THE MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA AND MUSIC DIRECTOR OSMO VÄNSKÄ RETURN TO CARNEGIE HALL WITH AN ALL-SIBELIUS PROGRAM ON THURSDAY, MARCH 3; Violinist Hilary Hahn Joins as Soloist for Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 47

Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra are among the world’s greatest interpreters of the music of Jean Sibelius. The orchestra first performed Sibelius’s music in 1909 and made its first recording of the composer’s Symphony No. 1 in 1935. Under the direction of Maestro Vänskä, the orchestra won its first-ever Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance in January 2014 for their recording of Sibelius’s symphonies nos. 1 and 4 on the BIS Records label. In 2015, they recorded Sibelius’s symphonies nos. 3, 6, and 7 for BIS, continuing their symphony cycle. Maestro Vänskä and the orchestra last performed at Carnegie Hall in October 2011.

About the Artist
Three-time Grammy Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn has brought her virtuosity, expansive interpretations, and creative repertoire choices to diverse global audiences since making her major orchestra debut at the age of 12. She has gone on to perform as a recitalist and as a soloist with major orchestras in more than 40 countries. As a recognized champion of new music, she has premiered new works written for her by several composers, including Jennifer Higdon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Violin Concerto. Ms. Hahn has released 16 albums on the Deutsche Grammophon and Sony labels, and she is featured in the Academy Award-nominated soundtrack for the film The Village. Her most recent album, released in spring 2015, references her musical heritage, featuring works by Mozart and Vieuxtemps and recorded with longtime colleagues Paavo Järvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. In 2001, Hahn was named America’s Best Young Classical Musician by Time magazine.

Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä, the Minnesota Orchestra’s tenth music director, is renowned internationally for his compelling interpretations of the standard, contemporary, and Nordic repertoires. In May 2015 he led the Orchestra on a historic tour to Cuba, marking the first performances there by an American symphony orchestra since it was announced that relations between the two countries would be normalized. Mr. Vänskä has also led the Orchestra on four major European tours—drawing rave reviews for performances at European music festivals including the BBC Proms and Edinburgh Festival, and for appearances at London’s Barbican Hall, the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Vienna Musikverein and the Berlin Philharmonie. He has also led regular tours to communities across Minnesota, including a September 2014 performance in Bemidji, as part of the orchestra’s Common Chords initiative. His recording projects with the Minnesota Orchestra have also been met with great success, including a 2014 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance for their recording of Sibelius’s First and Fourth Symphonies on the BIS Records label. In February 2016, Mr. Vänskä and the Orchestra will record a live in-concert performance of Sibelius’s Kullervo for a forthcoming album.

As a guest conductor, Mr. Vänskä has led all the major American and European orchestras. He recently extended his contract as principal guest conductor of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in Reykjavík through the 2019–2020 season. He is also conductor laureate of the Lahti Symphony, which he served as music director from 1988 to 2008, transforming it into one of Finland’s flagship orchestras during his tenure. Mr. Vänskä has recorded extensively on the BIS and Hyperion labels. His Sibelius albums with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra for BIS have amassed numerous awards, including a 1996 Gramophone Award and Cannes Classical Award for the original version of the Fifth Symphony. His first-ever complete recording of The Tempest won the 1993 Prix Académie Charles Cros, and his disc of the original version of the Sibelius Violin Concerto with Leonidas Kavakos won 1991 Gramophone Awards for Record of the Year and Best Concerto Recording.

Now in its second century, the Minnesota Orchestra ranks among America’s top symphonic ensembles with a distinguished history of acclaimed performances in its home state and around the world, award-winning recordings, radio broadcasts, educational outreach programs, and a visionary commitment to building the orchestral repertoire of tomorrow.

The orchestra played its first regional tour in 1907 and made its New York City debut in 1912 at Carnegie Hall, where it has performed regularly ever since. Outside the United States, it has performed in Australia, Canada, Europe, the Far East, Latin America, and the Middle East. Today, the ensemble presents nearly 175 programs each year, primarily at its home venue of Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis, and its concerts are also heard by live audiences of 300,000 annually.

Program Information
Thursday, March 3 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA
Osmo Vänskä, Music Director and Conductor
Hilary Hahn, Violin

ALL-SIBELIUS PROGRAM
Symphony No. 3 in C Major, Op. 52
Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 47
Symphony No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 39

Pre-concert talk starts at 7:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage with Glenda Dawn Goss, Sibelius Academy, Helsinki.

Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.