The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra clearly wants to see you at a concert.
Few major American orchestras make such a concerted effort to meet audiences where they're at, be it geographically, economically or musically, offering magnificent musicianship at low prices at a venue near you.
The SPCO announced its 66th season Wednesday, and it presents a plethora of potentially marvelous music. Here's a month-by-month rundown of some of the most promising concerts, either at the orchestra's home hall, St. Paul's Ordway Concert Hall, or one of eight other venues in four Minneapolis neighborhoods, St. Paul's Summit Hill, Eden Prairie, Apple Valley and Mahtomedi.
September: The orchestra's three artistic partners will each visit twice, starting with one of the world's great violists, Germany's Tabea Zimmermann. She'll open the season with music by 20th-century Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz and Sergei Prokofiev before teaming up with concertmaster Steven Copes for a Mozart Sinfonia Concertante (Sept. 13-15).
October: If you've yet to experience the artistic imagination of South African cellist and SPCO artistic partner Abel Selaocoe, you really should. You might end up singing, dancing, chanting or just being transported by the music, which, for these concerts, will be by Giovanni Sollima and Selaocoe himself (Oct. 18-20).
November: While a conductor-less take on Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (Nov. 1-3) should be thrilling, check out the all-American program featuring George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Aaron Copland ("Appalachian Spring") and Minneapolis-based mezzo Clara Osowski singing songs by Charles Ives (Nov. 29-Dec. 1).
December: It's a holiday tradition for the orchestra's musicians to perform five of J.S. Bach's "Brandenburg" Concertos, but this year's edition features a baroque music master in SPCO artistic partner Richard Egarr (Dec. 13-15). Speaking of baroque, the best local interpretation of Handel's "Messiah" oratorio is always the SPCO's, this year conducted by Patrick Dupré Quigley of Miami-based early music ensemble Seraphic Fire (Dec. 19-22).
January: Israeli pianist Roman Rabinovich will be the soloist for Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 on a program that also features baritone John Moore singing Francis Poulenc's "Le bal masque (The Masked Ball)" (Jan. 17-19).
February: Selaocoe returns with percussionist Bernhard Schimpelsberger for works by Igor Stravinsky, Marius Neset and himself (Feb. 14-16), but also consider a concert version of Terence Blanchard's opera, "Fire Shut Up in My Bones," with Blanchard's band, the E-Collective, and the Turtle Island String Quartet (Feb. 23).
March: Two artistic partners return, as Egarr conducts music by J.S. Bach, Emilie Mayer and Joseph Haydn (March 14-16) and Zimmermann joins clarinetist Sang Yoon Kim for a Max Bruch concerto (March 27-30).
April 2025: Dmitry Sinkovsky not only conducted the SPCO's December 2023 performances of Handel's "Messiah," but served as the countertenor soloist. He's also an outstanding violinist, as he'll demonstrate on music by Handel, Antonio Vivaldi and Mozart (April 10-12). And a brilliant flutist, Jasmine Choi, solos on works by Mozart and Pablo de Sarasate (April 24-27).
May 2025: The SPCO's innovative Sandbox Residency invites one composer each season to create a piece in collaboration with the orchestra over the course of several months. Next season's resident is Valerie Coleman, who will premiere her new work May 16-18.
June 2025: In what's become a very enjoyable annual tradition, the orchestra closes the season with Hungarian conductor Gábor Takács-Nagy, music director of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra in Switzerland. On tap is music by Maurice Ravel, Béla Bartók, Geoffrey Gordon and Mozart (June 13-15).
And about meeting audiences where they are economically: Not only do students and children get in free to all concerts, but you can attend unlimited concerts for $5 a month (if you're new) or $9 a month for returning subscribers. And if you're in 20s or 30s, $10 tickets are available for most concerts.
Season ticket packages are available at 651-291-1144 or thespco.org. Individual tickets go on sale in August, ranging from $13 to $61.
Rob Hubbard is a Twin Cities classical music writer. Reach him at wordhub@yahoo.com.
