By Stephen Sokolouski, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra The orchestra rehearses Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4.

After years of planning and construction, we held our first rehearsal on the new Ordway Concert Hall’s stage this morning. It’s the beginning of a crucial weeks-long process of acoustical tuning, in which acoustician Paul Scarborough listens carefully from locations all over the hall, making physical adjustments and working with SPCO musicians to ensure the hall sounds its best by opening night. Meanwhile, the talented crews from McGough Construction continued work on the lobbies and other public spaces. Over the next several weeks, the construction and tuning processes will reach completion, the hall will be turned over to the Ordway and other Arts Partnership organizations, and we’ll celebrate with our first concerts and other Rock the Ordway events.

The rehearsal was widely covered in the Twin Cities media, with Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, and Minnesota Public Radio stories covering different aspects of the new hall and what it means to the Arts Partnership organizations. Brian Johnson at Finance & Commerce has a fascinating look at some of the unique ways architect Tim Carl and McGough Construction addressed the project’s unique requirements.

Finally, be sure to check out a gallery of great photos from MPR and a short video from the Star Tribune.

Here are some of our own photos:

Concertmaster Steven Copes is greeted by President Bruce Coppock and Principal Second Violin/Senior Director of Artistic Planning Kyu-Young Kim.

SPCO President Bruce Coppock welcomes the orchestra to the new concert hall. Some musicians saw the hall’s interior for the first time today.

Steven Copes and Alicia McQuerrey warm up on the new stage.

Before musicians arrived, SPCO Technical Director Jon Kjarum adjusted stands and chairs.