Before becoming music director, Osmo Vänskä conducted the Minnesota Orchestra just once. But it proved to be a magnetic first date.
"The orchestra fell for him pretty hard," said Douglas Wright, principal trombone.
"There was a buzz that whole week," said violist Sam Bergman. He remembers telling his mom, who happened to be in town for those concerts: "I have no actual reason to say this except my own feelings, but I think you may have just seen the next music director."
In those early rehearsals, Bergman said the Finnish maestro, who was then 47, "was immediately sweating the details," polishing a single phrase for five minutes.
The players leaned forward, sat up in their chairs.
Some 21 years later, the orchestra's musicians are still struck by Vänskä's care, still awed by his energy.
"He's very particular and he's very persistent," said Fei Xie, principal bassoon.
"He does not settle," Bergman said. "He knows what he wants, and he's going to insist on it."