page_title: Music of Minnesota
section_title: Classical, choral and opera
hierarchical_section_title: Music of Minnesota / Genres / Classical, choral and opera
caption_attribution_description: Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis taken in 2006
context_page_description: The music of Minnesota began with the native rhythms and songs of Indigenous peoples, the first inhabitants of the lands which later became the U.S. state of Minnesota. Their relatives, the half-breed Métis fur-trading voyageurs, introduced the chansons of their French ancestors in the late eighteenth century. As the territory was opened up to white settlement in the 19th century, each group of immigrants brought with them the folk music of their European homelands. Celtic, German, Scandinavian, and Central and Eastern European song and dance remain part of the vernacular music of the state today.
  Ethnic music has influenced and developed into modern folk music, and American musical genres such as gospel music, blues and jazz also are part of the state's musical fabric. Musicians, such as the Andrews Sisters and Bob Dylan, often started in Minnesota but left the state for the cultural capitals of the east and west coasts, but in recent years the development of an active music industry in Minneapolis has encouraged local talent to produce and record at home.
context_section_description: The Minnesota Orchestra was founded in 1903 as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. Although it was among the first to perform on the radio and to record, it initially was not known as one of the country's great orchestras. In the 1930s, Eugene Ormandy transformed it into an excellent ensemble and expanded its repertory, making it the most-recorded orchestra in the United States, and giving it an international reputation. Other illustrious conductors included Dimitri Mitropoulos and Antal Dorati. Osmo Vänskä, a Finnish conductor, music director since 2003, took the orchestra into its second century. Its live performances and recordings in a program of the complete works of Ludwig van Beethoven have been received with enthusiasm, the group has been called "brilliant", and a critic has stated the musicians are enjoying "their first golden age" since the days of Ormandy and Mitropoulos. Another critic wrote for The New Yorker of a concert in 2010 and its "uncanny, wrenching power, the kind you hear once or twice a decade" and thought that that day the Minnesota Orchestra was "the greatest orchestra in the world".  The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra is the only full-time professional chamber orchestra in the country,  and also tours and records.  Professional orchestral ensembles outside the Twin Cities include the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra and the Rochester Symphony Orchestra and Chorale.
  The Twin Cities' oldest major choral society is The Bach Society of Minnesota. The New York Times International Datebook calls the Christmas performance of the St. Olaf College choir "one of the five significant global holiday events". Extending choral work with VocalEssence, Philip Brunelle commissioned more than 100 works for chorus.
  For 42 years until 1986, the Metropolitan Opera was in residence at Northrop Auditorium during its spring tour.  Opera is now staged by the Minnesota Opera, co-founded as Center Opera by Dominick Argento in 1963, as part of the Walker Art Center. With an early reputation as "progressive (and) 'alternative'", the Minnesota Opera began to include traditional works in its repertory when it merged with Saint Paul Opera in 1975.
  The Minnesota Boychoir which is the oldest continuously operating Boys Choir in Minnesota and is currently under the leadership of Mark Johnson. The Boychoir has been involved with the Minnesota Orchestra, The Orpheum Theatre, The Zion dance company, as well as other regional and international tours.
caption: Orchestra Hall, Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis
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