St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Stéphane Denève begin 2023 with world premieres of SLSO-commissioned works by James Lee III and Kevin Puts
(January 11, 2022, St. Louis, MO) – The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra will give the world premieres of two works commissioned by the orchestra this January, led by Music Director Stéphane Denève. The new pieces were written for the SLSO by composers with deep ties to the orchestra: Kevin Puts and James Lee III.
Stéphane Denève, SLSO Music Director, said, “I am extremely excited to share with our audiences two new works from two composers I adore. They both have a singular voice, and the accessible and deeply moving music they create will have a long-lasting place in the repertoire. Our wonderful orchestra has enjoyed getting to know the music of Kevin and James over the past few years and I am delighted to offer to our St. Louis music lovers the first hearing of this important new music, written for and with our orchestra and myself in mind and therefore creating meaningful connections to our community!”
The commissions of Puts’ Concerto for Orchestra and Lee’s Visions of Cahokia advances Denève’s and the SLSO’s priority on music of today, realized through regular commissioning projects and the St. Louis Symphony: Live at the Pulitzer series. That series—a nearly two-decade partnership with the Pulitzer Arts Foundation—presents chamber music by bold composers of today, many of whom are introduced to St. Louis audiences through the series.
World Premiere of Kevin Puts’ Concerto for Orchestra
On January 21-22, Denève leads the SLSO in the world premiere of the Concerto for Orchestra by Kevin Puts—St. Louis native and winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his debut opera Silent Night. Puts’ Concerto for Orchestra draws inspiration from the poem “Hymn for the Hurting” by Amanda Gorman, a former National Youth Poet Laueate and noted speaker at the inauguration of President Biden. Gorman’s poem was written in response to the deadly shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in May 2022. The SLSO commission of Concerto for Orchestra is the third SLSO-commissioned work by Puts in Denève’s tenure following Virelai, the first work performed by the SLSO under Denève’s tenure as Music Director in September 2019. And in February 2020, the orchestra gave its first performances of Silent Night Elegy, a suite from Puts’ award-winning opera, Silent Night. The world premiere of Concerto for Orchestra comes on the heels of the premiere of Puts’ newest opera, The Hours, by the Metropolitan Opera in November 2022. The program begins with the SLSO premiere of Detlev Glanert’s Weites Land (Open Land), a melodically robust piece that is heavily influenced by Johannes Brahms’ Fourth Symphony. This is the second SLSO program that Denève has led featuring the work of both Glanert—whom Denève champions as a foremost German composer of today—and Brahms; the first was a January 2022 concert with Glanert’s Brahms-Fantasie and Brahms’ First Symphony. The concert will close as Hélène Grimaud joins the SLSO for Johannes Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1. A longtime collaborator of Denève’s, Grimaud makes her return to the SLSO after 20 years, performing the same piece that earned her rave reviews in her SLSO debut.
World Premiere of James Lee III’s Visions of Cahokia
The January 28-29 concerts open with the world premiere of James Lee III’s Visions of Cahokia, an SLSO commission led by Denève. Lee took inspiration from a visit to Cahokia Mounds, the ancient ruins of the most sophisticated native civilization north of Mexico located across the Mississippi River from St. Louis near present-day Collinsville, Illinois. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Cahokia Mounds includes the remains of about 80 man-made mounds and is considered one of the most important archaeological sites in North American. At the height of the Mississippian civilization in 1100 AD, Cahokia was more populous than contemporaneous London. The SLSO’s performances of Visions of Cahokia will be the fourth work of Lee’s that has been performed by the SLSO in the past two seasons, all led by Denève. The SLSO will record the world premiere performances for use in an online-based education program to be made available worldwide. Also in the program, James Ehnes, an SLSO recording partner, returns to Powell Hall to perform one of Leonard Bernstein’s most lyrical works, Serenade (after Plato’s Symposium). The final piece on the program is Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2, filled with the influence of Beethoven and described by Sibelius as “a confession of the soul.”
Saturday night classical concerts will be broadcast live on 90.7 FM KWMU St. Louis Public Radio, Classic 107.3, and online (stlpr.org). The SLSO’s 143rd season runs through June 2023.
Concert listings
Saturday, January 21, 2023, 8:00pm CST
Sunday, January 22, 2023, 3:00pm CST
Stéphane Denève, conductor
Hélène Grimaud, piano
Detlev GLANERT Weites Land (Open Land) (First SLSO performance)
Kevin PUTS Concerto for Orchestra (World premiere | SLSO commission)*
Johannes BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 1
*Commissioned by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, with the generous support of Joseph and Bette Hirsch and Jeff and Deborah Pierce.
Saturday, January 28, 2023, 8:00pm CST
Sunday, January 29, 2023, 3:00pm CST
Stéphane Denève, conductor
James Ehnes, violin
James LEE III Visions of Cahokia (World premiere | SLSO commission)
Leonard BERNSTEIN Serenade (after Plato’s Symposium)
Jean SIBELIUS Symphony No. 2