Minnesota Chorale joins Minnesota Orchestra for energetic program

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The Minnesota Chorale brings out its fireworks for a performance of Johannes Brahms’ “Schicksalslied” with the Minnesota Orchestra, as well as the Minnesota premiere of “Rise Up, O Sun!” by Eleanor Alberga, co-commissioned by the orchestra.

The two choral pieces make up a program that also features the solid artistry of concertmaster Erin Keefe playing a Max Bruch concerto. It concludes with music director Thomas Søndergård unpacking the pent-up longing of Robert Schumann’s “Spring Symphony.”

The orchestra had paired Brahms and Alberga last summer, when it performed a short piece by Alberga called “Tower,” and Brahms’ magnificent Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra. Both of those works reflected on the complexity of friendship. This time the orchestra and the Minnesota Chorale play choral works by Brahms and Alberga that set poetry to music.

Alberga chooses a selection from William Blake’s “Vala, or The Four Zoas.” It’s a weird, unfinished collection rich in imagery and heightened emotion, and full of Blake’s constructed mythology and thoughts on the nature of free love and sexuality. Blake’s text is filled with lines like “Here me sing my rapturous song” and “Oh how delicious are the grapes flourishing in the sun.” It’s vivacious stuff, and Alberga’s composition captures the poetry’s lushness with angular, unexpected jumps.

You can read the lines projected on Orchestra Hall’s back wall, but you don’t really need them. The Minnesota Chorale’s singing is precise and crisp. It’s a rhythmic piece that goes to unexpected places with rippling indulgence. Alberga’s instrumentation adds additional delights, with assertive piccolos and a diverse mix of percussive instrumentation.

The chorus shines performing Brahms’ “Schicksalslied” for Chorus and Orchestra, Opus 54, though the vocal part doesn’t come in right away. The work begins with an ethereal prelude performed by the orchestra before the altos join in with the choral melody.

The composer draws on poetry that German poet Friedrich Hölderlin intersperses within his novel “Hyperion.” The words lament the suffering mortals experience in comparison to the easy living of the gods.

The Minnesota Chorale, led by artistic director Kathy Saltzman Romey and accompanist and artistic advisor Barbara Brooks, has been the principal chorus for the Minnesota Orchestra for 20 years, and it first performed with the orchestra over 50 years ago. The two groups sound marvelous together, especially in the Brahms piece with all its dramatic flourishes and seismic dynamic changes.

Between the two choral pieces, Erin Keefe joins the orchestra for Concerto No. 1 in G minor for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 26, by Max Bruch. Timpanist Erich Rieppel begins the piece with a low hum of a drumroll, soon joined by the winds, with the violin solo floating on top.

Keefe’s playing is especially mesmerizing in the second Adagio movement, as she elegantly articulates the complicated patterns with legato bowing. It’s music that acts as a love letter. Later, in the rigorous finale, Keefe shows off her virtuosity with exacting, aggressive playing. There are moments where it’s as if she’s using her bow as a shovel digging for gold.

At the end of the program, the orchestra plays Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 1 in B-flat major, Opus 38, “Spring.” It’s the first time the orchestra’s new director has conducted Schumann with the group. Written as a kind of longing for spring, its timing fits with emergence of warmer weather currently at work in the Twin Cities. It begins upbeat and hopeful, and later hovers over a feeling of breathless anticipation and even impatience. Later, it jaunts and gains momentum toward its forceful conclusion.

Minnesota Orchestra

What:  Søndergård, Keefe and Brahms

When: 8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday

Where: Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis

Tickets: $30-$111; minnesotaorchestra.org

Capsule: The Minnesota Chorale performs with the Minnesota Orchestra in a program that also highlights the vigorous playing of concertmaster Erin Keefe and Schumann’s “Spring Symphony.”

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DeChambeau puts on a Masters clinic and takes a 1-shot lead over Scottie Scheffler

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AUGUSTA, Ga. >> The third iteration of Bryson DeChambeau might be the most daunting at the Masters.

Once the mad scientist, then the incredible bulk, DeChambeau has entered what he called simply the “golf phase,” and it was enough to carry him to a 7-under 65 in a relentless wind Thursday for a one-shot lead over the same old Scottie Scheffler.

The first round could not be completed because of a 2 1/2-hour delay from overnight rain that drenched Augusta National, leaving the greens softer than they have been all week. The test came from a steady 20 mph wind, with gusts twice that strong.

Among those still on the course was Tiger Woods, who was 1-under par through 13 holes when it was too dark to continue. He next faces 23 holes Friday, an endurance test for his battered legs, as he tries to set the Masters record by making his 25th consecutive cut.

Nicolai Hojgaard of Denmark, one of 17 newcomers to the Masters, was at 5 under with three holes to play. Max Homa was at 4 under through 13 holes.

DeChambeau had his lowest start ever in a major, a clinical performance of power and putting, always a good recipe at Augusta National.

“Trying to be the best golfer I can be,” DeChambeau said. “I’m just in a place where I’m repeating a motion, trying to do the same thing over and over again.”

He ran off five birdies in a six-hole stretch on the back nine, including a two-putt birdie on the par-5 15th when his risky shot under a pine tree cleared the water fronting the green and left him 40 feet away.

“It clipped the tree. I hit four pine needles rather than five, and it worked out perfectly,” said DeChambeau, not entirely rid of his precise calculations.

Scheffler teed off about two hours later when the wind was at full force, and part of him was surprised to see so many red numbers under par on the large, white boards.

“I’ve played this tournament once before in some pretty high winds, and it’s an extremely challenging golf course,” Scheffler said, giving credit to caddie Ted Scott for “guessing the wind correctly” on a number of shots.

He had the only bogey-free round of the 89 players in the field, no small task on a day like this. Three of his six birdies came on the par 3s, one of those when he holed a bunker shot from behind the 12th green.

DeChambeau feels he got fortunate with his shot that grazed the tree. There was no doubting the break Scheffler got with his second shot on the par-5 13th, when he flinched upon hearing a shot hit from another fairway. Scheffler’s ball came up short, and he assumed it would roll back into the tributary of Rae’s Creek that winds in front of the green.

The turf was soft enough that it stayed up, and he chipped it close to make birdie.

“I’ve never seen a ball stay up there,” Scheffler said. “I don’t know if that will happen again this week. I’m hoping I don’t find out.”

Scheffler began as the 4-1 favorite, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, the shortest odds since Tiger Woods nearly two decades ago. And then the No. 1 player in the world — who came into the Masters off two wins and a runner-up finish — played as expected.

It was his ninth bogey-free round of the year.

“Any time you can get around this golf course bogey-free, you’re going to have a pretty good day out there,” Scheffler said.

DeChambeau dropped only one shot, a long three-putt to a back pin on No. 9, and otherwise was flawless. He nearly drove the short par-4 third hole, leaving him a chip-and-putt birdie. He took care of three of the par 5s and got a bonus at the end when he holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole.

DeChambeau feels he has settled in with his new life on Saudi-funded LIV Golf, with his equipment and his swing. He is not chasing swing speed like he once did, though he still has it when needed. He says his swing has been the same since that 61-58 weekend he had at LIV Golf Greenbrier last summer.

“He’s always been one of the best putters in the world. When he drives it like he did today — I mean, he drove it really good — and he makes putts, he’s obviously very good,” said Gary Woodland, who played alongside him. “It was a clinic. It was impressive. He didn’t get out of position hardly at all, and he rolled it very, very nice.”

Defending champion Jon Rahm never got any momentum and bogeys on his last two holes sent him to a 73, leaving him eight shots behind.

“Those are some seriously good rounds in conditions like today,” Rahm said. “I haven’t made it easy for myself. I’m going to have to start making up ground quickly.”

Rory McIlroy at least didn’t shoot himself out of the tournament after one round. In his 10th bid for the final leg of the career Grand Slam, he saved par with a chip from behind the 18th green for a 71, the first time he has opened the Masters with a round under par since 2018.

“I held it together well. It was a little scrappy,” McIlroy said. “Probably turned a 3 under into a 1 under there at the end. But overall, still not a bad score. And obviously a lot of golf left to play.”

The first round was to resume at 7:50 a.m., and with a good forecast for the rest of the week, the Masters should be back on schedule by the weekend.

Gophers add tall Ohio tight end Cross Nimmo to 2025 recruiting class

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The Gophers football program picked up a commitment from Ohio tight end Cross Nimmo on Thursday.

Nimmo is listed as a 6-foot-3, 230-pound, three-star prospect from Lake Catholic High School in Mentor, Ohio. He had offers from Rutgers, Illinois, Louisville and others.

“I am excited and blessed to say that I have committed to The University of Minnesota to continue my academic and athletic career,” Nimmo posted on social media. “Thank you to all my family, friends and coaches who have supported me along this incredible journey. Row the boat. Ski-U-Mah. Go Gophers!”

Nimmo, who also plays defensive line in high school, is the fourth commitment to the U for the 2025 class.

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US airlines ask the Biden administration not to approve additional flights between the US and China

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Large U.S. airlines and some of their unions are asking the Biden administration to stop approving any more flights between the United States and China because of what they call “anti-competitive” policies that China imposes on U.S. carriers.

The airlines and unions said Thursday that China closed its market to U.S. carriers at the outbreak of the pandemic and imposed rules that still affect American operations and airline crews.

“These actions demonstrated the clear need for the U.S. government to establish a policy that protects U.S. aviation workers, industry and air travelers,” they said in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

The letter was signed by the CEO of the Airlines for America trade group and the presidents of the Air Line Pilots Association, the Allied Pilots Association, which represents crews at American Airlines, and the Association of Flight Attendants.

The number of flights between China and the U.S. has been rising, although it remains far below pre-pandemic levels. The Biden administration increased the number of round trips that Chinese airlines can make from 35 to 50 per week, starting March 31, after China’s aviation authority promised to seek an increase in flights by U.S. carriers.

The U.S. airlines said Chinese airlines get an advantage by flying shorter routes through Russian airspace, which has been off-limits to U.S. carriers since Russia invaded Ukraine more than two years ago. They said Chinese airlines also get “certain protections” from China’s government because they are state-owned.

The U.S. industry groups said in their letter that without equal access to China’s aviation market, American carriers will lose flights to Chinese airlines.