Haydn and Liszt

The Minnesota Orchestra is at Orchestra Hall on Thursday, October 22, with a program that puts Haydn, Liszt, and Mendelssohn on the same bill. It's a night that moves from the light, early-morning energy of Haydn to the heavy lifting of Liszt and Mendelssohn, and it brings in Macedonian pianist Simon Trpčeski to handle the piano parts.

The evening opens with Haydn's Symphony No. 6, known as Le Matin—The Morning—which is exactly what it sounds like: a piece that wakes up slowly, with the orchestra mimicking the sounds of a morning starting to stir. From there, the focus shifts to Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2, a work built around six musical scenes that run through the concerto like a series of connected snapshots. The second half belongs to Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 5, the Reformation, which quotes Martin Luther and was written to mark the 300th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession. It's a piece with a specific historical weight to it, and it's the one that closes the night.

Jaime Martin is conducting, and he's a name you might recognize from a couple of different places: he's been chief conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra since 2022 and music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra since 2019. Simon Trpčeski is the soloist on the Liszt; he first made his mark on the international scene twenty years ago as a BBC New Generation Artist. The orchestra itself is now in its second century and ranks among the top symphonic ensembles in the country. Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård began his third season as music director in September 2025, so this comes as part of his ongoing tenure.

The performance runs about two hours, including intermission. Doors open an hour and a half before the start, so you've got plenty of time to get settled at Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN 55403.