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Euan Kerr

St. Paul Chamber Orchestra: 2016-17 season free for students

The SPCO onstage at the Ordway's Concert Hall
The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra performs in the Ordway's Concert Hall in March 2015. Its upcoming season will be free for students.
Nate Ryan | MPR 2015 file

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The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, already a national leader in offering affordable concerts, said Tuesday it is offering free tickets to school and college students to unlimited concerts during the 2016-17 season.

Students can go online now and order tickets a week before single tickets go on sale to the general public.

SPCO officials believe the offer, part of their long-term audience development strategy, will hook young people into becoming future subscribers to the chamber orchestra.

"It's a real statement that says 'we want you here. We want you to be part of our concerts. We want you to be part of the SPCO family over time,'" said SPCO Managing Director and President Jon Limbacher.

Students ages 6 to 17 need to be accompanied by an adult with a ticket, but each adult can bring up to four younger students. College students will have to show a valid ID when collecting their tickets. The program is being financed by donations to the SPCO.

The "New Generation Initiative" joins the orchestra's popular concert membership program where members can see an unlimited number of concerts for $5 a month. Currently there are some 3,000 memberships and the SPCO expects that number to grow.

The SPCO has also made its concerts more geographically accessible by regularly playing at venues around the Twin Cities and beyond.

In the past, SPCO leadership has found the larger numbers of attendees and the lessened need to pay for promotion has helped balance the books.

The latest initiative, and the presale, are driven by a belief that the Orchestra belongs to the community and should be shared with as many people as possible, Limbacher said.

"This isn't a rush line," he added. "This isn't, 'Come and we will give you any tickets that are left on a given night.' We are inviting people to make their well in advance so that they can plan, and we are offering best available seats when we are able to do that."

The SPCO season opens Sept. 9 with a series of three concerts at the Ordway Concert Hall featuring audience favorite Patricia Kopatchinskaja playing Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2.

Correction (Aug. 9, 2016): In an earlier version of this story, the SPCO season opener date was incorrect. The orchestra opens its season on Sept. 9. The story has been updated.