Osmo Vanska with the Minnesota Orchestra in London last August. He'll be spending a lot of time in Europe next month guest conducting. Star Tribune photo by Jeff Wheeler.

Lisa Batiashvili is reason enough to get over to the Minnesota Orchestra this weekend. The violinist, who had to bow out of last summer's European tour because of illness, is performing Beethoven's Violin Concerto. Too, these concerts might be your last chance for a while to see the band with Osmo Vanska at the wheel. The orchestra does a Carnegie Hall gig Monday night with Batiashvili and then Vanska is gone for a five-week stretch of guest conducting.

He's in Bonn, Germany, with the Beethoven Orchester Bonn from March 14-20, then heads to Reykjavik for a week with the Iceland Symphony. Vanska conducts in Minneapois April 1-2, then is with the San Francisco Symphony the first week of April before returning to Minneapolis for the premiere of a new piano concerto by Scottish composer James MacMillan on April 14. Pianist Jean Yves Thibaudet will be featured in that concert.

Vanska goes back to Germany (Leipzig) for the last week of April and then to Sao Paulo, Brazil the first week of May.

Talk about frequent-flyer miles.