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Repertoire
Committed to Historical and Modern Symphonic Works
The Northern Symphony Orchestra is committed to performing new music for orchestra and works by living composers alongside well-known repertoire for symphony orchestra.
- Conductor Michael Halstenson has composed several pieces for NSO during his twenty years with the orchestra. Many of his arrangements have also been heard during Holiday and Summer concerts.
- In 2022-23, NSO presented its premiere its co-sponsored project of “The Singing Wilderness,” a symphony by Matthew Peterson that was co-commissioned with the St. Olaf Orchestra and the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.
- NSO held a New Music Reading Session in 2015 that resulted in four new pieces for orchestra by Twin Cities composers Ian Cook, Jeffrey Liebsch, Richard Raaen, and Carl Schroeder, which were then performed during the following year.
- Other Minnesota composers whose music has been performed by NSO include Steven Amundson, Rene Clausen, Randall Davidson, Shelley Hanson, J. Robert Hanson, Linda Tutas Haugen, Nicholas Jacobson-Larson, Daniel Kallman, and Carleton Macy.
Past Seasons
Season 2022-2023
Celebrating 20 Years!
11/19/2022
Bedrich Smetana
Dance of the Comedians
Edvard Grieg
Holberg's Suite
Brent Michael Davids
Lake Winds
Modest Mussorgsky
Night on Bald Mountain
Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky
Swan Lake Suite
Nancy Pettersen-Strelau
Chugach
Kevin Day
Danza del Sol
The Singing Wilderness
4/1/2023
Johan Halvorsen
Entry March of the Boyars
Matthew Peterson
Symphony #1, "The Singing Wilderness"
*Co-commissioned by the St. Olaf Orchestra, Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra
and Northern Symphony Orchestra
Jean Sibelius
Finlandia
Rhapsody in Blue
7/3/2023
Ward/Bates/Dragon
America the Beautiful
Smith/Key/Bakkum
Star-Spangled Banner
Duke Ellington/Custer
Duke Ellington medley
Arturo Marquez
Danzon #2
George Gershwin
Rhapsody in Blue
soloist: Mary Jo Gothmann, piano
arr. Lowden
Armed Forces Salute
John Philip Sousa
Stars and Stripes Forever
Season 2021-2022
A Festive Return
1/29/2022
Dmitri Shostakovich
Festive Overture
Florence Price
Symphony #1, i. Allegro non troppo
George Walker
Lyric for Strings
Linda Tutas Haugen
An Uncommon Hero
Igor Stravinsky
Firebird Suite
Pastoral Scenes of Calm and Storm
4/9/2022
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Rhosymedre
Michael Halstenson
A Waltz for Bonnie
In memory of Bonnie Melting
Franz Joseph Haydn
Oboe Concerto in C major
soloist: Doug Bakkum, oboe
Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony #6 “Pastoral”
Film Scores and Fireworks
7/3/2022
Ward/Bates/Dragon
America the Beautiful
Smith/Key/Bakkum
Star-Spangled Banner
Powell/O’Loughlin
How to Train Your Dragon
Nicholas Jacobson-Larson
Enter the ‘Prise
John Williams/Brubaker
The Complete Harry Potter
John Williams
Raiders March
John Williams
Hymn to the Fallen
arr. Lowden
Armed Forces Salute
John Philip Sousa
Stars and Stripes Forever
Season 2019-2020
A New Season of Great Music
11/16/2019
Aaron Copland
Fanfare for the Common Man
George Chadwick
Jubilee from “Symphonic Sketches”
Aaron Copland
Our Town
Jacques Offenbach
Intermezzo and Barcarolle from “Tales of Hoffmann”
Franz Liszt
Les Preludes
Rhythm of Dance
2/1/2020
Antonin Dvorak/Szell
Slavonic Dance #8
Mao Yuen and Liu Tieshan
The Tribal Dance of Yao
Shelley Hanson
Groove
Maurice Ravel
Pavane pour une infante defunte
Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky
Waltz from “Sleeping Beauty”
Michael Halstenson
Dancing on Emerald Stars
Season 2018-2019
Winter Wonderland
11/18/2018
Jeffrey Liebsch
Winter Overture
Bernard/Smith/Custer
Winter Wonderland
Emil Waldteufel
Les Patineurs (Skaters' Waltz)
Ian Cook
Aurora
Georges Bizet
Farandole from “L’Arlesienne Suite #2”
Michael Halstenson
Sing Choirs of Angels
Steven Amundson
On Christmas Day
Matthew Peterson
Dawn, Redeeming Radiant
arr. Alfred Reed
Greensleeves
Kinkel/Phillips
Wizards in Winter
Dan Goeller
Christmas Fantasy for Orchestra
Planets
4/16/2019
Gustav Holst
Planets
Michael Halstenson
Earth Rising
Music from The Greatest Generation
7/3/2019
Ward/Bates/Dragon
America the Beautiful
Smith/Key/Bakkum
Star-Spangled Banner
Rodgers/Bennett
Victory at Sea
Rodgers/Bourdon
Highlights from “South Pacific”
Ellington/Custer
Duke Ellington medley
Rodgers/Warrington
Serenade to Spring
Raye/Halstenson
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
arr. Lowden
Armed Forces Salute
Berlin/Halstenson
God Bless America
John Philip Sousa
Stars and Stripes Forever
Season 2017-2018
Reformation 500 Years
11/18/2017
J.S. Bach/Stowkowski
Toccata in D minor
Randall Davidson
The Young Lutheran’s Guide to the Orchestra
featuring: Steven Staruch, narrator
Felix Mendelssohn
Symphony #5, “Reformation”
Scandinavian Spring
4/21/2018
Edvard Grieg
Piano Concerto in A minor
soloist: Austin Frohmader, piano
Jean Sibelius
Symphony #2
The Dream of America
7/3/2018
Ward/Bates/Dragon
America the Beautiful
Smith/Key/Bakkum
Star-Spangled Banner
Peter Boyer
Ellis Island: The Dream of America
Season 2016-2017
Serenades for Strings
10/1/2016
G.P. Telemann
Overture to “Don Quixote”
J.S. Bach
Concerto for Two Violins
soloists: Ed and Mary Schaefle, violins
Michael Halstenson
Gentle Wind Blowing
Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky
Waltz from “Serenade for Strings”
Performed with Anoka-Hennepin ISD#11 high school chamber orchestra students:
Johann Stamitz/Green
Sinfonia in D
Jean Sibelius
Andante Festivo
Percy Fletcher
Fiddle Dance
Fate Knocking at the Door
11/19/2016
Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony #5
Walter Piston
The Incredible Flutist
Aaron Copland
Lincoln Portrait
featuring: Roger Giroux, narrator
Music from Shakespeare
4/8/2017
Felix Mendelssohn
Selections from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
William Walton
Suite from “Henry V”
Sergei Prokofiev
Montagues and Capulets from “Romeo and Juliet”
Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky
Romeo and Juliet Overture Fantasy
Favorites and Fireworks
7/3/2017
Ward/Bates/Dragon
America the Beautiful
Smith/Key/Bakkum
Star-Spangled Banner
Georges Bizet
Carmen Suite #1
John Philip Sousa
Liberty Bell March
Antonin Dvorak
Finale from “New World” Symphony
arr. Lowden
Armed Forces Salute
Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky
1812 Overture
Concerts scheduled between April 2020 and December 2021 cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.