Music Director Thomas Søndergård is set to launch Minnesota Orchestra’s Sound Unbound projector May 8 and 9, 2026.

The concert will feature Béla Bartók’s “Bluebeard’s Castle” with mezzo Michelle DeYoung and bass-baritone Nathan Berg. The production will incorporate immersive lighting design and digital projections by Adam Larsen and Twin Cities-based singer and actor Christina Baldwin will deliver the opera’s spoken Prologue.

Søndergård opens the performances with two seminal operatic works by Richard Wagner,  “Prelude to “Lohengrin” and the “Prelude and Liebestod” from “Tristan and Isolde.”

In a statement Larsen said, “I’ve always thought of Bluebeard’s Castle as a journey through hidden spaces within us—moments and memories that surface gradually as Judith opens each door.”

Søndergård added, “I remember sitting in the [opera house] seats when I was very young, these old beautiful red seats, with the smell of history in the whole building, and thinking: I must do everything I can to work in a place like this.”

Sound Unbound is a multi-year project that offers highly visual, creative experiences in the concert hall. Following the launch of the initiative with “Bluebeard’s Castle,” Søndergård and the Orchestra will next collaborate with BAFTA-winning video artist Tal Rosner to visually bring to life Stravinsky’s “Firebird” (complete ballet) through video and graphics.