ST. PAUL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

Thursday-Sunday: Music of central and eastern Europe takes center stage as the SPCO introduces audiences to its newest artistic partner, Moldovan violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja. She will perform Concerto No. 2, "Four Serious Songs," by Armenian composer Tigran Mansurian. The somber-toned piece, which begins with two movements marked andante, was released recently on an ECM CD featuring Kopatchinskaja and the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. Bartók's Romanian Folk Dances and Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in D Minor are on this program, as well as an appearance by the violinist's musical mom and dad, performing folk music from their CD "Rapsodia." (10:30 a.m. Thu. at Temple Israel, 2324 Emerson Av. S., Mpls. [sold out], 10:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. Fri., Wooddale Church, 6630 Shady Oak Rd., Eden Prairie; 3 p.m. Sun., St. Andrew's Lutheran Church, 900 Stillwater Rd., Mahtomedi, $12-$27, 651-291-1144, www.thespco.org.)

CLAUDE PECK