Music Director Thomas S\u00f8nderg\u00e5rd and the Minnesota Orchestra announced today that conductor-violinist Leonidas Kavakos has been appointed the Orchestra\u2019s principal guest conductor. Beginning in fall 2027, the three-year appointment will feature Kavakos in three weeks of subscription concerts each season, including conducting the Orchestra at least twice a season and appearing in additional concerts or artistic projects as soloist and chamber music collaborator. The Athens-born Kavakos has a long history with the Minnesota Orchestra, debuting with the Orchestra in 1995; he most recently appeared as soloist and conductor in October 2025 performances.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very happy to welcome Leonidas Kavakos into this new role,\u201d said Music Director Thomas S\u00f8nderg\u00e5rd. \u201cHe is an artist of great integrity and creativity who will bring conviction, passion and interesting projects to our Orchestra and audiences. I know he will contribute substantially to the musical vitality of the organization, and I\u2019m looking forward to our first collaboration.\u201d S\u00f8nderg\u00e5rd will lead concerts with Kavakos appearing as violin soloist in May 2028.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am thrilled to be joining the Minnesota Orchestra as its principal guest conductor,\u201d said Leonidas Kavakos. \u201cAs a young music student still forming a musical identity, I was deeply inspired by the Minnesota Orchestra\u2019s\u00a0recordings with the legendary Dmitri Mitropoulos. The Orchestra produces a sound of rare warmth and flexibility, an element that has impressed me since my debut as a soloist in the 1990s. Through the years, it has been my great pleasure to share the stage with its wonderful musicians in all of our performances together, including at Carnegie Hall.<\/p>\n
\u201cI first conducted the Orchestra in 2023 and the rehearsals and performances were pure joy. I felt an\u00a0immediate\u00a0chemistry with my\u00a0colleagues, and together we’ve found the\u00a0sense\u00a0of expressive freedom that every musician aims for. As principal guest conductor, I am tremendously looking forward to working more in depth with this fantastic Orchestra and creating powerful musical experiences for the city of Minneapolis. Finally, I want to express my gratitude to Music Director Thomas S\u00f8nderg\u00e5rd, President and CEO Isaac Thompson, and Vice President of Artistic Planning Eric Finley, for their trust and support in welcoming me into the\u00a0Minnesota Orchestra family!\u201d<\/p>\n
Kavakos made his performance debut with the Minnesota Orchestra in March 1995, playing the Stravinsky Violin Concerto. He returned over the next five years for 16 performances across the season and summer and has been a regular soloist ever since, including appearing with the Orchestra in performances of the Sibelius Violin Concerto at Carnegie Hall in May 2009. He first conducted the Minnesota Orchestra in a May 2023 program featuring Brahms\u2019 Symphony No. 1 and Bach\u2019s Violin Concerto No. 1. His most recent appearance, last October, saw him leading Mozart\u2019s Violin Concerto No. 3 and Shostakovich\u2019s Symphony No. 15.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been 40 years since the Minnesota Orchestra has appointed a principal guest conductor, and we are thrilled to revisit the position with an artist of Leonidas Kavakos\u2019 caliber and brilliance,\u201d said President and CEO Isaac Thompson. \u201cHis connection to the Minnesota Orchestra runs deep, and a dynamic rapport clearly existed between him and the Orchestra when they collaborated last fall. I\u2019m excited to see this tremendous potential unfold as Leonidas partners with Thomas S\u00f8nderg\u00e5rd and the outstanding players of the Minnesota Orchestra.\u201d<\/p>\n
Historically, Leonard Slatkin held the principal guest conductor role from 1975 to 1979 and following him, Klaus Tennstedt served in the position from 1979 to 1982 and Charles Dutoit from 1983 to 1986.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe musicians of the orchestra are delighted by this new chapter in our relationship with Leonidas Kavakos,\u201d said violinist Emily Switzer, who serves as chair of the Minnesota Orchestra members Committee. \u201cIt’s been such a pleasure in recent seasons to experience his artistry as a conductor in addition to his charismatic violin playing. He is a uniquely imaginative and inspiring musician\u2014our recent performance of Shostakovich’s thorny and experimental Symphony No. 15 under Kavakos\u2019 direction was a musical highlight for many members of the Orchestra\u2014and we look forward to all that this new partnership will bring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read the full press release.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Music Director Thomas S\u00f8nderg\u00e5rd and the Minnesota Orchestra announced today that conductor-violinist Leonidas Kavakos has been appointed the Orchestra\u2019s principal guest conductor. Beginning in fall 2027, the three-year appointment will feature Kavakos in three weeks of subscription concerts each season, including conducting the Orchestra at least twice a season and appearing in additional concerts or … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17757,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4835,3929,3686,7051],"class_list":["post-17755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-appointment","tag-leonidas-kavakos","tag-orchestra","tag-principal-guest-conductor"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17755"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17756,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17755\/revisions\/17756"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/17757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}