Mary Ann Feldman: Her Legacy and Her Gift

If you have been attending Minnesota Orchestra concerts for many years, you likely have fond memories of the late Mary Ann Feldman’s warm smile and gracious wit as a speaker, writer and advocate for the Minnesota Orchestra. Beginning in 1966, Mary Ann spent 33 years as the Orchestra’s program annotator. Adored and revered by generations of audiences, she is dearly missed.

Mary Ann was an incredible advocate for our Young People’s Concerts and educational programming. During her lifetime, she created the Mary Ann Feldman Music Education Fund. Inspired by the life-changing experience of attending her own first Minnesota Orchestra concert at age 8 in 1941, she worked tirelessly for music education, reaching out to students in their classrooms and at Orchestra Hall. She wanted to secure funding for these vital programs and to ensure that they carried on into the future. To this end, she and her late husband, Harold, dedicated a significant portion of their estate to support the Minnesota Orchestra’s Mary Ann Feldman Music Education Fund. Their endowment gift of more than $560,000 supports Young People’s Concerts and efforts “to maximize the impact of orchestral music on youth audiences."

To illustrate her passion, in her 2005 interview for the Minnesota Orchestra archives, Mary Ann said:

“[With young people I’m] trying to convey why they needed the thrill of the collective musical experience: live music, not just their iPods with wires coming out of their ears, but getting together with people. In the act of listening to music together, their spirits are revived, they can feel wonderful again, no matter what’s going on in their lives. And that’s my message.”

Mary Ann’s message feels especially poignant right now. We all look forward to feeling wonderful again, surrounded by the music and people we love. And thanks to Mary Ann and Harold Feldman’s legacy gift, young people will experience the thrill of live, symphonic music for generations to come.

For more information about how you can make a lasting impact with a planned gift to the Minnesota Orchestra, please contact Emily Boigenzahn at (612) 371-7138 or plannedgiving@mnorch.org.

Access the full article about Mary Ann Feldman’s life and contributions to the Minnesota Orchestra here, written by Karl Reichert.

View a special televised Young People’s Concert “Musical Menagerie,” made in partnership with the Minnesota Zoo and presented in February 2021.