The 2008-2009 Season

Explore the complete list of performances scheduled for our 2008-2009 Season including the Wachovia Securities Orchestral Series.

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Opera Night

ORCHESTRAL SERIES

- Friday, January 9, 2009 at 8pm

James Gaffigan, conductor
Kelly Kaduce, soprano

VERDI La forza del destino Overture
VERDI arias from La Traviata
PUCCINI arias from Madama Butterfly and Gianni Schicchi
WAGNER Symphonic Suite from “The Ring of the Nibelungs” including “Ride of the Valkyries”

 Audio Clip - “Ride of the Valkyries” (1:46)

Rising star Kelly Kaduce has captivated Opera Theatre of St. Louis audiences in the title roles of Anna Karenina, Jane Eyre and Suor Angelica. Spend a riveting night with Kaduce as she sings Verdi and Puccini, including a reprise from Madama Butterfly—her summer ’08 star turn at OTSL.

PreConcert Perspective with Hugh Macdonald one hour prior to each concert.

Kristin Chenoweth at the Fox Theatre with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra

- Saturday, January 10, 2009 at 8pm

The premier collaboration of Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra is history in the making! Not only does this performance mark the first time Chenoweth has performed in St. Louis it is also the first time that the SLSO in its entirety has appeared on stage at the Fox Theatre. Many remember Kristin Chenoweth’s show-stealing, Tony-winning performance in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown produced on Broadway by Fox Theatricals. She also originated the role of Glinda the Good Witch in Wicked, which earned her a leading actress Tony Award nomination. Chenoweth can currently be seen starring in the ABC series Pushing Daisies, where she was recently nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. A veteran of the concert scene, Chenoweth has had numerous collaborations with various symphonies, including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Pops, National Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony.  She can now add the SLSO to that list when she performs with them on January 10 at the Fabulous Fox Theatre!

Opera Passions

TOUHILL SUNDAYS

- Sunday, January 11, 2009 at 2pm
James Gaffigan, conductor
Kelly Kaduce, soprano

Soprano Kelly Kaduce moves to the Touhill stage for a stunning afternoon of opera passions. Kaduce sings Verdi and Puccini, and the exciting young American  conductor James Gaffigan leads the SLSO in a program that includes the full power of Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries.”

Touhill Performing Arts Center, UM-St. Louis
Contact the Touhill at 314-516-4949 or visit www.touhill.org for more information..

Susan Graham

ORCHESTRAL SERIES

- Friday, January 16, 2009 at 8pm
- Saturday, January 17, 2009 at 8pm

Philippe Jordan, conductor
Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano

WAGNER Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde
BERG Seven Early Songs
BRAHMS Symphony No. 4

 Audio Clip - Brahms Symphony No. 4 (2:30)

Music critics reach for the adjectives to describe her voice: lustrous, creamy, ample, supple, gleaming, beautifully focused, plush, silky, golden, and so forth. After singing as a seductive Scheherazade and a vanquished Cleopatra with the SLSO, you know that few vocalists immediately become as intimate with an audience as Susan Graham. Sexy? That too.

PreConcert Perspective with Peter Henderson one hour prior to each concert.

Orchestral Magic

FAMILY CONCERTS

- Sunday, January 18, 2009 at 3pm

Ward Stare, conductor

$10 Adult, $6 Child  |  Children 3+ are welcome to attend. Everyone must have a ticket for admittance to a Family concert.

Ward Stare conducts The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and music from Harry Potter, in which different instrument families portray a number of different characters. You probably know the stories from the movies, and you and your family will be able to follow along just with the music alone. Discover how music may magically change a scene or create a mood.

Young People’s Concert

EDUCATION CONCERTS
Winter Program (grades 4- 6)

Tues, January 20, 2009 at 9:30 & 11am
Wed, February 18, 2009 at 9:30 & 11am

Ward Stare, conductor

The composer Paul Dukas employs a number of different instruments to represent a number of different characters in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Instrument families not only serve as different characters, but also set the mood and tone. Discover how music may depict scenes that at one moment may be comic, and at the next moment menacing.

Dancing with Fate

ORCHESTRAL SERIES
Presented by MasterCard

- Friday, January 23, 2009 at 8pm
- Saturday, January 24, 2009 at 8pm

Edward Gardner, conductor
Johannes Moser, cello

BRITTEN Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes
SHOSTAKOVICH Cello Concerto No. 1
RACHMANINOFF Symphonic Dances

 Audio Clip - Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances (1:35)

Even amidst the harshness of life, the impulse of art is to inspire. Britten writes of living from the sea and living with community, and the pleasure and pain of both. Shostakovich creates beauty with the Gulag looming. Rachmaninoff rises from human strife, with a physical dance to celebrate the divine.

PreConcert Perspective with Peter Henderson one hour prior to each concert.

Ideal (Dis-) Placements Concert at The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts

- Wednesday, January 28, 2009 at 7:30pm

David Robertson, conductor

SOFIA GUBAIDULINA            Meditation on Bach Chorale: Vor deinen Thron
                                                tret ich hiermit (1993)

STOCKHAUSEN                     Adieu (1966)

HARRISON BIRTWISTLE       Bach Measures (1996)

The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts
3716 Washington Blvd

Emanuel Ax

ORCHESTRAL SERIES
Presented by American Airlines

- Friday, January 30, 2009 at 10:30am (Coffee Concert)
- Saturday, January 31, 2009 at 8pm

David Robertson, conductor
Emanuel Ax, piano (Whitaker Guest Artist)

HAYDN Symphony No. 92, “Oxford”
R. STRAUSS Burleske
GEORGE BENJAMIN Dance Figures
SZYMANOWSKI Symphony No. 4 (Symphonie concertante)

 Audio Clip - R. Strauss Burleske (2:25)

One of the most exciting virtuosic displays of last season was Christian Tetzlaff’s sensational performance of Szymanowski’s First Violin Concerto. Let Szymanowski become a household name to you when the phenomenal Emanuel Ax plays a late work of the Polish composer to complete a program of raucous sophistication.

PreConcert Perspective with David Robertson one hour prior to each concert.

Latin American Carnival

CLASSICAL DETOURS
Presented by The Boeing Company

- Friday, January 30, 2009 at 6:30pm

Rhythm is as fine a way of defining a place and a people as history, language or landscape. To imagine Latin America is to hear rhythms, wonderful variations of beat and pulsation, and to feel lives moving with distinctive grace. The SLSO makes Latin rhythms sing in this Classical Detour.
$30 Reserved, limited availability | $20 General Admission
Pre-concert happy hour begins at 5:30pm.

Seasons of the Heart

ORCHESTRAL SERIES
Presented by Thompson Coburn LLP

- Friday, February 6, 2009 at 8pm
- Saturday, February 7, 2009 at 8pm
- Sunday, February 8, 2009 at 3pm

Christopher Seaman, conductor (Whitaker Guest Artist)
Daniel Lee, cello

TIPPETT Suite in D
ELGAR Cello Concerto
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5

 Audio Clip - Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 (1:58)

Out of the struggles of the heart comes a romantic masterpiece, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. Elgar’s Cello Concerto makes beauty out of the ashes of WWI, with Daniel Lee playing the haunting work. Christopher Seaman conducts these concerts, which includes Tippett’s heartfelt Suite in D, written for Prince Charles’ birthday.

PreConcert Perspective with Amy Kaiser one hour prior to each concert.

Verdi’s Requiem

PREMIUM ORCHESTRAL SERIES

- Friday, February 13, 2009 at 8pm
- Saturday, February 14, 2009 at 8pm

David Robertson, conductor
Christine Brewer, soprano
Elizabeth Bishop, mezzo-soprano
Marcus Haddock, tenor
Roberto Scandiuzzi, bass
Saint Louis Symphony Chorus
Amy Kaiser, director

VERDI Requiem

Giuseppe Verdi liked to tell a story about how he walked to the village church three miles, sometimes without shoes, to play the organ each Sunday. A bit of a tall tale, but it conveys the sense of devotion realized in his great Requiem Mass. You might imagine yourself walking miles to hear it.

PreConcert Perspective with David Robertson one hour prior to each concert.

Please note there will be no intermission for these performances.

Broadway Valentine

SPECIAL EVENT

- Sunday, February 15, 2009 at 3pm

David Robertson, conductor
Orli Shaham, piano

BERNSTEIN   Candide Overture
GERSHWIN   Concerto in F
GERSHWIN   "I've Got Rhythm" & "The Man I Love"
BERNSTEIN   Selections from West Side Story
                      "Maria" & "Somewhere"
BERNSTEIN   Symphonic Dances from West Side Story

Ain’t love grand? Especially as it’s expressed in this concert of fantastic Broadway show tunes by George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein. Orli Shaham plays Gershwin’s scintillating piano concerto, with her husband David Robertson conducting.

Young Adult Concert

EDUCATION CONCERTS
Winter Program (grades 7-12)

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at 11am

Ward Stare, conductor

The composer Paul Dukas employs a number of different instruments to represent a number of different characters in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Instrument families not only serve as different characters, but also set the mood and tone. Discover how music may depict scenes that at one moment may be comic, and at the next moment menacing.

Kinder Konzert

EDUCATION CONCERTS
Winter Program (grades K-3)

Thurs, February 19, 2009 at 9:30 & 11am
Fri, February 20, 2009 at 9:30 & 11am

Ward Stare, conductor

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which many people know from the classic Disney movie, Fantasia, is actually a musical interpretation of a poem by the German poet Goethe. Mozart imagines a fantastic world in The Magic Flute. Through our imaginations music creates pictures in our minds.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band

SPECIAL EVENT

- Friday, February 20, 2009 at 7:30pm

The "house" band for the birthplace of jazz. Preservation Hall sits at the heart of the French Quarter, and the musicians who make up the band learned from legends who played with the forefathers of New Orleans jazz: Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong and others. Spirits preserved.

Lift Every Voice: Black History Month Celebration

SPECIAL EVENT

- Saturday, February 21, 2009 at 7:30pm

Robert Ray, conductor
Saint Louis Symphony IN UNISON® Chorus

Join the SLSO and the Saint Louis Symphony IN UNISON® Chorus for the Black History Month Concert. Celebrate the rich experience of African and African-American culture that has influenced musical composition over the past three centuries and shaped the lives of people around the world.

Light Play

ORCHESTRAL SERIES

- Friday, February 27, 2009 at 10:30am (Coffee Concert)
- Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 8pm
- Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 3pm

Jun Märkl, conductor
Garrick Ohlsson, piano
TBA, organ

LISZT Les Préludes
DVORÁK Piano Concerto
SAINT-SAËNS Symphony No. 3, “Organ”

 Audio Clip - Dvorák Piano Concerto (1:56)

“Chiaroscuro” means the contrasts between lights and darks in a picture or painting. It’s an effective word to describe this concert: Liszt’s tone poem of life and death; Dvorák’s concerto, with an interplay between soloist and orchestra like dappled light; and Saint-Saëns’ symphony of dazzling variations.

PreConcert Perspective with Amy Kaiser one hour prior to each concert.

Dance/Music I

ORCHESTRAL SERIES
Presented by American Airlines

- Friday, March 6, 2009 at 8pm

David Robertson, conductor
Scott Andrews, clarinet
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (Whitaker Guest Artist)
(Performing Bach, Stravinsky and Bernstein)
Jim Vincent, artistic director

BACH Movements from Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 3 & 1
STRAVINSKY Symphonies of Wind Instruments
BERNSTEIN Prelude, Fugue & Riffs
RAVEL Boléro

 Audio Clip - Ravel Bolero (:57)

In the first of two deliciously different concerts, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago adds the grace and power of the human form to works by Bach, Stravinsky and Bernstein, as played by the SLSO. Then a purely orchestral finale as the musicians unleash the sensual sounds of Ravel's Boléro.

PreConcert Perspective with David Robertson one hour prior to each concert.

Dance/Music II

ORCHESTRAL SERIES
Presented by American Airlines

- Saturday, March 7, 2009 at 8pm

David Robertson, conductor
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (Whitaker Guest Artist)
(Performing Mozart and Britten)
Jim Vincent, artistic director

MOZART Symphony No. 40
BRITTEN Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge
RAVEL Boléro

 Audio Clip - Ravel Bolero (:57)

Mozart inspires a divine comedy of physical gesture as Hubbard Street Dance Chicago reveals the composer's ingenious wit through bodies in motion. Then a new HSDC work, performed to Britten's homage to his teacher. Boléro—with the SLSO alone providing the movement—closes this exquisite evening of music and dance.

PreConcert Perspective with David Robertson one hour prior to each concert.

Dance & Music: Boléro

FAMILY CONCERTS
(ages 3+)

- Sunday, March 8, 2009 at 3pm

David Robertson, conductor
Scott Andrews, clarinet
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (Whitaker Guest Artist)
Jim Vincent, artistic director

 Audio Clip - Ravel Bolero (:57)

$10 Adult, $6 Child  |  Children 3+ are welcome to attend. Everyone must have a ticket for admittance to a Family concert.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago brings the SLSO Dance Festival to the final Family Concert of the season. Rarely do such extraordinary dancers and such exceptional musicians perform together live, and with the exciting Boléro and David Robertson conducting, this is one family event that will delight everyone.

Beethoven’s “Pastoral”

ORCHESTRAL SERIES

- Friday, March 13, 2009 at 10:30am (Coffee Concert)
- Friday, March 13, 2009 at 8pm
- Saturday, March 14, 2009 at 8pm

Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Mark Sparks, flute

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
NIELSEN Flute Concerto
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 6, “Pastoral”

 Audio Clip - Beethoven Symphony No 6, "Pastoral" (1:29)

Beethoven treasured the sounds of the woods, even when those sounds were more remembered than heard. His “Pastoral” Symphony contains a storm (of nature and of mind) that inspired many cinematic soundtracks to come. In Vaughan Williams and Nielsen you hear two composers who listened as deeply to nature, and were as inspired.

PreConcert Perspective with Peter Henderson one hour prior to each concert.

Discover Beethoven

TOUHILL SUNDAYS

- Sunday, March 15, 2009 at 2pm

Nicholas McGegan, conductor

Guest conductor Nicholas McGegan reveals the wonders of one of the best-loved symphonies. McGegan shares his understanding of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, “Pastoral,” with slide show, discussion, and musical excerpts. Then McGegan leads the SLSO in a full performance of the composer’s dramatic evocation of the natural world.

Touhill Performing Arts Center, UM-St. Louis
Contact the Touhill at 314-516-4949 or visit www.touhill.org for on-sale dates.

Youth Orchestra

- Sunday, March 15, 2009 at 3pm

Ward Stare, conductor

BEETHOVEN   Symphony No. 8, Op. 93, in F major 
Concerto TBD
ELGAR  Enigma Variations, Op. 36

Haydn lavishes intricate pleasures on an audience in his "Oxford" Symphony. Elgar paints musical portraits of his dearest friends in the Enigma Variations. It is like being invited to a garden party filled with wit—and a bit of intrigue. This season’s YO Concerto Competition winner performs as well.

Single tickets on sale Monday, September 29 at 9am.

Ideal (Dis-) Placements Concert at The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts

- Wednesday, March 18, 2009 at 7:30pm

PHILIPPE MANOURY    Pluton for piano and live electronics (1988)

The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts
3716 Washington Blvd

Middle East Crossroads

CLASSICAL DETOURS
Presented by The Boeing Company

- Friday, March 20, 2009 at 6:30pm

The Middle East is where peoples of the world—with disparate beliefs, customs, religions, and histories—have converged for most of human time. This passionate mingling of cultures, these crossroads of hopes and dreams are the source materials for the finale to this season’s Classical Detours.
$30 Reserved, limited availability | $20 General Admission
Pre-concert happy hour begins at 5:30pm.

Beethoven's "Emperor"

ORCHESTRAL SERIES

- Saturday, March 21, 2009 at 8pm
- Sunday, March 22, 2009 at 3pm

David Robertson, conductor
Richard Goode, piano

BRETT DEAN Carlo
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”
R. STRAUSS Ein Heldenleben


 Audio Clip - R. Strauss Ein Heldenleben (1:31)

Three musical portraits. Two composers draw portraits of heroic (and antiheroic) musical figures. Beethoven creates a portrait of power. The soloist for these concerts, Richard Goode, is known for music-making of tremendous emotional power. With Beethoven’s ultimate piano concerto, a well-known classic receives the most unique expression. Expect unexpected passions.

PreConcert Perspective with David Robertson one hour prior to each concert.

Transformations

ORCHESTRAL SERIES

- Friday, March 27, 2009 at 8pm
- Sunday, March 29, 2009 at 3pm

David Robertson, conductor
Karita Mattila, soprano (Whitaker Guest Artist)
Anssi Karttunen, cello

WAGNER Good Friday Music from Parsifal
ZIMMERMANN Canto di Speranza
SIBELIUS Luonnotar
Kaija SAARIAHO Mirage (US Premiere)
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 5

 Audio Clip - Wagner Good Friday Music from Parsifal (1:56)

Tensions build. Worlds break open and take new form. Transformation–magical, mystical, spiritual, physical–is the theme here: contemplations of Good Friday, a cello song of the spirit, the mystery of things seen and unseen, and Sibelius’ wondrous evocation of swans in flight.

PreConcert Perspective with David Robertson one hour prior to each concert.

The 5 Browns

SPECIAL EVENT

- Saturday, April 4, 2009 at 7:30pm

Take five precociously gifted siblings (Juilliard-trained, no less), five pianos, and some of the greatest music ever written, with that music superbly played at a feverpitch by those five siblings—and you get some small sense of the phenomenon that is The 5 Browns. Bring your whole family for an awesome entertainment experience.

The Damnation of Faust

ORCHESTRAL SERIES

- Friday, April 17, 2009 at 8pm
- Saturday, April 18, 2009 at 8pm

David Zinman, conductor (Whitaker Guest Artist)
Alice Coote, mezzo-soprano
Matthew Polenzani, tenor
Kyle Ketelsen, bass-baritone
Joshua Winograde, bass
Saint Louis Symphony Chorus
Amy Kaiser, director
The St. Louis Children’s Choirs
Barbara Berner, director

BERLIOZ La Damnation de Faust

Berlioz’s journey to damnation transitions from mocking to mirthful to dark and shadowy in a few measures. A theatrical setting can hardly accommodate the shifts in mood, from fiery abyss to the purity of heaven, yet sung and played in concert, the music vividly takes you on Faust’s scandalous (and highly entertaining) descent.

PreConcert Perspective with Hugh Macdonald one hour prior to each concert.

David Sedaris

Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at 7pm - Tickets Available Through KWMU

An Evening with David Sedaris at Powell Symphony Hall

Nadja

ORCHESTRAL SERIES
Presented by Thompson Coburn LLP

- Friday, April 24, 2009 at 8pm
- Saturday, April 25, 2009 at 8pm
- Sunday, April 26, 2009 at 3pm

Vasily Petrenko, conductor
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin (Whitaker Guest  Artist)

ELGAR Cockaigne Overture
BRUCH Violin Concerto No. 1
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 5

 Audio Clip - Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 (1:57)

With the Bruch concerto, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg is given a melody that never stops from beginning to end. Watch where it takes her. She nearly took the roof off Powell Hall when she played Tchaikovsky two seasons ago. Just as well, Shostakovich is sure to give you a view of the sky.

PreConcert Perspective with Peter Henderson one hour prior to each concert.

Community Concert

FREE SPECIAL EVENT

Sunday, April 26, 2009 at 6pm

Robert Ray, conductor
Saint Louis Symphony IN UNISON® Chorus
André Thomas, guest conductor

The relationships between the SLSO and the local community continue to grow and evolve, as with this free concert in one of the city’s historic African-American churches. This event takes place at Union Memorial United Methodist Church, located at 1141 Belt, St. Louis. Call 314-533-2500 for details.

Showing Off

ORCHESTRAL SERIES

- Friday, May 1, 2009 at 10:30am (Coffee Concert)
- Saturday, May 2, 2009 at 8pm

Yan Pascal Tortelier, conductor
Marc-André Hamelin, piano

RAVEL Le Tombeau de Couperin
SAINT-SAËNS Piano Concerto No. 2
DEBUSSY/RAVEL Sarabande
FRANCK Symphony in D minor

An artist needs to announce “Here I am!” sometimes. Ravel, paying homage to another, at the same time brilliantly proclaims himself. Franck, late in his life, takes on the symphony, which he does exuberantly. Saint-Saëns wrote this mercurial concerto for himself, and for audiences to exclaim, “Wow!”

PreConcert Perspective with Amy Kaiser one hour prior to each concert.

Youth Orchestra

- Sunday, May 3, 2009 at 3pm

Ward Stare, conductor

VERDI   La forza del destino Overture
TCHAIKOVSKY   Symphony No. 5, Op. 64, E minor

A Verdi overture invites you into the entertainment to come—La forza del destino opens you to a world of romance. Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 is as dramatic as they come, with the troubled composer making great music out of his anguished heart.

Single tickets on sale Monday, September 29 at 9am.

Ode to Joy

PREMIUM ORCHESTRAL SERIES

- Friday, May 8, 2009 at 8pm
- Saturday, May 9, 2009 at 8pm
- Sunday, May 10, 2009 at 3pm

David Robertson, conductor
Heidi Grant Murphy, soprano
Jennifer Dudley, mezzo-soprano
Brandon Jovanovich, tenor
Jonathan Lemalu, bass-baritone
Saint Louis Symphony Chorus
Amy Kaiser, director

THOMAS ADÈS Asyla
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9, “Choral”


 Audio Clip - Beethoven Symphony No. 9 (2:11)

Beethoven, nearly deaf, must have been composing as if in a dream as he built the rugged grandeur of his final symphony. “All creatures drink joy!” it shouts ecstatically, and ecstasy (the emotion and the drug) is a theme of Thomas Adès’ Asyla. Music starts. Enter dream.

PreConcert Perspective with David Robertson one hour prior to each concert.

Please note there will be no late seating for these performances.

Ideal (Dis-) Placements Concert at The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts

- Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at 7:30pm

JONATHAN HARVEY            Death of Light, Light of Death (1998)

HELMUT LACHENMANN      Allegro sostenuto (1986-88)

The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts
3716 Washington Blvd

Casual Classics

The first season of Casual Classics was a huge success and returns in the Summer of ’09 with more lively music, more surprises, and more lemonade. Dates and programs to be announced.