The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra artistic director Kyu-Young Kim helped lead a rehearsal in 2022. The chamber orchestra announced Friday that he would be stepping down from that leadership role. (Elizabeth Flores/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s beloved artistic director is stepping down. Kyu-Young Kim will exit that role at the end of this season — but will continue as principal violin, the chamber orchestra announced Friday.

“Due to recent organizational decisions and shifts in priorities, I am no longer able to fulfill my dual role as artistic director and principal violin of the SPCO,” Kim said in a statement. “I want to thank my colleagues, patrons of the SPCO, and our beloved audience for the opportunity to contribute to the artistic evolution of the SPCO in truly significant ways over the past 11 years.”

An accomplished violinist, Kim became artistic director in January 2016. The SPCO said then that it was the first time a playing member had taken the artistic helm of a major American orchestra. Typically, that role is performed by a conductor, but the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra mostly performs without a conductor.

“The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra respects Kyu’s decision,” a spokesman said by email Friday. “We appreciate his remarkable contributions over the years as artistic director and we are grateful he has chosen to remain with the Orchestra.”

In a news release, the SPCO touted Kim’s accomplishments, including the hiring of 16 new musicians and the naming of nine new artistic partners. He will continue leading the orchestra through June 30.

“In the meantime,” the nonprofit said, “the SPCO will work across the organization to determine the next steps for artistic leadership while remaining committed to the SPCO’s distinctive musician-led artistic model.”

The musicians’ union at the SPCO released its own statement Friday, saying that they were “devastated that the actions of the orchestra’s management have caused Kyu to resign from his role as artistic director.”

“It is the culmination of years of harmful and non-collaborative decisions,” the statement continued, “such as that to eliminate many of our venues and community concerts and to drastically shorten our season — that have damaged the legacy and promise of a world-class chamber orchestra.”

The union is currently negotiating its contract, which expires this summer.

In February, the chamber orchestra announced that it was cutting three venues from its neighborhood series — in Wayzata, Arden Hills and Stillwater. It’s also reducing the number of concerts at St. Paul’s United Church of Christ to four per season. So it will be performing 25 fewer concerts, overall.

The chamber orchestra still will play 82 concerts in nine venues across the Twin Cities, its leaders pointed out in an email to concertgoers.