I recently had a delightful conversation with Artistic Planning Director Jonathan Posthuma about the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s weaving of Bach’s four orchestral suites into the programming for the 2025-2026 season. Here is a summary of our conversation from November 11, 2025.

Tell me about your role with the SPCO.

I’ve been with the SPCO for several seasons assisting with music programming. The 2025–2026 season is the first season where I am leading the Artistic Vision Committee and shaping the programs for all concerts. The Artistic Vision Committee balances scheduling logistics when deciding what music to playand the artists to be featured. The committee is made up of three musicians from the orchestra and two staff members.

Why did you decide to feature Bach’s four orchestral suites?

Coming off the 2024-2025 season where SPCO featured Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, the four orchestral suites provided another great opportunity to examine baroque music from different angles. Bach’s suites are standard, essential repertoire for chamber orchestras. The SPCO has done them many times, and this season was an opportunity to play them more creatively.

What makes this music so interesting is that when writing it, Bach was inspired by music from different countries, and each suite focuses on a different nationality. In some ways Bach’s musical exchange can be imagined as an octopus extending its arms across different cultures, gathering diverse influences and weaving them into his own compositions.

Tell me about programming the other music on the upcoming programs for the concerts with the suites?

The fourth was the most ambitious where Bach kicks off a tradition of big symphonic German compositions. This program also features Handel’s Water Music and Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony.

Suites two and three were more challenging to pair with companion pieces because of Bach’s tinkering with melody and counterpoint — almost as if he were solving a musical sudoku.

Inspired by English music of the day, the third orchestral suite is paired with music of English composers. Most notably on the program for the November 21–22 concert series is Leopold Sipe’s arrangement of Purcell’s Ceremonial Music which has not been played or recorded by SPCO since the first SPCO concert in November 1959, when Sipe was the artistic director of the orchestra. William Byrd and Michael Tippett, English composers from before and after Bach’s lifetime, respectively, also appear on the program.

The second suite, having similar qualities to a concerto, makes it the most Italian. The second suite prominently features a solo flute and is almost like a concerto due to the skill and agility required to master the part. SPCO flute player Alicia McQuerrey will be playing the flute part for the second suite. In addition to the concerto form, the Italian craft of string making made the baroque and classical music that we enjoy to this day possible. SPCO Concertmaster Steven Copes will be featured with a violin concerto by Italian composer Francesco Geminiani.

What keeps audiences coming back for Bach’s music?

Bach had an uncompromising vision of what he was doing and how he was inventing new forms and styles, but he also took a large interest in the music of other composers of his day. He would often get scores from other composers and copy them note for note or arrange them to his liking. Bach was a student and was always learning from others.

As a chamber orchestra, the SPCO is not bound to symphonic tradition and has the ability to explore beyond Classical and play Baroque music. There is a myth that the symphony started with Haydn, but the four suites are symphonies in their own ways and that’s what makes them exciting. Baroque music played live is thrilling because there is not always a conductor on stage. The SPCO will be playing three of the four suites without a conductor on stage. Seeing the musicians interact with each other live on stage is fun to watch.

Bach’s music feeds the mind and soul. It is mentally stimulating to try to follow the different melody and counterpoint lines but there are also timeless melodies such as Air on a G String, from the third suite, that soothe the soul.

There are different recollections of the instrumentation for the four suites, does the SPCO attempt to make a historically accurate interpretation or a modern take on the instrumentation?

SPCO is a modern orchestra and does not use instruments from the historical period. We are focused on modern interpretations of timeless music and not bound to tradition. The first or most original interpretation is not the goal of our performance but rather we focus on making the music come alive and be more exciting.

Is there a particular piece you’re most looking forward to audiences hearing?

I am excited for Sipe’s arrangement of Purcell’s Ceremonial Music because it has not been performed live or recorded since the SPCO’s debut in 1959. I’m also looking forward to Geminiani’s violin concerto with Steven Copes, and I am helping arrange the orchestral accompaniment. Alicia McQuerrey on flute will also be a highlight in the second suite.

Do you have a personal favorite?

I’m looking forward to the companion pieces just as much as the Bach suites. Thanksgiving dinner can serve as a metaphor where Bach’s suites are like the turkey and the side dishes are the companion pieces — the side dishes may be more flavorful and exciting than the suites, but they are not the main event.

Is there anything else that you’d like to share?

The SPCO is performing Bach’s suites and the companion pieces at a very high level. The SPCO is very ambitious and wants to tackle big projects. Bach’s suites are only four concerts out of a very exciting season. In some ways the SPCO is the best-kept secret of local music. With accessible ticket prices, if you don’t go to at least one SPCO concert per year, you are missing out. It doesn’t matter which concert you choose to attend, they are all fun.

–End of Interview

Here are the concert dates for the remaining Orchestral Suites. Tickets can be purchased online at thespco.org.

November 21–22, 2025 Bach’s Third Orchestral Suite

February 6–8, 2026 EXPRESS CONCERT: Bach’s Second Orchestral Suite

February 20–22, 2026 Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony with Richard Egarr