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.

Berlin-based American conductor Stephen Mulligan recently concluded his tenure as associate conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and music director of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra. He served as a Dudamel Conducting Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the 2018-19 season, leading the orchestra on the Toyota Symphonies for Youth series and assisting Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, Conductor Laureate Esa-Pekka Salonen, and guest conductors Lionel Bringuier, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Zubin Mehta and Michael Tilson Thomas.

Natalie Tran, who makes her Minnesota Orchestra hosting debut at the November 2022 Color of Music Young People’s Concerts, is a senior at Wayzata High School, where she is active in school theatre, concert choir and speech team. For several years she also played violin in the school orchestra. She began performing on stage at the age of five in The King and I at Bloomington Civic Theatre (Artistry). Soon after, she appeared in the Children’s Theatre Company’s production of The Wizard of Oz. The following year, she was cast as Cindy Lou Who in Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, a role she played for two consecutive seasons.

Dennis Eum is an 18-year-old freshman at Harvard College in Cambridge. He currently studies cello with  Yeesun Kim at the New England Conservatory, having studied with retired Minnesota Orchestra cellist Mina Fisher for six years throughout high school and with Hanno Strydom for five years. He has been awarded multiple top honors and scholarships at competitions hosted by YPSCA, Thursday Musical and Schubert Club, among other organizations.

Maria Dively has been an American Sign Language interpreter for eight years in Minnesota and California. A NIC/Trilingual Interpreter, she is a graduate of North Central University in Minneapolis. She was born and raised in Puerto Rico and has been involved personally and professionally in the Deaf community since college. From a young age, she has been involved with music as a woodwind player, percussionist and steel drums player, among other roles.