Andrew Litton has extended his contract as Sommerfest Artistic Director with the Minnesota Orchestra. Litton, first named in 2003, will stay in the top post through 2017.

"I have loved Sommerfest since I led my first festival concert in 1984, early in my career," Litton said in a statement. "I admire its spirit of playfulness, its urban setting and adventurous audiences—and the great Minnesota Orchestra musicians with whom I have been fortunate to collaborate."

Litton's contract had been set to expire after next month's festival, July 5-26. This year's session is the first to be held in the newly renovated Orchestra Hall. Litton will conduct Brahms and Bernstein, serve as piano soloist in Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" and lead a semi-staged version of Strauss' comic opera "Die Fledermaus."

He will also inaugurate the Target Atrium as a performance venue on July 12 when he will play selections from his first solo piano recording, "A Tribute to Oscar Peterson."

Litton has been a popular and comfortable fixture at Sommerfest and his continued presence provides stability for the orchestra and for audiences. He's the longest-serving director for the festival, which was founded in 1980 with Leonard Slatkin. Litton serves as music director of Norway's Bergen Philharmonic—where he will oversee that orchestra's 250th anniversary celebrations in 2015—and the Colorado Symphony, as well as conductor laureate of Britain's Bournemouth Symphony.