Minnesota Orchestra Musicians Around Town
When Minnesota Orchestra musicians aren’t at Orchestra Hall, you can find many of them around the Twin Cities and beyond in other types of performances such as solo recitals and chamber music concerts, concerto appearances with other orchestras and more. Some of our musicians are skilled composers, arrangers, conductors and recording artists, to name just a few talents. Taking on outside projects gives them chances to flex musical muscles that aren’t engaged as often in typical Orchestra settings—while expanding musicians’ tool kits in ways that often come in handy at Orchestra performances.
Here you’ll find details about Orchestra musicians’ local performances beyond the confines of Orchestra Hall. Meanwhile, another opportunity to get to know the musicians takes place at post-concert onstage gatherings following selected Minnesota Orchestra concerts at Orchestra Hall. In the Orchestra’s 2025-26 season, these include the Søndergård Conducts Sibelius performance on Saturday, January 17, 2026; and the Søndergård and Tchaikovsky performance on Saturday, June 13, 2026.
Musicians Around Town
On Sunday, December 7, 2025, at 3 p.m. at First Lutheran Church in Columbia Heights, the Mississippi Valley Orchestra, under the direction of its new Artistic Director and Conductor Kornel Thomas, performs a program entitled Winter Cheer. It features music by Vivaldi, Tailleferre, Dukas, Rimsky-Korsakov and Anderson, including Minnesota Orchestra first violinist Sarah Grimes as soloist in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Learn more about the program, and view a Q&A with Sarah Grimes.
On Sunday, February 8, 2026, at 3 p.m. at Sundin Music Hall at Hamline University, the Minnesota Bach Ensemble, including Minnesota Orchestra violinist Cecilia Belcher, who serves as the Minnesota Bach Ensemble’s concertmaster, performs a program on music by Handel, Corette, Purcell and Couperin, including Corette’s Concerto Comique XXV for Violin and Recorder. Tickets are available via the Minnesota Bach Ensemble’s website and at the door, and a reception with musicians follows the performance. Belcher was a soloist in Beethoven’s Romances at Minnesota Orchestra performances in July 2025; read her reflections on those concerts.
On Saturday, May 30, 2026, at 3 p.m. at Sundin Music Hall at Hamline University, the Minnesota Bach Ensemble, including Minnesota Orchestra violinist Cecilia Belcher, who serves as the Minnesota Bach Ensemble’s concertmaster, performs a program on music by Vivaldi, Caldara and Monteverdi, among other composers, including Vivaldi’s Trio Sonata in D minor, La Follia. Tickets are available via the Minnesota Bach Ensemble’s website and at the door, and a reception with musicians follows the performance. Belcher was a soloist in Beethoven’s Romances at Minnesota Orchestra performances in July 2025; of her solo performance, Pioneer Press critic Sheila Regan noted that “[h]er playing was poised and expressive throughout, favoring subtlety over drama and marked by graceful nuance.”
