MINNEAPOLIS (Feb. 26, 2020) — Akiko Fujimoto, assistant conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra, makes her classical subscription series concert debut on March 27-28 in special performances at Northrop Auditorium, the former home of the Minnesota Orchestra from 1929 to 1974 on the University of Minnesota’s campus.
Associate Conductor Akiko Fujimoto joined the Minnesota Orchestra’s artistic roster in 2017 as assistant conductor and took her present position of associate conductor in 2018. Since 2017, she has led concerts for thousands of young people at Orchestra Hall; conducted Symphonic Adventures concerts at area high schools; traveled with the Orchestra to Indiana, Michigan and Illinois; and conducted the Orchestra’s Common Chords tours and Symphony for the Cities concerts all around the state of Minnesota.
Joining the Orchestra onstage to perform Jongen’s Symphonie concertante will be solo organist Cameron Carpenter, who last impressed Minneapolis audiences with his own International Touring Organ in April 2018. In these concerts, he performs on Northrop’s recently-restored Aeolian Skinner pipe organ. The program also includes Winter Bells by Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute alumna Polina Nazaykinskaya and selections from Prokofiev’s Cinderella Suites, with movements selected personally by Fujimoto.
The Minnesota Orchestra concerts are performed at Northrop at the University of Minnesota on Friday, March 27, at 8 p.m.; Saturday, March 28, at 8 p.m., with ticket prices ranging from $30 to $97. More information is available at minnesotaorchestra.org and by phone at 612-371-5656. For further purchasing details, refer to the information section at the conclusion of this press release.
Akiko Fujimoto, assistant conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra.
Akiko Fujimoto, conductor
Conductor Akiko Fujimoto was previously the associate conductor of the San Antonio Symphony and conducting associate for the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. As a guest conductor, she has recently performed with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, Houston Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra and Fort Wayne Philharmonic. Additionally, she has conducted Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra as a participant in the Young Conductors Program and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at the St. Magnus Festival. Recently, she was a cover conductor for Esa-Pekka Salonen, Zubin Mehta and Susanna Mälkki at the Los Angeles Philharmonic. This season she also began a new role as the music director of the Mid-Texas Symphony. Her other engagements this season include appearances with the Lexington Philharmonic, Florida Orchestra and Portland Symphony Orchestra. More: minnesotaorchestra.org.
Cameron Carpenter, organ
Organist Cameron Carpenter is active as a performer and composer, and has transcribed more than 100 works for organ. In 2011 his concerto for organ and orchestra, The Scandal, was premiered by the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. In 2012 he received the Leonard Bernstein Award of the Schleswig-Holstein-Musik Festival, and in 2017-18 he was artist in residence of Konzerthaus Berlin. His newest album, Rachmaninoff & Poulenc, is a live recording with the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra released on Sony Classical. Carpenter often tours with his own custom-built instrument, the International Touring Organ (ITO). Recent performance highlights include recitals with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and appearances at the Lucerne Festival, Philharmonie Cologne, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Philharmonie Luxembourg and Cité de la musique in Paris. More: camimusic.com, cameroncarpenter.com.
Nazaykinsaya, Jongen and Prokofiev
In Polina Nazaykinskaya’s Winter Bells, lush colors and mystical themes evoke an ancient Russian village, its music and its rituals.
Originally commissioned in 1926 to show off the magnificent organ in Wanamaker’s department store in Philadelphia, Jongen’s Symphonie concertante highlights the incredible range of sound that an organ can produce, from the softest whispers to moments of earth-shaking, thunderous brilliance.
Each character in Prokofiev’s version of Cinderella is given his or her own variation, offering myriad opportunities for the traditions of classical ballet to be utilized in dancers’ choreography. This version of Prokofiev’s suite includes selections from throughout all three acts of the original ballet, presented in chronological order of the classic Cinderella story.
Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts
CAMERON CARPENTER AT NORTHROP
Friday, March 27, 2020, 8 p.m. / Northrop, University of Minnesota
Saturday, March 28, 2020, 8 p.m. / Northrop, University of Minnesota
Minnesota Orchestra
Akiko Fujimoto, conductor
Cameron Carpenter, organ
NAZAYKINSKAYA Winter Bells
JONGEN Symphonie concertante for Organ and Orchestra
PROKOFIEV Cinderella Suite
Tickets: $30 to $97; free tickets available for children ages 18 and under through the Hall Pass program.
TICKET PURCHASING INFORMATION
Subscription packages and individual tickets can be purchased online at minnesotaorchestra.org, or by calling 612-371-5656 (612-371-5642 for subscriptions) or 800-292-4141. Tickets can be purchased in person at the Orchestra Hall Box Office, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis (open Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and beginning two hours before all ticketed performances); and at the Minnesota Orchestra Administrative Office, International Centre, 5th floor, 920 Second Avenue South, Minneapolis (open Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.). For more information, call 612-371-5656, or visit minnesotaorchestra.org. For subscriptions, call 612-371-5642 or visit minnesotaorchestra.org/subscribe. For groups of 10 or more, call 612-371-5662.
All programs, artists, dates, times and prices subject to change.
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
