Minnesota Sinfonia is the state's only professional and free orchestra
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, or so the saying goes, but residents of Minnesota need not look further than their own state to find one form of entertainment that is professional, world-class and completely free for people of all ages.
The Minnesota Sinfonia is a professional chamber orchestra, they are also a non-profit ensemble, which means that most of their performances are free and engendered toward promoting the arts and appreciation of classical music within Minnesota.
Sinfonia is the Italian word for Symphony and Minnesota’s own Sinfonia has been performing for several decades. The long-serving conductor of the orchestra, Jay Fishman, decided in 1980 that he wanted to put together a world-class orchestra that would perform, not for well-to-do high-class socialites and intellectuals, but low-income individuals, those that could not afford to attend a classical performance, with a special emphasis on young families and Minnesota’s youth.
The individuals that make up the audiences at the Minnesota Sinfonia’s concerts come from all walks of life: inner-city youth, seniors, young families, middle class, high-income, all races and all cultures. There appeal is broader than their initial mission had anticipated and they always have something on, somewhere in the state.
“My feeling was that we really had to be a community-focused, community-based orchestra that serves the people who are not generally served by the Minnesota and St. Paul Chamber Orchestras. So that we fill in the cracks,” Jay Fishman told Minnesota news media recently, in talks about their packed summer program each year.
In addition to sharing their passion for classical music, the orchestra also wanted to teach it to Minnesota’s youth in order to make it even more accessible and show that it was not just a stereotypical pursuit for the intellectual. They started working, initially in 1989, with just two schools, but now serve 25 schools in St Paul and Minneapolis.
They work with teachers to help them develop curriculums that suit the needs and aptitude of different students, thereby providing a resource to teachers that state school resources would otherwise not allow.
Often, those students that gain ability through these programs run by Minnesota Sinfonia then get to perform with the orchestra at school-level or state-level concerts. The vast majority of their concerts are held in the Twin Cities area and, according to their website, of the three professional orchestras active in the area, they are the only one that performs for free and engages with the community to the same extent.
Minnesota Sinfonia typically performs around 80 to 90 concerts a year, an average of one performance every four to five days.
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Minnesota Sinfonia is the state's only professional and free orchestra
The Minnesota Sinfonia is the only free-of-charge orchestra performing in the Twin Cities region at a professional level, most members have graduate music degrees and private teaching studios and have been with the orchestra for many years. In addition, the orchestra strives to disseminate as best it can the skills and talent that it has accumulated over the years.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, or so the saying goes, but residents of Minnesota need not look further than their own state to find one form of entertainment that is professional, world-class and completely free for people of all ages. Read more
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