The Minnesota Orchestra and their Music Director Osmo Vänskä open the 2014/15 season on 5 September with a gala concert featuring Renée Fleming. The programme includes orchestral works by Nielsen, Hillborg, Mascagni, Verdi and Respighi, as well as arias from Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Zandonai’s Conchita and Bernstein’s West Side Story.

Vänskä will conduct eleven weeks of the orchestra’s 2014/15 season, including their first weekend of classical concerts later in September (Mahler’s Symphony No.2 and Barber’s Cello Concerto with Alisa Weilerstein). He also works with the orchestra at their annual Composer Institute and conducts them for two weeks of their Shakespeare Winterfest, including, among others, performances of Sibelius’ Tempestwith Lilli Paasikivi.

Other highlights for Vänskä this autumn – following recent successes at the Pacific Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival and Mostly Mozart in New York – include performances with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and Sydney and Melbourne symphony orchestras.