British Baroque specialist Jonathan Cohen will become the newest artistic partner at the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Cohen, who plays piano and cello and conducts, will start in the 2016-17 season.

This is Cohen's first engagement as an artistic leader with a major American orchestra. In addition to Baroque, he is versed in the classical symphonic repertoire. In past SPCO appearances, he has conducted from the keyboard.

Cohen is artistic director and founder of London-based Arcangelo, with whom he has made nine recordings in the past five years. He is also associate conductor of Les Arts Florissants and artistic director of England's Tetbury Music Festival.

Though Cohen's tenure does not begin until September, he will lead the SPCO in two weeks of Neighborhood Series performances March 12-20. He will conduct from the harpsichord on Rameau's Suite from Les Boréades, move to the podium for Mozart's Symphony No. 34 and will end the program on the cello along with SPCO violinists Ruggero Allifranchini and Kyu-Young Kim, violist Maiya Papach and cellist Julie Albers for Schubert's String Quintet. He will join the same group for a sold-out performance of Schubert's quintet at Icehouse in Minneapolis March 16.

Kim, who is also the SPCO's artistic director, said Cohen's interpretation of Handel's Messiah in 2013 caught the organization's attention.

In a prepared statement, Cohen said he really enjoys "working with this fine chamber orchestra and I feel we share a mutual appreciation and commitment to the chamber music aesthetic."

SPCO Managing Director Jon Limbacher praised "Cohen's versatility and exceptional blend of talents."

Cohen joins an impressive roster of artistic partners: Jeremy Denk, Martin Fröst, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Pekka Kuusisto, Christian Zacharias and Thomas Zehetmair. Fröst has been plagued by health issues and missed several engagements this season.

Graydon Royce • 612-673-7299