Top Things to Know About the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s February 2026 Concerts

By Eric Dundon

February 2026 finds the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra operating at full creative throttle. The month’s lineup spans centuries and genres—showcasing more than 220 years of orchestral music from Mozart to Reena Esmail, plus the music of Tina Turner, Simon & Garfunkel, and John Coltrane—while reflecting the orchestra’s broader artistic mission: honoring tradition, elevating new voices, and creating space for community and cultural reflection. Here are the top things to know about the SLSO’s February concert calendar.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart looms large in February, appearing in two ambitious, high-profile productions led by Music Director Stéphane Denève. Amadeus in Concert (February 13–14) brings Miloš Forman’s Academy Award–winning film to life with the SLSO and St. Louis Symphony Chorus performing Mozart’s music live to picture. Denève then conducts a complete concert version of The Magic Flute (February 20 and 22), centering one of opera’s most beloved scores in a large-scale format. The performances showcase Mozart as a transcendent innovator, together presenting more than a dozen of his works from piano concerti, choral works, operas, and more.

The month opens away from Powell Hall with Live at The Sheldon: Songs of Belonging on February 5 at the SLSO’s Grand Center neighbor, The Sheldon. Curated by SLSO musicians Michael Casimir and Yin Xiong, the chamber program explores ideas of home, identity, and displacement. Alongside Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 1 are the first SLSO performances of works by Paul Wiancko and 2025/26 SLSO Composer in Residence Kevin Puts, as well as a world premiere by Trent Fitzsimmons, a student composer from the University of Missouri. Intimate in scale but expansive in meaning, the program offers a quieter counterpoint to February’s symphonic grandeur.

Prokofiev and Childs: Anthems of Resilience (February 6–7), conducted by Xian Zhang in her second SLSO appearance, focuses on music shaped by upheaval and renewal. Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 anchors the program with its wartime vision of human strength and dignity. Deeply meaningful to the SLSO, a 1985 recording of the symphony earned the orchestra a Grammy Award. Framing it are two SLSO premieres: Reena Esmail’s RE|Member, written in response to collective musical silence during the pandemic, and Billy Childs’ Diaspora, a saxophone concerto that channels history, trauma, and perseverance into a powerful symphonic statement. Saxophonist Steven Banks makes his SLSO debut as soloist, bringing urgency and advocacy to a work rooted in lived experience.

February also underscores the SLSO’s embrace of musical storytelling beyond the classical canon. The Simon & Garfunkel Story, the first concert in the non-orchestral Powell Hall Presents series, arrives on February 10, tracing the folk-rock duo’s rise through live performance and archival footage. On February 15, the SLSO teams up with St. Louis CITY SC for Eternal: A Tribute to Tina Turner, celebrating the global icon’s St. Louis roots and enduring influence through symphonic arrangements and a lineup of guest vocalists.

Black History Month is not confined to a single date—it’s embedded across the SLSO’s February programming. Billy Childs’ Diaspora (February 6–7), a concerto for saxophone, draws directly from the Black American experience, transforming personal and collective history into symphonic language. The annual Lift Every Voice concert on February 27 continues a decades-long tradition with the St. Louis Symphony IN UNISON Chorus, celebrating music of the African diaspora. The month concludes with Coltrane 100: Legacy on February 28, a one-night-only tribute to jazz visionary John Coltrane, featuring Grammy Award–winning saxophonist Joe Lovano and newly orchestrated arrangements by composer Carlos Simon.

The lineup also introduces St. Louis audiences to an exceptional slate of artists making their SLSO debuts. In The Magic Flute, tenor Ben Bliss, widely recognized for his refined Mozart interpretations and appearances with leading opera companies and orchestras, takes on the role of Tamino. Soprano Mei Gui Zhang, acclaimed internationally for her expressive artistry and luminous tone, debuts as Pamina. They are joined by a distinguished cast including Will Liverman, Rainelle Krause, and David Leigh—most appearing with the orchestra for the first time. Elsewhere in the month, debut appearances by Steven Banks and Joe Lovano further reinforce February as a moment of artistic arrival and discovery.

Eric Dundon is the SLSO’s Public Relations Director.