The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s 2010-11 season, which was announced today, is nimble, extravagantly varied — and you can hear a lot of it without mortgaging the farm.

Money matters first, since money matters more these days:

The SPCO has decided to reduce ticket prices to $10, $25 and $40 for concerts performed at the Ordway Center in St. Paul and Ted Mann Concert Hall on the University of Minnesota campus. Previous ticket prices ranged from $11 to $59 — and, more significantly, only 30 percent of the tickets were $25 or less in the two halls. Under the new pricing system the “scale” of the houses has changed dramatically, with 75 percent of the tickets going for $25 or less.

The SPCO has done this kind of re-pricing before. Back in 2005, prices were cut for so-called “neighborhood” venues and that helped create the success that the suburban concert programs have enjoyed. The orchestra now performs in Eden Prairie, Stillwater, Apple Valley, Wayzata and Arden Hills as well as the Uptown area of Minneapolis and on St. Paul’s Summit Avenue.

Semi-staged 'Don Giovanni'
And now to the season, which has many highlights — beginning with a semi-staged version of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” in September. Mozart, in fact, is big next season, including a series of three concerts conducted by Artistic Partner Christian Zacharias, who will also serve as pianist in the programs.

Both Edo de Waart and Thomas Zehetmair will begin their tenures as artistic partners, with de Waart conducting a program that commemorates the 100^th anniversary of Gustav Mahler’s death (“Das Lied von der Erde” with soprano Sasha Cooke) and Zehetmair leading concerts focusing on Haydn (though paired with contemporary works).

The new stuff includes an orchestra-commissioned work by Gabriela Frank that will be performed by soprano Dawn Upshaw, and the world premiere of a work by jazz pianist Brad Mehidau, titled “Highway Rider,” that will be performed at the Walker Art Center.

Two Carnegie Hall gigs
The orchestra will take Mehidau’s work to New York for the first of two appearances in Carnegie Hall in November. The second Carnegie appearance, in May 2011, will be participation in a new “Spring for Music” festival that involves seven orchestras performing over nine days.

Other guest artists include violinists Gil Shaham, Leila Josefowicz and Pekka Kuusisto, oboist Heinz Holliger and his wife, harpist Ursula Holliger.

Guest conductors include Hans Graf, Joana Carneiro and Matthias Pintscher, the latter making his SPCO debut.

Other guest performers include Baroque specialists Harry Bicket, Laurence Cummings and Ton Koopman, plus former artistic partner Nicholas McGegan, returning after a “retirement” last year that ended decades of associations with the SPCO. In addition, six orchestra musicians — Steven Copes, Ruggero Allifranchini, Kathryn Greenback, Sabina Thatcher, Ronald Thomas and Julia Bogorad-Kogan — will each be featured as soloists during various concerts during the season.

It’s a big season. Tickets go on sale today, and a complete schedule can be found here.