The Minnesota Orchestra will perform Sunday, July 8, in Lakefront Park.

Lewis leads Minnesota orchestra in free outdoor concert

The Phipps Center for the Arts announces the 25th annual free outdoor concert by the renowned Minnesota Orchestra on Sunday, July 8, at 7:30 p.m. in the Lakefront Park band shell. This orchestra, under the direction of associate conductor Courtney Lewis, will perform a mix of well-loved popular and classical selections for music lovers of all ages.

The Minnesota Orchestra, now in its second century and led by music director Osmo Vanska, 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 and educational outreach programs; and a visionary commitment to building the orchestral repertoire of tomorrow.

The Minnesota Orchestra’s international tours have reaped significant praise, most recently in August 2010. During a critically-lauded tour of European festivals, the Orchestra performed at the Edinburgh International Festival, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the BBC Proms in London—before stomping crowds totaling 12,000 for two concerts at Royal Albert Hall, one of which culminated in a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Critic John Allison subsequently wrote in The Sunday Telegraph, “The Minnesotans are among the world’s most cultivated bands. And under Vanska …their Beethoven Ninth was everything one hopes for but seldom hears in this towering masterpiece.”

The ensemble presents nearly 200 programs each year, primarily at its home venue of Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis, and its concerts are heard by live audiences of 400,000 annually.

Lewis, who became the orchestra’s associate conductor in 2010 after one year as assistant conductor, has worked with orchestras and chamber ensembles from London to Venezuela, earning recognition as one of today’s top emerging conductors.

In July 2011 Lewis was one of only four conductors from around the world selected by the Los Angeles Philharmonic for its 2011-12 Dudamel Fellowship Program. He conducted the ensemble in multiple performances last March.

Lewis is founding music director of Boston’s acclaimed Discovery Ensemble, a chamber orchestra with the mission of introducing inner-city school children to classical music while bringing new and unusual repertoire to established concert audiences. In 2009 he completed a two-year tenure as Zander Fellow with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, a prestigious conducting apprenticeship under the ensemble’s music director, Benjamin Zander.

One of the Orchestra’s Symphony for the Cities performances this summer, this concert is sponsored by the Fred C. and Katherine B. Andersen Foundation, the Margaret Rivers Fund, and the William H. Phipps Foundation.

Audience members are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets. Patrons are asked to respect the comfort of others by not smoking or bringing pets into the seating area.

For further information, contact The Phipps Center at (715) 386-2305.

Tags: lifestyle, arts, hudson, minnesota