If the pace of change in your life becomes stressfully brisk, head to Minneapolis' Lake Harriet on a summer Saturday or Sunday evening. Whether walking, biking or having a picnic beside the lake, the soundtrack for your outing probably will be the Minneapolis Pops Orchestra.
Founded in 1950, it's a professional orchestra that emerges each summer and disappears again by fall. Its mission is to provide high-quality performances that dip into the lighter side of the classical repertoire, mixing in show tunes and orchestral arrangements of popular songs from several eras. Modeled in part on the legendary Boston Pops, it delivers a different program each Saturday and Sunday in July at the Lake Harriet Band Shell.
For half of its history, the orchestra was led by Jere Lantz, who decided to call it a career last summer after 37 years on the podium. When the orchestra started accepting applications for his replacement as music director, 107 poured in from 18 countries and 32 states.
The field of finalists has been narrowed to five, and each will spend a weekend with the orchestra, conducting two different programs. While chemistry with the orchestra will be key, audience response surely will play into the hiring equation. So stop by Lake Harriet and see which conductor you think is the best fit for the job. Here's who's coming:
The Man from MIT: Did you know that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has a highly respected college orchestra? Adam Kerry Boyles runs that program, in addition to being assistant conductor of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra in Connecticut. He's an opera singer, too. He'll lead a patriotic program in honor of Independence Day on Saturday, then will delve into the musical theater repertoire on Sunday.
The Globetrotter: The principal guest conductor of the Bayerische Philharmonie in Munich, Lawrence Golan has led orchestras in 22 countries and is music director for orchestras in Denver, Washington state and Pennsylvania. The Chicago native is a violinist who was once concertmaster of Maine's Portland Symphony Orchestra and is also an award-winning composer. He'll conduct music from England (July 8) and from Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom of the Opera" (July 9).
The Hometown Choice: Matthew Mehaffey is a University of Minnesota professor recently named director of choral activities at the school. Also music director for the Oratorio Society of Minnesota, Mehaffey recently left his post as music director of the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh that was up for a Grammy last year. He'll conduct programs inspired by mythological gods of thunder (July 15) and by summer days (July 16).
The Up-and-Comer: Three of the five finalists attended Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music as either undergrads or graduate students, and David Glover stuck around the state as assistant conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra before becoming associate conductor of the North Carolina Symphony and music director of Virginia's Lynchburg Symphony. Here, he'll conduct music of love (July 22) and dancing (July 23).
