Although Minneapolis in the 1930s was relatively isolated - a two-day train trip from the East Coast and eight hours from Chicago - the orchestra was able to attract a steady stream of distinguished soloists for its concerts, including Vladimir Horowitz (performing the Minneapolis premiere of the Rachmaninoff Third Piano Concerto), Paul Wittgenstein, Kirsten Flagstad, Gregor Piatigorsky, Nathan Milstein, Artur Schnabel, Walter Gieseking, Myra Hess, Joseph Szigeti, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Lotte Lehmann, and "ten-year-old Ruth Slenczynski, who played the Mendelssohn G minor concerto in a half-standing position and had to jump for her fortes and sforzandos."
Fig. 1: Lehmann performed a set of Richard Strauss songs with the orchestra in 1934. The inscription reads, "Dem grossen Künstler Eugene Ormandi zur Erinnerung an erstes gemeinsames Wirken" (to the great artist Eugene Ormandy in remembrance of our first collaboration).
Fig. 2: Rachmaninoff was a favorite of Minneapolis audiences. He performed the Minneapolis premiere of his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in November 1935.
