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The Minnesota Orchestra and former Music Director Osmo Vänskä won a Grammy Award in the Best Orchestral Performance category, it was announced Sunday evening during the Grammy ceremony in Los Angeles.
The album of Jean Sibelius’ First and Fourth Symphonies was produced and recorded by Swedish label BIS Records.
In celebration of the award, the orchestra will perform Grammy Celebration Concerts at Orchestra Hall on March 27 to 29, featuring the same repertoire with Vänskä conducting, the musicians announced.
“The Musicians are deeply proud of our work with Osmo, and we congratulate him and our friends at BIS for this honor,” the musicians said in a statement. “We are elated to have been recognized among such incredible world-class orchestras, and we thank all who have supported the Minnesota Orchestra to make this Grammy win possible.”
Noted Tony Ross, principal cellist: “The winning of a Grammy award for Best Orchestral Performance confirms where the musicians and our leader Osmo Vänskä were as a symphony orchestra before the lockout. We were a great orchestra enjoying a special relationship with our music director, Osmo Vänskä, that brought worldwide acclaim to Minnesota. This is also why we need him to return and carry on with the projects and partnership that have brought this orchestra to great heights. We know this community deserves an orchestra of that level of distinction.”
Vänskä stepped down as music director last fall when the Orchestral Association refused to end the lockout. It was finally resolved in mid-January after 16 months.