The Grammy Award-winning Minnesota Orchestra, led by Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård—who is serving as music director designate during the 2022-23 season—is recognized for distinguished performances around the world, award-winning recordings and broadcasts, educational engagement programs, and commitment to building the orchestral repertoire of the future. Founded in 1903, the Orchestra has an extensive history of touring throughout Minnesota, nationally and abroad, including high-profile visits in recent years to Cuba, Europe and South Africa. Recording projects undertaken in the past two decades include complete cycles of symphonies by Beethoven, Sibelius and Mahler, all recorded under Osmo Vänskä, who is now the Orchestra’s conductor laureate.

Soprano Melody Moore is enjoying a thriving career on the world’s leading stages, prompting Opera News to label her “a revelation,” and of her sold-out appearance at Carnegie Hall to rave, “As I left the auditorium, I could only think: more of Moore, please.”

The 2021-2022 season will see Ms. Moore’s return to Los Angeles Opera to repeat her tremendous success in the role of Amneris in Verdi’s Aida for six performances in May/June, appearing opposite Latonia Moore in the title role and tenor Russell Thomas as Radames. Concert highlights of the season include Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Minnesota Orchestra under the baton of Juraj Valčuha. She also returns to the recording studio this season, putting finishing touches on her renditions of Cio-Cio San in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and documenting her interpretation of the title role in Puccini’s Tosca, both of which will be released on the Pentatone label. Finally, Ms. Moore will be marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of legendary soprano Renata Tebaldi with a recording featuring selections from the Italian repertoire for which she was most famous, to be released in 2022.

Possessing a voice of uncommon allure, the Grammy® Award-winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor is one of the most compelling performers of her generation. She is internationally acclaimed equally in the pillars of the classical music canon – from Beethoven and Mahler to Brahms and Ravel –as she is in new works of modern masters – from Adams and Dessner to Lieberson and Talbot.

In the 2021-22 season Kelley O’Connor returns to the Concertgebouworkest for performances of Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs led by Stéphane Denève and a robust North American concert calendar includes performances of Mozart Requiem with Fabio Luisi conducting the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Das Lied von der Erde with Thomas Dausgaard and the Seattle Symphony, Mendelssohn Elijah with Jun Markl and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Juraj Valčuha and the Minnesota Orchestra and with Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony. Additional performances bring her together with Ken-David Masur and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra for a program of Canteloube and Duruflé, with Andrés Orozco-Estrada and the Houston Symphony for Mahler’s Second Symphony, and with Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for Mahler’s Third Symphony.

Sean Panikkar made his Salzburg Festival debut this past summer as Dionysus in a new production of Henze’s The Bassarids directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski; the title also served the tenor his Madrid debut in concert performances with the Spanish National Orchestra and Choir, both presentations under the baton of Kent Nagano.  Highlights of the 2018-19 season include a Los Angeles Opera debut as Gandhi in the company’s new production of Philip Glass’ Satyagraha directed by Phelim McDermott led by Grant Gershon, and a return to the Festival d’Aix en Provence as Jakob Schmidt and Toby in Kurt Weill’s Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny directed by Ivo van Hove and conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.  Core repertoire presentations include performances of La Bohème at Pittsburgh Opera, Carmen with North Carolina Opera, and Les Pêcheurs de Perles at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City.  On the concert stage, the tenor is heard in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Seattle Symphony and Las Vegas Philharmonic.

Highly prized as an interpreter of contemporary music on leading international stages, Sean Panikkar created the roles of Adam in Giorgio Battistelli’s CO2 for a debut at Teatro alla Scala in a world premiere conducted by Cornelius Meister and directed by Robert Carsen, Wendell Smith in Daniel Sonenberg and Mark Campbell’s The Summer King in a co-production between Pittsburgh Opera and Michigan Opera Theatre, Agent Henry Rathbone in a co-production of David T. Little’s JFK at the Fort Worth Opera and Opéra de Montréal, and he garnered passionate acclaim in the title role of Jack Perla’s Shalimar the Clown for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. 

Grammy Award winner, Mark S. Doss has sung with the major orchestras of San Francisco, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago and Toronto, while additionally performing 100 roles with more than 60 major opera companies around the world – including Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, the Vienna State Opera, London’s Royal Opera Covent Garden, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Canadian Opera Company.

Prior to the pandemic, Mr. Doss ended the 2019 season with twelve performances ofhis 100^th opera role, Rigoletto with Welsh National Opera in the UK, finally making his 10^th appearance as the bass-baritone soloist with the International Music Foundation’s Do-it-Yourself Messiah in Chicago.  His limited 2020 appearances included an online recital for the Dallas Opera, a ZOOM Masterclass with the Erie Philharmonic Orchestra, and a videotaped promotional segment for the 2020 Do-it-Yourself Messiah by the IMF.  Additionally, during the pandemic Mr. Doss presented 69 online Sunday segments of a program entitled “Heart & Soul” and 19 entitled, “Fachually Correct”.

The Minnesota Chorale has served as the Minnesota Orchestra’s principal chorus since 2004 and is in its 28th season under the leadership of Kathy Saltzman Romey. Founded in 1972, the Chorale is Minnesota’s preeminent symphonic chorus, with a roster of over 200 singers. Best known for its work with the two major orchestras of the Twin Cities—including collaborations with the Minnesota Orchestra in performing, recording and international touring—the ensemble is equally dedicated to programs that build and enrich community. The Chorale continues to explore new artistic directions and collaborative opportunities, while earning the highest critical acclaim for its work on the concert stage.