Farewell to Osmo Vänskä

Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä took over the Minnesota Orchestra in the fall of 2003.

Stormi Greener, Star Tribune

Osmo Vänskä thanked stage manager Tim Eickholt for making him a baton moments before he walked onstage to open his first season with the Minnesota Orchestra on Sept. 11, 2003.

Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune

Osmo Vänskä gestured to the first violins as the orchestra performed Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 during his first concert as music director.

Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune

The orchestra created Osmo bobbleheads in 2004.

Brian Peterson, Star Tribune

Vänskä led a toast after the Minnesota Orchestra performed at the Barbican Centre in London on Feb. 22, 2004. From left, violist Eiji Ikeda, principal cellist Tony Ross and concertmaster Jorja Fleezanis (in red).

Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune

Vänskä collected his thoughts while waiting for the stage to be reset after Joshua Bell's performance with the Minnesota Orchestra at Symphony Hall in Birmingham, England on Feb. 24, 2004.

Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune

Vänskä got a big wet kiss from his dog, Lilja, backstage at Sibelius Hall in Lahti, Finland. His daughter, Tytti Vänskä, brought the dog as the Minnesota Orchestra prepared for a 2004 concert in his homeland.

Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune

Vänskä checked out the fit of a 1970s-inspired suit by Twin Cities designer Mark Caligiuri that he planned to wear for a 2006 pops concert of ABBA tunes.

Jim Gehrz, Star Tribune

Vänskä played his clarinet in a makeshift dressing room at the Jackson County Central Performing Arts Center in Jackson, Minn. The orchestra's 2008 stop in Jackson was one of four in a tour of southwest Minnesota towns.

Jeffrey Thompson, Star Tribune

Vänskä conducted the fourth movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 as the Minnesota Orchestra played the BBC Proms on Aug. 28, 2010, at Royal Albert Hall in London.

Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune

Vänskä walked off the stage after the Minnesota Orchestra's 2010 performance at the BBC Proms.

Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune

Osmo Vänskä, left, and violinist Gil Shaham basked in applause at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam after Shaham and the Minnesota Orchestra played an encore of traditional Turkish tunes. Earlier in the Aug. 30, 2010 concert, Shaham soloed on Mozart's "Turkish" Concerto.

Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune

Vänskä led the orchestra on June 15, 2011, in the last concert at Orchestra Hall before it was closed for renovations.

Tom Wallace, Star Tribune

Vänskä returned to Orchestra Hall to a standing ovation March 27, 2014, after a contract settlement ended the 16-month lockout of musicians.

Brian Peterson, Star Tribune

Vänskä and concertmaster Erin Keefe — his newlywed wife — took a selfie upon arrival at Jose Marti International Airport in Havana, Cuba on May 13, 2015.

Leila Navidi, Star Tribune

Cuban pianist Frank Fernandez, left, took a bow during the Minnesota Orchestra's first of two concerts at the Teatro Nacional in Havana, Cuba on May 15, 2015.

Leila Navidi, Star Tribune

The Minneapolis skyline provided a backdrop as Vänskä led the Minnesota Orchestra in his own arrangement of a traditional Finnish polka, "Säkkijärven," to close out a free concert at The Commons on Sept. 19, 2017.

Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune

Vänskä reacted playfully at the 2018 Symphony Ball after Minneapolis singer-songwriter Jeremy Messersmith took the stage in a gold Darth Vader helmet. His first song: "Tattoine," inspired by the movie "Star Wars."

Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune

Vänskä jumped on the bass drum for a South African song during the side-by-side rehearsal with the South African Youth Orchestra at the University of Pretoria on Aug. 15, 2018.

Leila Navidi, Star Tribune

South African soprano Goitsemang Lehobye was featured in a sold-out concert at the University of Pretoria during the orchestra's 2018 tour of South Africa.

Leila Navidi, Star Tribune

Vänskä, silhouetted in stained glass, during a rehearsal at Soweto's Regina Mundi Church on Aug. 17, 2018.

Leila Navidi, Star Tribune

A masked Vänskä led the Minnesota Orchestra as they welcomed live audiences back to Orchestra Hall on June 11, 2021, for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020.

Leila Navidi, Star Tribune

As composer Molly Joyce, left, discussed her piece "Over and Under" with associate principal trumpet Douglas Carlson, Vänskä went over the score with acting principal second violin Jonathan Magness during a Composer Institute rehearsal May 3, 2022.

Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune

Osmo Vänskä led the orchestra in a rehearsal May 3, 2022 at Orchestra Hall for the Composer Institute program.

Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune