The finale concert of the Minnesota Orchestra season on Saturday night did not begin as many of its concerts do.
The concertmaster and the conductor did not make their walks on to the Orchestra Hall stage to applause.
Instead the interim president of the orchestra, Brent Assink, walked out to center stage and announced that the orchestra would be performing “with heavy hearts.”
“We join our community in grieving as we all struggle with how to make sense of a world in which dedicated public servants can be shot in their homes in the middle of the night by someone pretending to be a police officer,” he said, reading from a statement that was also released on the orchestra’s social media channels.
The orchestra then paid tribute to state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, and state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, who were shot in targeted attacks early Saturday morning. Melissa and Mark Hortman were killed, the Hoffmans remain hospitalized and the suspected shooter is still at large.
“There are really no words we can offer to express our profound sorrow over their loss,” Assick said. “So, as words fail us we offer this musical homage in their honor and in the hope that we may collectively find our way to a space of peace and civility.”
The orchestra played Edward Elgar’s “Nimrod” from the “Enigma Variations,” which is often played at funerals. The orchestra has also performed “Nimrod” during the 2020 pandemic alongside the Seoul Philharmonic and after the events of 9/11.
The musical tribute was followed by a 30-second moment of silence before the remainder of the program, which featured Carlos Simon’s “Four Black American Dances,” Sergei Prokofiev’s “Concerto No. 3 in C major for Piano and Orchestra” and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Symphonic Dances,” was performed as scheduled.
