Saint Paul Sunday 25th Anniversary

ANNIVERSARY ARTISTS

In their sheer variety and mastery, the guests Saint Paul Sunday has welcomed into the studio since 1981 years represent many of the greatest musical artists of our time.

But that's not the whole story. All of them have touched our listeners in uniquely personal ways, too—as they continue to do each week—offering superb music making with generous doses of humor and humanity.

Throughout 2006, we have the great privilege of welcoming back the following soloists and ensembles, affectionately dubbing them the Saint Paul Sunday 25. Each of them occupies some significant place in our two-and-a-half decade history. All of them are special to us, as are all our guests, new and returning friends alike.

We're happy to connect them to you as part of this our anniversary year, and we're grateful to them for helping to inspire the next chapter in the ongoing adventures of Saint Paul Sunday.

• Joshua Bell, violin; Frederic Chiu, piano | 2
  When he was still a conservatory student in Indiana in 1986, Joshua Bell first appeared on Saint Paul Sunday with his celebrated mentor Josef Gingold and pianist Angela Cheng. He returned two years later for a program with another celebrated colleague--French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet—for music of Ravel, Debussy, Schumann, and Grieg. This marks pianist Frederic Chiu's second Saint Paul Sunday program. In a wonderful 2000 appearance he played music of Chopin (his namesake), Schubert, and the composer he as championed most enthusiastically, Sergei Prokofiev.
• Dawn Upshaw, soprano; Gil Kalish, piano
  We recorded this program—the second we've done with internationally acclaimed soprano Dawn Upshaw, and our second too with pianist Gil Kalish -- in a vibrant little hall about 15 minutes from our usual studio. Dawn has a gift for collaborating with extraordinary pianists; her first Saint Paul Sunday appearance, in 1991, was with Richard Goode. In Gil's 1984 Saint Paul Sunday recording he joined forces with renowned Juilliard String Quartet cellist Joel Krosnick. We have happy memories of the perfect day last June that brightened our last recording with these two, one of a rose garden near the hall, and another drenched in evening sun at an outdoor café. The day was the perfect complement to the sublime music making you hear on this program.
• The Brentano String Quartet | 2
  The Brentano String Quartet first visited us 1995 as a brilliant, recently-formed young quartet. It's still young and every bit as brilliant—and now justly considered one of the best ensembes of its kind in the country. It has been wonderful to see and hear these four evolve individually and as a quartet. In this program, their third for us, they perform music of Mozart along with several intensely expressive Gesualdo madrigals arranged by composer Bruce Adolphe, with whom they collaborated. Carnegie Hall's Ara Guzelimian guest hosts.
• The King's Noyse | 2 | 3
• The Beaux Arts Trio
• Imani Winds | 2
• The Emerson String Quartet | 2 | 3
• Thomas Hampson, baritone | 2 | 3
• eighth blackbird | 2 | 3
• Imogen Cooper, piano
• The Orion String Quartet | 2
• Jorja Fleezanis, violin | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
• The Dale Warland Singers | 2
• Edgar Meyer, doublebass | 2 | 3 | 4
• OPUS ONE | 2
• Claude Frank, piano
• David Finckel, cello; Wu Han, piano | 2 | 3
• Chanticleer | 2
• The Saint Lawrence String Quartet | 2
• The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
• Pepe Romero and Celin Romero, guitars | 2 | 3
• Gil Shaham, violin | 2
• Leif Ove Andsnes, piano | 2
• The Guarneri String Quartet | 2
• The Sixteen | 2

MIXED COMPANY

POSTED BY VAUGHN ORMSETH ON DECEMBER 31, 2005

Silver and Gold

It's an honor for us to welcome Sir James Galway back for the opening program of our silver anniversary year...

Over the past 25 years, Saint Paul Sunday has hosted numerous artists and ensembles who approach or claim "household name" status. That level of celebrity is a feat in any field, but perhaps especially in classical music. And we welcome any chance to bring our listeners artists with whom they're likely to be familiar. Sir James fits certainly fits that bill, as will several others in the months to come. (more)

Read more of the Mixed Company Web log