Well, it finally happened. Those of you not living in a cave will have heard that Osmo Vänskä has returned as the music director of the Minnesota Orchestra. I’ve already heard some people claim that the orchestra has come full circle. Not quite.

Bill Eddins

Kevin Smith

Kevin Smith, former president of the Minnesota Opera, will serve as interim president and CEO of the Minnesota Orchestra after Michael Henson leaves and until a permanent successor is found, the Orchestra announced late Thursday.

We’ve known since March 20 that Henson would step down and that his last day would be Aug. 31. With Osmo Vänskä back as artistic director and the orchestra hard at work rebuilding what was badly damaged by a 16-month lockout of the musicians, the looming vacancy at the top of the MOA’s management was worrisome. 

Smith led the Minnesota Opera for 25 years before his retirement in 2011, during which the company expanded its season, doubled its attendance and grew its budget from $1.5 million to $9 million.

Smith was also instrumental in forging the Arts Partnership, which turned the Ordway from a battleground of competing organizations into the smoothly running ship it is today. As campaign director for the Partnership, he helped raise more than $79 million to renovate the Ordway and establish an endowment to support its principal tenants. About the only thing that would make Smith sound even better for his new role would be the revelation that he’s a virtuoso violinist.

Board chair Gordon Sprenger said in a statement, “Kevin Smith commands the respect of our arts community, and he will provide stable, knowledgeable leadership while we undertake a thorough President Search process.” Smith said, “I’m proud to have the opportunity to serve this great Orchestra during a time of growth and transition, and I look forward to working with constituents within the organization and throughout the community to build artistic energy and institutional momentum.”

Smith will begin work at the orchestra in July.

The MOA also announced the appointment of Dianne Brennan as vice president of advancement. Brennan was director of development for the Guthrie Theater from 1997 to 2013. Funds raised during her tenure totaled nearly $250 million, including $90 million to build the new Guthrie.

Sprenger praised Brennan’s “tremendous experience in the Twin Cities fundraising community” and her “great love of the arts.”

Courtesy of the Sally Awards

James Samuel "Cornbread" Harris Sr.

Each year for the past 22 years, the Sally Awards have honored not only artists, but also individuals and institutions that bring us artists and their art. This year’s Sally Awards, held last night at the Ordway, were dedicated to the memory of Sue McLean, the Twin Cities concert promoter who died last spring. The Education Award went to Elizabeth Jaakola, an Anashinaabe musician and educator from the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe whose Indian name means “the lady who knows how to sing.” Kristine Sorensen, executive director of the local nonprofit media arts organization In Progress, which helps young people develop their skills as storytellers, artists and leaders, received the Initiative Award. Bluesman James Samuel Harris Sr., known to most of us as “Cornbread” Harris, won the Commitment Award for a lifetime of singing and playing piano in pool halls, bars, theaters and cafés. MacPhail Online, which began as a collaboration between MacPhail Center for Music and Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg junior-senior high school, took the Arts Access Award. The Vision Award went to Franconia Sculpture Park, a 30-acre space for large-scale sculpture in the St. Croix Valley, open to the public every day for free.

Franconia recently named its 2014 FSP/Jerome Artist Fellows and Open Studio Artist Fellows. All will create new 3-D art on site for the park’s 2014-15 public exhibition. Every Franconia fellowship artist received project funding up to $5,000 plus room and board, access to equipment and tools, workshop, mentoring and other advantages of collaboration in a focused artists’ community. The FSP/Jerome Artist fellows are (from Minnesota) the artist team Donald Myhre and Christina Ridolfi, and (from New York) Torkwase Dyson, Eric Forman, Kambui Olujimi, and the team Nathan Bennett and Meredith Nickie. Open Studio Artist fellows are Mike Calway-Fagen of Indiana, Chris Manzione of Pennsylvania, Samantha Persons of Illinois and Risa Puno of New York City. The new art will start appearing at Franconia in June.

Courtesy of the Franconia Sculpture Park

Artist Torkwase Dyson, a 2014 Jerome Fellow, with her sculpture “Site on Sight,” a re-imagining of the Door of No Return at the Elmina Slave Castle in Ghana.

The Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) and the McKnight Foundation have named the eight recipients of the 2014-15 McKnight Artist Fellowships for Visual Artists. One, David Bowen, is from Duluth, and the other seven – Sam Gould, Alexa Horochowski, Michael Hoyt, Alison Malone, Lamar Peterson, Joe Smith and Tetsuya Yamada– are based in the Twin Cities. They are professors, photographers, sculptors, painters, publishers, writers, editors, videographers, documentarians, studio artists, and community workers. Hoyt creates interactive sculptural installations in which public participation is a key component; Malone explores overlooked and misunderstood subcultures in American society; Peterson creates graphic portraits of an irrational world where happy characters are resolutely accepting of grotesque misfortune. Each will receive a $25,000 stipend, one of many benefits of this prestigious fellowship.

After a 2013-14 season that include a thrilling “Cabaret” at the Pantages and a touching “Our Town” at the Lab, Theater Latté Da has announced three new productions for 2014-15, all directed by Peter Rothstein. Oct. 8-Nov. 2 in MacPhail’s Antonello Hall: Terrence McNally’s “Master Class.” Imagine Maria Callas as your teacher. Now imagine Sally Wingert as Maria Callas. Set in a venue that has hosted several master classes, this is one you won’t want to miss. Feb. 4-March 1, 2015: “Oliver!” at the Pantages. Bradley Greenwald stars as the greedy Fagin, with 30 members of the Minnesota Boychoir as his gang of pickpockets. March 4-29 at the Ritz: “Into the Woods,” with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Greta Oglesby makes her Latté Da debut as the Witch; David Darrow, last seen as George Gibbs in “Our Town,” plays the Baker and Rapunzel’s Prince. Subscriptions are on sale now.

For 20 years, the Guthrie has been Joe Dowling’s theater. Who will take over when he leaves next June, just one short year from now?Graydon Royce explored that question in a thoughtful piece in Sunday’s Strib, and Rohan Preston threw out some names including Oskar Eustis of the Public Theater in New York, Kwame Kwei-Armah of Baltimore’s Center Stage, Tony winner Diane Paulus of Harvard’s American Repertory Theater, and Mark Rylance, former head of Shakespeare’s Globe. In a metro area with 90 active theaters, the Guthrie is the granddaddy, with three stages in its own big building on the Mississippi and an annual budget of $27 million. So it matters who sits in Dowling’s chair, and how many hats the new person wears.

In its own smaller, humbler building – the garage behind the Longfellow home of co-artistic directors Paul Herwig and Jennifer Ilse – Off-Leash Area last weekend gave a limited run of its new production“Stripe & Spot (learn to) Get Along.” The play goes on tour to garages in Stillwater, Brooklyn Park, Circle Pines, Isanti and other places starting on Labor Day. We’ll let you know more details when we can, because you don’t want to skip this. We saw a preview, which we’re not supposed to write about, so we can’t say much except … wow. The title makes the play (conceived by Herwig and Ilse and developed with the other cast members, Taous Claire Khazem and Jesse Schmitz Boyd) sound pedantic. Instead, it’s wildly imaginative, sophisticated and very funny. It’s billed as a family show, but we promise grown-ups won’t be bored.

For sale: historic Orpheum Theatre seats

This summer, Hennepin Theatre Trust will replace the seats on the main floor of the Orpheum Theatre. Dating from 1921, when the Orpheum first opened as the Hennepin Theater, the old seats have been refurbished and repaired countless times, and trying to find replacement parts in 2014 is a bit like finding them for a Model T. Many people won’t miss them in the least. But if you love the old seats and the nearly 100 years of history they represent, a limited number will be available for sale to the public on a first-come, first-served basis. Learn more and add your name to a waiting list here. We’re told the new seats will be more comfy – more air in the cushions, slightly higher backs. Plus they’ll have brass plaques you can pay to put your name on. The balcony seats will be replaced later, probably in 2015.

Our picks for the week

By happy coincidence, all are free.

Tonight at Washburn Library in Minneapolis: SOSMN Community Meeting. One of the good things to come out of the Minnesota Orchestra lockout was the rise of grassroots organizations including Save Our Symphony Minnesota, whose members worked tirelessly to keep the orchestra in the public awareness, end the lockout and bring back Osmo Vänskä as music director. The protest, with padlock, at Symphony Ball 2013? SOSMN’s idea. The “Finnish It” campaign, with all those blue-and-white Finnish flags waving in Orchestra Hall? SOSMN again. Now SOSMN is working with the Minnesota Orchestral Association board and staff members on various projects aimed at marketing, fundraising and broadening the audience. Tonight’s meeting is open to the public, and that includes you. 6 p.m.

Tonight at the Normandale Lake Bandshell in Bloomington: Great Music for the Great Outdoors. The Minnesota Symphonic Winds, led by Edina High School band director Paul Kile, plays a selection of marches, band classics, and dance music including a new piece by young Minnesota composer Christopher Neiner, plus music by Verdi, Gershwin, and Victor Herbert. 7 p.m. Free.

Wednesday at SubText Books in St. Paul: Rachel Freed, “Your Legacy Matters: Harvesting the Love and Lessons of Your Life: A Multi-Generational Guide for Writing Your Ethical Will.” What should we leave to our children and their children? Freed suggests a series of “legacy letters” articulating our values, history, successes, failures, triumphs, hopes and despairs. The book sounds like a great Dad’s Day gift, despite the clunky title/subtitle/sub-subtitle. 7 p.m.

Thursday at Harriet Brewing: Mad Ripple Hootenanny. “Tonight we hoot.” In Nov. 2006 , writer/singer/songwriter Jim Walsh brought songwriters together for a one-night-only round-robin of original songs and stories. Almost eight years later, the Mad Ripple Hootenanny is still going strong. In the tap room. Food truck: Moral Omnivore. 5:30 p.m. Free.

Thursday at the Minnesota Museum of American Art Project Space in St. Paul: Opening reception for “2014 MN Biennial.” An MMAA tradition returns. The juried exhibition features the work of 36 Minnesota artists including Betsy Byers, Jaron Childs, Pete Driessen, Selma Fernandez Richter, Maren Kloppmann, Todd Thybeg, Dyani White Hawk, and Sarita Zaleha. Paintings, photography, sculpture, installations, ceramics and more. Exhibition continues through Aug. 3. 7-8:30 p.m. Free.

Thursday at Victory Memorial Drive and 34th Ave. in Minneapolis: Live on the Drive. Presented by the Cleveland Neighborhood Association and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, now in its 7th year, Live on the Drive features live music followed by a movie at dusk. Thursday’s artist: Thomasina Petrus (“Lady Day at Emerson Bar and Grill”). Thursday’s movie: “Remember the Titans.” 6 p.m. Free. 

Courtesy of DECCA/Andrew Eccles

Renee Fleming

Twenty-five weeks of classical subscription concerts, ten with Osmo Vänskä at the podium. Programming designed by music director Vänskä in close collaboration with the orchestra’s musicians. Stellar guest artists and the return of familiar faces. Beloved traditions and new initiatives. Old favorites, contemporary music and world premieres. The Minnesota Orchestra’s 2014-15 classical season, announced Friday and put together in record time, should please both supporters and wait-and-seers.

Among the highlights are a season opening gala on Sept. 5 with superstar soprano Renee Fleming; a festival of music inspired by Shakespeare’s plays; a salute to the German composer Richard Strauss; a “Spirit and Spring” series spotlighting music of faith and contemplation, preceded by conversations with panels of spiritual leaders and writers; the Orchestra’s first New Year’s Eve concerts since 1998, followed by a party in the lobby; a Valentine’s Day concert at Northrop; and a staging of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical “Carousel,” conducted by Sarah Hicks – the start of a new Minnesota Orchestra project to present a great American musical each year.

After Fleming, the parade of guest artists includes pianists André Watts and Garrick Ohlsson, violinist Gil Shaham, cellist Alisa Weilerstein — and former principal clarinet Burt Hara, in his first solo appearance here since joining the LA Philharmonic last year. Minnesota Orchestra musicians Erin Keefe, Anthony Ross, Charles Lazarus, John Miller Jr., Mark Kelley, J. Christopher Marshall and Norbert Nielubowski will all be featured soloists. Conductor Laureate Stanislaw Skrowaczewski will return, as will former music directors Edo de Waart and Eiji Oue. Other guest conductors will include Sommerfest artistic director Andrew Litton, Eric Whitacre, SPCO artistic partner Roberto Abbado and Mark Wigglesworth.

If you’ve been attending concerts all along — both those produced independently by the musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra during the lockout and those presented during the abbreviated 2014 classical season — you’ll like 2014-15. It’s fresh, it’s varied, and it’s a full season, something we haven’t seen since 2011-12. If you’ve been holding off until lightning-rod CEO Michael Henson was gone (his last day is Aug. 31), Vänskä was restored to his former position (done), and the MOA exhibited a real commitment to more classical concerts (see above), this season should draw you back in. There’s a lot more to it than we’ve described here; to view the full calendar, visit the website. Additional series, including Live at Orchestra Hall and Inside the Classics, will be announced later this summer.

In other Minnesota Orchestra news, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts is the new director of the Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute, the prestigious composer training program the orchestra offers each year with the American Composers Forum. Puts succeeds Aaron Jay Kernis, the institute’s founder and director, who resigned during the lockout on the same day as Osmo Vänskä. With the lockout over and Vänskä back, the institute resumes. Puts is a name well known to Minnesota music lovers: The Pulitzer-winning opera “Silent Night” was commissioned by the Minnesota Opera and had its world premiere at the Ordway in 2011. He’s already at work on a second Minnesota Opera commission, “The Manchurian Candidate,” which will have its world premiere here in March 2015.

The Minnesota Orchestra is performing Puts’ Symphony No. 4, “From Mission San Juan,” this week. If you don’t have tickets to Saturday’s subscription concert, you can hear it for free at 10 p.m. that night as part of Northern Spark. Puts has signed a three-year contract; his first Composer Institute will be held the week of January 12, 2015, ending in a Future Classics concert led by Vänskä on January 16.

Various public spaces in and around the Ordway now have official names, the Arts Partnership announced Wednesday. (The Arts Partnership is the nonprofit collaboration of arts organizations – the Minnesota Opera, SPCO, Schubert Club and Ordway Center for the Performing Arts – that share the building.) There’s the 3M Plaza, the Target Atrium, the Securian Sky Lobby and the Securian Balcony Lobby, all named in honor of corporate contributors and supporters. The concert hall now under construction, which replaces the former McKnight Theatre, will be called … the concert hall. John and Ruth Huss, whose gift made the new space possible, declined to have it named after them.

Such modesty is rare in an era of Roberta Mann Grand Foyers, Carlson Family Stages, Bazinet Garden Lobbies and Pillsbury Auditoriums. It may also be a bit shortsighted. Earlier this year, the Allen Room at New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center, named in 2004 for major donor Herbert Allen, was renamed the Appel Room. Recently, Allen gave back naming rights to JALC, effectively dangling a baited hook for jazz-loving big fish everywhere. Helen and Robert Appel bit for $20 million, the largest individual donation in JALC history, and Allen became Appel.

In the Cargill Gallery at the MIA, “The Look of Love” is a still, small gem of a show, one so strange you probably shouldn’t miss it. If the eyes are windows to the soul, this may be the most soulful exhibition you’ll ever see, and almost too intimate. It’s not polite to stare, yet it’s all about staring.

“The Look of Love” is a private collection of so-called “eye miniatures,” a fad that began in the late 1700s when Britain’s young Prince of Wales (later George IV) sent a small painting of one of his eyes to a woman he loved. Soon wealthy sweethearts everywhere were exchanging eye portraits, and men and women were wearing rings, pendants, and brooches painted with loved ones’ eyes. Alive, or dead; some of the miniatures were commissioned in honor of the recently deceased. One of the most touching – and shocking – is the eye of an 8-month-old baby. We know from an inscription that her first name was Elizabeth. Most of the miniatures lack inscriptions, and the people who once knew them died centuries ago. They’re souls in limbo, naked and unblinking.

Courtesy of the MIA

Rose gold oval ring surrounded by a blue enamel border containing ten small and two large diamonds enclosed in a border of natural split pearls, ca. 1790. Brown left eye. Dimensions: ¾ × 1 ¼ × ⅞ in. Purchased from Edith Weber, New York.

Almost all of the paintings are watercolor on ivory, set in gold, surrounded by jewels and loaded with symbolism. Pearls may represent tears for the dead, clouds the afterlife. Some settings include woven bits of human hair. At some point, you realize you’re in a room with 98 tiny eyes, most looking right at you. Displayed behind glass in tall wooden highboys, they’re adequately lit, but too small and not close enough to see clearly. Luckily, there’s an app for that. Download “The Look of Love” later from the iTunes store or borrow an MIA iPad from the lobby at the Third Ave. entrance while you’re there. Closes Aug 24. Free.

Three cheers and our lasting gratitude to Carl Brenden, a writer for the website Thrillist, who rolled up his sleeves and compiled a master calendar of every outdoor movie in the Twin Cities this summer. There are free outdoor movies almost every night from now until Sept. 30. Tonight: “The Princess Bride” at Lake Harriet Bandshell. Sunday: “Vertigo” on Solera’s rooftop. Next Wednesday: “The Goonies” at Van Cleve Park. And so on. Carl, our hero.

In national arts news: Dr. Jane Chu, president and CEO of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, Mo., has been confirmed by the Senate as the next chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, the largest government grantor to arts organizations in the U.S. The NEA had been headless for 18 months, ever since Broadway producer Rocco Landesman stepped down in late 2012. Chu was nominated for the post in February by President Obama … America has a new poet laureate. Charles Wright, author of 24 collections of poems including, most recently, “Caribou” (2014), will take up his duties in the fall. In announcing Wright’s appointment, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington called him “a master of the meditative, image-driven lyric.” The poet laureate is selected for a one-year term, based on poetic merit alone. You can read some of Wright’s poems here. Or listen to him read his own work here.

For musicians: If you’ve been sitting on your 416 Club Commission proposal, the deadline is this Sunday, June 15. At stake: $3,500 plus a $1,000 stipend for production expenses, a public performance on the Cedar’s stage, and a chance to get paid for creating something new. FMI.

On sale today at 10 a.m.: Nellie McKay with the Turtle Island String Quartet at the Dakota, Sept. 17. That’s a match we wouldn’t have thought of, but it sure sounds interesting. 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., $30-$45. 612-332-5299.

Our picks for the weekend

Friday through Sunday at St. Anthony Main in Minneapolis: Stone Arch Bridge Festival. Arts, crafts, live music, a car show, a motorcycle show, food, family activities and people watching along one of the city’s most beautiful stretches of the Mississippi River. Friday: 6-10 p.m. Saturday: 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. Sunday: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. FMI.

Saturday night in Minneapolis: Northern Spark. The all-night, citywide arts festival, now in its fourth year. Read our first-timer’s guide, wander the website, pick something and go. For night owls, art lovers, scenesters, the curious, and people who complain that Minneapolis shuts down too early.

Saturday at Icehouse: Gabriel Kahane. If you don’t go to Northern Spark, do this. Singer/songwriter/pianist/composer Kahane was here as recently as March, for Timo Andres’ Liquid Music concert at the SPCO Center. He’s just released a new album, “The Ambassador,” his first for Sony Masterworks. A song cycle inspired by the architecture and pop culture of Los Angeles, it’s smart, haunting and elegant, music that embraces modern classical and chamber pop, Tin Pan Alley and jazz. Casey Foubert (Sufjan Stevens) opens. Doors at 10:30 p.m, show at 11. 21+. FMI and tickets ($12-$15). (Yes, you’ll buy your tickets from the Cedar, but you’ll go to Icehouse to see the show.)

Sunday at the Lake Harriet Bandshell: Cantus. The male vocal ensemble’s annual Father’s Day concert is the last chance to see (and hear) members Adam Reinwald, Gary Ruschman and David Walton. 4135 West Harriet Parkway in Minneapolis. 2 p.m. Free.

Sunday at Colonial Church in Edina: Safe Hands Rescue Benefit Concert. A chamber music concert featuring musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra, the SPCO and the Minnesota Opera Orchestra and music by Mozart, Piazzolla, Dvorak, Elgar, and Randall Thompson. Turns out many of the musicians are dog lovers, and many have dogs adopted from Safe Hands. 6200 Colonial Way, Edina. 3 p.m. $20 suggested donation. Cash or check only. FMI.

Sunday at the Dakota: Billy Hart Quartet. The legendary drummer, veteran of Herbie Hancock’s sextet and years with McCoy Tyner and Stan Getz, leads a group of great players half his age: pianist Ethan Iverson (The Bad Plus), saxophonist Mark Turner and bassist Ben Street. They recently released their first CD on ECM, “One Is the Other.” Here’s Britt Robson’s preview for the Strib. This is the sort of top-notch touring group the Dakota used to feature a lot more often – like Bill Charlap’s trio, who came through last month. We should catch them when we can. 7 p.m. (one set only). FMI and tickets ($20).

Monday at the White Bear Center for the Arts: Opening reception for “Nancy MacKenzie: Hands On.” A career retrospective of the internationally known fiber artist whose work includes wall pieces, hand-dyed textiles, sculptural wearable items, and found objects. Margaret Miller, founder and former director of the Textile Center, will speak about MacKenzie and her exploration of many media. 6-9 p.m., lecture at 7 p.m. Please register to attend the lecture. Call 651-407-0597 or email wbca@whitebeararts.org.

Monday at the Southern: The Playwrights’ Center McKnight Theater Artists Present Works in Progress. Sun Mee Chomet, Denise Prosek, Stephen Yoakam and their collaborators will give us a peek at what they’re working on as McKnight fellows. Chomet is collaborating with a performance artist and taiko artist on a reimagining of Aoki’s “The Queen’s Garden.” Prosek, best known as a music director, is writing a musical of her own, about the restaurant industry. Yoakam is partnering with dancer/choreographer Uri Sands and his company TU Dance. 7 p.m. Free, but you should definitely reserve tickets, and it would be good of you to consider a donation once you get there. FMI and tickets.

The Playwrights’ Center has announced its 2014-15 McKnight Theater Artists, defined as “artists other than playwrights whose work demonstrated exceptional artistic merit.” Austene Van is an actor, director and choreographer whose numerous credits include “Spunk” at the Penumbra and “Amen Corner,” a Penumbra production at the Guthrie; the title role in “Aida” at the Pantages with Theater Latté Da; “A Street Car Named Desire” with Ten Thousand Things; “To Kill a Mockingbird” at Park Square; and “Six Degrees of Separation” (as director) at Theatre in the Round. A Twin Cities actor for over 30 years, Sally Wingert has appeared in more than 80 productions at the Guthrie including “Other Desert Cities,” “Tribes,” and “Pride and Prejudice.” Most recently, she was Fraulein Schneider in Theater Latté Da’s “Cabaret” and played the title role in Dark & Stormy’s “The Receptionist.” Mathew LeFebvre is a costume designer whose work has been seen locally in more than 20 productions at the Guthrie and 15 at Penumbra, as well as Mixed Blood and Jeune Lune. Fellows receive $25,000 plus $7,000 more to create new theatrical work.

Courtesy of Pure Design/Ahti Kaukoniemi

Esa Vesmanen. Finnish, born 1965. Balance chair, 2009 UPM Grada® thermoformable wood panel, painted steel, sound pillow. Manufacturer: Pure Design, Helsinki, 2004–present.

In case you haven’t noticed, everything in the Twin Cities is coming up Finnish. At the Minneapolis Institute, “Finland: Designed Environments” examines contemporary Finnish design and how it shapes and colors nearly every aspect of Finnish existence, from city streets to cultural life, fashion to food. Through Aug. 17. (The catalog for this show is a thoroughly modern e-book.) The Textile Center is hosting “Dreams & Memories: Contemporary Tapestries by Aino Kajaniemi,” Finland’s 2010 Textile Artist of the Year, making her U.S. debut. Unlike the heavy, formal works the word “tapestry” usually evokes, Kajaniemi’s textiles are more like sketches or drawings. Through Aug. 16. Also at the Textile Center: “Warming the Room: Finnish-American Rug Weaving,” featuring work by Finnish-American artists Wynne Mattila and Nedra Granquist. Through July 12.

Courtesy of Aino Kajaniemi

Aino Kajaniemi, New beginning, 2013

At the American Swedish Institute, “The Living Tradition of Ryijy – Finnish Rugs and Their Makers” spans the 300-year history and evolution of the intricate, hand-knotted piled rugs that began as bed covers and foot warmers and became art. Through Nov. 2. From Aug. 6-17, Finnish textile artist and ryijy maker Siiri Korhonen will serve as ASI Artist-in-Residence, offering on-site demonstrations. Meanwhile, ASI will offer its first “Introduction to Finnish” course in 10 years. The registration deadline is July 2. Why so much Finnish art, why now? Because FinnFest USA, the annual national festival of all things Finnish-American, comes to Minneapolis in August, celebrating the little-known fact that Minnesota is home to the largest percentage of Finnish-related persons in the U.S. Hold on to those blue-and-white flags you waved at the “Finnish It” concerts at Orchestra Hall.

The Rose Ensemble has revealed its 2014-15 season of four concert programs with stories to tell. In October, the group travels throughout Minnesota with “The Roots of Bluegrass,” an evening filled with hymns, Appalachian songs, shape-note singing and Shaker spirituals. Dec. 18-20: “Bow Down, Good Cherry Tree: A Garden of Medieval Music for the Nativity.” Feb. 26-28, 2015: “The Requiem Mass of Pedro de Escobar,” a historical musical recreation of a Renaissance mass. April 29-May 3: “The Hutchinson Family Singers: Antislavery Reform in 19th-century America.” A fully staged and costumed production commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War’s end. FMI and tickets. P.S. We learned last week that the Rose Ensemble will perform its first-ever concert with the Minnesota Orchestra on Sunday, Dec. 14. “Navidad en Cuba: Christmas in Havana Cathedral” will include a Christmas Mass from 18th-century Cuba and works from the Mexican Baroque. The what? Apparently some very fine Baroque music was written in the New World between 1600 and 1800. Go here to learn more about that from Minnesota Orchestra watcher and blogger Scott Chamberlain, who’s “absolutely giddy” about the upcoming orchestra season.

Courtesy of Illusion Theater

Andrea San Miguel as Ántonia

Memory, nostalgia and place – the wide-open Nebraska prairie and its “complete dome of heaven” – crowd the small stage in Illusion Theater’s production of “My Ántonia.” Adapted from Willa Cather’s novel by Allison Moore, now at the compact black-box Lab Theater at the St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, it unspools enough of the novel’s story that we don’t feel cheated by its length, a mere 90 minutes (with no intermission). The year is around 1915, and Jim Burden, the main character, is a grown man looking back on his childhood, especially his friendship with Ántonia Shimerda, the daughter of a Bohemian immigrant family who came to the Midwest hoping for a better life. Although Jim has found success – he went to university, finished at Harvard and became a prosperous New York City lawyer – he still yearns for the land and people he left behind. This is not a story in which much happens; the two big things are a tragic event offstage and a turn in Ántonia’s life that could have ruined it but didn’t, and both are smoothed by time. Yet it makes us long for a childhood most of us never had, of running through fields and watching storms roll in.

The role of Jim Burden is played by two actors, Dan Hopman as wistful, elegiac adult Jim and Zach Keenan as eager, gangly young Jim, but only one plays Ántonia throughout, first as a 14-year-old girl and later as a matriarch. Andrea San Miguel, seen most recently in Theater Latté Da’s “Our Town,” is a candle flame on stage, compelling attention whenever she appears. She brings so much energy, exuberance, and sheer strength to her character that it’s no wonder Jim is smitten from the start. We are, too, and we care what happens to her, and we’re relieved when things turn out well. Fresh from a performance at the Willa Cather Spring Conference in Nebraska, “My Ántonia” runs through June 28. FMI and tickets ($15-$30).

It’s amazing how many people came out for Northern Spark on Saturday night, despite the storms, which apparently included a tornado-making phenom called “gravity waves.” We stood outside the Convention Center having serious doubts about the clouds, then went in for the opening party, which drew fewer people than it should have for thundering music by taiko drummers Mu Daiko and the all-female hip-hop group GRRRL PRTY, interspersed with brief speeches by Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges and Northern Spark founder Steve Dietz. Yet the mood was festive and the crowds grew at Orchestra Hall, where the Minnesota Orchestra performed Kevin Puts’ “Symphony No. 4: From Mission San Juan” to live visual projections and people saved seats with bicycle helmets. Later, at the Walker, a long line formed to get into Christopher Marclay’s film “The Clock,” which Alec Soth showed up to see; the “Hopper Drawing” exhibition drew a throng worthy of an opening night; and artists sketched from a Hopperesque tableau with live models. People wheeled skinny bikes through the halls, a man wore moth wings, and a tall young woman in bright yellow rain overalls strode by. We had to cut our evening short – we had a dog at home in a Thundershirt – but we’re committing to the full night next year. When you’re in the midst of it, with things happening and people all around, the energy is infectious and staying out until dawn seems easy, like something we should do more often.

Photo by John Whiting

It’s amazing how many people came out for Northern Spark on Saturday night despite the storms.

If you attended a production at the Chanhassen anytime from 1993 to 2010, and especially if it was your birthday or anniversary, you’ll remember Dick Stanley, the genial and debonair emcee who opened each show from the stage. Stanley, 78, died Thursday night from natural causes. Graydon Royce wrote the obituary for the Star Tribune. A memorial service for Stanley, open to the public, will be held at the Fort Snelling chapel at noon on June 23.

Our picks for the week

Tonight (June 17) at the Loft: Emily Johnson’s “SHORE: Story.” This is world premiere week for award-winning choreographer Johnson’s latest work, third in a trilogy after “The Thank-you Bar” and “Nicugni.” A multi-day performance installation of dance, story, volunteerism, and feasting, SHORE expands beyond the theater into the world. Tonight’s curated reading features local authors Jayal Chung, Paula Cisewski, Heid Erdrich, Brett Elizabeth Jenkins, R. Vincent Moniz Jr., Marcie Rendon, and Ben Weaver. 7 p.m. Free, but registration is required (or requested, depending on whose website you read). Call 612-624-2345. SHORE continues with dance performances Friday and Saturday at Northrop, a clean-up community action on Saturday, and a feast on Sunday. FMI and tickets/registrations.

Wednesday at the Grand Café: Heid Erdrich: Fork and Forum. After Tuesday’s reading at the Loft, the author of “Original Local: Indigenous Foods, Stories, and Recipes from the Upper Midwest” will be the featured guest at the Grand Café’s dinner series. 6 p.m. Reserve on the website (through Open Table) or call 612-616-4168.

Wednesday at the Saint Anthony Park Library: Jazz: New Forms and Original Works. Pianist/composer and McKnight fellow Bryan Nichols leads his quartet in a program of original jazz compositions. With JT Bates (drums), Brandon Wozniak (saxophone) and James Buckley (bass). 6:30 p.m. Free and open to the public.

Wednesday at Icehouse: Tim Sparks’ “Chasin’ the Boogie” CD Release. Sparks is a genius and a poet on the acoustic guitar, an award-winning finger-picker who can turn six strings into an orchestra. (We’re not kidding around. Sparks can play the “Nutcracker” Suite on solo guitar, and Stravinsky’s “Dance Russe,” and Shostakovich’s Prelude No. 8, and who knows what else.) His 10th CD includes original compositions and Sparks’ own arrangements of classics like “Blackbird,” “Mr. Bojangles” and “Both Sides Now.” 7 p.m. FMI and tickets ($10 music only, $42 dinner and show).

Wednesday at the Dakota: Ginger Baker’s Jazz Confusion. Here’s a case where you don’t want to request the table right next to the drummer. It’s best to put some distance between yourself and Baker, who once broke a filmmaker’s nose with his cane. (The film is aptly titled “Beware of Mr. Baker.”) The former member of Cream and Blind Faith can be cranky and ill-tempered, but he can also play the drums like no one else on the planet. And he prefers being called a jazz drummer. Baker recently signed with the respected jazz label Motema; their first CD together, “Why?” was released in May. His touring quartet includes bassist Alec Dankworth, saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis and percussionist Abas Dodoo. 7 p.m. FMI and tickets ($42-$50).

Wednesday at the Trylon: The Defenders: Andy Sturdevant. The Defenders series features films whose titles are kept secret until the night-of, chosen by notable Twin Cities personalities. We can’t imagine what writer/artist/author (“Potluck Supper with Meeting to Follow”)/MinnPost columnist (“The Stroll”)/moderator (“Salon Saloon”) Sturdevant has chosen, but you won’t be bored. 7 p.m. FMI and tickets ($8).

Thursday at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts: Artist and writer Eric Hanson. His illustrations and writing have appeared in Vanity Fair, Harper’s, the New York Times, Rolling Stone, McSweeney’s and the Atlantic. As part of Coffee House’s inventive “In the Stacks” program, he’s spent part of his summer as artist-in-residence inside MIA’s Research and Reference Library. What treasures did he find, and what did they inspire him to do? Find out starting at 7 p.m. in the MIA’s Friends Community Room. Free and open to the public, this event is part of the museum’s Third Thursday series. FMI.

Thursday at the Chanhassen’s Fireside Stage: “Gary Rue’s Only Love Can Break a Heart: The Music of Gene Pitney.” Rue was Pitney’s music director from 1986-2006; he was also band leader for the Coasters, the Platters, the Marvelettes and the Shirelles. He’ll revisit Pitney’s hits including “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” and “Town Without Pity,” winner of the first Golden Globe for best original song. 8 p.m. Tickets here ($40) or call 952-934-1525. 

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Courtesy of Heart of the Beast Theater

Sandy Spieler

Sandy Spieler, director of In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater since 1976, has been named the 2014 McKnight Distinguished Artist, a prestigious honor that includes a $50,000 cash award. The annual award recognizes individual Minnesota artists who have made significant contributions to the quality of our state’s cultural life. Past recipients include Wendy Lehr, Warren MacKenzie, Robert Bly, Dale Warland, Lou Bellamy, Ranee Ramaswamy and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski. Check back Monday for a Q&A with Spieler about HOBT, the annual May Day Celebration and any stories we can uncover about turning an X-rated theater into a community hub.

The Minnesota Orchestra continues to get its ducks in a row. Sarah Hicks has signed back on to lead the “Live at Orchestra Hall” concert series through 2016-17. This is the MOA’s nonclassical series, a wide net that includes popular music, jazz, Broadway classics, movie scores and world music; it will be announced in July. “I have been fortunate to hold my dream job with the Minnesota Orchestra,” Hicks said in a statement, “and I have many ideas for where we’ll go next.” Hicks has been with the Orchestra since 2006, when she joined as assistant conductor; in 2009, she was named principal conductor of pops and presentations, succeeding Doc Severinsen. Music Director Osmo Vänskä praised Hicks for her “very creative programming as the head of this series. I have always said that we must take care of all the genres of music we offer, and I believe Sarah will continue to lead this series and these audiences in positive new directions.” Hicks will also conduct the chatty, informal and informative “Inside the Classics” concert series, which we’re glad to hear will return in spring 2015. As before, Minnesota Orchestra violist Sam Bergman will co-host.

Courtesy of the Minnesota Orchestra

Sarah Hicks has signed back on to lead the “Live at Orchestra Hall” concert series through 2016-17.

Minnesota Opera has commissioned another new opera, “Dinner at Eight,” as part of its New Works Initiative (NWI). Based on the play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber, it will premiere at the Ordway in 2016-17. Grammy and Pulitzer winner William Bolcom will write the music, Mark Campbell the libretto for this Depression-era comedy of manners that promises “marital infidelity, financial ruin, social opportunism, a fatal disease and a suicide,” Campbell said rather gleefully in a statement. Campbell is the Opera’s go-to guy for commissions; “Dinner at Eight” follows “Silent Night,” which had its world premiere at the Ordway in 2011 and for which composer Kevin Puts won the Pulitzer, and also “The Manchurian Candidate” and “The Shining,” both forthcoming. Meanwhile, the opera reports that its NWI fundraising campaign has been completed a year ahead of schedule.

How much does it cost to put your name (or someone else’s) on a theater seat? That depends on where it is. At the Orpheum, which will soon replace the 100-year-old seats on its main floor with new ones, you’ll pay $2,500, $1,000 or $500 for the name in two places: on a seat plate on the arm and a plaque in the lobby. A Christmas gift for Mom? Start here, and if you have a particular seat in mind, you might want to boogie.

The Schubert Club and Kate Nordstrum Projects have announced the next season of Accordo, the superb chamber ensemble made up of SPCO and Minnesota Orchestra principal string players. This is Accordo’s sixth year, and its fourth at Christ Church Lutheran, a National Historic Landmark in the Longfellow neighborhood. The new season includes works by Haydn, Dvorak, Beethoven, Elgar, Brahms, Mozart, Honegger and Lerdahl. Last year in October, Accordo tried something new – an evening at the Amsterdam Bar & Hall in downtown St. Paul, billed as a special event, featuring parts of the more formal concert it had performed the night before. This year they’re going to the Amsterdam three times. So it’s no longer a special event; it’s part of the season.

Barry Kempton, the Schubert Club’s artistic and executive director, took us inside the decision. “We tried something new, learned a bunch of things, and got an enthusiastic audience, so we thought – let’s do it some more,” he told MinnPost on Wednesday. Kempton is all for presenting classical music in unconventional venues; his Schubert Club Mix series launches its second season at Aria in Minneapolis in October. “The [Amsterdam] concept, a little like going into Aria, is about presenting great music and some of the community’s strongest musicians in a different environment. People get to see the musicians and hear the music in a different ambience. Maybe it will attract a different segment of music lovers, maybe it won’t, but whoever’s there will have a different kind of experience.” At the same time, “the musicians are challenging themselves to find different ways to present their art form.” In fact, the idea for the Amsterdam mini-series came from the musicians. “They are their own artistic leadership team,” Kempton said. “They decide their programs and what they want to do.” Subscriptions to Accordo are on sale now; for the first time, seating at Christ Church Lutheran is assigned. Subscribers may also buy tickets to the Amsterdam performances. Single tickets for all concerts go on sale to the general public Aug. 4.

The Film Society is screening or will soon screen three films on artists and their lives.“Finding Vivian Maier,” about the picture-taking nanny now considered among the 20th century’s greatest photographers, has been extended through Thursday, June 26. (Don’t forget that the Minneapolis Photo Center now has a permanent exhibition of photographs by Maier.) “20,000 Days on Earth,” a fictional day in the life of musician and cultural icon Nick Cave (featuring the real Nick Cave), shows for one night only: Sunday, June 22. “Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case,” about the Chinese dissident ArtReview named the most powerful artist in the world, moves into the St. Anthony Main Theater from June 27-July 1. Click the links for trailers and everything you need to know.

Courtesy the artist and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York

Christian Marclay; Video still from The Clock, 2010; single channel video with stereo sound; 24 hours, looped.

We’re already planning our summer so we’re sure to catch every minute of “The Clock,” the addictive 24-hour film by Christian Marclay now at the Walker. Working with a team of researchers, Marclay compiled some 12,000 clips from the history of film – old and new, color and black-and-white, English and other languages – that show time passing: on wristwatches, clock towers, alarm clocks, mantel clocks, grandfather clocks, animated clocks, clocks in train stations. He edited them into a narrative that shouldn’t work but does. A character in one clip looks to the left; a character in the next clip looks to the right, and in your mind, their eyes meet. The sound is seamless, so there’s no choppiness or jagged segues. The film unfolds in real time; when a watch or clock on screen says noon, that’s what time it is where you are. Walk outside and you almost expect to see a giant clock in the sky, because the whole world seems purposeful and synchronized. You may never look at film the same way again, or at time.

We’ve seen daytime bits of "The Clock," and middle-of-the-night bits (at Northern Spark), and it doesn’t matter which bits you see first or last. Walk into the Burnet Gallery, find a seat on one of the sofas, and the film will pull you in. If you’re nearby and the museum is open, stop in for 15 minutes or an hour or two. (If you’re a member, you can breeze in as often as you like without paying admission.) The film runs continuously during regular hours. Entry is first-come, first-served; you might end up standing instead of sitting. Three more all-night screenings are planned: July 10-11 (11 a.m. Thursday – 5 p.m. Friday), Aug. 8-9 (same hours, Friday-Saturday), and Aug. 23-24 (Saturday-Sunday). On Sunday, June 29 and Saturday, Aug. 23, members can come at 9 a.m., before the Walker opens to the public. At the all-night screenings only, a punch clock will help you keep track of the parts you see. We wish they’d make it available during regular hours, too.

On sale this week: “An Intimate Evening with Jeff Bridges & The Abiders.” The Dude sings? He did in the movie “Crazy Heart” and he will again at the Pantages on Aug. 24. Country songs. Tickets go on sale today ($58.50/$68.50) at 11 a.m. in person or online.

Our picks for the weekend

Tonight (Friday, June 20) and Saturday: IceStage Archive Opening. Ice skates, costumes, programs, posters, lunchboxes, novelties and more from the history of ice shows. Roy Blakey’s giant collection of memorabilia inspired his niece, Keri Pickett, to make the documentary film “The Fabulous Ice Age.”John Reinan previewed the show for MinnPost earlier this week. 413 E. Hennepin Ave., 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Sunday.

Tonight and Saturday at the Ted Mann Concert Hall:“The Big Gay Sing.” The Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus welcomes special guest Miss Richfield 1981 to their annual Pride concert, performed (for the first time) a weekend early. Music includes “Everybody Rejoice” from “The Wiz,” “Don’t Stop Believin’,” Queen’s “We Will Rock You” and “It’s Raining Men.” In other words, a party. 8 p.m. both nights. FMI and tickets ($25-$53).

Tonight through Sunday: “Twelfth Night.” Theatre Pro Rata performs Shakespeare’s romantic comedy outdoors in Kenwood Park on Friday and Saturday and the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum on Sunday. All shows start at 6:30 p.m. The Arboretum charges an entry fee.

Saturday at the Uppercut Boxing Gym: Posters and Pints. An art show, beer tasting and fundraiser spotlights the Northeast Minneapolis Arts and Brewery district and benefits Art Buddies. Limited-edition beer-themed posters are $30 each. Craft brewers in the house will include 612Brew, Dangerous Man and Steel Toe. Ticketed 21+ event; FMI and tickets ($20).

Saturday at the Third Place Gallery: “Chinese-ness.” Photographer Wing Young Huie recently returned from his first trip to Guangzhou, China, his first trip to his family’s ancestral village and his first time photographing in China. “Chinese-ness” uses documentary and conceptual strategies to explore ideas of Chinese identity in Minnesota, China and throughout the U.S. 7-9 p.m. Artist talk at 8 p.m.

Saturday at Studio Z: “Improvisation Encounter with Jin Hi Kim.” With McKnight Visiting Composer Jin Hi Kim on komungo (Korean zither) and forward-thinking Twin Cities musicians Pat O’Keefe and Nathan Hanson on winds, Scott Miller and Steve Goldstein on electronics, and Dean Granros on guitar, this evening of free improvisation could be anything at all. And the new Green Line runs right past the door of Studio Z’s building in St. Paul’s Lowertown. 7:30 p.m. FMI and tickets ($10).

Saturday and Sunday at the Goldstein Museum of Design’s Gallery 241:“Signed by Vera: Scarves by an Iconic Designer.” Vera Neumann’s bold, bright scarves on surplus parachute silk (affordable and available during WWII, when linen wasn’t), each bearing her signature, were snapped up by fashionable women and collectors. The Goldstein’s show spans her 40-year career with choice examples from its collection of around 550 Vera Neumann scarves, most donated by David Anger and James Broberg of Edina in 2010. All started as paintings before being adapted for screen printing, and they line the walls like paintings. In McNeal Hall on the U’s St. Paul campus. Free. Weekend hours are 1:30 – 4:30 p.m. Also Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Ends June 29.

Some people always get the call. Tricky negotiations with a beloved, high-profile organization? Financial malfeasance on a grand scale involving wealthy client/investors? Doug Kelley’s phone is one of the first to ring. The veteran partner at the firm of Kelley, Wolter & Scott has a long vitae of white-collar litigation, along with a list of board memberships and … an ongoing mountaineering and ice-climbing avocation. He has a feel for calculated risk.

A lifelong Republican (Old School variety) Kelley carried water for the party’s gubernatorial nomination back in the Jon Grunseth-to-Arne Carlson circus of 1990. Post that experience — and since being declared an apostate by “movement conservatives” now controlling the GOP — he has contented himself with working the levers of influence from his 25th floor office in downtown Minneapolis. His two most public cases in recent years have been serving as bankruptcy trustee for the massive Tom Petters Ponzi scheme and negotiator for the Minnesota Orchestra board in the protracted, acrimonious contract dispute with the musicians.

It goes without saying that anyone with Kelley’s connections up and down the judicial/business status ladder and involvement in so wide a range of big money activities is going to take merciless heat from critics and adversaries. At the liberal Daily Kos website, for example, Kelley’s involvement with the Petters case — he was briefly asked to represent Petters —  has had him compared, in classic internet hyperbole, to Al Capone’s notorious henchman, Frank Nitti. There's no doubt that feelings toward him from Orchestra musician sympathizers have been about as extreme.

After admiring an original large-scale Ansel Adams print of Yosemite next to the reception desk, we sat down for a review of his latest adventures. Dave Phelps of the Strib recently filed a piece updating readers on Kelley’s efforts to claw back money from Petters investors around the world. On that point he reiterated what he told Phelps, that he expects the process to take “years,” based on the unique (read “tortuous”) legal requirements for each country. “But,” he says, “it’s been a fun thing, actually, at this stage of my career, to be facing this steep learning curve. It’s really quite interesting. For instance, I had never heard of the East Caribbean Supreme Court until I got into this.”

MinnPost: One of the takeaways from Phelps’ story was the business of investors receiving mere “pennies on the dollar” at best when all is said and done. I’ve had a couple people say, “Why even bother if that’s all it’s ever going to amount to after, as you say, years of grinding litigation?

Doug Kelley: Well, I think it’s going to be more than pennies on the dollar, and part of this is how do you do the math? I should give you a little primer. For example, at the beginning when this thing broke people said “Petters is a $3.5 billion case.” Well that’s the loss if Petters paid everybody back and paid them the interest he was supposed to pay them and fulfilled his part of the contract. But in Ponzi scheme recovery cases we’re really dealing with “false profit” where if you put in $100 million and you took out $150 million it's a pretty simple calculation of what has to come back. In that calculation Petters is a $1.7 billion case.

Also, when we talk about recovered assets I like to refer to everything that has been returned, which in this case includes Polaroid, which we sold, but then went to Chapter 7 and has another trustee, who has $100 million in the bank. Likewise we have the sale of Sun Country Airlines for $34 million, which has already been distributed. So when I say we’ve recovered $400 million it's more than I have in the bank, but I like to describe everything related to this case.

But in terms of the final return, it’s very hard to say because some of the biggest cases are left until the end. I have a $250 million case against JP Morgan. I’ll have cases against a number of Swiss banks. And remember, it’s always a two-step process. You can get a judgment but then it’s a question of can you collect the judgment? So I can’t give an estimate right now, but I’m going to do better than pennies.

MP: Journalists are professional cranks and skeptics, but there were plenty of people around town who recognized the names of Petters’ investors and said, “These people were naive? They didn’t have any questions about what was going on?” You didn’t have to be all that an astute observer to say, “Come on. They had to know.” What do you say?

DK: Uh, I think people wanted to get on the gravy train and since it had been working for a few years they were willing to, uh … [he pauses] … suspend their disbelief. That’s way I put it.

But look, I’ve had people come up to me and say that Petters had approached them to invest, and they’ve told me they said, ‘Look Tom, I’d be happy to invest, but first I have to see your financial statement. I need to see the company’s financial statements. I need to look at your track record, your P and L and such.' And Petters told them, ‘I don’t do business that way. I work on the shake of a hand, and on my honor and integrity.’ At which point they would say, “good-bye.”

Those people now tell me, “Thank god I walked away from that!” But I’m amazed at how Petters got away with not having financial statements for the huge amount of money he had at JP Morgan and such. Others have said that, well, “Petters had so much concealed.” But Dave Phelps told me he went online and easily found old stories of Petters being sued for fraud. So these people who say he had everything so concealed didn’t try very hard.”

MP: In your mind doesn’t that make them complicit?

DK:  Well, there are a number of red flags in these cases. I give lectures every so often at business schools and in one I was explaining how I had figured out the fingerprint for a Ponzi scheme. It goes kind of like this: You’ll be in the middle of this deal and Petters will owe all kinds of people money and you’ll see a wire transfer come in for $100 million, which is supposed to go out to China to buy TVs. Instead the money goes out — on the same day — $10 million here, $20 million there to pay off the people who were owed money way back when so that at the end of that same day what’s the balance? It’s back to zero.

As an old white-collar crime prosecutor you look at that and you say, “That’s the way it goes.” There is no surprise there. But you sit there looking at all this maneuvering and think, “What role did the banks play? What role did the accountants play? What role did the lawyers play?” You quickly see that the business model does not make sense.

I think there were $41 billion worth of inter-corporate transfers in Petters’ little scheme. Think about that. It’s dizzying. Primarily this was through two or three banks.

Joe Dixon was one of the prosecutors for the government on the case once told me, and I have to give him credit for this, he said, “Doug, it was like everyone knew PCI [Petters’ umbrella company] was a fraud machine, and everyone knew here was a closet up on the third floor that only a few people could look into and nobody wanted to open the door.” That’s the way he put it.

So I’m suing accountants and I’m suing banks. And when you ask me if these people are complicit, I say, “Yes.” There were dozens of red flags and any one or two should have started you asking questions. But no one did.

MP: One of the facts of the story that has always stuck with me, and correct me if I’m wrong, is that Petters’ long-standing legal firm, Fredrikson and Byron, dropped him as a client almost immediately upon his indictment. As in within a day. Is that right? [Kelley sued and settled with Fredrikson & Byron for a $13.5 million clawback claim, in which the law firm declared it knew nothing of Petters’ fraud … to which Kelley was quoted as saying, rather discreetly, “... there were a number of red flags that should have alerted F&B to the possibility that the business allegedly conducted by Petters was fraudulent.’''

DK:  Fredrikson did, um, back out, right away. I have no idea what prompted that. And yes, they had been his lawyers for a while, and I’m presuming they knew their lawyers would be witnesses and other kinds of things. And, I’ve got a lot of good friends at Fredrikson. It’s a good firm. But there was that part that took care of Petters.

MP: In hindsight, now that the dust has settled, do you think the Orchestra board’s opening position, a 30 percent cut, was too aggressive and contributed to the level of animosity?

DK: I don’t think so. And there are a couple aspects in answering that question. We needed to end up where we did. In fact I had always hoped we’d ask for and get 20 percent. But if you start at 22 percent you’re not going to get to 20. So listen, I understand the shock value of asking for 30-some percent decrease right out of the chute.

But I was with Richard Davis [Orchestra board member and CEO of US Bank] and [Orchestra President] Michael Henson as early as 2009 in meetings with musicians. And Richard, who is a great communicator, had all these PowerPoints showing the terrible deficits we were running. And he was telling them, “Look guys, we will honor the current contract. Because we have to legally. But this has to change. It can’t go on. And if you don’t come and help us feather this off a little bit now, by the time [the contract ends] we’re going to have to do something shocking. As in large givebacks.”

The union did give us some, and then said, “no more.” And every time they offered a new number they wanted to extend the contract, which meant death by attrition. So with no progress when the contract expired the 34 percent number would have meant perfectly balancing the budget. Was that a huge ask? Yeah, it was was. But I don’t know  we could have done it differently.

What we didn’t anticipate was that the union was going to take a stance and make Minnesota a test case for the industry. One example there was the local labor lawyer for musicians — he and I had gotten on well in the past— was pushed out and in came Bruce Simon from New York, who was a table-pounder, an in-your-face kind of a guy. [He laughs.] It was great theater. If you’re a trial lawyer you see what he’s doing. He’s performing for his clients. He’s saying what the musicians want to say but won’t. But it was also very counter-productive. Little old ladies don’t like be told, “[Bleep] you” by Bruce Simon, and he literally would do that.

We just didn’t anticipate them not negotiating. They were intent on maintaining this model that has existed since Beethoven’s time.

Simon said to me along the way, “Doug, the industry is going to have to change. But it’s not going to happen in Minneapolis.”

But overall, I think we did achieve a contract that could be a model for the rest of the industry. The different pay scale for substitutes, a smaller core and revenue sharing if we hit certain goals are being looked on quite positively I think. But it was never about breaking the union. That was never even considered.”

As resistance to gay marriage crumbles state by state – on Wednesday, a federal judge struck down Indiana’s ban, and the whole issue appears headed for the U.S. Supreme Court – the 42nd Annual Pride Festival is under way in the Twin Cities. One highlight will surely be the first-ever at-the-festival legal weddings performed in Loring Park. Others include Sunday’s big, colorful, raucous parade (11 a.m., on Hennepin between 3rd St. and Spruce Place); an all-weekend festival in Loring Park with vendors, food, drink and now nuptials (Saturday 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.); an Out in Gospel concert at St. Mark’s Episcopal with Pippi Ardennia, W.J. Moussa Foster and Jevetta Steele (7:30 p.m. Friday, free); Pride in Concert with pop singer Betty Who, gay country star Steve Grant, and Motown’s Thelma Houston (5 p.m. Sunday, tickets here); and the Queertopia Cabaret at Intermedia Arts (7:30 Friday and Saturday, tickets here). If you can, catch a wedding. It’s been less than a year since gay marriage was legalized in Minnesota.

Sommerfest artistic director Andrew Litton is the latest major player to re-up with the Minnesota Orchestra. Last week he signed a new contract through 2017. The genial Litton – conductor, pianist, Grammy-winning recording artist and bon vivant – has led Sommerfest since 2003. This year’s Sommerfest is July 5-26, and it’s the sparkling summer entertainment we’ve come to expect, including a “Salute to America” (music by Bernstein, Gershwin, Copland and more); “A Night in Vienna” (music by Strauss and Chopin); Litton’s own tribute to the great jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, in which he’ll perform selections from his new solo piano CD by that name; Courtney Lewis’ final appearance as Minnesota Orchestra’s associate conductor (Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Rachmaninoff); an evening of Broadway theater music; and a complete semi-staged performance of “Die Fledermaus.” Explore the whole Sommerfest here.

Bacon-wrapped turkey leg

We love the build-up to each year’s Minnesota State Fair. The news of the grandstand acts, three by three or one by one as the calendar fills in. (Most recently: country superstar Toby Keith, Aug. 21, on sale now.) The unveiling of the Commemorative Art. The big list of free entertainment. And especially the announcement of the new fair foods. Because the State Fair is the one time a year when we let ourselves eat really crazy things, usually deep-fried, on-a-stick, or wrapped with bacon, preferably all three. This year does not disappoint. The 28 new foods for 2014 include (fanfare, please) Bacon-Wrapped Turkey Leg (a roasted turkey leg wrapped in a layer of bacon) at Texas Steak Out, Beer Gelato (blended with local craft bear) at Mancini’s Al Fresco, Chocolate Dessert Salami (chocolate, butter, almonds and walnuts rolled into a salami shape, dusted with powdered sugar, served on crackers) at Sausage Sisters, Deep-Fried Breakfast On-a-Stick (pure genius: cheeses, sausage, egg and Canadian bacon wrapped in pancakes, dipped in batter, and deep-fried) at the Sandwich Shop, North Shore Pasta (walleye mac & cheese with corn, red peppers, smoked Gouda sauce and Parmesan parsley bread crumbs) at Giggles’ Campfire Grill, and Pretzel Curds (cheddar cheese curds deep-fried in a batter of crushed pretzels) at O’Gara’s. One year, long ago, we went to the Fair as vegetarians on a diet. Dumb.

If you’ve wondered what’s up with the old Artists’ Quarter space in St. Paul since owner Kenny Horst shut the doors Jan. 1, the Dakota has leased the space and will host a soft open this weekend during Jazz Fest. The club in the basement of the Hamm Building, downstairs from Great Waters and Meritage, will be open Friday and Saturday nights from 9 p.m. until after midnight. Suggested donation: $5 (proceeds go to Jazz Fest). The bar will be tended.

You know you want to weigh in on the biggest, fuzziest People’s Choice competition of the year. Go here to vote for the Golden Kitty Award for best cat video in the Walker’s Internet Cat Video Festival. Because this is our job, we watched all five finalists and have a few opinions to offer. “8 Signs of Addiction”: Best soundtrack. “An Engineer’s Guide to Cats 2.0”: Long-ish but hilarious. “Gotcha! (??????!)”: Cute, but not trophy-worthy. “Jedi Kittens Strike Back”: Best technical achievement for video shot in a college dorm. “Milo Wanted Attention”: Whatever. This year’s CatVidFest will be Thursday, Aug. 14 on Walker’s Open Field.

Courtesy of the Science Museum of Minnesota

The Science Museum of Minnesota will convert its Omnitheater from film to IMAX’s next-generational digital laser projection system.

Starting in September, the Science Museum of Minnesota will convert its Omnitheater from film to IMAX’s next-generational digital laser projection system. Sometime in 2015, they’ll start beta-testing the new technology, presumably on live audiences. What to expect: better contrast, brightness, clarity and color, more colors and deeper blacks. When the conversion is complete, the Omnitheater will be the world’s first IMAX laser dome theater. The theater will close from Sept. 2 to Oct. 3, when an upper projection booth will be expanded. Carpeting will be replaced and seats renovated in 2015.

TPT last week announced plans for the renovation of its 25-year-old facility in St. Paul. With the successful completion of a four-year, $37-million funding campaign, our local public television entity will make an $18 million investment in its Lowertown HQ. Among other improvements, the main entrance will be moved to street level, opening up the lobby to serve as a community space for public events, concerts and performances. TPT isn’t just about TV anymore; it is actively and effectively using the web to reach out to older Americans (Next Avenue), serve families and children (Sparticl, PBS Kids on TPT), and attract 20- and 30-somethings (Rewire). Money from the campaign will also fund these initiatives.

Courtesy of TPT

A rendering of the new addition to the TPT space on street level.

Joy of joys, the Film Society’s St. Anthony Main Theatre has new seats. Not quite the leather La-Z-Boys you’ll find at Marcus Theatres in Oakdale (and Rosemount, plus the AMC Coon Rapids, in case you want to go), but a huge improvement nonetheless. But while the Marcus and AMC have super-cushy seats, they don’t have “Return to Homs,” the Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner now playing at the St. Anthony Main, or “Venus in Fur” (opens Monday), the film version based on the Tony-winning play that was such a big hit at the Jungle last year.

Three substantial 2014 ArtPlace America grants have been awarded to Minnesota arts organizations. Springboard for the Arts receives $100,000 for Imagine Fergus Falls, a program of on-site artist residencies and an annual festival on the campus of the former Fergus Falls State Hospital, a 1,000-acre mental institution that has been vacant for nine years and will undergo development starting this fall. Juxtaposition Arts will use its $500,000 grant to give college students service-learning opportunities and prepare North Minneapolis youth to enter the work force. Pangea World Theater’s $120,500 will go toward partnering with the Lake Street Council, area artists, and Latino and Somali businesses to install multimedia interventions along Lake Street, bridging and bonding communities.

The St. Paul Art Collective (Saint Paul Art Crawls, Lowertown Fridays) and Osseo’s Yellow Tree Theatre are the winners of this year’s Arts Achievement Award from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council. MRAC recognizes two organizations each year that exemplify its mission of increasing access to the arts. Both groups will be recognized at MRAC’s annual meeting on July 22 at the Minneapolis Photo Center; each will receive a $5,000 cash award.

With Harriet Island underwater, Taste of Minnesota is heading west – all the way to Waconia and the Carver County Fairgrounds. “We talked to so many different places and so many different people,” festival owner Linda Maddox told WCCO. Some food vendors will probably drop out, but the bands – Soul Asylum, Starship, Tina and the B-Sides, and Badfinger – will play on. July 3-6, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. daily (free), 3 p.m. – 11 p.m. ($10 admission). 

In case you haven’t seen it, here’s the posting for Joe Dowling’s job at the Guthrie. Know anyone? Dowling will step down June 30, 2015, after 20 years as artistic director.

Our picks for the weekend

Today (Friday, June 27) in the auditorium at McNally Smith: A clinic by Branford Marsalis, Grammy-winning saxophonist and tonight’s Jazz Fest headliner. The eldest Marsalis brother, Branford always has something interesting and provocative to say. 2 p.m. Free and open to the public.

Today and tomorrow at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds: the Twin Cities Antiquarian & Rare Book Fair. More than 50 booksellers have brought antiquarian, fine and rare books covering many subjects and genres. Ken Sanders, legendary Salt Lake City bookseller, enemy of book thieves and author of “The Man Who Loved Books Too Much” will speak tonight at 6 p.m. On Saturday at 10:30 a.m., Andy Sturdevant, author of “Potluck Supper with Meeting to Follow” and writer of MinnPost’s “The Stroll,” will read from rare children’s books from the Minnesota Historical Society’s collections, along with celebrity baker Danny Klecko. In the Progress Center. Friday 3-8 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. $7 Friday (includes Saturday admission), $5 Saturday. Kids 12 and under get in free; high school and college students get in free on Saturday with school ID. FMI.

Tonight in St. Paul: River City Revue: Working River Walking Tour. Under normal circumstances, this walking tour – a blend of art, science, history and adventure – would be a pretty terrific event, with live music from Ben Weaver, video screenings by Works Progress Studio, stories, and guests including a park ranger and historian, authors and a choir. With the river officially at “major” flood stage and Shepard Road closed to car traffic – but not to foot traffic – Andy Sturdevant promises “a thrillingly deserted post-apocalyptic quality to everything.” Starts at the Mississippi River Visitor Center at the Science Museum. 7-9 p.m. FMI and tickets ($10/$8).

Tonight through Sunday: “Love’s Labours Lost.” This early comedy by William Shakespeare is set in a park, so why not see it in a park? Earlier this year, the Classical Actors Ensemble delighted audiences with the Bard’s “Romeo and Juliet” and Thomas Middleton’s “A Chaste Maid in Cheapside,” performed in repertory. We hear they’re every bit as delightful in “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” plus it’s free. (Donations are appreciated.) 7 p.m. Friday at Hillcrest Knoll Park in St. Paul, 7 p.m. Saturday at Lake of the Isles Park in Minneapolis, 2 p.m. Sunday at Highland Park in St. Paul. Through July 13. See the rest of the schedule here.

Tonight through Sunday at Orchestra Hall: “Carmina Burana,” Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Heitzeg’s “Now We Start the Great Round.” The Minnesota Orchestra ends its first subscription season post-lockout with Yan Pascal Tortelier at the podium and rafters-raising music on the program. Some of us will remember that “The Great Round” was commissioned for the Season Finale concerts that closed Orchestra Hall in July 2012 before the renovations began. St. Paul-based composer Heitzeg’s celebratory work has now been revised. With soloists Audrey Luna, Scott Ramsay and Stephen Powell and the Minnesota Chorale. Tonight at 8 p.m., Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. FMI and tickets ($22-$84).

Saturday at Valley Bookseller in Stillwater: Pauline Knaeble Williams and Judith Yates Borger. Williams grew up in North Minneapolis and now lives in New Jersey; Borger is a former Pioneer Press reporter who lives in Minneapolis. Both have written books perfect for the porch or beach. Williams’ “Finding Hollis” is a mystery with relationships at its core. Set in Minneapolis, “Who Bombed the Train” is Borger’s third book about Twin Cities newspaper reporter Skeeter Hughes. 1 p.m. Note: the Stillwater Lift Bridge spanning the St. Croix is closed due to flooding.

Monday at Magers & Quinn: “A Night of Noir.” Presented by Akashic Books, whose award-winning Noir Series takes sinister literary tours of international and international series, and the Asian American Journalists, because Monday’s featured title is “Singapore Noir.” Editor Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan will be joined by Steven Horwitz, co-editor of “Twin Cities Noir.” 7 p.m., free.

The Minnesota Orchestra is performing in Orchestra Hall; Osmo Vänskä has his old job back; the orchestra has hired a new violist, Gareth Zehngut (actually, Zehngut won his position before the lockout, but we won’t go there); Sommerfest starts Saturday with conductor Andrew Litton (who recently signed a new contract with the orchestra); and a jam-packed 2014-15 season has been announced. Will the public respond with donations? The orchestra certainly hopes so. On Friday, it issued a Community Challenge Grant by email and on its website. Music lovers led by attorney Lee Henderson have committed to gifts totaling $100,000 — if the orchestra can match it by raising another $100,000 by July 31. 

People know Henderson as an avid orchestra supporter and op-ed writer; when he issued the call, they responded. “The only way [the Minnesota Orchestra] gets back to world-class is if everyone works together,” Henderson told MinnPost on Monday. “The orchestra, the musicians and the community are one. This seemed like a good way to get the community involved. The orchestra needs money to flourish, and we have to work together to raise it.” A successful campaign will mean a tidy $200K for the orchestra and show that supporters are willing to open their wallets.

Good-bye to art museums’ printed collections catalogs; hello to free, ongoing serial publications, available on your laptop, tablet or smartphone, that explore a museum’s collections in depth, with essays and media resources including art, documents and video. Like the Walker’s new Living Collections Catalogue, launched yesterday. The first volume, “On Performativity,” is available now. Introduced by Walker curator Elizabeth Carpenter, it ranges across five performance-based works that have entered the Walker’s collection since 2005 including Tino Sehgal’s “This objective of that object,” which consists of oral production instructions for a future gallery event. Did we say this is light reading? We did not. It’s scholarly stuff. But if you’re interested, curious, and want to know more about the Walker, what it’s been up to and why, the Living Collections Catalog can be a major eye-opener (not to mention time-sucker). Due in fall 2014: Vol. II, “Art Expanded, 1958–1978,” which draws extensively on the Walker’s Fluxus collection. And in 2015: Vol. III, “Merce Cunningham,” an exploration of the Walker’s acquisition of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company Collection.

We thought the Winter Marketplace at Peavey Plaza, the proposed Holidazzle replacement, had gone away; we were wrong. After the City Council’s budget committee voted against it last Monday, the Council on Friday reversed that vote and approved $395,000 in city funding for the event. According to the Star Tribune, that money will be combined with about $1.3 million in private dollars being raised by the Downtown Council. So now we’ll just have to wait and see. It seems the market notion works in Chicago and Vancouver. Maybe Minnesotans will pile on boots, gloves, coats, hats and scarves to go shopping outdoors in a hole in the ground.

Photo by John Whiting

Backstage at the 2013 Iowa City Jazz Festival.

Did you enjoy last weekend’s Twin Cities Jazz Festival? Looking for something to do over the Fourth? We know for a fact that many jazz fans from Minneapolis and St. Paul are piling into their cars and heading down the road a piece for the annual Iowa City Jazz Festival. This year’s lineup is especially strong, with headliners Joe Lovano Us Five, Tom Harrell Colors of a Dream (with Esperanza Spalding on bass), Anat Cohen Quartet, young saxophonist Melissa Aldana and her Crash Trio (a huge hit at our own jazz festival, despite being rained off the main stage and relocated to the Amsterdam), Etienne Charles’s “Creole Soul,” B-3 organist Jared Gold and his trio, and powerhouse percussionist Pedrito Martínez and his Peruvian, Venezuelan and Cuban group.

In past years, this free outdoor festival has run Friday through Sunday. This year it’s Thursday through Saturday. Held on a big green lawn in downtown Iowa City among well-behaved Iowans, it’s a jewel of the heartland. City fireworks follow Tom Harrell’s closing set on Saturday. As of this writing, there are rooms available at the Sheraton a few blocks away from the festival site. Not promoting, just saying it’s close and convenient. Travel tip: Cedar Rapids and Waterloo have been hit by flooding, which could present challenges if you’re driving the Avenue of the Saints.

St. Paul’s Fourth of July fireworks are moving to the State Capitol Mall, which opens to the public at 8 p.m. Friday. They were originally part of Taste of Minnesota, once scheduled for Harriet Island but now relocated to Waconia due to flooding. Mayor Chris Coleman thanked Visit Saint Paul, the Minnesota Wild, and Wells Fargo for stepping up on short notice to sponsor this event. Caveats: The fireworks will not be visible from the Mississippi River area. Pre-packaged food and beverages are allowed; grills, alcohol and personal fireworks are prohibited. The area from Rice to Cedar and University to 12th St. West will be closed to traffic. Take public transit if you can.

Fun Contest Alert: Design a jersey for the St. Paul Saints. If you win, you’ll receive four tickets to the Aug. 8 game (against the Sioux City Explorers), your own custom jersey signed by the team, and the opportunity to throw out the first pitch on Aug. 8. Plus the team will wear your jersey. How cool is that? Deadline: noon on July 7. FMI and official rules 

Our picks for the next several days

Artscape will return Tuesday, July 8, with our new expanded arts coverage – four days/week, Tuesday-Friday. Our sincere thanks to everyone who gave to the Artscape Challenge and to our generous challenge donors. It’s almost a cliché these days to say “we’re humbled and grateful,” but we are.

Tuesday at the Minnesota History Center: Café Accordion Orchestra. The couldn’t-be-better kick-off to the History Center’s free “9 Nights of Music” outdoor series, now in its 17th year. Dance instruction from 6:30-7 p.m. (provided by the Tapestry Folkdance Center), live music at 7. Come early for free admission to the museum galleries from 5-8 p.m. Here’s the complete 9 Nights schedule through Aug. 26. Mark your calendar right this minute for Aug. 19, when the Grammy-winning Okee Dokee Brothers will perform.

Courtesy of Como Park Zoo & Conservatory

Trailer Trash

Wednesday at Como Park Zoo & Conservatory: Trailer Trash. Minnesota’s premier honky-tonk band, seven-time winners of the Minnesota Music Award, play a free concert on the Visitor Center lawn. Part of Como’s “Groovin’ in the Garden” summer series. 6-8 p.m. Free. Food, ice cream, beer and wine available to purchase. 

Thursday at the Minnesota Zoo: Bela Fleck with Brooklyn Rider. A musical omnivore (see also Bill Frisell below), Grammy winner Fleck has taken the banjo into new territory, going far beyond bluegrass and newgrass into classical, fusion, rock and jazz. The string quartet Brooklyn Rider is equally adventuresome and unconcerned with labels and boundaries. This will be a stage full of game-changers. On the program: original compositions and classic bluegrass. In the outdoor Weesner Family Amphitheater. Doors at 7 p.m., music at 7:30. FMI and tickets ($42, $54.50).

Friday at the Guthrie: “My Fair Lady” opens. It’s the perfect summer musical, with a wonderful story and a raft of unforgettable, singable, hummable songs: “The Rain in Spain,” “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly,” “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “On the Street Where You Live.” Hard to believe this is the Guthrie’s first time staging it. After seeing Tyler Michaels in “Cabaret,” we’re dying to see him as Freddy. Through Aug. 31. FMI and tickets (single tickets start at $28).

Friday through Sunday at Macalester College: A Prairie Home Companion’s 40th Anniversary Celebration. MPR’s Jen Keavy summed it up in a tweet: “40 years later, and ‘A Prairie Home Companion’ is still above average.” Garrison Keillor’s radio show is part of our cultural fabric. Who among us hasn’t breathed a happy sigh at the words “It’s been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon,” knowing we’re in for another good story? What began on July 6, 1974, at the Janet Wallace Auditorium at Macalester became a juggernaut of a show heard by 4 million people each week on some 600 public radio stations. The three-day anniversary celebration on Macalester’s Great Lawn has many parts, paid and free, with lots for families to do. Tickets are still available (as of this writing) for Friday’s “40 Years, 40 Songs” show, to be followed by a mass singing of all-American favorites including our national anthems. Listen at home to the three-hour live broadcast on Saturday; tickets to that event have sold out. FMI.

Monday and Tuesday (July 7-8) at the Dakota: Bill Frisell “Guitar in the Space Age!” A restless, inventive spirit, Frisell must love all music, because he plays almost anything: jazz, country swing, reggae, rock, pop, John Lennon, “Beautiful Dreamer.” Lately he’s interested in guitar-based music from the 1950s and ’60s that inspired him as a boy; think Duane Eddy, Link Wray, Dick Dale, the Ventures, Chet Atkins. He’s touring with bassist Tony Scherr, drummer Kenny Wollesen, and Greg Liesz on lap and pedal steel guitars. 7 and 9 p.m. both nights. FMI and tickets ($40/$30).

Photo by Jeff Wheeler

Andrew Litton

Sommerfest is back, and it’s golden. After two unsettling years – 2012, when it moved to the Ted Mann during the renovations, and 2013, when it didn’t happen because of the lockout – the Minnesota Orchestra’s annual summer celebration is home and everyone is happy. Including Artistic Director Andrew Litton, who’s splitting his time between the podium and the piano bench. After leading this morning’s coffee concert and Friday's evening concert (both sold out), he’ll conduct Saturday’s “A Night in Vienna” liltfest, then debut his first solo piano CD, “A Tribute to Oscar Peterson,” with a late-night performance in the new atrium.

Now in his 12th year as Sommerfest’s artistic director, Litton is the festival’s sunny, smiling face, as familiar to fans as “On the Beautiful Blue Danube.” We spoke with him Wednesday afternoon, between rehearsals.

MinnPost: How does it feel to be back?

Andrew Litton: It’s great. Not only did we have the tragedy of last summer, but the summer before we weren’t at Orchestra Hall. So we had a two-year hiatus from that wonderful facility. Another great thing: I was able to bring back the chamber music element, which is so popular with the audience and musicians. So Sommerfest is really back now.

The original premise of the festival was to celebrate Vienna. I’ve gone back to its roots this summer, to try and encourage people to come back to us after such a lengthy break. That’s why we’re ending with “Die Fledermaus,” the most Viennese, most Straussy of all Strauss.

MP: Let’s talk about Oscar Peterson. You first heard him play when a friend gave you an album for your 16th birthday. In 2004, the year after you became artistic director of Sommerfest, you brought him here. And now he’s the reason for your first solo album.

AL: My first and only solo album. The most amazing part of the whole experience was once I got over the nervousness of trying to play like him, I started appreciating who he was and what he did. It’s one thing when you idolize someone and listen to what they do, but when you try to learn the notes as they played them, you get inside their brains. It gave me a deeper level of understanding and appreciation for the genius he was.

People have asked, “Are you doing a straight crib?” That’s the starting point. Then you play things through enough, mess around with them, try things out and eventually they become your own spin. My intent is to play the same notes, in the same order. And therein lies the challenge.

MP: Did you ever feel intimidated?

AL: At times I thought, “Andrew, this is the most idiotic hobby you’ve ever had.”

MP: Are there plans to bring jazz back to Sommerfest?

AL: I would very much like to, but it depends on the direction the orchestra goes as an entity. We had a pretty nice balance in years past of traditional classical music and one or two jazz concerts. It would be fun to bring that back, but I have to wait until the dust settles.

MP: What are you looking forward to most at this year’s Sommerfest?

AL:“Die Fledermaus” is going to be a riot. It’s always a joy to do these semi-staged operas with Bob Neu. It’s become a Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland thing: “Let’s put on a show!” I’m also looking forward to sharing my Oscar Peterson. I worked darn hard on it. 

*** 

Sommerfest continues through July 26, with music by Mendelssohn, Mozart, Gershwin, and others, a “Bravo Broadway” night conducted by Courtney Lewis, a Friends & Family concert featuring “Peter and the Wolf,” and more. Here’s the complete schedule. Download the program here.

The Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus has announced its 34th season of “entertainment worth coming out for.” The annual holiday concert, “Joyful and Triumphant” (Dec. 12-14) will feature guest artists the Copper Street Quintet. The spring concert, “Here Comes the Sun: The Music of the Beatles” (March 27-28, 2015) anticipates the 50th anniversary of the Fab Four’s first and only concert appearance in Minnesota. “Popular: A Broadway Cabaret” (June 19-20) closes the season one week before the Pride Festival. All concerts are at the Ted Mann. Season tickets are on sale now; single tickets go on sale Oct. 6. Call 612-624-2345.

On Wednesday the U.S. House of Representations Interior Appropriations Subcommittee approved a bill to fund the National Endowment for the Arts with a budget of $138 million, down $8 million from FY 2014. Arts advocates were hoping for a return to the 2011 appropriation of $155 million. At the markup, Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minnesota, objected to the cut. Americans for the Arts has made it easy for you to contact your representative and express your views. 

The Picks

Tonight (Thursday, July 10) at Subtext Bookstore: Kathryn Kysar “Pretend the World” CD Release. Supported by a Minnesota State Arts Board grant, the St. Paul-based poet invited other poets and musicians to read and interpret her work and made a recording. With guest writers Kris Bigalk, John Minczeski, Hawona Sullivan Janzen, and Sun Yung Shin and clarinetist Sean Egan. 7 p.m. Free.

Tonight through Sunday at Park Square Theater: the final four nights of “The Red Box: A Nero Wolfe Mystery.” Park Square, expert stagers of Sherlock Holmes stories, has a new detective. Audiences are loving this summer hit. E.J. Subkoviak stars as Rex Stout’s eccentric sleuth. 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. FMI and tickets ($38–$58).

Tonight through Sunday at the Southern: “The Glass Menagerie.” Musical theater and acting students Bridget McNiff, Frankie McLeod, Katie Halloran and Will Phelps have spent the past year studying theater around the Midwest and East Coast. They’re ready to tell Tennessee Williams’ story of Amanda Wingfield and her gentleman caller. 7:30 p.m. FMI and tickets ($11-$14).

Tonight through Sunday at Illusion Theater: Patrick Scully: “Leaves of Grass – Uncut.” A radical artist of the 2000s celebrating a radical artist of the 1800s, one gay man honoring another, Patrick Scully’s new work combines dance, theater, video, photography, opera and Walt Whitman’s words with “stories you did not hear in your American Literature class.” And 18 male dancers. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday. FMI and tickets ($14/$19). Note: This performance contains nudity.

Saturday at St. Croix Vineyards in Stillwater: Wine & Jazz Fest 2014. Award-winning Minnesota wine plus live music by the Bryan Nichols Trio, Nancy Harms, Ticket to Brasil, Babatunde Lea, Patty Peterson, and Atlantis Quartet. The music starts at 11:30 a.m. The tasting room is open from 1-4 p.m. Free.

Plan ahead: On sale Friday at 11: Chick Corea and Vigil at the Dakota. The 20-time Grammy winner and NEA Jazz Master reinvents himself for the zillionth time with a new band, new music, and new arrangements of his own classics. Sept. 24, 7 and 9 p.m. $55-$95. Call 612-332-5299.

The Minnesota Orchestra has added another 32 concerts to the 66 previously announced, bringing almost 100 nights (and days) of music to Orchestra Hall. The three new series revealed today – Live at Orchestra Hall, Holiday, and Family Concerts– round out a 2014–15 season that already features 25 weeks of classical subscription concerts.

Beginning Halloween night with a program of science-fiction film and space-themed music hosted by Christopher Lloyd (Doc Brown in “Back to the Future”), ending July 25 with Igudesman & Joo, whose anything-goes mix of comedy and classical music have made them YouTube sensations, the musical offerings include many artists audiences know and love: Doc Severinsen, Chris Botti, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Ann Hampton Callaway (singing her Barbra Streisand show), the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Irvin Mayfield, who still holds the title of Artistic Director of Jazz even though there’s no longer a discrete jazz series.

The orchestra’s first New Year’s Eve concerts since 1998 bring music by the Gershwins (and a party in the lobby). Two perennially popular movies, Disney’s “Fantasia” and “Singin’ in the Rain,” will screen to scores played live by the orchestra. And Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway musical “Carousel” receives a semi-staged performance, with the orchestra joined by a full cast of actors, complete with choreography and costumes. (Live at Orchestra Hall principal conductor Sarah Hicks believes our “Carousel” will sound better than Broadway’s.)

The holidays will ring with Baroque and Big Band, classical and country music, Handel’s “Messiah” and the first-ever performance of the Rose Ensemble with the orchestra. For kids, there’s a staged performance of the one-act Christmas opera “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” a musical telling of “The Story of Ferdinand,” the Grammy-winning Okee Dokee Brothers (with the Minnesota Orchestra), and“The Composer is Dead,” a musical tale that introduces kids to the orchestra’s instruments, with narration written by Lemony Snicket. (For all family concerts, buy one adult ticket, bring up to two kids for free.)

Thursday's announcement almost completes the season. The number of concerts will break 100 with the addition of the Inside the Classics and Symphony in 60 series, both still in the works and TBA this fall. For subscription and single-ticket information, visit the website.

Between the Basilica Block Party and the coming All-Star Game, downtown Minneapolis will be crazy this weekend. But what’s a little traffic? Starting Friday, July 11, part of the boring Orpheum Theatre parking lot on Hennepin between 9th and 10th will be the Parklot, an arts-inspired pop-up park with landscaping, greenery, recycled seating and a performance area. From 7 p.m. until midnight, it’s the Partylot, with entertainment, music, a cash bar, and a food truck. Friday night also marks the official launch of “Made Here,” downtown’s new urban walking gallery and the largest initiative of its kind in the country. Forty empty storefront windows have been filled with Minnesota art. Start at the Parklot, then take a walking tour of “Made Here.” 7 p.m.-midnight. Free. FMI.

Several Minnesota entities have received big grants from the Jerome Foundation, many in support of emerging artists: St. John’s University ($50,000 in support of the Emerging Artist in Residence program within the St. John’s Pottery), the Soap Factory ($20,000 to support the participation of emerging artists from Minnesota and New York City in the 2014 Exhibition Program), the Cedar Cultural Center ($64,000 in support of 416 Club Commissions for emerging Minnesota composers), the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council ($7,500 to support the production of the Minnesota State of the Arts report), the Minnesota Council on Foundations ($5,850 in general support of its 2014 activities and Jerome’s membership), and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design ($210,000 in support of the MCAD/Jerome Foundation Fellowships for Emerging Artists). Additionally, Jerome has committed $132,400 for grants and program administration in the 2014-5 Minnesota Film, Video, and Digital Production Grant Program.

Want to be a judge for next year’s Minnesota Book Awards? The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library have issued the first call for judge applicants. Learn more and apply here. No judging experience necessary. Eligibility requirements include in-depth knowledge related to the category for which you apply.

Silly us, we missed the deadline for the 2014 Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts competition registration. (Not that we would have entered, but some of you might have.) It closed last Monday, July 7. However, there’s still time to enter the Crop Art & Scarecrow competition (deadline Aug. 8) and submit Creative Activities (needlecraft, handcrafts, quilts, rugs, etc.). We always check out the quilts at the Fair.

THE PICKS

Opens Friday, July 11, at the Guthrie’s Dowling Theater: “Wreck.” Thirteen survivors are caught in the hold of a fast-sinking ship. How will they face the abyss? Told in dance and music, featuring vintage 1960s 8 mm ore-boat footage, this promises to be riveting and intense. Choreographed and directed by Carl Flink, with original music by Mary Ellen Childs performed by a live ensemble of top-tier musicians: Michelle Kinney, Jacqueline Ultan, Peter O’Gorman, Laura Harada and Pat O’Keefe. 7:30 p.m. FMI and tickets ($22-$30). Through July 20.

Friday and Saturday (July 11-12) at the Rose Garden at Lake Harriet: The 13th Annual Dances at the Lakes Festival. Professional and student dancers from Minnesota and California perform a variety of dance forms. Bring a lawn chair or blanket, snacks or a picnic dinner and enjoy dance outdoors on the green grass. Presented by the Christopher Watson Dance Company. 7 p.m. both nights. Free.

Friday and Saturday (July 11-12) at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres: “Fancy Meeting You Here: The Crosby-Clooney Story.” Starting with the 1954 film “White Christmas,” Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney became one of the most famous partnerships in music. Vocalists Arne Fogel and Maud Hixson, both of whom know a lot about the songs they sing, are backed by the Wolverines Trio. 8 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday in the Fireside Theatre. 6 p.m. dinner, 8 p.m. show. FMI and tickets ($40 show only, $55 dinner and show).

Saturday at the Minnesota Museum of American Art Project Space: “Art Talk 1 of 2: Absence/Presence.” Three 2014 Minnesota Biennial artists talk about the visual strategies they use in their work and how it affects the viewer’s experience. Join Regan Golden McNerney, Selma Fernandez Richter and Howard Quednau in front of their pieces to learn more about them from the source. 2 p.m. Free and open to the public. FMI.

Tuesday at theaters around the metro: “RiffTrax Live: Sharknado!” If you missed the sold-out live recording at the State last Thursday, here’s your chance to see the stars of “Mystery Science Theater 3000” crack wise about “Sharknado,” the made-for-TV movie that became a pop culture sensation. Go here to buy tickets from the theater nearest you.

Wednesday at the Southern: “Brag Minneapolis — With Mayor Betsy Hodges.” Herroner has proclaimed July 14-20 “The Best Week of Bragging About Minneapolis Ever.” She’ll be in the audience at the Southern, sharing her personal stories of pride in our fair city, after which the cast of The Theater of Public Policy will use them as fodder for improvised comedy theater. Join the fun by contributing your stories. Doors at 7, show at 8. FMI and tickets ($10).

Plan ahead: Individual tickets go on sale at noon today for “Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story on Stage” at the Orpheum (Oct. 7-19). “More Baby and Johnny scenes ... more songs … more dancing,” said Eleanor Bergstein, who wrote the book and the screenplay. This will be the Minnesota premiere of the record-breaking musical. The time of your life?

southerntheater.org

The Southern Theater

It sounds like the Southern Theater will soon be sort of like the Cowles – many small companies sharing space – except you’ll buy a membership instead of single tickets. And sort of like the SPCO, where a low monthly fee gets you a lot. In a new initiative called ARTshare, the Southern plans to bring 15 different theater and dance companies together under its roof, with shows running in repertory. Pay the fee and attend as much programming as you want throughout the year.

This is good news all around. It means that several companies will now have a home, including Black Label Movement, Four Humors, Live Action Set, Savage Umbrella and Sossy Mechanics. It means the intimate and lovely old Southern has survived after a financial crisis in May 2011 nearly brought it down. It has served in the interim as a rental with a staff of one, Damon Runnals, who hung in there, raised money, kept the lights on, and figured out what to do next. Originally hired as the production manager, he’s been the executive director since 2012.

Memberships go on sale next Tuesday, July 22. The official launch party takes place at Town Hall Brewery next door from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sign up for a membership, get a free beer. Here’s the Facebook event page. There’s a minimum 12-month commitment of $18/month. Members will always get first dibs on shows, before tickets go on sale to the general public.  Shows begin the first week of January 2015. FMI (some pages are still under construction).

Part of the controversial $50 million Orchestra Hall redo – controversial because the renovations took place during the lockout – the glass-enclosed Target Atrium was the scene of last Saturday’s Oscar Peterson tribute concert by Sommerfest Artistic Director Andrew Litton. Before an audience of (wild guess) 300 people, Litton alternated between playing note-by-note Peterson, transcribed from recordings, and jumping up to entertain us with anecdotes: “I play piano mostly to remember how hard it is. If you’re going to spend your life telling people how to play music while standing on a box, you’d better know how hard it is. … It took me three months to learn 'Round Midnight’ the way Oscar Peterson played it just once. … This is only the second solo recital I’ve played in 32 years. It’s also the last.” After what sounded to most of us like a perfectly reasonable start to “How Long Has This Been Going On?” he lifted his hands from the keyboard and said, “Let me try this again. That stunk.”

The concert, which began at 10:30 p.m., was enjoyable, the two-story room spectacular, and the views of Nicollet Mall and the city at night were the sprinkles on the sundae. Let’s use this room more, please. For solo or small group recitals by our Minnesota Orchestra musicians? For a new jazz series? Some of you may recall a late-night set with pianist Fred Hersch at Orchestra Hall in the summer of 2005. The audience was small and the big hall swallowed him up.  But the atrium would be perfect for someone like Hersch. What if atrium concerts were broadcast live onto Peavey Plaza and Nicollet Mall?

Travel is good, a fact the Jerome Foundation acknowledges each year by awarding travel and study grants of $1,000 to $5,000 to emerging artists in Minnesota and New York City. Fifteen Minnesota artists and groups working in dance, film and video, and literature are the recipients of this year’s grants, which are funded by the Jerome Foundation, the General Mills Foundation, and the Art and Martha Kaemmer Fund of HRK Foundation and administered by the Jerome Foundation. Ashwini Ramaswamy, a dancer and emerging choreographer with Ragamala Dance, will travel to Chennai, India, to work with a world-renowned teacher of Bharatanatyam. Mong Vang will go to Khek Noi Village in Thailand, the “Hmong Hollywood,” to study Hmong filmmaking and build relationships for future collaboration. Jennifer Bowen Hicks, founder of the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop, will journey to prisons in Norway, Louisiana and Arkansas to gather information for a new book.

Last Wednesday, membes of the U.S. House of Representatives Interior Appropriations Subcommittee slashed $8 million each from the FY 2015 budgets for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Yesterday, they put the money back. Americans for the Arts credits the bipartisan support that quickly formed to protect NEA and NEH funding. Next up, a battle with the full House to maintain each endowment at the $146 million level of funding.

According to a new study released earlier this month by Americans for the Arts, both Minneapolis and St. Paul are strong in arts-related businesses and jobs. Almost 9 percent of all businesses and over 4 percent of all jobs in Minneapolis are arts-related; in St. Paul, nearly 6 percent of all businesses and over 2.5 percent of all jobs are related to the arts. Minneapolis is the 47th largest city in population but ranks 3rd in terms of arts-related businesses.

The Picks

Tonight (Wednesday, July 16) at The Bookcase in Wayzata: Cynthia Bond, “Ruby.” A PEN/Rosenthal Fellow, Bond is winning high praise for her debut novel, just out from Random House. The Christian Science Monitor wrote, “It’s tempting to call up Toni Morrison or Alice Walker or Ntozake Shange.” Well then. 7 p.m. Free.

Tonight at a movie theater near you: “The Enchanted Island.” An encore presentation of the Baroque fantasy opera that originally aired in January 2012 as part of the Met’s “Live in HD” series. Inspired by Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” it stars David Daniels as Prospero, Joyce DiDonato as Sycorax, and Placido Domingo as Neptune. FMI and link to tickets (you’ll enter your ZIP code).

Thursday at Eat My Words Bookstore: David Housewright, “The Devil May Care.” Summer reading, anyone? St. Paul resident Housewright has won both the Edgar Award and the Minnesota Book Award (twice) for his crime fiction. “Devil” is a mystery thriller set in the Twin Cities. A reading will be followed by conversation and book signing. 7 p.m. Free.

The weekend:

Sunday at Orchestra Hall: An Evening of Chamber Music: Mozart’s Gran Partita. In the first half, Minnesota Orchestra principal cello Anthony Ross and pianist/Sommerfest director Andrew Litton will team up for Prokofiev’s lyrical Sonata in C major, originally written for Mstislav Rostropovich. After the intermission, Courtney Lewis will conduct members of the Minnesota Orchestra in Mozart’s Serenade No. 10 in B-flat major, “Gran Partita,” a stately and elegant work for 13 winds. You’ll be out in 90 minutes, with plenty of time after to stop for a drink or snack somewhere along Nicollet Mall. 7 p.m. Good tickets are still available ($25).

This will be Lewis’ final appearance as the orchestra’s associate conductor. He was recently named music director of the Jacksonville Symphony and assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic. His goal was to become a music director before turning 30; he’s still 29. He’ll return next season as a guest conductor.

Courtesy of the Jungle Theater

Bain Boehlke

Bain Boehlke, who founded Minneapolis’ Jungle Theater 25 years ago in a storefront at the corner of Lake and Lyndale, will retire in 2015, the Jungle has announced. He’ll be leaving a Twin Cities institution that has its own home (around the corner from the storefront), a passionate following, a national reputation for excellence and a healthy bottom line. The Jungle’s siting in Lyn-Lake has been called “a flagship example of the transformative power of the performing arts.”

Boehlke’s departure will be noticed, and not only in the lobby after performances. In 24 seasons he has directed, designed and/or appeared in most of the Jungle’s 110-plus productions. When he started the theater at age 50, he brought years of experience at the Children’s Theater Company, where he was associate artistic director and a leading actor, and his touring company Theatre on the Road. Boehlke received the 2011 Ivey Awards Lifetime Achievement Award, was named Distinguished Artist of the Year in 2009 by the McKnight Foundation, and in 2001 received the McKnight Fellowship for Theater Arts.

“As we get ready to mark our 25th Anniversary Season, it seemed like a good time to take leave,” Boehlke said in a statement. “I’m so proud of the Jungle … I have every confidence that the Jungle’s future is secure.” He will step down from his duties as artistic director but plans to stay connected to the theater. His last official day is June 30, 2015. Maybe he and Joe Dowling will meet for a drink. That’s Dowling’s final day as the Guthrie’s chief.

Talk of the Stacks, a program of the Friends of the Hennepin County Library, has revealed its fall lineup. Aug. 11: New York Times bestselling author J.A. Jance reads from “Remains of Innocence,” her new Joanna Brady thriller. Sept. 10: Minnesota author Lorna Landvik launches her new novel, “Best to Laugh,” about a Minnesota comedian trying to make it big in Hollywood. Oct. 11: Psychologist and linguist Steve Pinker presents his latest, “The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century.” Oct. 30: Food & Wine editor-in-chief Dana Cowin discusses her new cookbook, “Mastering My Mistakes in the Kitchen,” with Andrew Zimmern. Nov. 18: poet Michael Bazzett, winner of Milkweed Editions’ 2014 Lindquist & Vennum Prize for Poetry, shares his winning collection, “You Must Remember This.” All events are at 7 p.m. at Minneapolis Central Library, free and open to the public. FMI. MinnPost is a Talk of the Stacks supporter.

For artists: Applications are now being accepted for the 2014/15 Jerome Foundation Fellowships for Emerging Artists. The amount of this fellowship for visual artists – in the early stages of their careers, who have not yet attained professional acknowledgment commensurate with the quality of their work, and who can present their work in a gallery context – has been raised to $12,000 each for the new fellowship year. Deadline: noon on Friday, Sept. 19. Online application site here. Note the free information sessions on Aug. 5, 11 and 20.

The Picks

Tonight (Wednesday, July 23) starting at the Soap Factory in Minneapolis: Common Room: The Fishing Tour. Andy Sturdevant (The Stroll) and Sergio Vucci kick off their seventh season of artist-led interactive tours with “The Fishing Tour.” Meet Minneapolis fishermen and women, park rangers, naturalists, and chefs, visit bait shops, seafood restaurants, national park sites and fishing holes, and dine on fish cakes from lake-caught fish. Doors at 5:30 p.m, tour (by historic bus) at 6:30. FMI and tickets ($10). Coming up: The Weather Tour (Wednesday, July 30), The Overnight Tour (late Saturday night to early Sunday morning, Aug. 2-3), and The Trespass Tour (Aug. 6).

Tonight at the Black Dog in St. Paul: Lowertown Reading Jam: “Dreams for the Beginning of the Beginning.” Curated by music-maker and culture-weaver Mankwe Ndosi, who earlier this year won a McKnight Project Grant, the final LRJ in this year’s series features jazz percussionist/improvising musician/PhD candidate Davu Seru, 2014 Naked Stages grant recipient Funkzilla and Company, storyteller Irna Landrum, teacher and poet Stanley Kusunoki and host Robert Karimi. 7:30 p.m. Free.

Tonight and Thursday in selected movie houses: “Monty Python Live (mostly).” John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin reunite on stage for the first time in more than 30 years. Idle called it “one final mad musical show.” FMI and link to ticketing; enter your ZIP to find the theater nearest you.

Thursday in Rice Park: Ballroom Night. Ballroom dancing in St. Paul’s beautiful downtown park to live music by Jerry O’Hagan and his orchestra with the elegant vocalist Charmin Michelle. The Ordway’s Summer Dance series finale sounds almost unbearably romantic. Two left feet? Arrive early for free dance lessons. Event begins at 5:30 p.m., lessons at 6, live music and open dance at 7:15. Free.

Thursday at Common Good Books: Susan Barbieri discusses “Candyland in the Twin Cities: Popcorn, Toffee, Brittle, and Bark.” We’re all kids in a candy store when we step into Candyland, the St. Paul landmark (now with sugared branches in Minneapolis and Stillwater). St. Paul writer and journalist Susan M. Barbieri tells the sweet tale of the former Flavo Corn and its homemade treats. A pound of the white-chocolate pretzels, please. 7 p.m. Free.

The weekend

Friday at the Wellstone Center in St. Paul: Charles Eisenstein. How can small, individual acts of courage and kindness change our culture’s story of separation? In his new book, “The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible,” the popular teacher, speaker, author, and “de-growth” activist invites us to explore a new understanding of self, life and world. His public talk begins at 6:30 p.m. There’s a catered community dinner with music and movement beforehand. FMI and tickets. ($20 talk).

Saturday in Tangletown in Minneapolis: the annual Tangletown Gardens Art & Garden Tour. Gorgeous gardens, art from Gallery 360 and the Grand Hand and light refreshments from Wise Acre. The tenth annual tour showcases gardens large and small, elegant and quirky. With art integrated into the natural settings, each space becomes an outdoor gallery. The artists and gardeners are on site to answer questions and discuss their work. Proceeds help fund public art, charities, and garden projects throughout the Twin Cities. 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Tickets at Tangletown Gardens, the Grand Hand, Solo Vino or Gallery 360 ($25 in advance, $30 day-of). Tour map at Tangletown Gardens on Saturday after 9 a.m.

Saturday at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis: “Die Fledermaus.” Sommerfest ends with the most famous of all Viennese operettas, a bubbly concoction of champagne, humor, temptation and revenge. Johann Strauss Jr.’s great entertainment is given a semi-staged performance by the Minnesota Orchestra with Andrew Litton at the podium and soloists Barbara Shirvis, Philip Cutlip, Sarah Lawrence, Robb Asklof, and Christina Baldwin as Prince Orlofsky. 7:30 p.m. FMI and tickets ($30–$100). 

Plan ahead

Scary movies are scary, but scary live theater is scarier. Something happens when the lights go out and there are real people on stage … or maybe they’re not on stage. Maybe they’re moving in your direction. Tickets and passes are on sale now to Twin Cities Horror Festival III at the Southern ($13 individual tickets, multi-show passes $45 and $65). Monstoberfest moves into HUGE Theater every weekend in September and October. “Creature Feature: The Improvised Monster Movie” returns, as does “Star Trek: The Next Improvisation.” Tickets available Aug. 20 at the website or the box office.

On June 27, the Minnesota Orchestra asked us for money. It wasn’t the first time and it won’t be the last, but this time was different. It wasn’t just the Minnesota Orchestral Association asking, the governing body with its board and staff and development department. It was the MOA, the musicians, and a first-time-in-orchestra-history task force that included people from the grassroots community groups Orchestrate Excellence (OX) and Save Our Symphony Minnesota (SOSMN), representatives from Friends of the Minnesota Orchestra, board members, audience members, orchestra musicians and staff. 

Orchestra supporter and attorney Lee Henderson got the ball rolling by offering to raise $100,000 to serve as a challenge grant. If the orchestra could raise another $100K by July 31, it could have the first $100K for a total of $200K. When Henderson reached out to potential donors on his list, they gave $115K. And when the appropriately named CommUNITY Challenge was issued June 27 by the orchestra, more than 750 people (including 48 orchestra musicians) gave $174K, bringing the grand total to nearly $290,000 in donations. Gifts ranged from $10 to $10,000. The campaign was conducted largely online.

In a statement issued yesterday by the MOA, board vice chair Karen Himle called the campaign “a true barn-raising effort, led by community members.” The task force also worked on other projects: focus groups aimed at attracting younger audience members, plans for fundraising house parties, outreach to seniors, recruiting volunteers to serve at Minnesota Orchestra community events. Himle praised the group, saying, “I think our collaborative work has created unity and strong relationships that will continue to serve the Orchestra into the season ahead and beyond.” The $290,000 is a solid start.

Call this the not-quite-as-short film festival. Last Friday, the Minnesota Museum of American Art hosted a series of six-second videos on the topic of “What is Minnesota to you?” On Monday, Oct. 20, Mill City Museum will screen a series of 60-second films on the topic of the Mississippi River as it winds through downtown Minneapolis. The Mississippi Minute Film Festival will be part of the Minneapolis Riverfront Summit, the annual, open-to-the-public gathering of the Minneapolis Riverfront Partnership, a state-chartered nonprofit that is revitalizing the Mississippi riverfront in the city. Ten winners will be announced, Mayor Betsy Hodges will speak, and the winning films will be shown. They may be shown again at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival in April. There may be a You Tube channel that features the films. Here’s the skinny, including the rules and entry form. Submission deadline: Sept. 4.

Apropos of nothing, except that everyone we know plays Scrabble, there’s a new Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, Fifth Edition out today that includes 5,000 new playable words. Among them are four new two-letter words – da, gi, po and te as a variant of ti. To serious Scrabble players, two-letter words are caviar on a cracker. Among the other new words are beatbox, bromance, buzzkill, chillax, frenemy, hashtag, mixtape, qajaq (you’ll need a blank for that one), qigong, quinzhee, schmutz, selfie, sudoku and texter. It’s too much to hope that some of those new words will go away by the sixth edition. 

The Picks

Tonight (Wednesday, Aug. 6) at the Dakota: Billy Martin’s Wicked Knee. The drummer for Medeski, Martin & Wood, Billy Martin has a new brass band, and it’s only brass and drums: no piano, no guitar. With Curtis Fowlkes on trombone, Marcus Rojas on tuba, and Steven Bernstein on trumpet, this show will be serious fun. Here’s a video from a recording session. If you missed it yesterday, here’s Mordecai Specktor’s interview with Bernstein. 7 p.m. FMI and tickets ($25).

Tonight at SubText Books: Cynthia Kraack, “Leaving Ashwood.” This is the final book in Kraack’s Ashwood trilogy, which asks, “If mega-multinational corporations ruled the world, would life be all that bad?” Published by St. Cloud publisher North Star Press, Kraack’s books are set in the decades following a deep global economic depression. Uh-oh. 7 p.m. Free.

Thursday at the Heights Theater:“The Band Wagon.” Screening in 35mm, this 1953 film by Vincente Minnelli stars Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse and Oscar Levant. It’s part of a month-long series of Minnelli Thursdays co-presented by Take-Up Productions (of the Trylon Microcinema) and the Heights, the beautiful old Beaux Arts movie house in Columbia Heights. Coming up Aug. 14:“An American in Paris” (Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron). Aug. 21: “The Bad and the Beautiful” (Kirk Douglas, Gloria Grahame). Aug. 28: “Gigi” (Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier). You can probably stream them all at home, but movies really are better on a big screen in a room full of strangers munching popcorn. FMI and tickets ($8).

The Weekend

Saturday at Mears Park in St. Paul: The Second Annual Lowertown Guitar Festival. A day of music presented by McNally Smith College of Music features an eclectic lineup including five-time Grammy nominee and jazz/blues guy Robben Ford (he’s played with Miles Davis, George Harrison and Joni Mitchell), Fender bluesman Greg Koch, Jim Campilongo (Norah Jones, Cake), rockabilly/country player Rosie Flores and National Fingerstyle Guitar Champion Phil Heywood. Molly Maher will emcee and perform with guitarist/vocalist Gabriela Sweet on the festival’s Acoustic Stage. 2–10 p.m. Free. FMI.

Plan Ahead

On sale now at the Dakota: an amazing line-up of shows just added to the calendar. Sept. 10: Evan Christopher’s Clarinet Road pays tribute to Sidney Bechet with “In Sidney’s Footsteps.” Christopher is one of today’s most important clarinet players; steeped in tradition, he makes it all sound brand-new. Sept. 11: Lisa Fischer. The show-stealing back-up singer from the Oscar-winning documentary “Twenty Feet from Stardom.” Sept. 22: Raul Midón. A silky, soulful singer-songwriter. Make this a date night. Oct. 10: Pieta Brown. Greg Brown’s lovely daughter is on tour with her new CD, “Paradise Outlaw.” Oct. 5 and 6: Hiromi: The Trio Project. Piano mastery and volcanic energy. Nov. 16: John McEuen and John Carter Cash. The founder of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and the only child of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash play music from the landmark album “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” 

Stay home tonight or set your DVR for the latest episode of “Lost Twin Cities,” TPT’s occasional series about the way we were. “Lost Twin Cities 4” premieres at 8 p.m. with stories about Northwest Airlines, the St. Paul public baths at Harriet Island (pollution ended those), the Oval Room at the downtown Dayton’s, black baseball, the Longfellow Gardens and Zoo at Minnehaha Park, and the Francis Little House in Deephaven, a Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece demolished in 1972.

Series executive producer Brendan Henehan remembers seeing a living room from a Frank Lloyd Wright home in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1985. He was shocked to learn it had come from Minnesota. “I vowed then and there to tell that story if I ever had a chance,” he told TPT magazine. Incredibly – at least from today’s perspective, when bigger is always better – the Wright home was leveled to make way for a more modest house. Many consider this the greatest architectural loss in our region’s history.

If you miss “Lost Twin Cities 4” tonight, you can catch one of the repeat showings. Plus all three earlier episodes are available online. The series is funded by Legacy money.

After a miserable 15-month labor dispute that ended in January, which is not that long ago, the Minnesota Orchestra has roared back with a strong and imaginative 2014-15 season, a recently completed and highly successful challenge grant, newly forged and unprecedented relationships with audience and community members, a more open and accessible board, and an interim president and CEO everyone seems really excited about. Outgoing president and CEO Michael Henson officially steps down Aug. 31, but Kevin Smith, who served as president of the Minnesota Opera for 25 years, is already walking his own path.

Tomorrow night (Thursday, Aug., 14), Smith will appear at the first of two open-to-the-public listening sessions, where he’ll talk about his background, his perspectives on the orchestra, its finances, its musicians and staff, preliminary plans for the 2015–16 season, and the processes around hiring a permanent president/CEO. He’ll also take questions. 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Ridgedale Library. Can’t make this week’s session? The next is Wednesday, Aug. 27, at the Southdale Library, same time. Both are hosted by Save Our Symphony Minnesota (SOSMN).

On Saturday, Sept. 13, Sarah Hicks will conduct a Season Sampler concert of musical highlights and commentary about the 2014–15 season. We don’t yet know the details, but at $25 for all seats anywhere, it’s a way to dip your toe in, hear the orchestra, see the renovated Orchestra Hall, and get a sense of what the season will bring. If you buy a series package within a month of the concert, your $25 will be credited to that, which is kind of a sweet deal. FMI and tickets.

The award-winning Workhaus Collective has announced its eighth season of three world premieres, each produced using Workhaus’ unique model: The playwright acts as artistic director, and the other members of the collective (all playwrights) are the production staff. Sept. 12–27 at the Illusion Theater: “Lake Untersee” by Joe Waechter, about a troubled teenager who finds the love of his life beneath layers of ancient ice. February 2015 at the Playwrights Center: “Skin Deep Sea” by Stanton Wood. Steampunk meets fairy tales in a love story complete with puppets and swashbuckling fight scenes. April at the Playwrights Center: “The Reagan Years” by Dominic Orlando. A thriller that examines how cultural values “trickle down” to young adults.

Dark & Stormy, the small but talent-packed theater company whose “Speed-the-Plow” made everyone sit up and take notice in 2013, then followed that with terrific regional premieres of two plays by Adam Bock, will hit us with Harold Pinter in late 2014. “The Hothouse,” a tragicomedy set in a mental institution, will star Robert Dorfman, Mark Benninghofen, John Catron, Sara Marsh, Bill McCallum and Bruce Bohne. Ben McGovern will direct. Opens Dec. 12 in a venue TBA. Last season, D&S skipped around from an abandoned office to a casting studio to a party room in a St. Paul condo.

Penumbra Theatre has made a change to its 2014–15 season.“HappyFlowerNail,” a one-woman show by Radha Blank scheduled to begin Nov. 6 as part of Penumbra’s Claude Edison Purdy Festival, will be replaced by “The Peculiar Patriot,” a one-woman show by Liza Jessie Peterson.

What we’re reading:“OK to touch? Glensheen, home museums rethink rules to lure visitors.” MPR’s Dan Kraker tells how the historic Duluth mansion is courting crowds by loosening up. “Middle class rules deaden too many arts venues. Let’s fill them with life and noise.” Ideas for building audience from the UK.

The Picks

Thursday at the Walker’s Open Field: Third Annual Internet Cat Video Festival. Ten thousand people showed up the first year, more last year when it was at the State Fair (a temporary move because of work being done at the Walker). It’s also back to being free. For fun, kind of silly, warm and fuzzy community events, this takes the prize. 6–10 p.m. The screening starts at dusk (about 8:45). FMI. If it rains, the whole kit-and-kaboodle moves ahead a week to Aug. 21.

Thursday on the Padelford Riverboat: River City Revue: Purity on the River. Hang out with artists, poets, scientists, musicians, historians, craft brewers and park rangers as you float down the Mississippi. What started in 2011 as a public art project by Works Progress Studio for Northern Spark has become a summer series of evenings about our great river. Arts writer Susannah Schouweiler calls them “gloriously nerdy,” which they are; tonight’s topic is “Purity on the River,” which means, for purposes of this event, everything from water purification to ecology, rockabilly and Bald Eagles. To “gloriously nerdy” we’d add “unbelievably cheap.” 7 p.m. FMI and tickets ($15). Coming up Aug. 22, a canoe trip from Hastings to Prescott. And on Sept. 10, another riverboat trip, this time on the topic of “Filth on the River.”

The Weekend

Friday through Sunday at Bedlam Lowertown: The Big Lowdown: Lowertown Playground. An immersive walking theater production created by eight Twin Cities performance groups over a six-square-block area of St. Paul’s Lowertown. Guided by eccentric Lowertown characters, you’ll begin at the new Bedlam Lowertown, make your way through the streets, buildings, parks and alleyways to eight different outdoor stages, and end at Mears Park. Departs each night at 7 p.m. Come early for Happy Hour from 4–7 p.m. FMI and tickets ($8 members, $12 nonmembers; no one turned away for lack of funds).

Saturday at Franconia Sculpture Park: Global Rhythm Festival. Live music in the big sculpture park in Shafer. With Diniya Drum and Dance, Greg Herriges and Michael Bissonnette, and the Pan Dimensions Steel Drums. Noon–6 p.m. Free. FMI.

Saturday in Shakopee: Ren Fest begins. It’s the 44th year of what is now the largest Renaissance festival in the United States, with an annual attendance of 300,000. Lords, ladies, knights jousting, Puke and Snot, music, food, hay bales, a marketplace, mermaids, themed weekends – you can even get married there, if you want. Opening weekend is a Highland Fling, with Scottish vendors, a kilt competition, and the World Amateur Highland Games Championships. Weekends through Sept. 28. 9 a.m. – 7 p.m. FMI and tickets ($19.95 adult single day; passes available).

Plan Ahead

A three-day pottery blow-out, with workshops, demonstrations, lectures, panels, studio visits, social gatherings, and an amazing exhibition and sale, the 16th annual American Pottery Festival at Northern Clay Center will draw collectors, artists and students from all over. If you love clay, if you’re curious, if you want to do your holiday shopping early, this is a big one. Sept. 11–14. FMI and tickets (opening night $25, Saturday/Sunday admission $5, workshops and special events vary). 

“Today was a big day for the Minnesota Orchestra,” incoming interim president and CEO Kevin Smith told a crowd of about 50 at Southdale Library last night. First came a meeting with Michael Kaiser, outgoing president of the Kennedy Center and consultant to various arts organizations (including Penumbra Theatre). Kaiser had asked to address a representative group of board members, musicians and staff members. “Originally, this was going to be at the Minneapolis Club,” Smith said. “We moved it to the stage of Orchestra Hall, which was really interesting. It was the first time such a large group of musicians, staff and board members had gotten together since Tony Woodcock [Michael Henson’s predecessor], when Osmo first joined the orchestra, and that would have been nine years ago. Getting everybody together was really moving … . There’s a very positive spirit about the organization that, quite honestly, I wouldn’t have seen a month or two ago.”

Then came the news about the $10 million leadership gift from a donor who wishes to remain anonymous, announced at a board meeting later that day. Earlier this summer, the orchestra received gifts totaling $3.2 million from three additional donors. In July, a grassroots CommUNITY Challenge netted $285,000 from 750 individual donors.

For an orchestra that suffered a horrible 15-month labor dispute, lost musicians, staff and board members, lost (and rehired) its artistic director, and has seen big changes in management, the gifts are votes of confidence in the way things are going under Smith and new board chair Gordon Sprenger. And it’s not just donors who feel that way. As Smith said, “Optimism is taking over the culture of the orchestra.”

New openness

Smith was at Southdale Library for the second of two public sessions hosted by Save Our Symphony Minnesota (SOSMN). He spoke with refreshing frankness about the orchestra’s past, present and future, taking questions from the audience and listening to comments from people still stung by recent events. That he agreed to the sessions signals a new openness and transparency that didn’t exist before or during the lockout. “The culture of the organization was a little enclosed and always worried about who was going to say what and what we should say,” he said. “We’re opening up intentionally and sharing information.”

Smith shared both financial and organizational information in broad terms. The orchestra had less of a deficit this year than previously anticipated and stronger ticket sales for both the classical concerts and Sommerfest. Robert Neu has resigned as general manager, and Smith has restructured the artistic department as a single working unit. “The programming for the organization is going to be holistic. We’re not going to pit the classical programming against the pops programming.” On Sept. 6, the day after the gala benefit concert with guest artist Renée Fleming, orchestra staff, musicians, artistic director Osmo Vänskä and consultants with expertise in artistic planning will meet to plan the 2015–16 season. “We’re trying to put a whole team together, we’re trying to get everybody to work together, and we’re trying to do the artistic planning and the financial planning in a way that is not threatening.”

In response to questions, Smith addressed other issues including programming, marketing, branding, and getting audiences excited about coming to the orchestra. Here are some highlights from the 90-minute meeting:

A shift back to classical

The shift away from classical toward more pops concerts, which rankled a lot of people, has been halted and reversed. The business plan before the lockout called for 16 weeks of classical subscription concerts. It’s now 24. “The matrix we’re using moving forward is 24 subscription weeks. In addition to that, a touring week, and probably a recording week.”

The marketing budget has been increased. “You are going to see a visual outdoor image that you haven’t seen before.” Starting next month, watch for orchestra ads on buses, at transit stops, and on banners around downtown Minneapolis.

The new branding will be tweaked. “It’s very nice, very clean, very professional, but we’re missing something. Where’s the art? Where’s the joy? … Throughout the season, you’ll see a transformation. More visual impact from the ads. A focus on Osmo and the musicians. We’ll try to get away from this corporate, institutional view.”

What about the healing that needs to take place between musicians and board after months of acrimony? “It’s a big issue. Three or four times a week, something happens that reminds you how deep the emotions are. It gets better every day, but there’s a lot of work to be done.” Sprenger has put together a Liaison Committee of board members, musicians, Smith, and [development VP] Dianne Brennan for the purpose of in-depth, heart-to-heart discussions. “Once board members hear the musicians tell their side of the story, they often go, ‘Oh, I didn’t realize that!’ A lot of this is just a matter of communicating. These are good people who, I’m convinced, wanted good things to happen, but it just didn’t go too well.”

Search is on for new CEO

Does “interim” really mean “interim”? It does. A search committee and two search firms are already working on finding a new president and CEO. Plans are to begin interviewing potential candidates before the end of the year. “I imagine that I’ll be around for most of this season. I’m here on a month-to-month basis and I’ve said I’m not a candidate for the permanent position, but I certainly want to fill in until the right person is there. This could take a while, and it kind of scares me, because I’m getting kind of old for this. But it is moving forward.”

And what about the lobby, which some have found too corporate and sterile?

“When you go to Orchestra Hall,” Smith said, “I want you to walk into the lobby and have the lobby look different, feel different. I want you to be surprised now and then. The experience needs to be much more alive, more inventive and invigorating …We’re talking about new lighting systems to provide color and shape. Cut-outs of musicians. All sorts of things. Maybe a couple of plants.” At this, the audience laughed.

Artscape is on break and full coverage will return Wednesday, Sept. 24. Meanwhile, fall seasons are starting and a Supreme Court justice is coming our way.

Friday-Saturday, Sept. 12-13, at the O’Shaughnessy: “Test Pilot.” The new chamber dance opera by choreographer Penelope Freeh and composer Jocelyn Hagen tells the story of the Wright Brothers through the eyes of their sister, Katharine. The narrative also brings in the creators’ personal family aviation narratives. If you go on Friday, stay for the post-show talkback moderated by MPR’s Steve Staruch. 7:30 p.m. FMI and tickets ($11–$25).

Saturday, Sept. 13, on the Convention Center Plaza: Maker Day. In case you haven’t noticed, the Convention Center wants to be more than a meeting place for out-of-towners. Executive Director Jeff Johnson sees it as a gateway to Minneapolis for convention center visitors, enticing them outdoors and into the city, and as an activity center for the local community, drawing people in from surrounding neighborhoods and beyond. For the past two years, the plaza across 2nd Ave., a well-kept, inviting park also bordered by Marquette and 12th St., has been the site of the annual Creative City Challenge winner, an interactive work of public art funded by the Convention Center. “It’s a green space downtown, and we don’t have enough of those, and we want people to see it as their space,” Johnson says. Maker Day celebrates the spirit of invention with activities and projects for all ages. Try butterfly yarn bombing, prepare food with friends at the Dumpling House, make a sign, craft a puppet, a hat, or a musical stool, or take part in a fruit orchestra. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free. If the weather is uncooperative, things will move to beneath the Convention Center’s front entrance arcade.

Saturday, Sept. 13, at the Museum of Russian Art: Opening reception for “Life on the Edge of the Forest: Russian Traditions in Wood.” The theme of the forest in Russian culture, expressed in elaborate woodcarvings. Includes unique examples of ornamental window surrounds from carpenters in rural communities of central Russia, the Urals and Siberia, on display for the first time in an American museum. 5–7 p.m. Tickets here ($10).

Opens Saturday, Sept. 13, at the Guthrie's Dowling Studio: “Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet.” The third play in MacArthur fellow Tarell Alvin McCraney’s “Brother/Sister” trilogy (after “In the Red and Brown Water” and “The Brothers Size”) has been generating buzz since it was first announced. Co-produced by Pillsbury House Theatre and the Mount Curve Company, presented by the Guthrie, it follows 18-year-old Marcus Eshu (Nathan Barlow) as he journeys to discover who he is and where he comes from. Directed by Marion McClinton, with James A. Williams as Ogun Size, reprising his role from “The Brothers Size.” Here’s a preview. 7:30 p.m. FMI and tickets ($27–$30). Through Oct.. 5.

Saturday, Sept. 13, at Studio Z in Lowertown: John Raymond’s Roots Trio. Since leaving the Midwest for New York City in 2009, the gifted young trumpeter/flugelhorn player has performed with top musicians, recorded two albums (including one, not yet released, with the legendary drummer Billy Hart), and constantly sought to become even better. His last performance here, at Icehouse in July, when he played for the first time with the formidable foursome of Brandon Wozniak, Mike Lewis, Anthony Cox and JT Bates, was fierce and magical. This time he’s bringing his New York-based trio, with guitarist Gilad Hekselman and drummer Colin Stranahan, to give a concert and record their debut album at a local studio. 7 p.m. FMI and tickets ($15). Read an interview with Raymond here.

Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 13-14, at the Ordway and the Ted Mann: St. Paul Chamber Orchestra Opening Night. For its 2014–15 season, the SPCO will perform Beethoven’s complete symphony cycle, starting this weekend with nos. 7 and 8. The program further includes the world premiere of an SPCO commission: Nicola Campogrande’s “Urban Gardens” for Piano and Orchestra, with pianist Emanuele Arciuli. These will be Julie Albers’ first performances as the SPCO’s new principal cello. Artistic partner Roberto Abbado conducts. 8 p.m. Saturday at the Ordway, 2 p.m. Sunday at the Ted Mann. FMI and tickets ($12–$42).

Sunday, Sept. 14, at Lake Harriet Bandshell: Minnesota Orchestra: Free Concert for the Community. Back for its first full season since 2011-12, fresh from its glittering, sold-out gala last Friday, the Minnesota Orchestra feels good and sounds great. William Eddins conducts music by Glinka, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, and Borodin. 3 p.m.  

Tuesday, Sept. 16, at the U’s Willey Hall: The Stein Lecture: A Conversation Between Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Professor Robert A. Stein. The erudite ones will discuss the work of the Supreme Court of the United States, including cases advancing the constitutional rights of women, the Chief Justice’s role, the diversity (or lack thereof) in the court’s membership and other topics. Audience members may address questions to Justice Ginsburg. 225 19th Ave. S., Minneapolis. 4:30 p.m. Free, but registration was required, and as of this writing no tickets are available. A cancellation line will begin at 3 p.m. for turnbacks.

Wednesday, Sept. 17, at Union Depot: “Riders on the Orphan Train.” Between 1854 and 1929, more than 250,000 orphaned and homeless children from crowded East Coast cities were sent on westbound trains to live with foster families, mostly in the rural Midwest. One of the stops was Union Depot in St. Paul. (Not the one we know, but the first, which was completed in 1881 and burned in 1915.) To tell this fascinating story, novelist and scholar Alison Moore (who wrote the book) and musician Phil Lancaster have created an audiovisual experience combining historical fiction with interviews, archival images and ballads. How perfect that it’s coming to Union Depot. In the Red Cap Room. 7 p.m. FMI and tickets ($12; $10 with promo code ORPHAN14).

Thursday, Sept. 18, at Hennepin Central Library: Writers in the Library featuring Hans Weyandt. The former co-owner of Micawber’s recently completed a month-long Coffee House Press in the Stacks residency in the library’s Special Collections area, digging into the History of Books and Printing collection. Come for a tour and a recap. Tour starts at 6:15 p.m., talk at 7. Free.

Thursday, Sept. 18, at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts: Third Thursday: Make Your Mark with AIGA Minnesota. See the special exhibition “Marks of Genius” for free and learn illustrating techniques from members of AIGA Minnesota, our state’s branch of the professional association for design. Political cartoonist Kevin Kallaugher will discuss and demonstrate his work. “Marks of Genius,” a collection of 100 rarely-seen drawings from the MIA’s collection, closes Sept. 21. 6–9 p.m. Free.

It seemed too good – make that weird – to be true: the 400 Bar in the Mall of America? The famously funky West Bank indie-rock institution relocating to Bloomington and being reborn as a live music venue, restaurant and music museum complex on the Mall’s fourth floor near Hooters? That was the plan back in February, but no more.

The original opening, scheduled for late July, was mysteriously postponed. (A “Minnesota Beatle Project” event was temporarily on the MOA’s calendar, then disappeared.) Yesterday Reed Fischer reported for City Pages that an eviction notice had been duct-taped to the door. He included a statement issued by the MOA that reads, in part, “In any economy, it is frequently challenging for small or new businesses to establish themselves. Often finding appropriate financing terms can be a substantial obstacle for small business. This seems to be the circumstances for 400 Bar as they prepared to open at Mall of America. Timing and economic environment appear too challenging … . While disappointed that 400 will not open at the Mall, we wish them the very best.”

Meanwhile, we’ll always have our memories of the Beatles exhibit that occupied part of the space from June 5–Sept. 7. The jacket Paul wore at Shea Stadium, the jacket Ringo wore on the “Abbey Road” cover, all kinds of memorabilia, and those fab black-and-white photos taken by American tour manager Bob Bonis. We’re glad we saw that, and for a while, we thought the whole kooky notion might actually work.

Even if you don’t have tickets for the Minnesota Orchestra’s highly anticipated season opening this weekend, you can still join the party in the lobby before and after each concert. Orchestra staff and musicians and advocacy groups Save Our Symphony Minnesota (SOSMN) and Orchestrate Excellence have collaborated on a community celebration called “All Together Now!” that throws the doors open to anyone who wants to come. Special events have been scheduled for all three days, including live music by area musicians, a trivia contest with prizes, guided tours of Orchestra Hall, the chance to help name the orchestra’s exclusive new beer (created by Boom Island Brewing Company), a place to leave a love note for the musicians, and the opportunity to be part of a huge new Minnesota Orchestra photo mosaic that will be permanently displayed in Orchestra Hall.

You’ve seen photo mosaics – images made up of pixels that, as you draw closer, reveal themselves as tiny individual photographs, usually headshots. The one planned for Orchestra Hall was conceived by artist/photographer Cy DeCosse, whose wife, Paula DeCosse, is co-chair of Orchestrate Excellence. Cy created an 8' x 8' prototype featuring musicians, board members and staff that will hang in the glass-walled atrium as an example of what to expect. Anyone who shows up during the season opening can have his or her photo taken by one of six photographers for a final, even larger banner (maybe 12' x 12'?) that will hang in a location TBD.

If you go, don’t be shy. “We want to include photos of as many people as possible who care about the Minnesota Orchestra and are working toward rebuilding and strengthening the institution,” Paula DeCosse explained. “[The photo mosaic] is a way to visually represent how many people it takes to support the orchestra – the audience and wider community, as well as those directly involved.” It’s also a way to add life to the lobby, something interim CEO and president Kevin Smith mentioned at a community meeting in August. Currently, the new space is majestic but a bit cold. Imagine the addition of all those smiling faces.

Tickets are still available to all three concerts – Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. – but act fast, because their numbers are few. In the first half, cellist Alisa Weilerstein will join the orchestra for Barber’s lyrical, reflective Cello Concerto. The second half is given over to Mahler’s mighty “Resurrection” symphony, with the Minnesota Chorale. On Monday, Smith told MPR’s Tom Weber, “The choice of [the] ‘Resurrection’ symphony is not haphazard … The symbolism is entirely intended. It was chosen by Osmo Vänskä, our music director, and the musicians in particular because they feel that this organization, and they as an orchestra, have been resurrected.” FMI and tickets ($25–$85).

The picks

Today (Thursday, Sept. 25) at the Film Society’s St. Anthony Main Theatre: Terry Gilliam’s “The Zero Theorem.” First came “Brazil” (1985), then “Twelve Monkeys” (1995), and now the final installment of the former Python’s dystopian sci-fi trilogy. Set in a future London, it stars Oscar winner Christoph Waltz (“Django Unchained,” “Inglourious Bastards”) as a computer hacker searching for the meaning of life. Also in the cast: Matt Damon (as Management) and Tilda Swinton (as Dr. Shrink-Rom). If Swinton is half as interesting here as she was in “Snowpiercer,” she may steal the show. 4:20 and 9:50 p.m. FMI, trailer and tickets ($5–$8.50).

Tonight at Central Park Amphitheater in Woodbury: Club Book presents Sue Miller. The bestselling author of “The Good Mother,” “Inventing the Abbotts,” “Family Pictures” and “While I Was Gone” reads from and discusses her latest, “The Arsonist,” a novel about the tensions between summer people and locals in a small New Hampshire town. The Amphitheater is at 8595 Central Park Place. 6:30 p.m., free. Can’t make it? A podcast will be available later on the Club Book site. FMI and map.

The weekend

Opens Friday (Sept. 26) at the Minneapolis Theatre Garage: Walking Shadow presents the regional premiere of Moira Buffini’s “Gabriel.” The New York Times’ Charles Isherwood gave this play a fabulous review when it opened in New York in 2010. The setting: the Nazi-occupied island of Guernsey, 1943. A naked young man washes up on the mine-filled beach. Is he a savior or an even greater peril? The Times called “Gabriel” a “juicy romantic melodrama … a tense tale of wartime intrigue … riveting.” Amy Rummenie directs. 711 Franklin Ave., Minneapolis. 7:30 p.m. Through Saturday, Oct. 11. Pay-what-you-can performance on Monday, Sept. 29. FMI and tickets ($10–$22).

Friday at the Cedar: Alice Boman. “Haunting” is a word that is much overused, but for Boman, it fits like a fine kid glove. The Swedish singer is touring behind her American debut, “EPII,” which somehow sounds both heartbreaking and comforting, faraway and like a lover's whisper in your ear. Here’s a video. StoLyette and Strange Relations open. Doors at 7 p.m., show at 8. FMI and tickets ($10 advance/$12 day of).

Friday at MacPhail: Adam Meckler Orchestra CD Release. Trumpet player/composer/educator Meckler is a force on the Twin Cities music scene, leader of his own jazz orchestra and quintet, member of the Pete Whitman X-Tet, the Jack Brass Band, the Graydon Peterson Quartet, Lulu’s Playground, and singer Jana Nyberg’s group (Nyberg, another force, is Meckler’s wife). The first CD from his 18-piece ensemble, "When the Clouds Look Like This," features all original music by Meckler – the kind that will have you nodding your head and tapping your feet along with everyone else in the room. Not to say Meckler is derivative, but the title track reminds us of Maria Schneider’s music in a grand, gorgeous, big-sky way. We like the whole outing very much, and MacPhail’s gemlike Antonello Hall is a perfect place to hear it. 7 p.m. FMI. $10 at the door. 

In January, the Miami-based nonprofit Knight Foundation announced a major investment in St. Paul: $8 million in new funding to “engage and enrich the city through the arts.” A large part ($3.5 million) went to five St. Paul arts institutions: the Arts Partnership, Penumbra Theatre, Springboard for the Arts, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and TU Dance. An even bigger chunk ($4.5) was set aside for a three-year free-for-all called the Knight Arts Challenge. Basically, if you had an idea for the arts in St. Paul and could describe it in 150 words or fewer, you could apply. Anyone could apply – individuals, groups, nonprofits, corporations, schools and colleges.

What happened was the highest per-capita response to any Knight Arts Challenge to date. (There have been 13 so far. The Challenge also operates in Miami, Philadelphia, and Detroit and recently added Akron to the list.) “We asked the community to come out in force, which is what St. Paul did,” Knight Foundation VP for arts Dennis Scholl told MinnPost. “From a city of a few hundred thousand people, we received 868 submissions.

“Sometimes you worry the first year that in a very diverse community, only the cognoscenti will figure it out. We hoped for and received many applications from a wide cross-section of the new St. Paul. Somali ideas, Arab ideas, Latino ideas, Hmong ideas. That allowed us to make very good choices and very diverse choices as to the winners. For us, one of the most important things about the contest is it has to look like the community.”

From 868 submissions, 42 winners were chosen and announced Monday in St. Paul. They will split a total of $1.365 million. They are a broad and colorful group with profound, beautiful, witty and smart ideas. Stahl Construction Company will restore historic company signs in Lowertown. Artist Michael Bahl will create a dinosaur sculpture that doubles as a bike rack. A group of four artists will project a light show on the steam plume that billows from the roof of the downtown St. Paul power plant. A radio program, broadcast on the new Dayton’s Bluff FM station, will showcase Latino East Siders. There will be a Hmong fashion show, a printmaking program, a “food opera” that pairs dishes with new musical compositions, and a teeny, tiny museum in a vintage fire-hose cabinet along University Ave. Plus poetry, theater (including a site-specific play about the State Capitol), dance, storytelling, screenwriting, murals, a mobile classroom, a mobile art program, and music. Lots of music, from classical to hip-hop to jazz.

Happily, the Knight Foundation is not allergic to jazz. In fact, this year’s big winner in terms of dollars is the Twin Cities Jazz Festival, with a $125,000 grant. Founded in 1999, now heading into its 17th year, the Jazz Fest weathered tough times in Minneapolis before relocating to St. Paul in 2008, where it settled in and blossomed into a free, three-day event that draws more than 30,000 people.

Founder and executive director Steve Heckler fully intends to grow it into a world-class event. He has already tapped Afro-Cuban drummer, bandleader and composer Francisco Mela to serve as next year’s artistic director, and he knows what he wants to do with the Knight money. “Our plans are to expand the scope of the festival with more stages and additional headliners we wouldn’t normally be able to afford,” Heckler told MinnPost. “We’re looking at the new Saints stadium [located a short distance away from the festival’s main site in Mears Park] and potentially adding some year-round activities as well. We want to work with emerging and developing artists, and partner with organizations for performances, so we can continue the jazz tradition and keep it alive. By and large, our mission is to keep it as free as we can.”

Every Knight Challenge winner now has a year to raise matching funds equal to Knight’s commitment. How many finalists typically follow through? “Virtually all of them,” Scholl said. “Of all the people who have won Knight Arts Challenge grants, 96 percent have matched.”

Heckler aims to raise his matching funds even sooner; the next Twin Cities Jazz Festival is scheduled for June 25–27, 2015. Meanwhile, the second year of the three-year Knight Arts Challenge will open for new ideas in April.

***

If there was ever any doubt that the Minnesota Orchestra could roar back after the greatest crisis in its 111-year history – a 16-month lockout, open war between musicians and management, numerous departures – it evaporated during the opening weekend’s three concerts, with their full houses and superb performances.

The crowd rising to its feet and cheering as the musicians and Osmo Vänskä came on stage was no longer a political statement but a welcoming one. (There would be nothing wrong with making this a tradition.) The musicians coming out afterward to mingle and greet the crowd seemed perfectly normal. (This, too.) The music was big and breathtaking: Barber’s Cello Concerto, with guest cellist Alisa Weilerstein, a passionate, emotional player, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection,” an 85-minute monster that picked us up, tossed us around, threatened us with hell and raised us up to heaven.

For the final movement of five, the Minnesota Chorale, 140 voices strong, which sat quietly through the first four movements, began to sing so softly that it was more vibration than sound. Chorale member and blogger Scott Chamberlain Facebooked a moment during rehearsal when the chorale was told, “In the soft passage, be careful turning the page … you’re drowning out your singing.”

Gubernatorial and mayoral proclamations were read, and audience members had their pictures taken for a photo mosaic, now projected to be 18' square, that will soon hang somewhere in Orchestra Hall. (If you missed the photo op but still want to be included, you can send a high-res image of yourself to social@mnorch.org.)

To borrow from sports, we could call the Orchestra’s resurrection a Minnesota miracle, except it took so much hard work from so many people. It was just a year ago tomorrow – October 1, 2013 – that Vänskä resigned. It seemed for a time as if everything was lost, or about to be lost. At a farewell concert the following weekend, Vänskä himself called the situation “so terrible … almost hopeless.”

And now those who follow such things are watching the grimly similar situation at the Atlanta Symphony, where the musicians have been locked out since Sept. 7, weeks of concerts have been canceled, and the orchestra’s president, Stanley Romanstein, quit on Monday. (Some of you will remember that Romanstein was formerly president of the Minnesota Humanities Center.) In the words of Music Director Robert Spano, Atlanta has been left with “a deafening silence.”

That’s not what happened here. During the lockout and after Vänskä’s resignation, the musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra planned and produced dozens of concerts on their own and announced an audacious 10-concert mini-season. Former music directors Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Edo de Waart, Eiji Oue and Vänskä returned to lead them. Community groups Orchestrate Excellence and Save Our Symphony Minnesota formed, held meetings, wrote letters and organized rallies. Lawn signs sprouted. The Young Musicians of Minnesota sprang up to express solidarity with the musicians, their teachers and mentors.

Silence is the friend of lockouts and labor disputes; it found no home in Minneapolis. And today we have a new board chair in Gordon Sprenger, a new (if interim) CEO in Kevin Smith, Vänskä back on the podium, a full season of concerts, more citizen involvement and a shared sense of optimism in the future. The orchestra sounds terrific. Go if you can. 

The picks return on Thursday. We have something else in the works for tomorrow.

Time flies during “Master Class,” the Tony-winning play by Terrence McNally that opened Friday. Not because it moves through the years – most of it takes place during a few hours on a single day – but because it’s over too soon and we’re left wanting more. More stories, more singing, and more Sally Wingert, who takes on the daunting role of diva Maria Callas and fills it with power and passion, hilarity and sorrow.

Theater Latté Da’s director, Peter Rothstein, set his production at MacPhail Center for Music’s Antonello Hall. Acoustically sublime, seating only about 250, it’s a place where real master classes take place. As the audience, we’re part of the play. The rest of the cast includes Andrew Gourgoin as Callas’ stoic pianist; Paul Von Stoetzel as a lumpish stagehand; and Kira Lace Hawkins, Benjamin Dutcher and Kelsey Stark D’Emilio as hopeful young Juilliard students who have signed up for their moments with La Divina. They come expecting pointers, praise, a brush with fame or “feedback,” a word Callas reacts to as if it were a cockroach in her dressing room. Each is berated and harshly critiqued, yet each is smart enough to listen, watch and learn.

The singing by Hawkins (Rothstein’s Sallie Bowles in “Cabaret”), Dutcher and D’Emilio is superb. (And super hard: famous arias by Bellini, Puccini and Verdi.) Except for a single unforgettable note, Wingert doesn’t sing (although she did as Fraulein Schneider in “Cabaret”); at this late stage, Callas had lost her voice. But she could teach, and she could remember moments from her incredible life.

Opera stars were yesterday’s supermodels, pursued by wealthy men, their lives tabloid fodder. At several moments during “Master Class,” the lights change and we’re drawn into Callas’ past, her years on the world’s stage, her suffering as an artist, her insecurities, rivalries, triumphs and fraught relationship with Aristotle Onassis, who sounds like a brute.

The first time Wingert as Callas steps back into memory, she does it without saying a word. As Hawkins sings an aria from “Macbeth,” Wingert walks slowly to the back of the stage, passes behind the piano, and leans against a wall. Standing still, facing away from us, she pulls our whole attention like a magnet, and we know, or think we know, where she is: on stage at La Scala. That’s acting. When she voices the single syllable “O!” (which she does often throughout the play, as an exclamation), it comes from deep in her chest, carrying weight and sometimes pain.

And yet, despite the awareness that we’re seeing a star fading – “Master Class” takes place five years before Callas’ death – this is a very funny play. Wingert slings zingers with abandon. On Joan Sutherland: “She did her best … A 12-foot Lucia de Lammermoor? I don’t think so.” On stage behavior: “Never move on your applause. It shortens it.” Calling in a student: “Next victim!” There’s a lot of laughter in Antonello Hall, something we weren’t expecting, and one of the reasons we wished the play were longer than its two hours. Through Nov. 2. FMI and tickets ($35–$45). Tip: The center of the hall is raked, the sides are not. While we generally like sitting on the sides at Antonello, if you’re behind someone tall, your view might be obstructed. 

***

The Jungle Theater has announced its 25th anniversary season, Bain Boehlke’s last as artistic director, though he has promised to return to the theater he founded to act and direct on occasion. The 2015 line-up starts with a bang: the Jungle’s eighth production of “Gertrude Stein and a Companion,” with Claudia Wilkens and Barbara Kingsley (opens Jan. 3). Can we get tickets now? Starting April 3, Bradley Greenwald stars in “And the World Goes ’Round,” with songs from “New York, New York,” “Cabaret,” “Chicago” and more. The summer show (June 19) is the Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy “You Can’t Take It With You,” with Boehlke as Grandpa and Wendy Lehr as Olga Katrina. Joel Sass directs the regional premiere of the new play “Annapurna” by Sharr White (Sept. 25) and also the season closer, Conor McPherson’s “The Night Alive” (Nov. 6).

We tried and failed to score Garth Brooks tickets, maybe because the country music superstar was busy breaking his single-city North American ticket sales record. What started as three shows quickly became 11, all selling like, well, like Garth Brooks shows: as of Monday, over 188,000 tickets were gone. Before then, his record was 162,833 tickets for nine shows in guess where, Minneapolis. It seems we love us some Garth.

In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre has named Catherine Jordan its interim executive director as it navigates tricky financial straits. Jordan, a recent winner of Artspace’s prestigious Paul Brawner Art for Support of the Arts, brings a wealth of experience – with the WARM Art Gallery, the Bush Foundation, the Cultural Star Fund of St. Paul, Intermedia Arts, and HOBT’s board, among many others – and what board chair Kirstin Wiegmann and artistic director Sandy Spieler describe as “a renewed sense of calm, confidence and stability.”

Under interim president and CEO Kevin Smith, the Minnesota Orchestra, back for its first full season since the lockout, had a strong September. From a list of positive numbers issued by Smith last week, these stand out: Over 40 percent of the ticketed guests who attended a season opening concert had not been to a performance at Orchestra Hall in the past five years, and/or this was the first Minnesota Orchestra concert they had ever attended. Drilling down, 2,400 returned for the first time in over 5 years, and 1,850 came for the very first time. Some 15,000 people attended the six opening events: the gala, the Lake Harriet concert, the season sampler, and the opening concerts. More than 4,000 Minnesota Orchestra buttons were snapped up, and more than 700 lawn signs. And the orchestra traveled 450 miles to and from Bemidji, where it spent a week-long residency.

The Picks

Tonight (Tuesday, Oct. 14) at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts: An Evening of Fine Wine and Fine Books. Sip on wines, nibble on cheeses, and view the exhibition by this year’s Jerome Book Arts fellows including a shoemaker, a sculptor and a tattoo artist. Books that “break the bindings.” 6 to 9 p.m. FMI. Free.

Tonight at the Minnesota History Center:“The Ku Klux Klan in 1920s Minnesota.” Author Elizabeth Dorsey Hatle takes us back to the time when the Klan was at its height in our state, with 51 active chapters and members who ran local businesses, served as church deacons, played town ball and won elections. In the History Lounge. 7 p.m. FMI. Free.

Tonight at the Weisman: Stacey D’Erasmo reads from “Wonderland,” a rare work of fiction about a woman musician. Anna Brundage, a 44-year-old has-been rocker, records a comeback album and hits the road. 7 p.m. FMI. Free.

Tonight at the new Walker Community Church:“Rough Cuts: Empire Builder.” In its 21st season of sneak peeks at new works, Nautilus Music-Theater presents a concert reading of the new musical by Ann Bertram and George Maurer. Three travelers meet on the “Empire Builder” train westbound from Chicago, which becomes a time machine. The flagship passenger train of the Great Northern Railway, the “Empire Builder” was named for the railway’s CEO, James J. Hill. 7:30 p.m. 3104 16th Ave. at 31st St. Free cookies and milk. Limited seating. $5 or pay-as-able.

Wednesday through Friday (Oct. 15–17) at the Walker: Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s “Rosas danst Rosas.” Dance fans have been talking for months about this 31-year-old dance, now considered a masterwork by one of the defining choreographers of our time. Minimalist, feminist and groundbreaking, it’s De Keersmaeker’s signature piece. Try it yourself. 8 p.m. FMI and tickets ($28/$32). This will be the Midwest premiere. If you arrive late, you won’t be seated, and there’s no intermission.

Thursday (Oct. 16) at the O’Shaughnessy: Sweet Honey in the Rock. Founder Bernice Johnson Reagon and longtime member Ysaye Barnwell have both retired, but the legendary female a capella group lives on. Their 40th anniversary show is a scrapbook of their long and distinguished legacy of making music with deep roots in the African-American community. 7:30 p.m. FMI and tickets ($19–$43).