Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7
Fri Mar 3 — Sat Mar 4, 2023
Orchestra Hall
Antonín Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony is at once deeply emotional and profoundly glorious, created as a reflection of the composer’s own personal moments of grief and joy. Conductor Dima Slobodeniouk returns to Orchestra Hall to lead the Minnesota Orchestra in this stunning symphony. Clarinetist Kari Kriikuu makes his much-anticipated debut in Kaija Saariaho’s symbolic D’OM LE VRAI SENS, but first the concert takes flight with George Walker’s Icarus in Orbit, a brief musical re-telling of the famous Greek myth.
A Few Things To Know
- Kaija Saariaho’s latest opera, Innocence, premiered in France in July 2021. The work earned Saariaho France’s Victoires de la Musique Classique Award for composition.
- Five of the six movements of D’OM LE VRAI SENS are named after the five senses: sound, sight, smell, touch and taste.
- In 1996, George Walker became the first Black composer to win the Pulitzer Prize in Music. In 2009, he published an autobiography titled Reminiscences of an American Composer and Pianist.
- Dvořák included a footnote in the score of the Seventh Symphony that simply said: “from the sad years.” After the death of his mother and eldest child in the years prior, his music turned inward, especially in this symphony.
Program
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WALKER
Icarus in Orbit
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SAARIAHO
D’OM LE VRAI SENS, Clarinet Concerto
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DVOŘÁK
Symphony No. 7
Artists
Minnesota Orchestra
Dima Slobodeniouk
conductor
Kari Kriikku
clarinet
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.
Lauded for his deeply informed and intelligent artistic leadership, Dima Slobodeniouk has held the position of Music Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia since 2013, which he combines with his positions as Principal Conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director of the Sibelius Festival following his appointment in 2016. Linking his native Russian roots with the cultural influence of his later homeland Finland, he draws on the powerful musical heritage of these two countries.
He works with orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago, Baltimore as well as Sydney and NHK Symphony Orchestras.
Accessibility Services
- Armless & Bariatric Chairs
- Assistive Listening Devices
- Large-Print Programs
- Noise-Cancelling Headphones
- Service Animals
- Wheelchair & Accessible Seating
Additional services are available upon request.
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