In 1959, a new orchestra was formed in St. Paul in order to attract more people to downtown. The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) held their first concert on November 18, 1959, in the Central High School auditorium. Since their debut, the SPCO has won several awards and has become the only full-time chamber orchestra in the United States.
Orchestra music was popular in the mid-1950s. Minneapolis had a symphony orchestra and several chamber-sized string groups, including the Flor String Quartet, the Trio da Camera, and the Variation String Quartet. Some of the large downtown hotels had orchestras to provide music for dancing after dinner.
Although these groups existed, Ralph Burgard, president of the St. Paul Council of Arts and Sciences, thought that St. Paul needed another orchestra. He surmised that a chamber orchestra with professional musicians would draw people downtown because it was unique. Because it was smaller, it could succeed alongside the Minneapolis Symphony without competing for the same audience.
Burgard organized the St. Paul Philharmonic Society in 1958 and hired Leopold Sipe to lead its music groups a year later. Groups within the Philharmonic Society included the St. Paul Civic Orchestra, a music camp for young people, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. After the SPCO’s 1959 debut, John K. Sherman, a music critic for the Minneapolis Star, wrote that the new orchestra was producing some of the best recent music that originated in St. Paul. In another review, John H. Harvey noted that Minneapolis–St. Paul had gained something new, different, and very good.
A chamber orchestra is smaller than a symphony orchestra. While a symphony orchestra may have as many as ninety musicians, the SPCO debuted with thirty-one musicians and has remained close to that size throughout its existence.
Groups of this size play chamber music, so called because its players can fit into a single chamber. They can also perform in comparatively small settings such as churches, schools, and prisons. A New York Times reviewer noted that the SPCO’s success in small spaces was a result of the musicians’ ability to communicate with people of all ages and provided an example for similar orchestras.
Travel was less expensive for a small orchestra than for a full-size orchestra. Size may have worked in the SPCO’s favor when the U.S. State Department sponsored the group on a month-long tour of Eastern Europe in October 1974. A trip to the Soviet Union in autumn of 1975 was also sponsored by the State Department.
Without a large number of affluent private donors, finances were frequently tight for the SPCO. In each lean time, management usually found grants or endowments. In October 1993, however, Minnesota Public Radio sponsored a “radiothon” on behalf of the SPCO. This fund-raising drive, known as “S.O.S. (Save Our SPCO)” rescued the orchestra from bankruptcy. Fundraising on behalf of another organization was rare for a public radio station and required a waiver from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The event, however, proved effective; it raised a total of $700,000 in donations.
Most orchestras are led by a man or woman who serves as a music director. In 1987, however, Deborah Borda, the orchestra's president and managing director, made a decision that set the SPCO apart from other chamber orchestras. She chose to replace the outgoing music director, Pinchas Zukerman, with an artistic commission of three conductors, each with different roles. This innovative structure remained in place until the fall of 1992, when Hugh Wolff became the music director.
By 2004, another group leadership model was put in place by then-president Bruce Coppock. The artistic partners model consisted of two committees: the Artistic Vision Committee and the Artistic Personnel Committee. These committees include both musicians and conductors.