Osmo Tribute Campaign
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Take a look at some of your favorite memories and tributes to Osmo!
Donors Bring Art to Life
“Doug and I had great faith in Osmo,” says Louise Leatherdale. “It gave us great pleasure to support his vision for the organization.” That faith helped make possible some of the most memorable artistic projects of Osmo’s tenure.
A Partnership For The Ages
Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra
There was a spark from the start. Audiences, musicians and critics recognized it: Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra made magic together. As the Orchestra now enters Osmo’s farewell season, we look back on some indelible moments in this partnership for the ages, and we celebrate the conductor who found the heart and soul of the Minnesota Orchestra.
September 2003
Osmo Vänskä's arrival in Minnesota sparks a flurry of community concerts, with thousands gathering at the Lake Harriet Bandshell, on Peavey Plaza and at Orchestra Hall to welcome the Minnesota Orchestra’s tenth music director.
November 2003
With a nod to history and to the nine music directors who preceded him on the podium, Osmo is joined by soprano Harolyn Blackwell for a Centennial recreation of the Orchestra’s first concert in 1903.
2004
“Minnesota Orchestra fits Osmo Vänskä like a glove,” declares Helsinki’s major daily newspaper, as Osmo and the Orchestra tour to venues across 11 European cities, including Vienna’s magnificent Musikverein.
2005
Orchestra Hall’s exterior is wrapped to celebrate Osmo’s third season.
2005
Osmo and Orchestra musicians record Beethoven’s Symphonies No. 4 and 5 as part of a five-year cycle to record the complete Beethoven symphonies for BIS Records, a project that launches a new golden era of recording for the ensemble.
2006
Trading black tails for a wilder look, Osmo leads his first pops concert, conducting the music of ABBA with Finland’s Rajaton.
2006
With Osmo at the podium, the Minnesota Orchestra makes its debut at the world’s largest classical music festival: the BBC Proms in London.
2006
Advocating for the work of emerging composers, Osmo conducts the first Future Classics concert, featuring composer Missy Mazzoli’s These Worlds In Us.
2007
Osmo leads the grand forces of the MMEA All-State Choir, gathering young musicians from across the state to Orchestra Hall. Over his tenure, Osmo has led educational performances of every variety for elementary, high school and university students.
2008
Osmo and the American Composers Forum honors him with its first Champion of New Music Award.
2009
Osmo, along with all the members of the Orchestra bid farewell to Jorja Fleezanis, the longest-tenured concertmaster in Orchestra history.
2011
The New Yorker’s Alex Ross remarked, “the Minnesota Orchestra sounded, to my ears, like the greatest orchestra in the world” on the night of its Carnegie Hall concert.
2012
Osmo headlines a wide-ranging, star-studded season finale celebrating the past and future of Orchestra Hall, as the venue is temporarily closed for a major renovation.
2014
Osmo resigns from the Orchestra during the lockout in 2013 but returns to the podium and his position in the spring of 2014, amidst a sea of Finnish flags waved by audiences to show their support for him.
2014
And the Grammy goes to . . . Osmo and the Minnesota Orchestra! Their recording of Sibelius’ Symphonies No. 1 and 4— part of an acclaimed cycle of the complete Sibelius symphonies—receives the Orchestra’s first-ever Grammy for Best Orchestral Performance.
2015
The Minnesota Orchestra lands in Cuba, becoming the first American orchestra to visit Havana following the 2014 thaw in Cuban-American diplomatic relations. What follows is a transformative exchange of music and goodwill between two nations.
2016
Osmo and the Orchestra close the season with Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, recording the symphony the following week and launching their newest recording project: a cycle of all 10 Mahler symphonies.
2016
In a high-voltage performance at the inaugural Minnesota Vikings game in U.S. Bank Stadium, Osmo conducts the Orchestra before a crowd of 66,000.
2017
Osmo and then-Board Chair Marilyn Carlson Nelson welcome Finnish President Sauli Niinist to Minnesota for a musical salute to the 100th anniversary of Finland’s independence.
2018
Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, an homage to human unity, takes on renewed meaning when Osmo conducts the Orchestra flanked by American and South African singers in Soweto’s Regina Mundi Church, epicenter of the anti-apartheid struggle.
2019
Osmo joins bucket drummers at Sanctuary Covenant Church in North Minneapolis as part of the Orchestra’s first-ever Twin Cities Common Chords residency.
2020
Even a pandemic won’t silence this partnership: Osmo launches a season of performances featuring masked, distanced musicians performing for TV, radio and streaming audiences.