The Minnesota Orchestra announced Friday its 2014-15 seasons for three series — Live at Orchestra Hall and its family and holiday concerts — featuring some familiar names and a few new surprises.
The 10-concert Live series, led by principal conductor Sarah Hicks, begins with "Out of This World" (Oct. 31-Nov. 1), featuring music from such films as "Star Trek" and "Star Wars," hosted by actor Christopher Lloyd of "Back to the Future" fame.
The classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "Carousel" will be given a semi-staged treatment with costumed singers and choreography (March 19-22). Also that month, trumpeter Irvin Mayfield returns with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band (March 27).
Next spring, singer Ann Hampton Callaway pays tribute to Barbra Streisand (April 17). "Big Nightmare Music" features the offbeat pair Igudesman & Joo on violin and piano (July 25, 2015).
Highlights of the holiday series include two Gershwin concerts on New Year's Eve (7 and 10 p.m. Dec. 31) conducted by Osmo Vänskä, and a big-band show (Dec. 2) featuring Wynton Marsalis with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and guest vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant, who was just named Downbeat magazine's artist of the year.
The finale of four family concerts geared toward kids is a first-time collaboration between the orchestra and a wildly popular local bluegrass duo, the Grammy-winning Okee Dokee Brothers (April 18). The St. Paul Latino troupe Teatro del Pueblo will join the orchestra for Mark Fish's "Ferdinand the Bull" (Jan. 17) featuring Fedor Asimov on cello.
Flexible mix-and-match subscriptions for six concerts may be purchased now, with individual tickets for fall concerts on sale beginning July 25 and remaining concerts on Sept. 19.
Kristin Tillotson • 612-673-7046
