Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra

The SPCO Center, housing offices and rehearsal/performance space, is located on the third floor of the Hamm Building in St. Paul, MN.

The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO), based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, is the United States' only full-time professional chamber orchestra. In collaboration with five Artistic Partners, the 34 virtuoso musicians present more than 130 concerts and educational programs each year and are regularly heard on public radio’s "Performance Today", which reaches 1.5 million listeners each week on 243 stations, and on SymphonyCast, reaching 480,000 listeners each week on 125 stations nationwide.

The orchestra's recording of Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring at Sound 80 studios was one of the earliest digital audio recordings to see commercial release.^[1]

Beginning with the 2004 – 05 season, the SPCO adopted a new artistic model by eliminating the position of Music Director and creating positions for several Artistic Partners, prominent established musicians. Under this model the musicians of the SPCO are given a much higher degree of artistic control.

Launched in 1995, the SPCO's CONNECT education program reaches 6,000 students annually in 16 Minneapolis and Saint Paul Public Schools. The orchestra's activities are supported by the Friends of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

Artistic partners

• Joshua Bell (2004 – 07)
• Stephen Prutsman (2004 – 07)
• Nicholas McGegan (2004 – 09)
• Pierre-Laurent Aimard (2006 – 09)
• Douglas Boyd (2003 – 09)
• Dawn Upshaw (2007 – 13)
• Edo de Waart (2010 – 14)
• Roberto Abbado (2005 – 15)
• Christian Zacharias (2009 – present)
• Thomas Zehetmair (2010 – present)
• Jeremy Denk (2014 – present)
• Patricia Kopatchinskaja (2014 – present)
• Martin Fröst (2014 – present)
• Pekka Kuusisto (to begin September 2016)

Artistic leadership

• Leopold Sipe (Music Director, 1959 – 71)
• Dennis Russell Davies (Music Director, 1972 – 80)
• Pinchas Zukerman (Music Director, 1980 – 87)
• Stanisław Skrowaczewski (Interim Music Advisor, 1987 – 88)
• Christopher Hogwood (Music Director, 1988 – 92)
• Hugh Wolff (Principal Conductor, 1988 – 92; Music Director, 1992 – 2000)
• Bobby McFerrin (Creative Chair, 1994 – 99)
• Andreas Delfs (Music Director, 2001 – 04)

Awards and recognitions

• Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance: Dennis Russell Davies (conductor) & The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra for Copland: Appalachian Spring (1980)^[2]
• ASCAP awards for Programming of Contemporary Music, including 2011 and 2014^{[3] [4]}

See also

• Bill McGlaughlin
• Compositions by Bill McGlaughlin
• Friends of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra

Notes

1. Kenney, pp. 58, 61.
2. Kenney, pp. 58, 61.
3. "ASCAP "Adventurous Programming" Awards Presented at League of American Orchestras Conference in Minneapolis". 2 August 2011. Retrieved 2011-07-29.
4. "2013-2014 ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming" (PDF).

References

• Kenney, Dave. 50 Years of Music: The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Nodin Press, 2009.

External links

• The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra