Consider it the orchestral equivalent of someone who’s ready to give up on romance suddenly finding the perfect partner. After claiming for several seasons that it is transitioning toward becoming a conductor-less orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra has named its newest artistic partner, and he’s a conductor. Hungary’s Gábor Takács-Nagy has forged a thrilling chemistry with the SPCO musicians when he’s led them in their season-closing concerts of both 2023 and 2024, with Beethoven symphonies emerging as a specialty.
And now he’ll be continuing that tradition for the next three seasons, but with the added title of artistic partner. For 20 years, the SPCO has had such partners, most of them instrumentalists, including violinists Joshua Bell, Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Pekka Kuusisto. The 68-year-old Takács-Nagy — also principal conductor of England’s Manchester Camerata — joins a team of SPCO artistic partners that includes conductor and harpsichordist Richard Egarr, cellist Abel Selaocoe and violist Tabea Zimmermann.