Minnesota maketh man

The Minnesota Orchestra last night named a little-known Dane as its next music director.

That’s par for the course.

Famous batons cut no ice in the Midwest.

Over 120 years, the orchestra has become known as a make-or-break test for Europeans who are prepared to work hard and build a collective ethos away from the international limelight. The list below testifies that most of them went on to greater things.

Ormandy was headhunted by Philadelphia, Mitropoulos by New York, Dorati by the BBC, De Waart by the Dutch.

Almost everyone stayed a decade or more in Minnesota. The outgoing Osmo Vänskä managed almost twice as long.

This is an orchestra that looks for stayers, givers and builders.

Let’s see if they’ve got it right.

Again.

Minnesota music directors:
Emil Oberhoffer (1903–1922)
Henri Verbrugghen (1923–1931)
Eugene Ormandy (1931–1936)
Dimitri Mitropoulos (1937–1949)
Antal Doráti (1949–1960)
Stanisław Skrowaczewski (1960–1979)
Neville Marriner (1979–1986)
Edo de Waart (1986–1995)
Eiji Oue (1995–2002)
Osmo Vänskä (pictured, 2003–2022)