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SPCO enlists a host of intriguing musicmakers for its 2022-23 season

German violist Tabea Zimmermann and South African cellist Abel Selaocoe will join the orchestra as artistic partners.

For the Minnesota Star Tribune
May 11, 2022 at 10:00AM
Tabea Zimmermann Viola
Tabea Zimmermann is joining the SPCO as one of its new artistic partners. (Marco Borggreve/St. Paul Chamber Orchestra)

While some orchestras seek a single music director to put forward a vision, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra is all about collaboration. And the 2022-23 season announced Wednesday demonstrates that some very exciting and innovative musicians want to work with the SPCO.

One of the world's foremost violists, Germany's Tabea Zimmermann, and South African cellist, composer and improviser Abel Selaocoe, who drew raves on his debut visit earlier this year, are joining the SPCO's team of artistic partners who curate and perform programs.

And superstar violinist Joshua Bell — one of the first to hold that post when it was invented back in 2004 — will return for a set of concerts next season.

The orchestra also is introducing a program called "Sandbox Composer Residencies," allowing audiences to watch commissioned works by three composers take shape over the course of the season.

Throw in an emphasis on composers from under-represented communities and the return of a full season of Neighborhood Series concerts at 13 venues throughout the Twin Cities, and there are plenty of intriguing offerings.

Here are month-by-month recommendations:

September: While the month is full of symphonies and sinfonia concertantes by Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart — as well as a premiere by "Sandbox" composer Viet Cuong — the Sept. 30-Oct. 2 "Express Concerts" at the Ordway and Ted Mann Concert Halls stand out. Exciting young American pianist Conrad Tao will solo on concertos by C.P.E. Bach and Mozart.

October: Artistic partner Richard Egarr will lead a program featuring tenor David Portillo, who was wonderful last year in the Minnesota Opera online production of Benjamin Britten's "Albert Herring." He'll return to Britten for the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, as well as arias from two Mozart operas. (Oct. 14-15, Ordway Concert Hall and St. Paul's United Church of Christ)

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November: Bell is almost invariably outstanding, and I've never seen him as deeply engaged as when teaming with the SPCO, whom he invited to join him last summer at Colorado's Bravo Vail Valley Festival. He'll solo on a violin concerto by Belgian romantic Henri Vieuxtemps and lead the orchestra in symphonies by Mozart and Georges Bizet. (Nov. 10-13, Ordway Concert Hall)

December: The "Messiah" returns. No local ensemble plays Handel's oratorio better than the SPCO, which will return to a holiday tradition with English conductor Paul McCreesh, four first-rate soloists and an exceptional local chamber choir, the Singers. (Dec. 15-18, Basilica of St. Mary and Ordway)

January: Music of the baroque era can provide warmth on a cold winter night. Egarr is expert in the style, as he demonstrated during his tenure leading England's celebrated Academy of Ancient Music. He'll lead the SPCO from the harpsichord in works by Heinrich Biber and Johann Schmelzer, as well as J.S. Bach's Third Orchestral Suite. (Jan. 12-15, Temple Israel, Ordway and St. Andrew's Lutheran Church)

February: For the multi-year "Beethoven/5" project, the SPCO has teamed with pianist Jonathan Biss, asking five composers to use a Beethoven piano concerto as inspiration for an original concerto. The final one is by Australia's Brett Dean; Biss and the orchestra will offer its U.S. premiere alongside Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto. (Feb. 10-12, Ordway and Ted Mann)

March: Zimmermann makes her debut as artistic partner with a fortnight of concerts. The first weekend features works by Ödön Pártos, Béla Bartók and Johannes Brahms (March 10-12, Wooddale Church and Ordway). The second offers pieces by Johann Hummel, Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel and her brother, Felix Mendelssohn. (March 17-19, Ordway and Benson Great Hall)

Abel Selaocoe will return to the SPCO as an artistic partner. (Mlungisi Mlungwana/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

April: A composer and performer with a style and energy entirely his own, Selaocoe fashions a fascinating hybrid of classical forms and the traditional music of his native South Africa. He will launch his tenure as artistic partner with works by himself along with Pauline Oliveros' improvisation-rooted "Tuning Meditation." (April 20-23, Temple Israel, Wayzata Community Church, St. Paul's United Church of Christ and St. Andrew's Lutheran Church)

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May: A star on the rise, South Korean pianist Yeol Eum Son will solo on concertos by Mozart and Beethoven (May 19-21, Ordway and Ted Mann Concert Halls). And another English artistic partner returns, as conductor/harpsichordist Jonathan Cohen leads work by Jean-Philippe Rameau and symphonies by Mozart and Haydn. (May 25-28, Ordway and St. Andrew's Lutheran Church)

June: Hungarian conductor Gábor Takács-Nagy makes his SPCO debut to close the season, leading the orchestra in works by Claude Debussy and Edvard Grieg before sending you into summer with Beethoven's "Pastoral" Symphony. (June 9-10, Ordway)

Individual tickets, starting at $12 per concert and free to students and children, will go on sale in August but season packages are now available at 651-291-1144 and thespco.org.


Rob Hubbard is a freelance Twin Cities classical music writer. wordhub@yahoo.com.

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