Minnesota Orchestra

Here is the Classical MPR live broadcast schedule for the Minnesota Orchestra's exciting 2018-2019 season.

The Minnesota Orchestra is on a hunt for a new music director after Osmo Vanska announced last week that he'll step down in 2022. Listen as Classical MPR director Brian Newhouse and conductor Bill Eddins discuss the orchestra's search with MPR News' Angela Davis.

Listen Sunday as Classical MPR presents the Minnesota Orchestra and Chorale performing J.S. Bach's 'Christmas Oratorio.' This holiday spectacular begins at noon with a special encore broadcast of Cantata Nos. 1, 2 and 3 from 2017, followed at 2 p.m. by a live broadcast of Cantata Nos. 4, 5 and 6. Conductor Nicholas Kraemer shares his insights on the work.

This weekend, principal cellist Anthony Ross will perform Shostakovich's Second Cello Concerto with the Minnesota Orchestra for the first time publicly. Hear it live at 8 p.m. Friday on Classical MPR.

This weekend, the Minnesota Orchestra kicks off a new season of films in concert with a performance of 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' live at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Conductor Sarah Hicks describes the complicated process of bringing these unique cinematic-musical experiences to the stage.

Violinist Gil Shaham joins the Minnesota Orchestra this week to play Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1. Hear it live at 8 p.m. Friday on Classical MPR, along with works by Strauss and Brahms, led by guest conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali.

After three years of restoration and decades of disrepair, the magnificent Aeolian-Skinner organ at the University of Minnesota's Northrop Auditorium will sing again in concerts this weekend with Grammy-winning organist Paul Jacobs and the Minnesota Orchestra. Hear them live at 8 p.m. Friday on Classical MPR.

The Minnesota Orchestra prepares to play its final concert in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Saturday marked the final night of the Minnesota Orchestra's tour of South Africa. Dessa captured moments from the ensemble's last performance in Johannesburg.

Friday was a big night for the Minnesota Orchestra players -- maybe the most significant concert of the five they had planned in South Africa -- as they played at the Regina Mundi Church in Soweto. Dessa was there to capture the scene.

The Minnesota Orchestra performs Thursday in Pretoria, South Africa.

After a day of coaching students, the Minnesota Orchestra performed to an excited crowd in Pretoria on Thursday. Dessa captured the scene in photos and videos.

A Minnesota Orchestra woodwind player holds up a reed.

Each piece of Minnesota Orchestra bassoonist Fei Xie’s cane is labeled with the country of origin ("Arg" for Argentina, for example) and the growing season (2005 cane was used for reeds that Fei made in 2016).

A week into its South African itinerary, the Minnesota Orchestra has performed two official concerts. But the musicians have spent many more hours on cultural exchange trips, performing for students at township schools, rehearsing with young players and playing a free show at an outdoor pavilion. Dessa reflects on it all in this special essay.

Cultural exchange programming can be tricky business. Wednesday, however, felt like a win for the Minnesota Orchestra -- at least to Dessa. The orchestra rehearsed and ate dinner alongside student musicians from Pretoria, South Africa. Here are a few clips taken during and after the rehearsal.

Don't miss musical history Friday when the Minnesota Orchestra performs in Soweto, South Africa, the city that was at the center of Nelson Mandela's fight against apartheid. Listen to the concert at 7 p.m. Friday on Classical MPR.

The stage is empty after the Minnesota Orchestra performs Sunday in Durban, South Africa.