What kind of innovator looks for new ideas in Swedish manuscript libraries? An innovator like Jordan Sramek, artistic director of the St. Paul-based Rose Ensemble. As a major part of his job, Sramek pores over centuries-old manuscripts of early music--a catch-all term for classical music composed before 1750. Just a few weeks ago, Sramek visited Washington to scour the Library of Congress for material to include in a June concert.

In the 15 years since he founded the Rose Ensemble, Sramek, 42, has earned a reputation for stirring up the dust that sometimes accumulates around those old manuscripts. Last year, the national organization Chorus America honored him with an award for his "innovative action and entrepreneurial zeal."

Sramek seems a bit embarrassed by the "zeal" part of that accolade, although he admits to fist-pounding when he's arguing one of his fundamental business principles. He also has strong ideas about presenting early music. So far, those ideas look successful. Between 1999 and today, the Rose Ensemble's annual budget has grown from $70,000 to just over $700,000. The staff now includes 19 contracted musicians and six staff members, including Executive Director Aaron Wulff, hired last year to manage business strategy and operations. In its earliest days, the ensemble did well to fill ten pews in the small churches that typically serve as its venues; last year the average audience size was 240.

The Rose Audience is the Rose Audience

"The Rose Ensemble audience is unique," Sramek says. The organization has "conducted extensive surveys and spent tens of thousands of dollars" to determine the make-up of its following. It is not, Sramek says, an early music audience, a choral music audience or even a classical music audience. "The core audience defines itself as a Rose Ensemble audience," he claims.

St. Louis Park music teacher Jenzi Silverman and her husband, Greg, have been regulars at Rose Ensemble concerts for about eight years. At 43, she is 16 years younger than the Rose audience's median age. What hooked her was the group's "uniquely beautiful and amazing way of performing early vocal music." As a recorder player herself, she knows early music, but she says that's not a prerequisite. She cites the reaction of friends who had to be talked into attending a Rose Ensemble concert: "'Wow, that was really beautiful! I wasn't sure what to expect.'"

Fun and Communication

Beautiful it may be, but an art form as esoteric as early music is still a hard sell. So what else keeps the audience coming back? For one thing, Rose Ensemble musicians don't carry scholarly gravity onto the stage. "'You just look like you're having so much fun!'" is a reaction founding member Linda Kachelmeier often hears from audiences. "They enjoy watching us communicate with each other since we perform without a conductor," she adds. On stage Sramek is just one of the singers, a tenor.

There's a "theatrical dimension" to Rose Ensemble performances, says St. Olaf College music professor Gerald Hoekstra, who's followed the group since its founding. In fact, Hoekstra points out that Sramek consistently refers to concerts as "shows." Performances include readings from letters, journals or literature contemporary with the music, providing historical context and varying the performance texture. "For those who don't know [Renaissance composer Guillaume] Dufay, for example, hearing some poetry and literature gives them a little aesthetic feel for the period," Hoekstra says.

As far as Sramek is concerned, that approach is the difference-maker. Some early music specialists try to turn the obscurity of a piece into a selling point, focusing on the scholarship that led to its discovery. That is not Sramek's way. "It's one thing," he says, "to be a great scholar and musician, and another to understand one's audience." Putting the music "on stage in thematic, programmatic context, whether it's a political idea, a historical figure, a faith issue, enables us to present what otherwise would be considered esoteric material." This season's programs include a look at early Italian music through the eyes of St. Francis of Assisi, a 1,000-year survey of women's mysticism, spirituality, and song and, on April 8 in Minneapolis, a selection of sacred music from early Russia, Poland, and Bohemia.

Elastic Categories

Sramek's themes sometimes stretch the definition of early music. Most early music groups plant a stake in Western Europe in the year 1600 and never venture more than 1,000 miles or 150 years in any direction. The Rose Ensemble's embrace includes early Hawaiian vocal traditions and songs that trace the Sephardic diaspora, as well as contemporary pieces that resonate with older repertoire. Sramek is planning a June show that investigates music from the 19th century American temperance movement�an effort, he says, to "tip our hats to Minnesota, the state that brought us the Volstead Act and Prohibition."

Sramek argues that these divergent currents contain the same essence as his core repertoire. Early music, he asserts, is "about that which is underperformed and underserved. Early music is about the living tradition of preservation."

The expansive approach pays off for his business, Sramek contends, pointing to bookings not just in early music series, but also at world music and folk venues. "Jordan's broad vision has made a difference," says Kachelmeier. "He is constantly looking nationally and internationally to broaden awareness of the Rose Ensemble." She credits his vision and energy for landing an invitation to the prestigious World Choral Symposium this summer in Argentina.

Bottom-Line Notes

Raising the Rose Ensemble's profile is key to Sramek's business approach because he relies heavily on earned income--revenue from ticket sales and recordings, as opposed to grants. Whereas a typical non-profit might be content, Sramek says, with 35 percent earned income, he shoots for a 50-50 ratio.

Of course, the Rose Ensemble's small size helps him keep the expense side of the ledger within hailing distance of income. But it takes discipline too, and that's where the fist-pounding comes in. Sramek refuses to go into debt to take on a pet project. The most recent financial records available, from 2006 to 2009, show that the ensemble has by and large balanced its budget. The organization ended 2007 nearly $35,000 in the red, but it inherited a $195,000 surplus from the previous year.

To advance the earned-income goal, ticket prices are set on the high side for Twin Cities choral concerts: $35, $25 and $15. The tactic works, Sramek says, because his audience understands what the group invests in a performance. When it comes to recordings, often a loss leader for classical musicians, Sramek aims to earn back expenses within a year, making a disc only after a program has proven its popularity on stage.

When he launched the Rose Ensemble in 1996, just a few years removed from his early vocal performance and harpsichord studies at the College of St. Scholastica, Jordan Sramek probably didn't imagine himself as an entrepreneur. But that's what he's become. "Jordan is the complete package," says Gerald Hoekstra. "He is an excellent singer, director, and coach, with an innate sense of what works programmatically. But those things alone don't guarantee commercial success. Jordan also has the necessary personal skills and business sense, and that is why he has been able to achieve what he has with the Rose Ensemble."

Don Lee is a media producer, editor, and writer who lives in St. Paul. This is his first article for The Line.

Photos, top to bottom:
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Jordan Sramek in the Rose Ensemble's Landmark Center office in downtown Saint Paul

The Ensemble assembled

Aaron Wulff, the Rose's new executive director

The Rose Ensemble logo

Rose Ensemble photo by Michael Haug; all others by Bill Kelley