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CHRIS ROBERTS: --Andreas Delfs, as the new music director, from the search committee on down.

JOHN HUSS: Andreas was the overwhelming unanimous choice of the committee, musician, board members and administration alike.

CHRIS ROBERTS: According to the SPCO, Andreas Delfs is recognized as one of today's leading conductors. He's been praised by The New York Times as a brilliant technician and commanding musician. Born in Germany, Delfs was trained at Juilliard and has lived in the US most of his adult life.

In addition to his role as music director of the Milwaukee Symphony, he has also led the Bern Opera in Germany, the Hanover State Opera and Orchestra, and the Pittsburgh Symphony. When he introduced himself to board members and SPCO supporters, he displayed his sense of humor.

ANDREAS DELFS: Thank you so much for this wonderful, warm welcome. Thank you for your words, John. I want to talk to you today about health care reform and the national surplus.

[LAUGHTER]

Oh, wait. Wrong speech. This is the--

CHRIS ROBERTS: Delfs' promise to take the SPCO the next step toward becoming the world's premier chamber orchestra. He says his first task is to immediately get to know its 33 musicians, who are each, as he puts it, stars in their own right. He says he wants to help them further hone their ability to speak as one voice.

And that voice, he says, has to be very distinct, especially in the core chamber orchestra repertory, with one authentic performance group after another popping up around the world.

ANDREAS DELFS: There's just too much historically informed performance around to be able to play Mozart, Haydn, or Beethoven in an ambiguous way. It has to be very specific, I think, and that's the first thing that I'm looking forward to do.

CHRIS ROBERTS: On the perennial issue facing orchestras of drawing more diverse and younger audiences, Delfs says he's had success in Milwaukee by creating multifaceted performances that he says stick to the mind.

ANDREAS DELFS: --that could be reaching as far as an exhibition in the lobby during the concert that enhances the theme of the concert that could involve projections or narrators or extramusical affairs to enhance the musical experience and make it memorable. And that is one of many tools that I found very helpful when the question is to energize new audiences and re-energize the audiences we already have.

CHRIS ROBERTS: Minnesota Public Radio classical music announcer Michael Berone, a longtime presenter of SPCO broadcasts, believes Delfs' selection is a wise choice, particularly after seeing him conduct the ensemble last weekend in St. Cloud.

MICHAEL BERONE: I was astounded and delighted by not only the repertoire that he chose to showcase the orchestra, but also the way he got the orchestra to perform in unfamiliar circumstances, music which, in some cases, was actually unfamiliar to them. In particular, "Chamber Symphony" by Franz Schreker, turn-of-the-century piece, voluptuous, passionate, but also very difficult and music that the orchestra hasn't played a lot.

CHRIS ROBERTS: Delfs also scored points with the SPCO selection committee because of his enthusiasm for commissioning and performing new work, an SPCO hallmark. Delfs plans to continue conducting the Milwaukee Symphony while serving as SPCO music director. He's confident they're relatively close physical proximity will allow him to give both the time and attention they need.

Delfs believes the stars are in alignment in terms of his appointment as SPCO music director. He says he was born in 1959 and, at age 41, has achieved some important goals and reached a level of maturity in his career, but has a lot left to do. Interestingly, says Delfs, the SPCO was also born, in a manner of speaking, in 1959.

ANDREAS DELFS: So I think that we meet at this time in our mutual development is a perfect match at the perfect time.

CHRIS ROBERTS: Andreas Delfs will assume his duties as SPCO music director in September of next year. This is Chris Roberts, Minnesota Public Radio News.