This week, the SPCO performs a new expanded version of Chris Rogerson’s Samaa’ (Sky) for piano and orchestra. In this interview filmed for the Bravo! Vail Music Festival where Samaa’ first premiered, Rogerson shares more about his inspiration for the piece. Written for pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, this reflective piece is inspired by the lived experience of Kais Alkalisi, a Yemeni guide whom Rogerson met while in Yemen. Kais shared a story with Rogerson of a time, while traveling through Houthi territory on a public bus, in which he and the other riders saw missiles falling from the sky. In ..read more

By Kyu-Young Kim, Artistic Director Longtime SPCO violinist Daria Adams retires at the end of this concert season. Throughout her tenure, Daria made countless musical contributions as a violinist, as a valued member of the SPCO’s programming committee, and as a curator of some very memorable programs in recent seasons.  Our audiences also know Daria as one of the most eloquent and engaging speakers from the stage.  Though we’ll have more opportunities to celebrate Daria’s wonderful career before her final concert in June, this weekend is a great opportunity to see her featured as bo ..read more

Long-time Board member Art Kaemmer. Last week our long-time Board member Art Kaemmer passed away. Art served on the Board for many decades beginning in 1978. Over that time, he served on various committees and was a reliable and treasured source of wisdom and common sense. In the late 1990s Art Co-Chaired the SPCO’s first endowment campaign and helped lead it to a successful conclusion, surpassing the original ambitious goal. The success of this campaign is an important reason why the SPCO enjoys a strong endowment today. At the time of his passing Art was serving on the Cabinet of the All 4 ..read more

This holiday weekend, we welcome you to a program that explores themes of family, tradition and cultural roots centered around world-renowned father and son musicians, Jeffrey and Gabriel Kahane, as well as two works for piano and orchestra — an arrangement of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Gabriel’s own concerto written for his father. As both a composer and singer-songwriter, Gabriel will open these concerts at the Ordway, performing selections from his own recent albums and the Great American Songbook — a collection regarded as some of the most influential American popular songs an ..read more

By Daniel Orsen Daniel Orsen is an SPCO violist and Wagner’s Nightmare co-creator. The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra’s concerts this week and next feature Richard Wagner’s lone work for chamber orchestra, Siegfried Idyll, which was written as a birthday present for his wife, Cosima Liszt von Bülow Wagner (an astonishing character — please do read about her). Siegfried Idyll draws upon music from his opera Siegfried, particularly the Act III love duet between Siegfried and Brünhilde. It is Wagner at his most tender and intimate. Wagner is of course at least as famous for the controversies surro ..read more

Today, we’re excited to release video of the June world premiere of PaviElle French’s Sands of Time in our free Concert Library. The work was commissioned for the SPCO by community supporters Bill and Susan Sands. The project built on our previous collaboration with PaviElle in 2018. It was also a part of PaviElle’s residency with six Saint Paul arts organizations, which culminated with the American Composers Forum’s Artist Equity Summit. You can read more about the summit below. The Creation of Sands of Time Writer Aaron Grad shares more of the story of the new work: Born into a musical fa ..read more

By Julia Bogorad-Kogan This week is the first of our new Creative Lead concerts, in which a member of the orchestra curates the music on a program and leads the week of rehearsals. Principal Flute Julia Bogorad-Kogan is the first of these creative leads, and we asked her to share her thoughts. Would I curate a concert, they asked me. Curate a concert? This was a new concept for me. I knew about curating at a museum; I have a good friend who was a curator at the National Museum of African American History in Washington, D.C. I looked up what it means to curate: “to select, organize, and look a ..read more

Bruce Coppock and Principal Cellist Julie Albers examine a cello part before the SPCO’s first rehearsal in the newly-constructed Ordway Concert Hall in 2015. Coppock was a professional cellist before his career in orchestra management. (Photo by Chelsea Tischler) By Kyu-Young Kim, Artistic Director and Principal Violin Today, we lost a musical giant: cellist and orchestra executive Bruce Coppock.  Bruce was CEO of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra from 1999 to 2008, and then again from 2013 to 2016.  His impact on the SPCO as a visionary and fearless leader is undeniable.  It is ..read more

Former SPCO president Bruce Coppock. (Photo by Ann Marsden) By Jon Limbacher, Managing Director and President It is with a very heavy heart that I write to you today to let you know that our former President, Bruce Coppock has passed away after a long battle with cancer. Bruce led the SPCO from 1999 to 2008 and then again from 2013 to 2016. He was the longest serving executive leader in the SPCO’s 63 year history. Bruce’s impact on the SPCO has been nothing short of profound. It was Bruce’s imagination and vision that led to the creation of the musician-led artistic model complemented with ar ..read more

Now available for free, on-demand is a recent full-length concert from our 2021.22 concert season, featuring performances by beloved SPCO collaborator Pekka Kuusisto in a crowd-favorite piece. In Pekka Kussisto Plays The Lark Ascending, violin extraordinaire Pekka Kuusisto captivated listeners’ hearts for his final performance as an SPCO Artistic Partner with a stunning, bittersweet rendition of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending. This colorful and varied full-length program includes the world premiere of Cindy Cox’s Dreaming a world’s edge and Louise Farrenc’s little-known but master ..read more