by John Gessner
Thisweek Newspapers

It's tough all over in the arts community.

The last few weeks in Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District 191 have been filled with pleas to spare music and theater programs from budget cuts.

Meanwhile, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) has cut its 2003-04 season from 38 weeks to 32, and its musicians took an 18 percent pay cut.

But a March 11 SPCO concert at Burnsville High School should bring an emotional lift to a school district celebrating Music in the Schools Month and an orchestra seeking a wider Twin Cities audience.

It will be the first concert south of the river by the nation's only full-time professional chamber orchestra, which is widely regarded as one of the world's best chamber orchestras.

"We're looking to a really bright future,î said Burnsville resident Thomas Kornacker, a 27-year SPCO veteran and its co-principal second violin. "We believe growth will be there, that our going out into the community -- the neighborhood concerts and the like -- will be a boost to us and to the arts community in general. We're presently going through a very difficult time.î

Foundation portfolios hurt by the three-year stock-market decline led to decreased giving and an $800,000 deficit for the 35-piece orchestra.

The orchestra has toured the world but only recently begun "neighborhoodî concert series' in Edina, Minneapolis, St. Paul and Stillwater. The SPCO has identified the southern suburbs as a market to explore.

"We haven't found a (performing) site south of the river yet,î said Kornacker, who moved to Burnsville in the late 1970s. "But I've been pushing for a site south of the river for the last 25 years.î

The March 11 concert at the Thomas B. Mraz Center for the Performing Arts, which will feature guest artists the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet, is sponsored by the Burnsville High School Band Department. SPCO musicians will hold an open rehearsal for band students earlier in the day and attend a reception after the 7 p.m. concert.

The SPCO is "a smaller orchestra whose repertoire is somewhat limited by our size,î said Kornacker, 61, who has three children with his wife, Sigrid. "But we're extremely facile in our ability to play different types of music, from the baroque to the highly contemporary music.î

Violin at age 6

Growing up in Chicago, Kornacker started playing violin at age 6. In high school he studied with the concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony, who was a friend of his father.

He attended Indiana University where he studied with famed violinist and concertmaster Josef Gingold. Kornacker left school early to become concertmaster of the Florida Symphony in Orlando.

He was playing violin with the Houston Symphony in 1964 when he was drafted into the military.

"If you were out of school and not married you were eligible for the draft,î Kornacker said. "That was just when they started ramping up the draft for the Vietnam War.î

Kornacker enlisted in the Army and went to West Point, N.Y., where he was a violin soloist and director of chamber music for the regular Army contingent stationed there.

After serving for three years, Kornacker became a New York freelance musician, working on everything from New York City Ballet productions to commercial jingles.

After 10 years he stopped playing, bought a boat and spent a year sailing in the Caribbean.

Returning to work after the hiatus, Kornacker was playing a Mozart Festival concert at Lincoln Center when he met Dennis Russell Davies, then the director of the SPCO, who was looking for a principal second violin. Kornacker auditioned for a one-year stint and didn't have to audition again.

"I became that for one year, and that was 27 years ago,î he said. Twenty-two of those years he was called upon to fill the principal violin chair.

"In all honesty, I was never what you would call a whiz-bang violinist,î he said. "I was a very good violinist who had more than my fair share of skills as a musician. There's an art to being a good second violin, and I think my skills are very sharply focused in that area.î

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Tickets for the concert at Burnsville High School are $35 for adults and $25 for seniors and students.

John Gessner is at burnsville.thisweek@ecm-inc.com.

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