SPCO president announces he'll step down

There are big changes coming to the leadership of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

President and Managing Director Bruce Coppock announced Wednesday that he will retire in January. His job will be split between two SPCO veterans.

Coppock's decision to retire will likely surprise many people. It was only two years ago that he returned to the SPCO, taking the reins after a divisive labor dispute and musician lockout.

But Coppock, speaking from London where he's meeting with various SPCO collaborators, said it's all according to plan.

"So here's the thing," he said. "When I came back in 2013, I had four or five things I really wanted to accomplish."

His timeline was flexible, he said, but the elements have come together remarkably quickly:

First, there was the job of rebuilding the SPCO after the labor dispute. Ten musicians took buyouts offered under the settlement, and work began to find both temporary and full-time replacements.

There was the matter of building and opening a new concert hall at the Ordway Center designed specifically for the SPCO.

Coppock was also eager to get another contract settled with the musicians. That he achieved with a two-year contract extension at the end of September.

All of these goals were readily apparent to anyone watching closely. Not so public was that the SPCO's board had charged Coppock with creating a mechanism for an orderly leadership succession.

"When the opportunity came along for us to engage Kyu-Young Kim as the artistic director and Jon Limbacher as the managing director and president in one fell swoop, it seemed like a delicious opportunity for the organization," Coppock said.

The two will effectively split Coppock's job. Limbacher, currently the chief development officer for the Cleveland Orchestra, has a long history with the SPCO, where he was vice president and COO.

"I was there for 11 and a half years," he said. "I love the community, and so to come back in a leadership role is literally a dream come true."

As an SPCO veteran, Limbacher already has a working relationship with Kyu-Young Kim. Kim is currently both the SPCO's principal second violinist and senior director of artistic planning, a post he has held for two years. He says the recent changes at the SPCO, with the musician-driven emphasis and the flexibility of a chamber ensemble, allow great opportunity.

"And I think it's exciting that we've become a much more nimble ship than we used to be," he said. "We are really functioning like a speedboat in a lot of ways."

Kim has been praised for his artistic planning work, which is in addition to the rigorous routine of preparing for and playing concerts. Coppock said he believes Kim is the first current member of a major American orchestra appointed as music director. Kim said that while he'll probably play a few weeks less each season with his new job, he will still perform regularly. He thinks that's important, both personally and for the SPCO itself.

"As soon as you stop playing, I think your perspective changes," he said.

Kim, Limbacher and Coppock all said the moves allow continuity in leadership.

Coppock described the new appointments as putting a bow on his career at the SPCO. With audiences growing and the orchestra playing at new heights, it's become a unique organization, he said.

"The way it thinks, the way it operates, the way it behaves, isn't like any other orchestral organization in the country," he said. "And perhaps not in the world."

Asked what he'll do next, Coppock said things have been moving so fast he hasn't had a chance to really think about it.