Frank’s Sandbox Premiere

Date/Time:
Friday, January 30, 2026
11:00 am – 12:10 pm

Offer:
2 best available tickets — Friday, January 30, 11:00am

Event Details:

Experience the culmination of a multi-year collaboration with Sandbox Composer-in-Residence Gabriela Lena Frank, the SPCO and The Great Northern. As a composer, Frank's body of work centers climate change, community, and the role of the artist in stewarding change in the face of a heating planet.

Her Sandbox premiere is similarly ecologically fixated, ruminating on the legacy of John James Audubon, the French American writer and ornithologist who inspired the modern conservation movement. In collaboration with poet and librettist J. Drew Lanham, whose essay "What Do We Do About John James Audubon?" inspired this project, Frank grapples with the idea of complicated legacies, the "consequences of entangled histories," and how they shape the present. In this new song cycle for baritone and chamber orchestra, Ballad of John James Audubon and the Runaway: An American Tragedy Ignored and Retold, Frank and Lanham tell the lesser-known story of Audubon and his legacy of racism.

Ballad of John James Audubon and the Runaway: An American Tragedy Ignored and Retold was commissioned by The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra with support from Elizabeth and Justus Schlichting and the Serge Koussevitsky Music Foundation. We are deeply grateful for a generous bequest from The Robinson Family that helped make this performance possible. To learn how you can make music possible by supporting the SPCO in your will or estate plan, please contact Erin VanBurkleo at evanburkleo@spcomail.org or 651.292.3275.

Learn more about the SPCO Sandbox Composer Residency program at thespco.org/sandbox.

Please note: All tickets will be held at Will Call. Please arrive at least 45 minutes prior to the concert to pick up your tickets. If you have any questions, or if you or a member of your party have any special accessibility requirements (e.g. wheelchair seating, large print programs, etc.), please contact our Ticket Office.

The Ticket Office can be reached by phone at 651.291.1144 between the hours of 12:00pm-5:00pm Monday through Friday and 11:00am-3:00pm Saturday.

Location:
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra — Ordway Concert Hall
345 Washington Street
Saint Paul, MN 55102

Parking Information:
The Ordway is located at 345 Washington Street in downtown Saint Paul, directly across from Rice Park. There are numerous parking ramps within easy walking distance. The closest ramps are RiverCentre, Lawson Commons, Kellogg Street Ramp, and Landmark Towers. There is no direct skyway connection to the Ordway, but if you are coming through the RiverCentre you can get very close to the front door.

Organization Details:

Renowned for its artistic excellence, remarkable versatility of musical styles and adventurous programming, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra is widely regarded as one of the finest chamber orchestras in the world. Now in its 65th concert season, the SPCO has recently undergone transformational change with the opening of its new home, the Ordway Concert Hall, the addition of a new generation of players, and significant changes in its artistic vision. The SPCO is primarily an unconducted ensemble that performs a broad range of repertoire from Baroque to new music and works in close collaboration with a dynamic roster of Artistic Partners.

The virtuoso musicians of the SPCO present more than 100 concerts and educational programs in the Twin Cities each year. The orchestra’s free online Concert Library receives more than 350,000 visits annually and offers both live and on-demand videos of concerts that can be viewed anytime, anywhere, completely free of charge. Through its partnership with Classical Minnesota Public Radio, the SPCO is regularly heard on public radio programs that reach nearly 850,000 listeners each week on over 250 stations. Additionally, the SPCO has released 68 recordings, including its recent critically-acclaimed recording of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concertos with Artistic Partner Jeremy Denk and the 2018 Grammy Award-winning recording of Franz Schubert’s Death and the Maiden with violinist and former Artistic Partner Patricia Kopatchinskaja. The SPCO has commissioned 162 new works and tours nationally and internationally, including recent engagements in Europe and New York City, and a prestigious residency with violinist Joshua Bell at the 2021 Bravo! Vail Music Festival.

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Offer: 2 best available tickets — Friday, January 30, 11:00am

Date/Time: Friday, January 30, 2026 11:00 am

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