The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra is an autonomous ensemble, nearly 50 years old, that manages to make its mark without a full-time conductor. It functions – very well, thank you – with five “artistic partners” of various professional persuasions. On Sunday two of the directorial elite accompanied the Minnesotans to the nice little hall that lies beneath Carnegie. The American soprano Dawn Upshaw served as central soloist, and the Scottish maestro Douglas Boyd wielded the baton, when needed. The results, for the most part, were both enlightening and exhilarating.

The festivities began with a poised and propulsive account of Dvorák’s sunny D-minor Serenade for Winds. Boyd, himself a distinguished oboist, obviously found the milieu congenial. At the end of the evening he presided over an exceptionally jaunty if excessively brash performance of Stravinsky’s Pulcinella suite.