American pianist Jeremy Denk, Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos and Swiss flutist Emmanuel Pahud are among the guest artists who will perform during the newly announced 2024-25 Schubert Club International Artist Series.

“Once again, Schubert Club’s artistic committee and I have had the fascinating experience of reviewing dozens of artists and ensembles,” said artistic and executive director Barry Kempton in a news release. “Of particular importance to us this year has been encouraging artists to offer programs which include less familiar music that they believe deserves greater prominence.”

Now in its 142nd year, the Schubert Club is Minnesota’s oldest arts organization. The upcoming season includes both the International Artist Series, held at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in downtown St. Paul, and Music in the Park, which features more intimate chamber music concerts at St. Paul’s St. Anthony Park United Church of Christ.

Subscriptions are priced from $280 to $105 for the International Artist Series and $125 for Music in the Park. They are on sale now via schubert.org or by phone at 651-292-3268. Single ticket sales open in August.

In a special presentation, the Arts Partnership (Minnesota Opera, the Ordway, Schubert Club and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra) will host the Midwest premiere of seven time Grammy Award-winner Terence Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” at 2 p.m. Feb. 23. The work premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in 2021 and was the first opera written by a Black composer to be performed at the Met.

The International Artist Series includes:

American pianist Jeremy Denk, whose program will celebrate works for solo piano by women composers spanning several centuries and will conclude with works by Schumann and Brahms; 3 p.m. Oct. 13, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 15.
Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos will perform all of Johann Sebastian Bach’s solo violin sonatas and partitas over the course of two different programs; 2 p.m. Nov. 12, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13.
Swiss flutist Emmanuel Pahud will make his Schubert Club debut in a rare Midwest appearance; 7:30 p.m. Jan. 22.
Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes will perform the works of two Norwegian composers, Edvard Grieg and Geirr Tveitt; 7:30 p.m. March 28, 2025.
British saxophonist Jess Gillam will make her Schubert Club debut with a program of works by baroque composers alongside masters of the modern era, including Philip Glass, Meredith Monk and Astor Piazzolla; 7:30 p.m. April 16, 2 p.m. April 17, 2025.

The Music in the Park Series concerts take place at 4 p.m. and include:

The Chiaroscuro Quartet will perform music of the Classical and early Romantic periods on gut strings and with historical bows; Oct. 27.
New piano quintet Espressivo! will make their Music in the Park Series debut; Nov. 24.
Cellist Tommy Mesa will make his Twin Cities recital debut with pianist Michelle Cann; Jan. 26.
The Jerusalem Quartet will perform the string quartets of Shostakovich; March 23 and April 27, 2025. (The quartet will also perform three 7:30 p.m. shows on March 24-25 and April 25, offering all 15 Shostakovich quartets across five concerts. Subscribers have the option of adding the three nights.)

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“Kung Fu Panda 4” finds our trusty, rotund hero Po at a career crossroads and he’s nervous. “Change doesn’t have to be a bad thing,” he is told. “Kung Fu Panda 4” also finds the franchise at an inflection point, but there’s no reason for us to be nervous. DreamWorks knows what it’s doing.

The series’ first new installment in eight years is a reliably funny, sweet and wonderfully realized passing of the torch, with a paw in the past and another into the future — an elegant goodbye and a hello. Many other filmmakers — ahem, Marvel and DC — might learn a thing.

When we meet him, Po — voiced as always by a lively Jack Black — is being asked to give up his dream role as Dragon Warrior and pick a successor. He’s being kicked upstairs to be Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace. (This is basically the Peter Principle illustrated in animation.)

Except Po doesn’t want to go into management. He loves smashing skulls and still has that lovable imposter syndrome he’s had since the franchise began. He tries to short-circuit any succession plans, change being too frightening.

A new enemy threatening an existential crisis offers a reprieve — The Chameleon — a wicked, powerful sorceress voiced by Viola Davis — looks like the lizard from the GEICO commercials who spent too much time at Graceland.

Po teams up with a new character — a Corsac fox named Zhen voiced by Awkwafina — who is an orphan-turned-thief and teaches the too-trusting panda to trust no one. The movie then becomes a buddy road movie as these two hunt The Chameleon and a chance to bundle their home and auto insurance.

Wait a minute, you might be asking: Where are The Furious Five — Tigress, Viper, Monkey, Crane and Mantis — who have been in each “Kung Fu Panda” iteration so far? They’re not really in “Kung Fu Panda 4,” but the film reaches back to the first installment to bring back the snow leopard, Tai Lung, voiced by the sonorous Ian McShane.

Bryan Cranston is also back to voice Po’s goofy biological father and James Hong returns as his spirited adoptive goose dad, while Dustin Hoffman reprises his role as eye-rolling master Shifu.

It’s a good balance of new and old characters but a masterstroke is coming: The Chameleon finds a way of accessing the spirit realm and bringing back every villain Po has ever faced. That results in a greatest hits-like fight scene that may be hard to top if there’s a “Kung Fu Panda 5.”

The third installment’s writers, Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, are also back this time, joined by Darren Lemke. The film is helmed by “The Lego Movie 2” director Mike Mitchell and co-directed by Stephanie Ma Stine, who worked on “Raya and the Last Dragon.”

The last three movies have largely stuck to the rural Valley of Peace, so the filmmakers change it up this time and take Po and Zhen to an urban environment, Juniper City, packed with busy animals, rickshaws, and bulls as police officers (watch for a hilarious bull-in-a-jade-shop joke).

As always, it’s the animators who are the real heroes here. From the thick fur on the pandas, to clay tiles smashing on roofs to rain splashing on stones, barroom brawls and petals wafting from cherry trees, this is a visual delight.

Creating The Chameleon — and her scary Komodo dragon guards — gives the animators a chance to show a tiny lizard metamorphosize into an elephant in a few seconds and they relish it. They also sometimes dip into different animation styles, giving a viewer a visual break.

There are some missteps, like a pelican character controlled by a fish in its mouth and three cute bunnies who appear adorable and yet are deeply psychotic. (“Violence makes my tummy tingle,” one says.) Plus, the teaming up again of Po’s dads, while welcome, is also sort of pointless here.

But, as Po would say, “Skadoosh!” The filmmaker have managed a very tricky assignment: Pave the way for a new franchise direction, find new ways to entertain us, remind us of lessons like “It’s never too late to do the right thing” and end the whole thing with the Black-led cover by Tenacious D of “…Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears. Embrace the change.

“Kung Fu Panda 4,” a DreamWorks Animation release that hits theaters Friday, is rated PG for “for mild violence, martial arts action, scary images and some mild rude humor.” Running time: 94 minutes. Three stars out of four.

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During my residency at Stanford, I traveled to Mexico with a group of surgeons to operate on children with cleft lips and palates. On the first day, I watched in awe as the team leader meticulously realigned the tissues of the lip, mouth and nose of a 3-month-old boy, leaving behind nothing but a faint scar — all in just 90 minutes.

I immediately fell in love with plastic and reconstructive surgery. As a surgeon, I visited more than a dozen countries to repair the cleft lips and palates of children. But later, in my leadership role as CEO at Kaiser Permanente, extended travel proved impossible. And I missed those trips dearly.

Recently I made my first global surgery mission in many years. Not only did our time in the Philippines reignite my passion for global surgery, but it also left me with three surprising lessons for American health care:

Without mission and purpose, medicine proves exhausting

Surgical trips are physically and emotionally demanding. Far from the sterilized corridors of American hospitals, you are plunged into environments where resources are scarce and the needs overwhelming. In remote towns and underdeveloped cities, you operate in tight spaces with erratic electricity and limited clean water. The days stretch long, with five to seven surgeries in a 12-hour day.

Each child you treat carries a story of hardship and hope, their families’ eyes filled with a mix of fear and optimism. And just as you start to tire from the heat and yearn for a good night’s sleep, another mother arrives. She has walked for two days through the mountains with a child in her arms, praying her baby can be added to the surgical schedule. There is no saying “no” to this. You immediately become reinvigorated.

After a physically trying week, you return to the United States not exhausted, but emotionally replenished. Nearly every clinician who has participated in a surgical mission feels the exact same way.

American health care today obscures the fundamental mission and purpose that motivates clinicians. Physicians find themselves ensnared in a web of administrative tasks and insurance disputes. For many doctors, this noble calling has become just a job.

To revive the profession and address the burnout crisis that affects more than 60% of clinicians, a renaissance of purpose is imperative.

To get there, we must pivot away from the transactional “fee for service” financial model that rewards doctors for the sheer quantity of services rendered. In its place: a reimbursement model led by clinicians who are paid based on the quality of clinical outcomes achieved.

Inherent in the privilege of healing is the duty to lead this transformation. Taking on that accountability — and thereby eliminating the care restrictions that insurance companies impose — will rejuvenate, not further fatigue, health care professionals.

American doctors are excellent but so are physicians around the globe

U.S. physicians believe that training outside the States is a second-rate education. It’s time to alter that perspective.

During my week in the Philippines, I had the pleasure to work alongside five local physicians, often at adjoining operating room tables. They’d trained in residency and fellowship programs all around the world to maximize their expertise. To a person, their results matched the leading pediatric hospitals in the United States.

Although American doctors have access to the best facilities, machines and materials, physicians in other nations have a competitive advantage that comes from higher volume. The best way to hone any medical skill is through repetition and experience. American surgeons lag their global colleagues in this area.

U.S. clinicians bring a wealth of knowledge that can greatly benefit doctors worldwide, yet there are equally rich lessons to learn from the experiences and practices of physicians abroad.

In the U.S. today, doctors adhere to minimum surgical volume standards. Patient outcomes would improve tremendously if, instead, our nation set benchmarks for superior performance. Combining high-volume surgical experience with our advanced technologies and top-notch facilities would produce superlative clinical outcomes.

But first, America’s health care professionals need to embrace humility and be open to learning from our global colleagues.

U.S. resources are vast but access is still scarce

In countries like the Philippines, health care challenges are magnified by economic constraints. Despite government coverage, per-capita health care spending remains low, under $200 annually. This financial reality forces difficult choices, leaving significant gaps between the health care needs of the population and the services available.

Witnessing these disparities firsthand is a poignant reminder of the abundance the United States enjoys, with health care spending now exceeding $13,000 per American. And yet, despite our nation’s wealth, independent studies reveal that U.S. health care ranks last among a dozen wealthy nations and near the bottom of 38 OECD countries in more than a dozen health measures.

The United States has earned its distinction as home to the most expensive and least effective health care system in the developed world. This isn’t just because of our 30 million uninsured citizens (and tens of millions who are underinsured). It’s the result of decades of underinvestment in primary care, tolerance of inefficient hospital systems and exorbitant drug prices.

The challenge of transforming American health care is daunting, and it requires a willingness to embrace change and confront uncomfortable truths. Observing the efficiency and ingenuity of less affluent nations inspires a reevaluation of our own care-delivery practices and health care finances.

The biggest problem in our health care system isn’t a lack of money. It’s the deficit in leadership and innovation.

Volunteering on global missions offers invaluable perspectives that could catalyze change in the United States. I’m optimistic that by learning from countries that achieve remarkable outcomes with modest means, we can enhance clinical outcomes, reduce clinician burnout, and make quality health care accessible and affordable for all Americans.

Robert Pearl is a clinical professor of plastic surgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine and is on the faculty of the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is a former CEO of The Permanente Medical Group. He wrote this column for The Fulcrum.

The Chicago Cubs announced one of their most important offseason decisions Monday, naming John Steinmiller, formerly with the Blackhawks, as their new senior director of media relations.

It’s not exactly bringing back Cody Bellinger, but it’s newsworthy, and that counts for something during this Cubs offseason, where President Jed Hoyer has been biding his time while waiting for the prices of free agents to drop.

At least the Rickettses aren’t messing around in this key position, which serves as the bridge between the local media and manager Craig Counsell and his players.

Steinmiller, who replaces veteran Jason Carr, has been in the business since 2005 when he began with the Milwaukee Brewers. His relationship with Counsell should serve him well, and he has a familiarity with most of the Chicago media, including me.

Steinmiller still took the job, which is commendable.

There may be no more thankless job than that of media relations for a professional sports team, especially a major market team like the Cubs. You’re dealing with managers who might be in a cranky mood after a crushing loss, players who decide to leave the clubhouse without talking to the media after hitting a game-winning home run, and writers constantly asking: “Is Jed talking today?”

The relationship between the media and athletes has changed dramatically over the last 20 years, with less access for reporters, fewer stars who feel the need to talk before or after games, and front-office executives who only deal with national writers at the expense of their beat writers.

The main responsibility of a media relations boss is to make sure the team always comes out in the best light, or if it’s a particularly controversial news story to perform some damage control. Steinmiller should be well-prepared after working for the Blackhawks, where damage control has become an art form in the last few years.

The last time I saw Steinmiller at a Blackhawks game, I accidentally stepped on the Blackhawks logo in the postgame locker room, which drew a much-deserved reprimand from one of his media relations assistants: “Hey, get off the logo!” Instead of a lifetime ban, I got off with a warning to watch my step.

Everyone deserves a second chance, though I’ve avoided the Blackhawks locker room since. Fortunately, the floor of the Cubs’ clubhouse is simply a weathered carpet without any logo, so there will be no worries about a repeat offense unless stepping on Clark the Cub counts.

Steinmiller also reminded me that day of the time I wrote in the Chicago Tribune that Counsell was “tragically unhip,” apparently making fun of the new Cubs manager back when he was running the Brewers. I couldn’t remember writing anything like that, but a quick Google search revealed Steinmiller’s memory was accurate.

While writing a Cubs-Brewers series preview in August 2018, I wrote of the competing managers: ”Hipster Joe Maddon matches wits with the tragically unhip Craig Counsell.” Oof. I have no reason to believe Counsell is unhip, tragically or otherwise. The Tribune regrets the error.

Counsell has been around for a long time. He probably doesn’t need any assistance from Steinmiller on how to deal with the Chicago baseball media, which is much larger — and a bit snarkier — than our peers in Milwaukee, except for the Marquee Sports Network, the Cubs-owned outlet that treated former manager David Ross like he was part of the network and thus blameless during the team’s end-of-season collapse.

Hoyer obviously saw otherwise and made the right call on replacing Ross with Counsell, whose $40 million contract is the largest of any manager in MLB history.

Counsell seems to have a quirky sense of humor, which will likely be necessary as he begins the long grind when spring training starts in two weeks in Mesa, Ariz. As former manager Lou Piniella said in spring training 2007: “This is no push-button operation, I can tell you that.”

After an uneventful start to the offseason, the Cubs have made a couple of big moves since the calendar turned, signing Japanese starter Shota Imanaga and reliever Héctor Neris. Everyone still expects Hoyer to re-sign Bellinger, but until he’s in camp it’s mere guesswork.

“Anyone can do a deal,” Hoyer told fans at the Cubs Convention. “Anyone can say yes to an agent’s asking price. If you do that, you’re going to run out of money really quickly.”

I doubt the Rickettses will ever run out of money, no matter how much they give Bellinger or anyone else. But if Hoyer signs Bellinger at a bargain price, his strategy will have worked and most fans will be satisfied. If Bellinger signs elsewhere, the Cubs could be looking at another 80-win season.

Everything really hinges on one decision.

The 2024 season is almost here, but there’s still time to make a move or two. Hopefully Hoyer gives his new media relations director something to do as Steinmiller begins his new job on Feb. 5.

Those press releases don’t write themselves.

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