As part of our MPR 50 celebrations, we're presenting archival concerts that aired on Minnesota Public Radio. This week, we're pleased to rebroadcast the opening concert of the Ordway Center in St. Paul, Minn., from Jan. 9, 1985. Michael Barone hosts.
Named for benefactor Sally Ordway Irvine, the Ordway Music Theatre (as it was originally named) opened in January 1985. Internationally known architect and St. Paul native Benjamin Thompson, whose other projects included the Faneuil Hall renovation in Boston and South Street Seaport in New York, was selected to design a building that would project "a visible contemporary image" but would also fit harmoniously on a site facing Rice Park, a block-square park framed by historic buildings.
The facility was renamed the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in 2000, and in 2013, the building began a major renovation that resulted in the opening of the 1,000-seat Ordway Concert Hall on Feb. 28, 2015.
But let's turn back the clock to 1985, to the Ordway's original opening concert, featuring the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, led by Pinchas Zukerman. Listen Monday, March 27, at 8 p.m., on Classical MPR.
Concert Program
Opening concert of Ordway Music Theatre
Jan. 9, 1985
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
Pinchas Zuckerman, violin and conductor
Minnesota Chorale: Joel Revzen, dir.
Elisabeth Nelson, soprano
Karen Leigh, alto
Allan Madison, tenor
Paul Boyce, bass
MOZART: Motet, Regina Coeli, K. 276
MOZART: Violin Concerto No. 5 in A, K. 219
Intermission
MOZART: Symphony No. 41 in C, K. 551
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