Minnesota Orchestra

Minnesota Orchestra and Vikings team up for the win

The Minnesota Vikings logo is displayed during a concert by the Minnesota Orchestra at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.Minnesota Orchestra

September 27, 2021

With fire and smoke, violin bows and tympani strokes, two of Minnesota's biggest brands teamed up Sunday for an unlikely partnership. Just before kickoff of the Seattle Seahawks-Minnesota Vikings game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, the Vikings unveiled a new video mashup featuring their players and the Minnesota Orchestra, plus a few special effects. Watch below.

Vikings COO Andrew Miller said the team wanted to treat the first regular season home game in nearly two years “like a grand reopening of the stadium.” They commissioned keyboardist Tommy Barbarella, a former member of the New Power Generation, to write Symphony of the North. Osmo Vänskä, in his final season of a 19-year run as the orchestra’s music director, recorded it with his instrumentalists this summer.

This was the orchestra’s second Vikings collaboration: The first was a halftime hit in 2016, when the Vikings opened their new stadium. The team plans to play the new video before every home game this season. 

This activity is made possible in part by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment‘s Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.