The 2008-2009 Season
Explore the complete list of performances scheduled for our 2008-2009 Season including the Wachovia Securities Orchestral Series.
View our three easy ways to subscribe at the 2008-2009 Season pages, including Compose Your Own and Classic Choice Coupon options.
Subscribers to the 2008-2009 Wachovia Securities Orchestral Series can purchase single tickets now (please call 314-533-7888).
All concerts below are on sale to the public Monday, August 25, 2008 at 9am, except for the Lord of the Rings concert which is on sale to the public Monday, June 16, 2008 at 9am.
FREE SPECIAL EVENT -
ART HILL, FOREST PARK
Thursday, September 18, 2008 at 7pm
Ward Stare, conductor
In many respects, the Forest Park Concert
is a celebration of the whole city: in the
wonderful park that is St. Louis’ pride and
joy, on the eve of the Balloon Glow and
Balloon Race, with your great orchestra
playing glorious music in the open air.

SPECIAL EVENT CONCERT
- Friday, September 19, 2008 at 7:30pm
- Saturday, September 20, 2008 at 7:30pm
Ludwig Wicki, conductor
Kaitlyn Lusk, soprano
Saint Louis Symphony Chorus
Amy Kaiser, director
The Saint Louis Children’s Choirs
Barbara Berner, director
Capture the Ring with the SLSO! Since its
premiere in 2003, Howard Shore’s The Lord
of the Rings Symphony has received standing
ovations on four continents. The musical experience
is heightened with projected illustrations
and storyboards. “Shore’s musical opus
is every bit as impressive as Tolkien’s literary
one...even when liberated from the majesty
of [Peter] Jackson’s trilogy.”—Seattle Times
Thursday, September 25, 2008 at 7pm
David Robertson, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
JOHN ADAMS Guide to Strange Places
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3
BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra
A free student sneak preview of the Opening Night Concert featuring Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3--a work that takes soloist Yefim Bronfman, conductor David Robertson and the SLSO to musical extremes. FREE for high school and college students only. Visit SoundCheckStLouis for more information on discounted student tickets available for the 0809 Season.


ORCHESTRAL SERIES
Presented by MasterCard
Friday, September 26, 2008 at 8pm
Saturday, September 27, 2008 at 8pm
David Robertson, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
JOHN ADAMS Guide to Strange Places
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3
BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra
The passion of art. The passion of life. You find it in Yefim Bronfman playing the ferociously difficult, and exhilarating, Rach 3. You find it in John Adams’ tour of the strange. And you find it in Bartók, who, as mad war ravages his homeland, writes an impassioned concerto of homecoming.

ORCHESTRAL SERIES
Presented by Plaza Lexus
Friday, October 3, 2008 at 10:30am (Coffee Concert)
Saturday October 4, 2008 at 8pm
Sunday October 5, 2008 at 3pm
David Robertson, conductor
Colin Currie, percussion
MOZART The Abduction from the Seraglio Overture
STEVEN MACKEY Time Release (Friday only)
HK GRUBER Rough Music (US Premiere) (Saturday only)
CHRISTOPHER ROUSE Der gerettete Alberich (Sunday only)
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7
Colin Currie nimbly crossed back and forth across the stage playing a battery of percussion in spring 2006, and audiences felt the sonic power reverberating long after. This season Currie plays a different percussion concerto for each concert. Mozart and Beethoven, classical purveyors of modern rhythms, complete the adventure.

English Pomp (& Circumstance)
CLASSICAL DETOURS
Presented by The Boeing Company
Friday, October 3, 2008 at 6:30pm
David Robertson, conductor
You don't need your cap and gown to enjoy
Pomp and Circumstance. You don't even
need to know that it's English, or that it was
written by Sir Edward Elgar. "England swings
like a pendulum do," sang Roger Miller. You'll
find out how in this British Invasion.
$30 Reserved, limited availability |
$20 General Admission
Pre-concert happy hour begins at 5:30pm.

ORCHESTRAL SERIES
Presented by American Airlines
Friday, October 10, 2008 at 8pm
Saturday, October 11, 2008 at 8pm
Sunday, October 12, 2008 at 3pm
Hans Graf, conductor
David Halen, violin
Jonathan Vinocour, viola
PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 1, “Classical”
MOZART Sinfonia concertante, K. 364
STRAVINSKY Scènes de Ballet
BIZET Symphony in C
The influence of one’s forbearers may produce anxiety, but it also provokes
great art. Bizet stands boldly in Mozart’s shadow. Young Prokofiev honors his
musical ancestors as Stravinsky reflects on Tchaikovsky’s fiery romanticism.
Mozart is purely himself, inventing a refined discourse between violin and viola.
Kinder Konzert
EDUCATION CONCERTS
Fall Program (grades K-3)
Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 9:30 & 11am
Tuesday, October 21, 2008 at 9:30 & 11am
Ward Stare, conductor
The orchestra is made up of instrument
families that all come together to make
beautiful music. You’re invited to meet these
families and sing along with them as they
tell the story of Peter and the Wolf. The lively
music of Prokofiev will inspire you to create
your own stories. For tickets or more information, call (314) 286-4156 or email to education@slso.org

ORCHESTRAL SERIES
Friday, October 17, 2008 at 8pm
Saturday, October 18, 2008 at 8pm
Stanislaw Skrowaczewski,
conductor
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 8
Bruckner wanders into mists of uncertainty, emerging toward intimations of
profound faith. He makes sound cathedrals: sweeping harmonic structures
propelling you both inward and outward. Perhaps not so incongruously,
Bruckner has found fans among heavy-metal devotees, especially the last
movement: Feierlich, nicht schnell. Could be the name of a band.

Sunday, October 19, 2008 at 3pm
Ward Stare, conductor
$10 Adult / $6 Child
The orchestra is made up of instrument
families that all come together to make
beautiful music. You’re invited to meet these
families and sing along with them as they
tell the story of Peter and the Wolf. The lively
music of Prokofiev will inspire you to create
your own stories.

ORCHESTRAL SERIES
Friday, October 24, 2008 at 8pm
Saturday, October 25, 2008 at 8pm
Sunday, October 26, 2008 at 3pm
Ingo Metzmacher, conductor
Peter Serkin, piano
MUSSORGSKY/SHOSTAKOVICH Dawn on the
Moskva River from Khovanshchina
MESSIAEN Les offrandes oubliées
STRAVINSKY Capriccio
MESSIAEN Oiseaux exotiques
MUSSORGSKY/RAVEL Pictures at an Exhibition
Mussorgsky was inspired by an exhibition of paintings; Ravel was inspired by Mussorgsky. Create your own pictures from the sound images Mussorgsky draws, and to which Ravel adds color. Plus Messiaen’s bright exotic birds and Stravinsky showing off: syncopated, jazzy, fascinatin’.

Transylvanian Halloween
CLASSICAL DETOURS
Presented by The Boeing Company
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Friday, October 31, 2008 at 6:30pm
It’s your SLSO’s way of saying "Boo!" musically.
You probably know best through
movies the ways in which music can create
suspense, lengthen ghostly shadows, and
make you leap out of your seat. You’ll get
all of this and more in this Transylvanian
night—if you dare!
$30 Reserved, limited availability |
$20 General Admission
Pre-concert happy hour begins at 5:30pm.

ORCHESTRAL SERIES
Saturday, November 1, 2008 at 8pm
Sunday, November 2, 2008 at 3pm
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Barbara Orland, oboe
Andrew Gott, bassoon
Alison Harney, violin
Melissa Brooks, cello
Laura Claycomb, soprano
Thomas Cooley, tenor
Saint Louis Symphony Chorus
Amy Kaiser, director
MENDELSSOHN Fair Melusine Overture
HAYDN Sinfonia concertante
HANDEL Ode for Saint Cecilia’s Day
One for the muses. If you’re called upon to make music for the Queen, you’d
better bring your best stuff. Handel knew how to please a royal court, but for
Cecilia, the patron saint of music, he writes to satisfy the divine. Mendelssohn
and Haydn add to this extraordinary command performance.
Youth Orchestra
Sunday, November 9, 2008 at 3pm
Ward Stare, conductor
MENDELSSOHN Sinfonia No. 10 in B minor
DVORAK Symphony No. 9, Op. 95, E minor (From the New World)
Welcome the new YO director, Ward Stare,
for his premiere concert with the impressive
ensemble. The strings have an opportunity
to stand out in Mendelssohn’s Sinfonia
No. 10. The full orchestra gets to sink its teeth
into a robust finale: Dvorák’s celebration of
American styles, Symphony No. 9,"From
the New World".
Guitar Festival:
The Pageant
Support provided by Argosy Foundation Contemporary Music Fund
Thursday, November 13, 2008 at 8pm
Hear music of Frank Zappa and Edgard
Varèse, along with Glenn Branca’s symphony
written for 100 electric guitars, with composer/
guitarist Steve Mackey and guitar wizard
John Patitucci joining 98 St. Louis guitarists
and David Robertson on the stage of the
Pageant. In November, the SLSO makes St.
Louis GuitarLand.
TICKETS: 314-421-4400

ORCHESTRAL SERIES
Presented by MasterCard
Additional support provided by Argosy Foundation Contemporary Music Fund
Friday, November 14, 2008 at 8pm
Saturday, November 15, 2008 at 8pm
David Robertson, conductor
Leila Josefowicz, violin
John Patitucci, electric bass
and electric bass guitar
MARK-ANTHONY TURNAGE A Prayer Out of Stillness (US Premiere)
STEVEN MACKEY Beautiful Passing (US Premiere)
STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring
The most outrageous work from the beginning of the 20th century, The
Rite still beats with a rock & roll heart in the 21st, and so matches a quiet
piece for electric bass and electric bass guitar, and a violin concerto by a
dynamic composer with an electric guitar in mind.

ORCHESTRAL SERIES
Friday, November 21, 2008 at 8pm
Saturday, November 22, 2008 at 8pm
David Robertson, conductor
Guest artist to be announced
MOZART concerto to be announced
MAHLER Symphony No. 9
Mahler, in the winter of his life, composes a great symphony both terrifying and tender, finding an elegiac grace, a gentleness, a musical language of farewell beyond tears, beyond grief.

TOUHILL SUNDAYS
Sunday, November 23, 2008 at 2pm
Orli Shaham and
Peter Henderson, piano
Percussionists of the SLSO
Percussion is versatile and wildly inventive.
Whether you listen to rock or country, hip
hop or classical, percussion is an integral
part of any music. For the fourth year at
the Touhill, SLSO musicians explore the
exciting possibilities of the most primal
human musical act.
Touhill Performing Arts Center, UM-St. Louis
Contact the Touhill at 314-516-4949
or visit www.touhill.org for on-sale dates.
EDUCATION CONCERTS
Fall Program (grades 4- 6)
Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 9:30 & 11am
Courtney Lewis, conductor
Mussorgsky saw an exhibition of paintings
and was inspired to translate the paintings
into a piano work, Pictures at an Exhibition.
Later, Ravel re-made Pictures into a work for
orchestra. Both composers combined their
senses–seeing and hearing–to make music.
Can we see sound? Can we hear images? For tickets or more information, call (314) 286-4156 or email to education@slso.org

ORCHESTRAL SERIES
Friday, November 28, 2008 at 8pm
Saturday, November 29, 2008 at 8pm
Marc Albrecht, conductor
Orli Shaham, piano
RAVEL Mother Goose Suite
BARTÓK Piano Concerto No. 3
R. STRAUSS Don Juan
R. STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks
Ravel expresses the fantastic world of Mother Goose. Strauss delves deep into
the archetypes of seducer/adventurer and trickster/prankster in two works of
mesmerizing invention. Orli Shaham, with magic up her sleeves, reveals a
simplicity in Bartók that is both of our time, and timeless—the best trick of all.

FAMILY CONCERTS
Sunday, November 30, 2008 at 3pm
Courtney Lewis, conductor
$10 Adult, $6 Child | (ages 3+)
The Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky
visited an exhibition of paintings and was
inspired to translate the paintings he had seen
into sound. He wrote Pictures at an Exhibition for piano. Later, the French composer Maurice
Ravel added to Mussorgsky's work to make
it a composition for full orchestra. Both composers
combined their senses—seeing and
hearing—to create works of art. Can we see
sound? Can we hear images?
EDUCATION CONCERTS
Fall Program (grades 7-12)
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 10am
Courtney Lewis, conductor
The Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky
visited an exhibition of paintings and was
inspired to translate the paintings he had seen
into sound. He wrote Pictures at an Exhibition for piano. Later, the French composer Maurice
Ravel added to Mussorgsky’s work to make
it a composition for full orchestra. Both composers
combined their senses–seeing and
hearing–to create works of art. Can we see
sound? Can we hear images? For tickets or more information, call (314) 286-4156 or email to education@slso.org

ORCHESTRAL SERIES
Presented by Thompson Coburn LLP
Friday, December 5, 2008 at 10:30am (Coffee Concert)
Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 8pm
Sunday, December 7, 2008 at 3pm
Michael Christie, conductor
Louis Lortie, piano
BARBER Essay No. 1
CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 1
TCHAIKOVSKY Suite No. 3
Barber’s Essay lights a bright American candle. Chopin’s piano concertos are
all of fire, a dramatic combustion between orchestra and soloist, a battle as riveting
as a volatile marriage. Tchaikovsky’s suites are just as incandescent. Being
Russian, he knows the darkest nights require heat and light. He brings them.

Discover America
CLASSICAL DETOURS
Presented by The Boeing Company
Friday, December 12, 2008 at 6:30pm
American music encompasses the cities
and towns, the urban streets and the open
countryside, the intimate longings and the
extravagant ambitions of a diverse people. In
a sense, American composers have always
been discovering America and finding new
musical definitions of who and what we are.
$30 Reserved, limited availability |
$20 General Admission
Pre-concert happy hour begins at 5:30pm.

ORCHESTRAL SERIES
Saturday, December 13, 2008 at 8pm
Sunday, December 14, 2008 at 3pm
David Robertson, conductor
Jessica Rivera, soprano
Kelley O’Connor, mezzo-soprano
Steven Rickards, Daniel Bubeck
Brian Cummings, countertenors
Jonathan Lemalu, bass-baritone
Saint Louis Symphony Chorus
Amy Kaiser, director
The St. Louis Children’s Choirs
Barbara Berner, director
JOHN ADAMS El Niño
“The piece is my way of trying to understand what is meant by a miracle,”
John Adams says of his nativity oratorio. Handel’s Messiah is indeed a
model, but the shout of “Hallelujah” is propelled by a convergence of
forces, as if orchestra and chorus were caught up in a whirlwind of history
and myth, faith and doubt, memory and dream. Prepare to be blown away.


SPECIAL EVENT
Presented by AmerenUE
Thursday, December 18, 2008 at 7:30pm
Friday, December 19, 2008 at 7:30pm
Robert Ray, conductor
CeCe Winans, vocalist
Saint Louis Symphony IN UNISON® Chorus
Two nights of soul-stirring gospel music
to celebrate this most joyous of seasons.
The artistic combination of Robert Ray,
the Saint Louis Symphony IN UNISON®
Chorus, and the Saint Louis Symphony
Orchestra have made A Gospel Christmas
a tradition that delivers all of the promises of the holiday,
and then some, especially with the dynamic
Gospel star, CeCe Winans.


SPECIAL EVENT
Friday, December 19, 2008 at 2pm
Saturday, December 20, 2008 at 7:30pm
Sunday, December 21, 2008 at 2pm
Ward Stare, conductor
Doug LaBrecque, vocalist & narrator
The St. Louis Children’s Choirs
Barbara Berner, director
Popular songs mixed with orchestral favorites
and the beloved 'Twas the Night Before Christmas define the spirit of the season. The
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra Holiday
Celebration is made to gladden the hearts
of everyone. Powell Symphony Hall will be
in its holiday finest. Warm up your voices for
the traditional sing-along with The St. Louis
Children’s Choirs!

SPECIAL EVENT
Presented by
Charter Communications
Saturday, December 27, 2008 at 7:30pm
Sunday, December 28, 2008 at 3pm
David Robertson, conductor
We’re off to see the Wizard! The 1939
classic has been stunningly re-mastered
and restored, and now, the wonderful
Harold Arlen score will be played live
by the SLSO,with David Robertson
conducting. The Wizard of Oz will be as
enchanting to those who’ve seen it dozens
of times as to those who are seeing it for
the first time. Judy Garland singing “Over
the Rainbow” with the SLSO: We’re off!

Wednesday, December 31, 2008 at 7:30pm
David Robertson, conductor
The program for the SLSO’s annual New
Year’s Eve Concert is one of the best-kept–
and most-enjoyed–secrets of the year. It’s
a surprise party of entertainment, but as
anyone knows who’s been here before,
David Robertson and the SLSO will make
this the first (and best) stop on your New
Year’s Eve revels.

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”
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.

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 on-sale dates.

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
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.

Sunday, January 18, 2009 at 3pm
Ward Stare, conductor
$10 Adult / $6 Child | (ages 3+)
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.
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.

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
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.

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)
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.

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.

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
Xian Zhang, conductor (Whitaker Guest Artist)
Daniel Lee, cello
CHEN YI Si Ji (Four Seasons)
ELGAR Cello Concerto
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5
Music of the seasons, from an Asian perspective. Then Elgar’s concerto, written near the close of World War I, makes music from the ashes of a world destroyed, hauntingly played by SLSO Principal Cello Daniel Lee. Out of Tchaikovsky’s struggles of the heart, he makes an eloquent appeal to Fate.

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.


SPECIAL EVENT
Sunday, February 15, 2009 at 3pm
David Robertson, conductor
Orli Shaham, piano
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.
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.
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.

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.
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.

ORCHESTRAL SERIES
Friday, February 27, 2009 at 10:30am
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”
“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.

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
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.

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
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.

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
$10 Adult / $6 Child
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.

ORCHESTRAL SERIES
Friday, March 13, 2009 at 10:30am
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”
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.

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
HAYDN Symphony No. 92, G major (Oxford)
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.

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.

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
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.

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

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.

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.

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
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.
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.

ORCHESTRAL SERIES
Friday, May 1, 2009 at 10:30am
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!”
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.

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”
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.