Dimitri Mitropoulos at the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, 1937–1949

Under the leadership of Greek conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos, the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (later renamed the Minnesota Orchestra) ranked among the best symphonic orchestras in the nation. Critics and audiences both lauded the ensemble, especially for its contemporary music program and its extensive national tours.

On January 2, 1936, the popular conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, abruptly resigned to become co-conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra. With the 1935–36 symphony season well underway, the Minneapolis group’s board of directors decided to organize the 1936–37 season as a showcase of the world’s most talented emerging conductors and hire the best.

A year later, and halfway through the line-up of conductors, a maestro little known in the Midwest arrived in Minnesota to present five performances during a two-week residency. From the moment Dimitri Mitropoulos loped across the stage and took his place on the podium, he became the city’s favorite. At the end of his first concert, typically reserved Minneapolis concertgoers were on their feet, shouting bravos and asking, “Can we get him?” Eighteen days later, during the intermission of another candidate’s concert, the orchestra announced that Mitropoulos had accepted a two-year appointment.

The following January, Mitropoulos arrived in Minneapolis, moving into a small University of Minnesota dormitory room just steps away from the orchestra’s home in Northrop Auditorium. His energetic style of directing won rave reviews from the musicians and the orchestra’s patrons. He conducted with his whole body, leaping, dancing, and punching the air. His concerts were as much visual as aural. One music critic described him as leading the orchestra “like a man possessed.” Other critics called his conducting choreographic, even acrobatic. Within the first few months of his tenure, Mitropoulos featured some of the nation’s most popular guest soloists, including Artur Rubinstein, Marian Anderson, and Jascha Heifetz. Northrop Auditorium’s 5,000 seats were consistently sold out, earning Minneapolis a reputation as “the biggest weekly symphonic audience in the US.”

Throughout World War II, orchestra concerts, like most public gatherings, were infused with patriotic messages, music, and symbolism. The Northrop stage was set with a service banner bearing stars representing the musicians on active military duty. Concerts opened with Mitropoulos leading the audience in singing the National Anthem. Programs highlighted works by Allied composers along with traditional and contemporary American music. Not all ticket holders appreciated the atonal, contemporary pieces, but the conductor insisted that his responsibilities included introducing his audience to new music that would become the classics of the twentieth century.

To boost public spirit, the orchestra scheduled extra wartime performances: programs for soldiers at Fort Snelling, pension concerts for retired musicians, and charity concerts for the Red Cross and other local organizations. A new series of Sunday afternoon, one-hour “Twilight Concerts” was introduced for younger audiences. While other national orchestras were canceling or reducing touring dates during the war, the Minneapolis Orchestra expanded its long-standing schedule of off-season tours.

Season by season, Mitropoulos’s reputation grew as a point of Minnesota pride. He was generous with his time, working with high school and college orchestras, and he was known for his philanthropy. A devout ascetic, he lived a simple life and gave away most of his salary to support university students, purchase new instruments for needy musicians, and lavishly tip waiters and cab drivers. And he continued to promote new compositions, especially the works of local composers and Hamline University instructors John Verrall and Ernst Krenek.

Mitropoulos was frequently asked to serve as guest conductor for the country’s major orchestras, taking him away from Minneapolis for extended periods. The Minneapolis Orchestra opened its 1948–49 concert season without Mitropoulos, who was conducting the New York Philharmonic for eight weeks.

Mitropoulos’s national attention sparked rumors that he would soon be lured away by one of the nation’s most prestigious orchestras. That call came at the end of December 1948. Front page headlines in Minneapolis newspapers announced that the maestro would be leaving Minnesota to become co-conductor of the New York Philharmonic, sharing the job with Leopold Stokowski. A year later, he was named the chief conductor of the New York orchestra, a position he held until 1958. His final performance in Northrop Auditorium was March 18, 1949. His successor, Antal Doráti, led his first concert as director of the Minneapolis Symphony on October 21, 1949.