The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) made its first recording on January 25, 1964. The LP featured two pieces by local composers and Hayden’s Symphony No. 73 on the other. The organization held its firstperformance, led by Leopold Sipe, at the St. Paul Central High School
Auditorium on November 18, 1959.
In its early years, the group needed to fit in and complement but not compete with the large Minneapolis Orchestra. Despite a period of financial difficulty, they have become the nation’s only full-time professional chamber orchestra, one that many consider one of the finest chamber orchestras in the world. The twenty-eight virtuoso musicians present more than 150 concerts and educational programs each year, and are regularly heard on public radio and are now producing video streams. The SPCO has released over 67 recordings, commissioned 114 new works, and premiered 53 additional compositions.
It tours nationally and internationally, including performances in premier venues in Europe, Asia and South America. In 1980 the group won the Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance. Launched in 1995, the SPCO’s award-winning CONNECT education program reached 6,000 students annually in fifteen Twin Cities schools. The group survived a
191-day lockout in 2015.
Thank you to historian Steve Trimble for this post.
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra at the Ordway Concert Hall. From thespco.org.
Original source can be found here.
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