The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) is an American

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

based in

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...

. Its principal concert venue is the

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota, hosts a variety of performing arts, such as touring Broadway musicals, orchestra, opera, and cultural performers, and produces local musicals. It is home to several l ...

. In collaboration with five artistic partners, the orchestra's musicians present more than 130 concerts and educational programs each year in several venues throughout the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. The SPCO is regularly heard on

American Public Media American Public Media (APM) is an American company that produces and distributes public radio programs in the United States, the second largest company of its type after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and o ...

's nationally syndicated radio programs "

Performance Today ''Performance Today'' is a classical music radio program, first aired in 1987 and hosted since 2000 by Fred Child. It is the most listened-to daily classical music radio program in the United States, with 1.2 million listeners on 237 stations. ...

" and SymphonyCast.

History

Leopold Sipe was the SPCO's first music director, from 1959 to 1971.

Dennis Russell Davies Dennis Russell Davies (born April 16, 1944, in Toledo, Ohio) is an American conductor and pianist. He is chief conductor of the Brno Philharmonic and of the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra. Biography Davies studied piano and conducting at ...

succeeded Sipe from 1972 to 1980. During Davies's tenure, the SPCO recorded

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, critic, writer, teacher, pianist, and conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as the "Dean of American Compos ...

's ''

Appalachian Spring ''Appalachian Spring'' is an American ballet created by the choreographer Martha Graham and the composer Aaron Copland, later arranged as an orchestral work. Commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, Copland composed the ballet music for Gra ...

'' 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, one of the earliest

digital audio Digital audio is a representation of sound recorded in, or converted into, digital signal (signal processing), digital form. In digital audio, the sound wave of the audio signal is typically encoded as numerical sampling (signal processing), ...

recordings to see commercial release.Kenney, pp. 58, 61. In 1995, during Hugh Wolff's tenure as music director (1992–2000), the SPCO began its CONNECT education program. It reached 6,000 students annually in 16

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

and

Saint Paul Public Schools Saint Paul Public Schools 625 (SPPS) is a school district that operates in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Saint Paul Public Schools is Minnesota's second largest school district, after Anoka-Hennepin School District 11, and serves approximately 33,000 ...

. The last music director of the SPCO was Andreas Delfs, from 2001 to 2004. Beginning with the 2004–05 season, the SPCO adopted a new artistic model that eliminated the position of music director and created positions for several "Artistic Partners", prominent established musicians. Under this model the SPCO musicians have a much higher degree of artistic control. In 2018, the SPCO and its Artistic Partner

Patricia Kopatchinskaja Patricia Kopatchinskaja (born March 1977) is a Moldovan-Austrian-Swiss violinist. Biography Early life Kopatchinskaja was born in Chișinău, in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (now Moldova). She comes from a family of musicians. H ...

won the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance, recognizing a recording of Schubert's ''Death and the Maiden''.

2012-2013 lockout

In October 2012, after months of negotiations between 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 players to 28, and offered buyouts to musicians 55 years and older.

Music directors

* Leopold Sipe (1959–1971) *

(1972–1980) *

Pinchas Zukerman Pinchas Zukerman (; born 16 July 1948) is an Israeli-American violinist, violist and conductor. Life and career Zukerman was born in Tel Aviv, to Jewish parents and Holocaust survivors Yehuda and Miriam Lieberman Zukerman. He began his musica ...

(1980–1987) *

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

(1988–1992) *

Hugh Wolff Hugh MacPherson Wolff (born October 21, 1953, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France) is an American conductor. He was chief conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony. Biography Born in France while his father was serving in the U.S. Foreign Service, Wolff s ...

(1992–2000) *

Andreas Delfs Andreas Delfs (born 30 August 1959) is a German conductor. He is the music director of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor laureate of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Biography Delfs was born in Flensburg, West Germany. He bega ...

(2001–2004)

Other musicians in leadership positions

Stanisław Skrowaczewski Stanislaw Pawel Stefan Jan Sebastian Skrowaczewski (; October 3, 1923 – February 21, 2017) was a Polish-American classical conductor and composer. Biography Skrowaczewski was born in Lwów, Second Polish Republic (now Lviv, Ukraine). His pa ...

(Interim Music Advisor, 1987–1988) * Hugh Wolff (Principal Conductor, 1988–1992) *

Bobby McFerrin Robert Keith McFerrin Jr. (born March 11, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter, and conductor (music), conductor. His Vocal pedagogy, vocal techniques include singing fluidly but with quick and considerable jumps in Pitch (music), pitch—fo ...

(Creative Chair, 1994–1999) * Kyu-Young Kim (Artistic Director, 2016–2024)

Artistic partners

Joshua Bell Joshua David Bell (born December 9, 1967) is an American violinist and conductor. He is currently music director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Early life and education Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana, one of four children of ...

(2004–2007) * Stephen Prutsman (2004–2007) *

Nicholas McGegan James Nicholas McGegan OBE (born 14 January 1950 in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England) is a British harpsichordist, flutist, conductor and early music expert. Biography McGegan received his early education at Nottingham High School. He subse ...

(2004–2009) *

Douglas Boyd Douglas Boyd (born 1959, Glasgow, Scotland) is a British oboist and conductor. Biography Boyd studied oboe at the Royal Academy of Music, London, as a pupil of Janet Craxton. He later was a student with Maurice Bourgue in Paris. In 1984 he w ...

(2004–2009) *

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

(2006–2009) *

Dawn Upshaw Dawn Upshaw (born July 17, 1960) is an American soprano. She is the recipient of several Grammy Awards and has released a number of Edison Award-winning discs; she performs both opera and art song, and her repertoire spans Baroque to contempo ...

(2007–2013) *

Edo de Waart Edo de Waart (born 1 June 1941, Amsterdam) is a Dutch retired conductor. He is Music Director Laureate of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. De Waart is the former music director of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (2016-2019), chief conductor ...

(2010–2014) *

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

(2005–2015) *

Christian Zacharias Christian Zacharias (born 27 April 1950 in Jamshedpur, India) is a German pianist and conductor. Music career Zacharias studied piano with Irene Slavin and Vlado Perlemuter in Paris. He won second prize at both the Geneva Competition in 1969 an ...

(2009–2016) *

Thomas Zehetmair Thomas Zehetmair (born 23 November 1961) is an Austrian violinist and conductor. Biography Zehetmair was born in Salzburg, and studied at the Salzburg Mozarteum, where both of his parents taught. His festival debut was at age 16. He was in ...

(2010–2017) *

Jeremy Denk Jeremy Denk (born May 16, 1970 in Durham, North Carolina) is an American classical pianist and author of the memoir ''Every Good Boy Does Fine: A Love Story, in Music Lessons'' (2022). Early life Denk did not come from a musical family. After s ...

(2014–2022) *

(2014–2018) *

Martin Fröst Martin Fröst (born 14 December 1970) is a Swedish clarinetist and conductor. As a clarinetist, he performs internationally and is considered one of the most renowned instrumental soloists ever. He is the first clarinetist to be awarded ...

(2014–2019) *

Pekka Kuusisto Pekka Kuusisto (born 7 October 1976) is a Finnish musician. Biography Kuusisto comes from a musical lineage. His grandfather was the composer and organist Taneli Kuusisto, his father Ilkka Kuusisto, who had many functions in Finnish musical l ...

(2016–2022) * Jonathan Cohen (2016–2024) *

Richard Egarr Richard Egarr (born 7 August 1963) is a British conductor and keyboard player. Biography Born in Lincoln, Egarr received his early musical training as a choirboy at York Minster and at Chetham's School of Music. He was an organ scholar of ...

(2019–present) * Rob Kapilow (2020–2024) *

Abel Selaocoe Abel Selaocoe (born March 5, 1992) is a cellist, singer, composer and improviser from South Africa. Biography Selaocoe was born in 1992 in Sebokeng, a township in South Africa. He started learning classical cello following his older brother S ...

(2022–present) *

Tabea Zimmermann Tabea Zimmermann (born 8 October 1966) is a German violist who has performed internationally, both as a soloist and a chamber musician. She has been artist in residence of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the Bavarian ...

(2022–present) *

Gábor Takács-Nagy Gábor Takács-Nagy (born 17 April 1956''International Who's Who in Classical Music'' (25th edition). Routledge (London), p. 807 (2009) (). in Budapest) is a Hungarian violinist and conductor. He began violin studies at age 8. He attended the Franz ...

(2024–present) *

Richard Goode Richard Goode (born June 1, 1943) is an American classical pianist who is especially known for his interpretations of Mozart and Beethoven. Early life Goode was born in the East Bronx, New York. He studied piano with Elvira Szigeti, Claude Fran ...

(designate, effective 2025)

Awards and recognition

Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance The Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the ...

and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra for ''

Copland Copland may refer to: * Copland (crater), on Mercury * Copland (operating system) * Copland (surname) * Copland River in New Zealand * 4532 Copland, an asteroid named after Aaron Copland * Aaron Copland, American composer See also * Copeland (dis ...

'' (

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

) *

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, broadc ...

awards for Programming of Contemporary Music, including 2011 and 2014

References

Citations

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

External links

Official website of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra

Friends of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
{{Authority control Orchestras based in Minnesota Chamber orchestras Arts organizations based in Saint Paul, Minnesota Musical groups from Saint Paul, Minnesota Musical groups established in 1959 1959 establishments in Minnesota