By Euan Kerr

MPR News/90.1 FM

The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra had record attendance during its past season, it announced Wednesday evening at its annual meeting.

The orchestra also balanced its budget of close to $10 million and ended the season with a surplus of almost $350,000. This allowed the SPCO to retire its accumulated debt left over from the recession, and to begin building a rainy day fund.

Nearly 116,000 people attended 140 concerts last season, up 5 percent from the previous year.

In addition to celebrating the season’s artistic success, which included a Grammy nomination, orchestra leaders were particularly happy to point to the quadrupling of the number of young people who attended concerts, bringing the total to 8,000.