Among the many values that have strengthened Target's partnership with the Minnesota Orchestra over the years, an important one stands out: a shared commitment to providing opportunities for families to learn and be inspired together.

Preserving our orchestra – this valuable community resource– requires enduring financial support.  We're so accustomed to having the Orchestra, but you can't take it for granted.  Jayne and I want to do everything we can to make others realize that we have to keep supporting it."

Over the past 25 years, Cargill, an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products, has contributed $5.5 million to the Minnesota Orchestra, including a generous donation to the Building for the Future campaign. “It’s our honor and our privilege,” says Board member Pat Bowe, president of Cargill Sweeteners North America. “Cargill helped fund Orchestra Hall in the ’70s and was eager to continue the tradition with the renovation.”

Music and identity are intertwined,"Kathryn notes. "Music helps us learn who we are and find our place in the world. It can take us home." The lives of Laureate Society members Kathryn Schenk and Allan Mahnke are filled with music: teaching, practicing, performing, listening, supporting. "Music is important to us—we think about it all the time," Kathryn confides. Allan adds: "Music has been such a gift in our lives. Being able to support the Minnesota Orchestra is good fortune on our part."

As breeders and owners of Hanoverian horses that compete internationally in dressage, Louise and Doug Leatherdale love a winner. “So do Minnesotans,” remarks Doug. “They like their teams to win and their people to be good—so the Orchestra is a source of pride.”

Minneapolis wouldn't be the same without a symphony orchestra!"exclaims retired Medtronic CEO and Chairman Winston Wallin, Honorary Co-Chair of the Orchestra's Building for the Future campaign and an early contributor to the Orchestra Hall effort.

The French horn hanging on a wall in the home of Orchestra contributors Laurel and Frank Winsor is a shining reminder of Frank’s 42 years as a member of the Minnesota Orchestra, one of his two concurrent careers. He explains: “When I joined in 1951, the season was just 26 weeks and the pay was $2,300, too low to raise a family. So at my brother’s urging I became a stockbroker to have a second income.”

The Minnesota Orchestra has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember," confided Minnesota Orchestra benefactor and Board member Dr. Roberta Mann Benson. "My love of music was nurtured at an early age by my very musical mother. She played the piano and organ and sang. She loved the Orchestra—we'd attend frequently, always sitting in the same row. I can picture her now, her face rapt, her eyes closed—letting the music flow over her."

Our revitalized building is going to be beautiful!” Georgia declares. “It’ll be spectacular—with openness that draws people in, bringing greater focus to the Orchestra and making a physical declaration: ‘This is a prize for our community.’ ” Jim nods.

The Orchestra is a part of the soul of the city. Paula and I will do all we can to ensure its future for the next generation." Amateur musicians Paula and Cy DeCosse met playing side by side in the Minneapolis Jewish Community Center Orchestra.

A life filled with music keeps us going every day.It sustains us, inspires us and bonds us in good times and bad,” Nicky affirms. “After the September 11 attacks, the Hall was full to overflowing and the music united us.”

It's important for music to be part of all children's lives," says Margie Ankeny, board member emerita and past President of young People's Symphony Concert Association (yPSCA). "I'm proud that our Orchestra, with its fine education and outreach programs, gives girls and boys what might be their first opportunity to hear and learn about great music."

We want to give back!"Penny Bond and Chuck Grimsrud both respond when asked why they included a generous gift to the Minnesota Orchestra in their estate plans. "We've gotten so much pleasure from the Minnesota Orchestra that we want to give back in appreciation," explains Penny.

Family Concerts and Kinder Konzerts introduce music to children in such captivating, creative ways that hopefully they will develop into audiences and donors of the future. And a few performers, too!" Life Director Luella Goldberg has her eyes fixed on the future: the future of the Minnesota Orchestra, the future of the city and its many fine cultural institutions, and the future of the next generation.

The sounds that came out of the orchestra just blew me away. The incredible sound of the strings – nothing can compare to it. It's a physical sensation," said Ron. Virginia agreed, "A concert feels almost like a different world. Everything else falls away."

Our Minnesota Orchestra is the greatest in the world," proclaims Life Director Marilyn Carlson Nelson, Carlson chairman and former CEO, echoing the words of The New Yorker's music critic Alex Ross. Her husband, Dr. Glen Nelson, formerly Medtronic vice chairman and director, nods in agreement and adds, "It's been building through the years, becoming now, under Osmo Vänskä, a widely recognized world-class orchestra. Osmo brings the skills needed to reach the current level: musicology, the ability to inspire and relate to the Orchestra and to engender broad public support."