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MN Orchestra turns 110; Edina Film Festival coming up
One-hundred-ten years ago today, the Minneapolis Symphony played its first concert, led by its founder and first conductor, Emil J. Oberhoffer. As the Minnesota Orchestra’s website points out, Nov. 5,...
View ArticleAn NFL-inspired solution to the orchestra dispute
The Clark Griffith Blog Professional orchestras and sports teams are remarkably similar in their business operations and in labor relations. Orchestra management and sports management are in the same...
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MN Orchestra lockout feels like our own 'Waiting for Godot'; 'Driving Miss...
We’re living our own version of “Waiting for Godot,” the play in which nothing happens, except we call it the Minnesota Orchestra lockout. Over the weekend, both the Star Tribune and MPR reported that...
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Once-in-a-lifetime McLean tribute/benefit; Minnesota Orchestra's pops &...
First Avenue on Saturday night was a once-in-a-lifetime scene of celebration and generosity. A parade of bands and a big crowd came to honor Twin Cities concert promoter Sue McLean and benefit her...
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MN Orchestra earns another Grammy nomination; musicians add 2nd May concert...
The Minnesota Orchestra has received its second Grammy nomination in two years for Best Orchestral Performance, this time for “Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 4.” Last year’s Grammy nod was for...
View ArticleWhen arts institutions invite disaster
Many have offered opinions and insights concerning the value of the Minnesota Orchestra now mired in the unprecedented long-term lockout of the musicians, but something more can be learned by...
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The Bad Plus''Rite of Spring'; plus wishes, a resolution and more picks
Artscape, like the rest of MinnPost, is taking a holiday break. We’ll return Jan. 3 with our first look at arts-related news and events for 2014, a year that once seemed impossibly far in the future,...
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'The accordion guy': 'I hope Orchestra Hall doesn’t just become some dinosaur'
Part of a series of first-person accounts relating to news events of 2013.Dan Turpening is an accordionist, accordion teacher and accordion repairperson. He also fixes cars, house sits, dog sits and...
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Debate over Orchestra Hall lease continues
A grassroots advocacy group backing the locked-out Minnesota Orchestra musicians is contending that orchestra management is in default of its lease for Orchestra Hall—and the group is urging city...
View ArticleMinnesota Orchestra lockout: Several signs point to possible breakthrough
It appears that the long lockout of the musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra may be on the verge of ending — or at least reaching another significant turning point.A memo obtained by MinnPost — sent...
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With Minnesota Orchestra lockout over, businesses and city tally losses
Michelle Hummer’s 474-day nightmare came to an end Tuesday evening. As the general manager of MASA, a Mexican eatery located down the street from the Minnesota Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis,...
View ArticleReport: Target breach appears part of an even bigger scam
Target was only a facet of a larger scam?Matt Sepic at MPR says:“The security breach that hit Target Corp. during the holiday season appears to have been part of a broader and highly sophisticated scam...
View ArticleMinnesota Orchestra’s next challenge: Filling stage, staff departures from...
The 15-month lockout of the Minnesota Orchestra’s musicians has finally ended, and soon we’ll be able to hear our great orchestra play in its own newly spiffed-up home. But first, a sobering reminder...
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MN Orchestra settlement spurs reactions near and far, positive and negative
The end of the 15-month lockout of the Minnesota Orchestra musicians made news all over. Responses ranged from elated to cautionary.NPR: “Strike up the band!” The New York Times: “The orchestra is...
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MN Orchestra Homecoming Concerts set; a dazzling 'Cabaret' at Pantages
The newly renovated Orchestra Hall was supposed to have its grand re-opening in summer 2013. Events intervened, so to speak, but now that the lockout is over, those of us who weren’t at the Symphony...
View ArticleOsmo Vänskä's return seems inevitable if the Minnesota Orchestra is to recover
The long lockout may be over, but the Minnesota Orchestral Association board of directors still is under tremendous pressure.Given the realities of public and political pressures, it appears certain...
View ArticleMN Orchestra could spearhead network of neighborhood youth orchestras
The resolution of the Minnesota Orchestra lockout may be comforting to many, but an uncomfortable reality will re-emerge if the institution goes back to the same 50-year-old vision that got it in...
View ArticleHow to replenish both social capital and good will toward MN Orchestra, Target
Last week, the Minnesota Orchestral Association and the musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra ratified a three-year contract and ended the 15-month lockout that darkened Orchestra Hall.The Minnesota...
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MN Orchestra reveals '14 season to please subscribers, lure newcomers
Photo by Timothy WhiteVänskä will conduct superstar violinist Joshua BellEager to throw open the doors to Orchestra Hall and get the musicians back on stage, the Minnesota Orchestra last week announced...
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Park Square plans 15 plays in two theaters for 2014-15
Park Square Theatre had big news on Monday. Its 2014-15 season will include 15 productions– a huge number. How can it manage so many? Because the second stage the theater has promised, planned and...
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