Our Response to the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Pandemic

Last updated November 30, 2020

The Saint Paul Conservatory of Music’s top priority is the safety, health, and well-being of our students, their families, and our faculty and staff. We carefully monitor recommendations from the Minnesota Department of Health and other public health professionals to inform our policies, our decision-making, and our safety procedures.

Our world-class faculty continue to offer remote one-on-one lessons for new and returning students. Visit this page to learn more about our lessons, request a free trial lesson, and see our lesson packages.

In response to the recent “Dial Back, Minnesota” mandate issued by Governor Walz, the Saint Paul Conservatory of Music is closed entirely from November 30 to December 12, 2020. The classes and ensembles that had been meeting in-person with social distancing are cancelled during this period.

Lessons and Classes

• All one-on-one lessons will be held remotely, via online platforms, for the fall semester.

• The following programs, which have been meeting in-person, in spaces large enough to accommodate social distancing, are cancelled from November 30 to December 12, 2020:

Suzuki Classes
Children’s Chorus
Chamber Music Academy coachings
Clarinet Choir
Adult Baroque Ensemble
Adult Viol Ensemble

• For all in-person activities, the SPCM will adhere to the following safety procedures:

  • Masks are required when inside of the SPCM. Masks may be removed when playing an instrument that requires the mouth, but only while also social distancing.

  • Students, teachers, and all visitors are expected to follow social distancing guidelines while in the Conservatory and during all in-person activities.

  • SPCM will design the schedule of in-person activities to limit the number of people in the building at any one time.

  • All high-touch surfaces (keyboards, music stands, door handles, light switches, chairs etc.) will be disinfected by the teacher after every use.

  •  Sanitizer will be provided, and we encourage frequent use by all teachers, students, and parents. Keyboardists will be required to thoroughly wash or sanitize their hands before playing.

  • Individuals who accompany students to their lessons are highly encouraged to wait outside the building.

Performances and Recitals

SPCM intends to present our annual Halloween and Holiday Concerts in 2020, as well as a full 2020-21 season of our ever-popular Coffee Concerts. We will determine the exact structure of each of these programs based on circumstances at the time: some may be streamed online, we hope to offer some in-person, or we may welcome a limited capacity in-person audience to a concert that is also streamed online.

No student recitals are scheduled for the 2020-21 academic year at this time. At the end of each semester, we will identify ways to showcase our students’ hard work. If it is possible to schedule in-person recitals, we will do so, or we will find ways to present performances online.