The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra christens its new performance hall at Ordway Center next season. The 1,100-seat auditorium — built in place of the former McKnight Theatre — will open with special concerts March 5-6, 2015.
The new home of the SPCO is modeled on traditional halls of the 19th century, with a circular design that includes seats behind the musicians.
The season, which begins Sept. 13, also brings two new artistic partners to the SPCO: Violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and pianist Jeremy Denk.
Kopatchinskaja will have her debut Nov. 20-23 at three of the SPCO's neighborhood venues in a program featuring Mozart, Bartok, Mansurian and the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in D minor. Denk is scheduled to play Bach, including the First and Fifth piano concertos, Feb. 26-27, 2015.
The SPCO will play all nine Beethoven symphonies during the 2014-15 season, in the Ordway's larger Music Theater, to mark 30 years of SPCO performances there.
New music is represented in three world premieres, all SPCO commissions or co-commissions, by Nicola Campogrande, Charles Wuorinen and Fred Lerdahl.
Highlights of the season:
Opening weekend, Sept. 13-14, will feature Beethoven's Seventh and Eighth symphonies with Roberto Abbado conducting. The Beethoven Fifth will be Oct. 3-4 followed by the First on Oct. 9-12.
