David Bresch:

>I am moving to Saint Paul March 1 from Philadelphia.  Many of you know I am
>from New York and I spent most of my life there.
>
>Obviously, I am in for culture shock, but I am happy and I think this is
>very exciting.  Can people make gratuitous suggestions about how I should
>be a cultured person in Saint Paul?

Sure.  Many years ago, after growing up near New York City I moved to
Madison, Wisconsin in January, a much smaller place than the twin cities.
After I got over the what-have-I-done? feeling, I was mostly pleased
though initially starved for the kinds of live music you can hear in a
larger city--eventually I heard the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York
Philharmonic and the Minnesota Orchestra on their tours there.  In Saint
Paul you can regularly hear the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, which is
excellent, and now under the leadership of Andreas Delfs, I understand (he
also is Music Director of the Milwaukee Symphony, and used to do opera in
Hannover, Germany) but if I were in your situation I would mainly plan to
cross the Mississippi to hear the Minnesota Orchestra in Minneapolis.  That
has been a very fine orchestra for many decades and has one of the most
acoustically successful halls built in the last century.  At one time the
Metropolitan Opera toured to Minneapolis, but those days are long gone.
Beyond music, the Guthrie Theatre and Walker Art Gallery in Minneapolis are
places you may want to frequent.  And if your first acquaintance with the
Mississippi gives you an is-this-all? feeling, drive down it all the way to
Hannibal, Missouri, sometime; the bluffs are sensational.  If you enjoy
that, drive north along the shore of Lake Superior: the antithesis of
"culture" but also magnificent.  Oh, and bring all your warmest clothing.

Jim Tobin