Letter of the day: Minnesota Orchestra takes a bite out of the Big Apple

From the end of January to the beginning of March, Carnegie Hall held an unofficial orchestral Olympics, presenting 13 concerts by symphonic ensembles from six states and three foreign countries. According to reviewer Alex Ross of the New Yorker magazine, "The Minnesotans delivered a performance of uncanny, wrenching power, the kind you hear once or twice a decade." On Osmo Vänskä, the Minnesota Orchestra's conductor, Ross writes: "For some years it has been evident that he is a conductor of genius. ... For the duration of the evening of March 1st, the Minnesota Orchestra sounded to my ears like the greatest orchestra in the world." We are so proud to claim the orchestra as our own! KAREN OLSON, GOLDEN VALLEY