The long-time music director of the Minnesota Orchestra, Osmo Vanska, is stepping down. This weekend is his farewell blowout, with Mahler's Symphony 8 ("the Symphony of 1,000"). They don't have 1,000 musicians on stage, but they do have over 400. One of the soloists is Sasha Cooke, whom DR Jrand71 will remember from the Met's "Dr. Atomic." The recording of this will complete their cycle of the Mahler symphonies.