Buses loaded with high schoolers disgorged their passengers and teachers in front of the Univeristy of Minnesota Duluth's Weber Music Hall. Eager and nervous, the students retrieved their instruments from trailers in tow. Youth from Carlton and St. Louis counties streamed the halls, finding practice and performance rooms. Piling coats onto desks in temporary homerooms, the students warmed up their voices, horns and woodwinds. Pianists limbered up fingers and paired off with singers in tiny and ill-equipped practice rooms. Finding the right buildings and rooms challenged navigation skills.

The...