Concert first performed on May 7, 2026.
7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
March 14, 2026
Who gets to speak for a nation? Who dares to tell its histories, raise its flag, and call its residents to a more unified future? The MPO joins forces with One Voice Mixed Chorus in an evening of fanfare, song, and symphony.
- Valerie Coleman: Umoja for wind quintet
- Andrew Balfour: Mamachimowin
- William Grant Still: Plain Chant for America
- Carlos Cordero: ¡Ayúdame! (Venezuelan Plea for Life)
- Reena Esmail: Still I Rise:: with Kimberly Waigwa and One Voice Mixed Chorus
- Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 2
Link to the full program here.
Conducted by
Works Performed
Dates Performed
Concert first performed on .
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
March 7, 2026
FREE Education Concert
March 7, 2026
Activities begin at 2:00 PM; Concert begins at 3:00 PM
Lake Nokomis Keewaydin Elementary School
Address: 5209 30th Ave S,
Minneapolis, MN 55417
Join us for a magical afternoon perfect for the whole family! Discover the sounds of the orchestra with crafts and musical activities, followed by a short concert.
Program
Larsen: Fanfare for Humanity
Coleman: Umoja
Sibelius: Andante Festivo
Coleridge-Taylor: Selections from Othello
Tchaikovsky: Valse from Swan Lake
Yee: Selections from Briefly Gorgeous
Craft hour compositions
Sibelius: Selections from Symphony No. 2
Lake Nokomis Keewaydin Elementary School
5209 30th Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55417
Conducted by
Works Performed
Dates Performed
Concert first performed on August 10, 2025.
A prince’s love breaks a sorcerer’s curse. A Vietnamese son writes letters to his mother, who cannot read, exploring their fraught family history and unfolding the relationship with his first love. A Finnish composer protests censorship of the press through what would become a second national anthem for his liberated nation. The MPO’s Pride concert shares stories about courageous love for person and country.
- Tchaikovsky: Valse from Swan Lake
- Holmes: “La nuit et l’amour” from Ludus pro patria
- Bologne/St. Georges: Symphony No. 2 “L’amant anonyme”
- Coleridge-Taylor: “Un sonnet d’amour” from Petite Suite de Concert
- Yee: Briefly Gorgeous
- Sibelius: Finlandia
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Concert first performed on May 16, 2020.
Sibelius’ Karelia Overture celebrates the composer’s homeland, and MPO celebrates Minnesota’s Mina Kaiser in her Tombeaux & Rainbow. Persichetti’s Pastoral for Wind Quintet and Borodin’s In the Steppes of Central Asia journey through landscapes real and imagined, and William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 5 “The Western Hemisphere”.
Conducted by Brian Dowdy
Works Performed
- Jean Sibelius, Karelia Overture
- Vincent Persichetti, Pastoral, Op. 21 for Woodwind Quintet
- Mina Kaiser, Tombeaux & Rainbow with soloists Shelly Gruskin, recorder and Johanna Gruskin, flute
- Alexander Borodin, In the Steppes of Central Asia
- William Grant Still, Symphony No. 5 “The Western Hemisphere”
Dates Performed
Concert first performed on November 9, 2019.
Symphonic hymns and airs resound with nature imagery in Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Symphonic Variations on an African Air, Dvořák’s In Nature’s Realm, and Sibelius’ Finlandia. MPO and One Voice Mixed Chorus celebrate contemporary composers with local history in works by Dessa and Jocelyn Hagen, Mari Ésabel Valverde, and Lee Hoiby.
Conducted by Brian Dowdy
Works Performed
- Antonin Dvořák, Nature’s Realm
- Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Symphonic Variations on an African Air, Op. 63
- Jean Sibelius, Finlandia
- Mari Esabel Valverde, Cloths of Heaven with soloist One Voice Mixed Chorus
- Dessa/Jocelyn Hagen, Controlled Burn with soloist One Voice Mixed Chorus
- Lee Hoiby, Hymn to the New Age with soloist One Voice Mixed Chorus
Dates Performed
Concert first performed on November 3, 2018.
To begin the next 25 years of MPO history, we join forces with One Voice Mixed Chorus in a transcontinental program featuring Libby Larsen’s Fanfare for Humanity, Florence Price’s Symphony No. 1, and opera choruses by Verdi and Copland.
Conducted by Brian Dowdy
Works Performed
- Libby Larsen, Fanfare for Humanity
- Florence Price, Symphony No. 1 in e minor
- Giuseppe Verdi, Overture to Nabucco
- Giuseppe Verdi, “Va Pensiero” from Nabucco
- Giuseppe Verdi, “Vedi! Le fosche” (Anvil Chorus) from Il trovatore
- Aaron Copland, “The promise of living” from The Tender Land
Dates Performed
