In one of the collection piles at our house, a Feb. 1, 1990, Minnesota Orchestra in Rochester concert book lists Edo de Waart as the music director and Raymond Harvey as the guest conductor for that evening performance. The guest soloist was Sarah Kwak, a violinist. Delightful selections were by Dimitri Kabalevsky, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Alexander Borodin. It was a concert well-flavored by the Russian masters of composition. This concert was held at Rochester Mayo Civic Theatre, now called Presentation Hall.
I find it interesting that several of the concert book sponsors are now history. "Jazz up your evening at the Penthouse, where the food is fabulous, where the music is marvelous. Dinner served evenings, Monday through Saturday until 10 p.m. Jazz every Friday and Saturday 8:30 p.m. til 12:30 a.m., 11th floor, The Kahler Hotel. The Penthouse Grill."
Rochester's five commercial banks page at that time have all changed names and ownerships. Eastwood Bank is now Bremer Bank. First Bank is now US Bank. Marquette Bank is now Associated Bank. Norwest Bank is now Wells Fargo and Rochester Bank and Trust is now Minnwest Bank. The Hamilton Music Co. on North Broadway in the former Avalon Hotel took a full page ad in the program, reading "Invest In A Masterpiece." It displayed the 9-foot Bosendorfer Piano of Vienna. K & K Realty's ad congratulated the Minnesota Orchestra on its 50th Anniversary in Rochester while K & K was observing its 40th.
The Soldiers Field Tower and Suites, at 401 Sixth St. SW, is now called Best Western. Aladdin Travel Inc. had a full-page ad saying "Looking for a well-conducted, hassle-free travel performance? Trust the maestro." Aladdin Travel Inc. It had two offices: 155 SW First Ave. and 40 SE 16th St. There is no Aladdin Travel today.
The concert program page stated that sponsoring assistance was by Dayton's. Since then, Dayton's went through two name changes: Marshall Field and today, Macy's. Some other smaller ads were Kerstens Furs, at 311 S. Broadway, J.B. Hudson Jewelers in Barlow Plaza and a full back-page ad sponsored by United States Cellular. A hand held a director's baton with a caption at the top of the page reading, "Without music, life would be a mistake," by Friedrich Nietzsche, Philosopher 1888.
ADVERTISEMENT
Two full-page ads included Madonna Towers Retirement Community, which stated "There's no substitute for experience" and Mayo Clinic's page included a photo of the famous Mayo Carillon, with Dean Robinson the carillonneur at that time. Their clever caption said, "We want to chime in with our congratulations to the Minnesota Orchestra on 50 years in Rochester." Several other businesses in the book are now history. Time (25 years) has a way of changing things.
For the record The Minnesota Orchestra was formed as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903 with the first conductor being Emil Oberhoffer until 1922.
Next week: A memorable night for our family in 1967 ... our twin daughters were born.
