The Friends of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra is a non-profit cultural and educational organization based in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was founded in 1975 by Lola May Thompson and Patricia Whitacre with the mission of supporting the activities of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra

Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra

The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra , based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, is the United States' only full-time professional chamber orchestra...

 and incorporated in 1984. The sitting co-presidents are Carolynn Johnson and Katie Scarfone. It is one of the longest continuously operating auxiliary organizations for any professional American orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

. The Friends of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra sponsors fundraising events, audience development events, classes in music appreciation

Music appreciation

Music appreciation is teaching people what to listen for and to appreciate different types of music. Usually music appreciation classes involve some history lessons to explain why people of a certain era liked the music that they did...

, and biannual group tours of major musical centers in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

.

The Friends of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra has won several awards from national arts organizations, the first one the 1996 "Outstanding Benefit of the Year" award from the League of American Orchestras

League of American Orchestras

The League of American Orchestras, known until Fall 2007 as the American Symphony Orchestra League , is an association of U.S. and Canadian orchestras. Over 950 orchestras are members, including youth, community, and professional orchestras....

 for a fund-raising event organized by past presidents Kay Bendel and Betty Reichert in an airplane hangar

Hangar

A hangar is a closed structure to hold aircraft or spacecraft in protective storage. Most hangars are built of metal, but other materials such as wood and concrete are also sometimes used...

 in the downtown St. Paul airport. In 2003, the Friends of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra won a Silver Ribbon from the same organization for the classes in music appreciation that it offers to the public under the supervision of the musicologist Daniel E. Freeman.

With funding from the Patricia Whitacre Memorial Fund, the Friends of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra has initiated a Youth Chamber Music Competition that will be held regularly beginning in February 2012.

External links

• http://www.friendsofthespco.org/ website of the Friends of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
• http://spco-ycmc.org/ website of the Friends of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Youth Chamber Music Competition