The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) is a full-time professional

chamber orchestra Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

based in

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center ...

. In collaboration with five Artistic Partners, the orchestra's musicians present more than 130 concerts and educational programs each year in over 14 venues throughout the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. They are regularly heard on American Public Media's nationally syndicated radio programs " Performance Today" and SymphonyCast. The orchestra's recording of Aaron Copland's ''

Appalachian Spring ''Appalachian Spring'' is a musical composition by Aaron Copland that was premiered in 1944 and has achieved widespread and enduring popularity as an orchestral suite. The music, scored for a thirteen-member chamber orchestra, was created upon ...

'' at

Sound 80 Sound 80 is a recording studio in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States founded by engineer Tom Jung and composer/musician Herb Pilhofer in 1969. Largely involved with local artists, the studio is best known for recording portions of Bob Dylan's ...

studios was one of the earliest

digital audio Digital audio is a representation of sound recorded in, or converted into, digital form. In digital audio, the sound wave of the audio signal is typically encoded as numerical samples in a continuous sequence. For example, in CD audio, samp ...

recordings to see commercial release. 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 SPCO musicians have a much higher degree of artistic control. Launched in 1995, the SPCO's CONNECT education program reaches 6,000 students annually in 16

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origin ...

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 Pierre-Laurent Aimard (born 9 September 1957) is a French pianist. Biography Aimard was born in Lyon, where he entered the conservatory. Later he studied with Yvonne Loriod and with Maria Curcio. In 1973, he was awarded the chamber music priz ...

(2006–09) * Douglas Boyd (2003–09) * Dawn Upshaw (2007–13) * Edo de Waart (2010–14) *

Roberto Abbado Roberto Abbado (born 30 December 1954, Milan) is an Italian opera and symphonic music conductor. Currently he is Artistic Partner of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. In 2015 he has been appointed music director of Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia ...

(2005–15) * Christian Zacharias (2009–16) * Thomas Zehetmair (2010–17) * Jeremy Denk (2014–present) * Patricia Kopatchinskaja (2014–present) * Martin Fröst (2014–present) * Pekka Kuusisto (2016–present) * Jonathan Cohen (2016–present)

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 Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood (10 September 194124 September 2014) was an English conductor, harpsichordist, writer, and musicologist. Founder of the early music ensemble the Academy of Ancient Music, he was an authority on historically i ...

(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) *Kyu-Young Kim (Artistic Director, 2016–present)

Awards and recognitions

* Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance: Dennis Russell Davies (conductor) & The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra for '' Copland:

'' (

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – In ...

) *

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

awards for Programming of Contemporary Music, including 2011 and 2014

2012-2013 lockout

In October 2012, after months of negotiations between orchestra musicians and management, the SPCO locked out its union musicians. Six months later, musicians approved a three-year labor agreement that cut their pay by $15,000 per year, reduced the SPCO from 34 to 28 players and offered buyouts to musicians 55 years and older.

Notes

References

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

External links

The Saint Paul Chamber OrchestraMusicians of SPCO
{{Authority control Orchestras based in Minnesota Chamber orchestras Arts organizations based in Saint Paul, Minnesota Culture of Saint Paul, Minnesota Musical groups established in 1959 1959 establishments in Minnesota