Music in the Park Series Artistic Director and Founder,
Julie Himmelstrup, Announces Retirement at End of the Season
Tuesday, December 19, 2017 (ST. PAUL, MN) – Julie Himmelstrup, founder and artistic director of Music in the Park Series, has announced her plan to retire at the conclusion of the season in late April 2018. Himmelstrup, who founded the series in 1979, has served in this position for 38 years.
A cherished and distinctive audience favorite, the Schubert Club’s Music in the Park Series presents six chamber music concerts annually at the 350-seat Saint Anthony Park United Church of Christ in the Saint Anthony Park neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota. Concerts routinely sell out and subscriber retention remains impressively high. Additionally, family-friendly concerts are offered next door at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church.
In the early days, Himmelstrup ran the series out of her own house across the street from the church. An accomplished pianist herself, it is her musical tastes, her finely tuned hearing and her ability to spot emerging classical talent, that have made Music in the Park Series treasured by chamber music-lovers across the Twin Cities. Under her leadership, the series has achieved national prominence, and continues to present chamber musicians of national and international renown. Since its inception, Music in the Park Series has presented more than 200 chamber music concerts and 60 family concerts. For more than three decades, Himmelstrup ran every aspect of the series, including artist selection, program planning, commissioning and presenting new works, fund-raising, ticket sales, volunteer organizing and public relations. In 2010, Music in the Park Series merged with the Schubert Club, since when Himmelstrup has continued to serve as Artistic Director of Music in the Park Series.
Schubert Club’s Artistic & Executive Director Barry Kempton said: “It has been a privilege and a joy for me to work with Julie since joining the Schubert Club. The series she has built up, the loyal audience she has built since founding Music in the Park Series, and her commitment to serving the St. Anthony Park community are deservedly admired across the country in chamber music circles. Her integrity and devotion to music and musicians are exemplary and will always be an inspiration.”
Julie Himmelstrup continues to serve as Music in the Park Series Artistic Director through the 2017-2018 season. Thereafter, the series, both concerts and the associated community activities in the Saint Anthony Park neighborhood will continue as Schubert Club programs under the leadership of Artistic and Executive Director, Barry Kempton.
View the December 19, 2017 article from the Park Bugle: “Going out on a high note”