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.

Dinis Sousa is music director of the Royal Northern Sinfonia (RNS) and founder and artistic director of the award-winning Orquestra XXI. Winner of the 2023 Critics' Circle Young Talent (Conductor) Award, he has led RNS programs with Víkingur Ólafsson, Stephen Hough, Benjamin Grosvenor, Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Kristian Bezuidenhout, a Ravel anniversary celebration, Handel's Messiah and a special community performance of Michael Tippett's A Child of Our Time.

Praised by Opéra Magazine for her "agile, glamorous presence," two-time Grammy Award-winning mezzo Sasha Cooke has been called a "luminous standout" by The New York Times and "equal parts poise, radiance and elegant directness" by Opera News. She has sung at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, English National Opera, Seattle Opera, Opéra National de Bordeaux and Gran Teatre del Liceu, among others, and with over 80 symphony orchestras worldwide, frequently in the works of Mahler. In 2022 she was appointed as co-director of the Lehrer Vocal Institute at the Music Academy of the West. Her album how do I find you was nominated for a 2022 Grammy for Best Classical Vocal Solo.