“The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s newly announced 2021-22 season will feature livestreamed and in-person concerts at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, 14 SPCO musicians featured as soloists, six newly commissioned works including PaviElle French’s second [commission] for the orchestra and the return of its artistic partners Jeremy Denk, Richard Egarr and Pekka Kuusisto,” writes Ross Raihala in Thursday’s (6/10) Pioneer Press (St. Paul, MN). “The 63rd season’s nearly 70 performances were planned collaboratively by orchestra members who gathered virtually to work as an ensemble and create programs ranging from intimate chamber music repertoire to full orchestra programming…. At the beginning of the season, attendance will be limited to 50 percent capacity …with the hope that concerts will return to full capacity by January, if not sooner. The orchestra plans to return to its Neighborhood Series venues January through June and will announce those concerts … in the fall.” In addition to PaviElle French’s new work, commissioned world premieres will include pieces by Michi Wiancko, Sky Macklay, SPCO Principal Horn James Ferree (a chamber arrangement of Bach’s Goldberg Variations), and Cindy Cox’s Dreaming a world’s edge, commissioned by the League of American Orchestras with the support of the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.
