The Minnesota Orchestra opens its 2026–27 season on Friday, September 25, and if you are staying at Oakland’s on 9th, Orchestra Hall is about five blocks from the front door. That is close enough that you can decide to go at six o’clock and still be in your seat, coat still cold from the walk.
Here is what is on the calendar this autumn, taken straight from the orchestra’s own listings, plus the practical business of getting there and parking — or not bothering to park at all.
The season opens September 25 and October 1
The orchestra is labelling two consecutive programmes its Season Opening Celebration, so the opening is really an opening fortnight:
- Søndergård Conducts Stravinsky’s Firebird — Friday, September 25 to Saturday, September 26
- Søndergård, Mozart and Prokofiev — Thursday, October 1 to Saturday, October 3
Both are classical programmes under music director Thomas Søndergård. Start times are not printed on the calendar page we checked, so confirm yours on your ticket or on the Minnesota Orchestra calendar before you walk over.
October at Orchestra Hall
October is the busiest month of the autumn, and it is a long way from being only classical:
- Return of the Jedi in Concert with the Minnesota Orchestra — Thursday, October 8 to Sunday, October 11 (U.S. Bank Movies & Music)
- Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis — Tuesday, October 13
- Pictures at an Exhibition — Friday, October 16 to Saturday, October 17
- Fall Sensory-Friendly Concert in the Target Atrium — Saturday, October 17
- Haydn and Liszt — Thursday, October 22 to Friday, October 23
- Ben Folds with the Minnesota Orchestra — Saturday, October 24
- Chamber Music in the Hall: Brahms, Prokofiev and Tabakova, featuring Simon Trpčeski — Sunday, October 25
- Young People’s Concert: Peter and the Wolf (grades 1–6) — Tuesday, October 27 to Thursday, October 29
- Vertigo with the Minnesota Orchestra — Friday, October 30 to Saturday, October 31
A Hitchcock score played live on Halloween weekend is about as downtown-Minneapolis as October gets. If you are here for the whole month, our guide to things to do in downtown Minneapolis in October 2026 covers the football, basketball and car-free-Sunday side of the same weeks.
November: the Nordic Soundscapes Festival
- Nordic Soundscapes Festival: Søndergård, Parker and Sibelius — Thursday, November 5 to Saturday, November 7
- Nordic Soundscapes Festival: The Musical Tales of Hans Christian Andersen (family concert) — Sunday, November 8
- Nordic Soundscapes Festival: Vänskä, Chen and Nielsen — Friday, November 13 to Saturday, November 14
- Elgar and Dvořák — Thursday, November 19 to Friday, November 20
- Andrew Bird with the Minnesota Orchestra — Saturday, November 21
- How to Train Your Dragon in Concert — Saturday, November 28 to Sunday, November 29
Osmo Vänskä’s name on the November 13–14 programme is the one to watch if you have any history with this orchestra.
December, if you are staying through the holidays
- Preservation Hall Jazz Band: Creole Christmas — Tuesday, December 1
- A Charlie Brown Christmas Live at the Symphony — Tuesday, December 8 to Wednesday, December 9
- Home Alone in Concert — Friday, December 11 to Sunday, December 13
- Handel’s Messiah — Friday, December 18 to Saturday, December 19
- Merry & Bright with Charles Lazarus — Sunday, December 20
- A New Year’s Celebration — Thursday, December 31 into Friday, January 1
Getting there from Oakland’s on 9th
Orchestra Hall is at 1111 Nicollet Mall. From 215 South 9th Street that is a walk of roughly five blocks — two south, three west — on lit downtown sidewalks. In practice, walking beats driving: you skip the pre-concert queue for the ramps entirely, and you are not paying for an evening in a garage.
If the weather has turned, the skyway system is one block away from us — we are not skyway-connected, and anyone who tells you otherwise has not walked it. Cross to the skyway, and you can cover most of the distance indoors. Note that skyways keep shorter hours than concert halls, so check before you count on it for the walk home. Our guide to what winter is actually like in downtown Minneapolis goes through this in more detail.
Coming from farther out, or without a car? Plan the trip on Metro Transit’s trip planner, and check rider alerts before you travel — downtown service has been shifting around construction this year.
Staying for a run of concerts
A season like this rewards a longer stay. Oakland’s on 9th is a furnished, month-to-month studio apartment hotel in a restored 1889 brownstone: full kitchen, WiFi, all utilities and heat, and free laundry included, with no contract to sign. Book a night, a week or a month. Some studios are pet friendly. If the Nordic Soundscapes Festival or the December run is the reason you are in town, you can simply stay through it rather than booking three separate weekends.
Rooms come in three tiers — Good, Better and Best. Have a look at what is available at our booking page, or call us at (612) 314-5124 and we will talk you through which studio suits the dates. If you would rather see the rest of the autumn calendar first, our Fillmore Minneapolis fall lineup covers the louder end of the same season.