Not every college campus has the treat of hosting a world-class professional orchestra once a year. Yet we at St. Olaf are given such a privilege when the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra comes to our dear old hill.

On Friday Mar. 2nd, an audience of both students and visitors provided a respectable attendance in filling Boe Chapel for their concert. Led by their Baroque Series director, Nicholas McGegan, the orchestra played works from the mid-18th century, written on the cusp of the Baroque and Classical periods.

From the opening string line and the entrance of the brilliant trumpets in Johann Sebastian Bach's Fourth Orchestral Suite, the audience knew that they were in for a remarkable musical evening. Comprised of various renaissance dance forms, this festive suite prepared the audience for an energetic program. Marked by the agile walking bass continuo line of the cellos and string basses and the graceful violin melodies, one could not help but be swept away to a world of dancing.

Antonio Vivaldi's A Minor Cello Concerto brought Sarah Lewis, a three-year member of the ensemble, out of the orchestra to sit as soloist. Lewis displayed beautiful ability on the cello with her mastery of the runs, trills, and double stops (playing two notes at once) that Vivaldi called for.

The first section ended with George Frideric Handel's Concerto Grosso in F. This energetic work opened with a magnificently Handellian theme in the full orchestra. The solo concertino sections were played with clear intention and emotion by the principal violinists, violist, and cellist. In the second movement, the concertino was really able to shine. Trading fast antiphonal motives, they set a tone that the full orchestra mirrored when they entered, playing beautifully light and buoyant.

Guiseppe Tartini's Cello Concerto in D followed intermission. Sadly, some of the audience had left and missed perhaps the most expressive work on the program. The Tartini piece was the most "Classical" in style as it has a bit more emotion than the previous three works.

Joshua Koestenbaum, who, like Lewis, left his stand in the orchestra to be a soloist, gracefully crafted his cello's mellow, sensuous tone. He played melodies with an incredible sense of line, drawing a sustained emotion from himself and every listener in the audience.

The closing piece on the program was a work of the French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau. French opera of the 18th century included many dance scenes and this suite takes music from the dances of Rameau's opera Dardanus. The orchestra again took the audience into a dancing atmosphere with its crisp articulation and joyfully accurate and unified ornamentation.

Several movements also represented scenes from the opera. McGegan delightfully explained to the audience a musical representation of "slow people who always have to shrug their shoulders because they don't know anything." This motive was clear to the audience and their enjoyment was enhanced when they too could shrug their shoulders with the music.

Nicholas McGegan was the icing on the cake in this wonderful performance. He conducted with such energy and spirit that one's eyes were drawn toward him. Conducting without a baton, a rarity among instrumental conductors, he was able to achieve a high level of expression, subtlety, and nuance in his control of the ensemble. He related intimately with the ensemble and engaged the individual players in the energy of the music. He led a fine performance from one of America's finest musical ensembles.