The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra announced a balanced budget for the fiscal year ending June 30 at its annual meeting of members on Tuesday. It marks the orchestra’s 30th balanced budget out of the past 32 years.
The group made a dip into its Rainy Day Fund to achieve the goal. The SPCO created the fund in 2018 as a proactive measure and is currently in the first of a multi-year plan to grow revenues, reduce expenses and cut back on the draw on the fund.
Total operating revenue for the period was $9,688,153, an increase of 7.7 percent over the previous season. Of that total operating revenue, contributed revenue accounted for 58 percent, earned revenue from ticket sales accounted for 19.7 percent and the endowment contributed 22.3 percent. The endowment grew 18.3 percent over the prior year, including contributions and market performance.
The orchestra’s concert membership program saw an increase of 29 percent, while attendance matched that of the previous fiscal year, totaling 68,476 attendees during the 2024-25 season.
“It’s been wonderful to come into an organization with such a strong history of artistic excellence, financial discipline and care for the community,” said president and managing director Jessica Mallow Gulley, who assumed the position in October following her predecessor Jon Limbacher’s retirement. “I applaud all of the excellent work that took place this last year, and previous years, and am looking forward to how we will be able to build off of the strong foundation that the organization has built.”
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Other highlights from the annual meeting include:
Artistic partners: The season featured four returning SPCO artistic partners. Across 22 concerts, the orchestra collaborated with British Baroque specialist Richard Egarr, South African cellist Abel Selaocoe, Hungarian conductor Gábor Takács-Nagy and German violist Tabea Zimmermann.
New works: The SPCO commissioned 12 new works across nine concert programs, including 11 premieres. The orchestra’s Sandbox Composer Residency, first established in the 2022-23 season, aims to support the creation of new music in a long-term, collaborative relationship with composers. Valerie Coleman was the 2024-25 season’s composer-in-residence and, in May, the orchestra premiered her new work written in commemoration of the anniversary of George Floyd’s death.
Digital library: The free digital concert library received 50,874 visits from Minnesota and 136,946 visits worldwide. The library currently hosts 13 video and 44 audio recordings of complete SPCO concerts.
Affordable tickets: Twenty years after the SPCO committed to lower ticket prices, the 2024-25 season saw 29 percent of tickets (19,961) sold for $16 or less. Additionally, 11,132 tickets, 16 percent of the total audience, were distributed free of charge, of which almost 64% went to children and students.
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