Saint Paul, Minnesota (March 14, 2023) — The four Arts Partnership organizations—Minnesota Opera, Ordway, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Schubert Club—announced the return of Ordway Inside Out, an initiative that utilizes digital technology to dramatically increase access to artistic programming in Saint Paul. This Spring and Summer[BK1] , audiences will be able to experience free programming from all four organizations, streamed onto a giant 23’ x 13’ video wall in Rice Park.
“The Arts Partnership believes that the performances on our stages are for everyone,” said Ordway President and CEO Chris Harrington. “Our goal in launching this series is to contribute to a thriving, diverse Twin Cities community and the vitality of our parks and neighborhoods by making this programming as widely accessible as possible.”
Last October, The Arts Partnership unveiled Ordway Inside Out with a simulcast in Rice Park that featured a performance by the SPCO and guest pianist Conrad Tao. That event drew over 150 people, and the Partnership hopes to increase that number with a four-concert expansion that will include one performance of each of its member organizations.
“The Partnership is so excited to build on the pilot stream from Rice Park last October.” said Jon Limbacher, President of the Arts Partnership and President of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. “Our dream is to develop a program to consistently stream free performances in Rice Park and other parks throughout the Twin Cities. We believe this is the beginning of something special.“
Ordway Inside Out will be developed and implemented in coordination with both the Saint Paul Downtown Alliance and Saint Paul Parks Conservancy.
The schedule for 2023 includes the following four concerts:
SCHUBERT CLUB (Sunday, May 7 at 6:00 PM, rain date Monday, May 8 at 6:00 PM) – Stream of 3:00 PM concert from that day: 140th Anniversary Celebration Concert by The Kanneh-Masons.
THE SAINT PAUL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA (Friday, June 9 at 8:00 PM, rain date Sunday, June 11 at 2:00 PM) – Livestream of Season Finale Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony
ORDWAY (Saturday, July 15 at 7:30 PM, rain date Sunday, July 16 at 7:30 PM) – 20-minute live presentation of Taiko drumming, followed by a screening of Finding Her Beat documentary
MN OPERA (Friday, August 11 at 7:30 PM, rain date Saturday, August 12 at 7:30 PM) – Stream of world premiere of The Song Poet
The Schubert Club’s presentation of The Kanneh-Masons, the UK’s most famous family of classical musicians, will be presented in celebration of the Schubert Club’s 140th season. It will be the first time that all seven siblings will perform together in the United States.
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra’s performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s timeless Pastoral Symphony will be their season finale and will be conducted by world-class conductor Gábor Takács-Nagy in his SPCO debut.
The documentary Finding Her Beat was partially filmed at the Ordway in 2020 and centers around Taiko artists Jennifer Weir and Megan Chao Smith journey to assemble the world’s best Taiko drummers in a bold effort to claim a cultural spotlight that has historically been reserved only for men.
The Song Poet, onstage now through March 26 at the Luminary Arts Center in Minneapolis, is the first Hmong story adapted for the operatic stage. It is based on Saint Paul-based writer and librettist Kao Kalia Yang’s memoir of the same name and is composed by Jocelyn Hagen.
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