’s leading orchestras, the ensemble presents nearly 200 concerts annually, heard live by 400,000 people—including more than 50,000 students who attend Young People’s Concerts each year.  The Orchestra tours regionally, nationally and internationally, earning rave reviews in music capitals around the world, and is heard on radio stations across the country on award-winning broadcasts produced by Minnesota Public Radio and distributed nationally and internationally.  It has received many awards for adventurous programming and much acclaim for its vast collection of recordings, which date back to the 1920s.  Vänskä and the Orchestra have completed a five-disc initiative to record the complete Beethoven symphonies, described by Gramophone as “one of the finest available Beethoven symphony cycles.”  In 2010, the organization launched Minnesota Orchestra Music on Demand, offering downloads of select major works recorded live in concert and available online.  The Minnesota Orchestra makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, a venue which will soon undergo a $50 million renovation that is set for completion in 2013. 

About The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Performing Arts Program

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Performing Arts Program provides multi-year grants on an invitation-only basis to a small number of leading orchestras, theater companies, opera companies, modern dance companies and presenters based in the United States.  Although the Foundation does not confine its support to large organizations with national visibility, it does seek to support institutions that contribute to the development and preservation of their art form, provide creative leadership in solving problems or addressing issues unique to the field, and present the highest level of institutional performance.  Grants are awarded on the basis of artistic merit and leadership in the field, and concentrate on achieving long-term results.  Special consideration is also given to programs supporting generative artists—U.S. composers, playwrights, choreographers and artist-led theatrical ensembles.  In conjunction with regular program grants, the Foundation also makes a limited number of grants to research and service organizations that are doing work closely related to program goals, particularly in the area of professional development.

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For further information about Common Chords, visit minnesotaorchestra.org/commonchords.

Common Chords is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, McKnight Foundation and Mardag Foundation.

Delta Air Lines is the official airline of the Minnesota Orchestra’s 2011-12 season.

The Star Tribune, 830 WCCO-AM and 102.9 LiteFM are the Minnesota Orchestra’s media partners for the 2011-12 season.

This activity is made possible in part by a grant provided by the Minnesota State Arts Board through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature from the State’s general fund and its arts and cultural heritage fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

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