The Grammy Award-winning Minnesota Orchestra, founded in 1903 and led since its centennial by Music Director Osmo Vänskä, is recognized for distinguished performances around the world, award-winning recordings, radio broadcasts, educational engagement programs, and commitment to building the orchestral repertoire of the future. The Orchestra tours regularly throughout Minnesota and nationally, and has toured abroad in Australia, Canada, East Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and South Africa. Recording has been an important part of the organization’s mission since the 1920s. During Vänskä’s tenure, the Orchestra has undertaken acclaimed recordings, including complete cycles of symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven, Jean Sibelius and—now underway—Mahler.

Fabien Gabel has established an international career of the highest calibre, appearing with orchestras such as London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln Cologne, Tonkünstler-Orchester, Oslo Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Praised for his dynamic style and sensitive approach to the score, he is best known for his eclectic choice of repertoire ranging from core symphonic works to new music to championing lesser-known composers of the 19th and the 20th century. 

Gabel begins the 2021-22 season giving the season opening concerts of the Tonkünstler-Orchester in Vienna. Other highlights of the season include his debuts with NDR Radiophilharmonie, Stavanger Symphony, Luzerner  Sinfonieorchester, Malmö Symphony and Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, and his return to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra where he appears regularly. With the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia he gives the Spanish premiere of the complete version of Tomasi trumpet concerto with Håkan Hardenberger. In North America, he continues his established relationships with orchestras such as Minnesota Orchestra, Houston Symphony and Detroit Symphony. He is highly in demand in his native France with Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre Philharmonique du Capitole de Toulouse and Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo. 

Dynamic leader of the Minnesota Orchestra’s cello section since 1991, prize-winning cellist Anthony Ross has appeared as soloist many times with the Orchestra, performing all the standard cello concertos under Osmo Vänskä, Edo de Waart and Eiji Oue. Equally passionate about new music, he has given powerful performances of James MacMillan’s Cello Concerto, Paul Moravec’s Montserrat, and he and his wife, Beth Rapier, have championed David Ott’s Concerto for Two Cellos since 1993. Prior to assuming the principal role in Minnesota, Ross performed for four years as principal cello of the Rochester Philharmonic under David Zinman.

Ross’ compelling interpretations have won wide acclaim from Moscow to Kalamazoo, and Dallas to Duluth. As concerto soloist, he has played with the Moscow State Orchestra, the Louisville Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, the South Dakota Symphony and many other Midwest regional orchestras. Ross’ recordings include Leonard Bernstein’s Three Meditations from the Mass, the George Lloyd Cello Concerto with the Albany Symphony and the Sonatas of Rachmaninoff and Elliott Carter.