This May, the Minnesota Orchestra became the first US orchestra to perform in Cuba since the normalization process began. Tonight you can hear the first concert they gave at 7PM when IPR Classical airs SymphonyCast (or you can stream the concert at Minnesota Public Radio). Cuba had been the site of the orchestra's very first international tour in 1929; for the concert in May, the Minnesota repeated the all-Beethoven program from 1929, including the Overture to "Egmont" (a play about political freedom), the Symphony no. 3, "Eroica" ("Heroic"), and the Choral Fantasy, a work that presages the finale of the Ninth Symphony. No orchestra plays Beethoven better than our neighbors from the north with their music director Osmo Vanska, even under ordinary circumstances - so you definitely want to hear this special event!