The Grammy Award-winning Minnesota Orchestra, now in its second century, ranks among America’s top symphonic ensembles, with a distinguished history of acclaimed performances in its home state and around the world; award-winning recordings, broadcasts and educational engagement programs; and a commitment to commissioning and performing the music of our time.  In September 2025, Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård began his third season as music director.

Domingo Hindoyan is chief conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (RLPO) and former principal guest conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. He is also music director designate of Los Angeles Opera and begins his tenure as music director in 2026–27.

Erich Rieppel was named principal timpani of the Minnesota Orchestra in the fall of 2018. Prior to that, he held the same title at New World Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas in Miami Beach, Florida. Rieppel has performed as principal timpanist with the Seoul Philharmonic, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Detroit Symphony and New Jersey Symphony. Since 2013, he has played timpani and percussion with the Lakes Area Music Festival in northern Minnesota. Since 2023, he has performed as timpanist with the Grand Teton Music Festival. In January of 2024, he made his concerto debut with the National Symphony of Panamá.

Ariana Kim is a regular host and writer of This Is Minnesota Orchestra, the Emmy Award-winning Twin Cities PBS broadcast and online livestream series. A Grammy-nominated violinist, Kim made her New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall during her doctoral studies at Juilliard and is now a tenured violin professor at Cornell University. At 16, she made her debut with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and at 24 she was appointed acting concertmaster of the Louisiana Philharmonic. Recent performance highlights include an artist residency at the Minneapolis Institute of Art exploring solo violin music in total darkness, a recital at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., and a Bartók concerto performance at Jordan Hall in Boston. Following six months living in India studying Carnatic music, she recorded a new album released in May 2026, (un)common thread, exploring improvisation from Mozart to Macedonia with fortepianist Roger Moseley and percussionist Shane Shanahan.