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.