Photos

A Look Back at the 2023/2024 Season

By Eric Dundon

With the conclusion of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ Festival Season, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s 144th season has come to a close. This season was unlike any in recent memory, as the orchestra shared music with the St. Louis region at venues around St. Louis City, St. Louis County, St. Charles County, and the Metro East while its home, Powell Hall, underwent a transformational expansion and renovation.

From music on Art Hill to a special concert featuring internationally acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma, SLSO musicians performed dozens of concerts for tens of thousands of people. The SLSO’s Education programming engaged for than 400,000 students and teachers across the country and world.

Take a look back at the some of the highlights of the season.

September 22 – Despite a serious drenching from Mother Nature, the 23/24 season started off with an estimated 20,000 people listening to live music on Art Hill, an SLSO tradition for more than 50 years. (Photo by Justin Barr)
September 29 – The first concerts of the season at the Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri–St. Louis also marked the start of a season-long traversal of all five piano concertos by Ludwig van Beethoven. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat)
October 24 – While the orchestra performed throughout the community, work continued on Powell Hall, including a new backstage wing that will house artist services. (Photo by Eric Dundon)
November 18 – Violinist Randall Goosby brought down the house with his rendition of Erich Korngold’s Violin Concerto in his SLSO debut. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat)
February 28 – Denève and the orchestra returned to the Saint Louis Basilica for an all-French program that closed with Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem. (Photo by Phillip Hamer)
September 23 – Violinist Hilary Hahn opened the SLSO’s classical concert in style, performing Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in front of a packed Stifel Theatre house. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat)
October 7 – Over the course of the season, the SLSO played the scores to five films while the movie played live, starting with The Nightmare Before Christmas, which brought out plenty of fanciful costumes. (Photo by Phillip Hamer)
October 25 – Even though the orchestra wasn’t at its normal home, Education Concerts—a staple of SLSO education programming since 1921—continued. A Zoo Called Earth introduced young listeners to the orchestra. (Photo by Brendan Batchelor)
October 25 – A new venture this season, the Live at The Sheldon series brought full houses to The Sheldon to hear SLSO musicians perform a range of chamber music. The musicians curated each program to highlight specific instruments and sections of the orchestra.
November 14 – Cellist Jennifer Humphreys performs alongside projected visuals during a Live at the Pulitzer performance. These concerts, a 20-year collaborative partnership, brought to life music by living composers.
December 5 – The SLSO’s engagement with the community this season included a return to the Missouri Easter Correctional Center in Pacific for a holiday performance. (Photo by Eric Dundon)
December 6 – SLSO musicians played alongside students at Grand Center Arts Academy for an arts intensive that showcases the creativity of students, the most recent in a series of collaborations with middle and high school arts and music programs. (Photo by Brendan Batchelor)
December 8 – Baritone Wintley Phipps was the featured artist at the Gospel Christmas concert, which featured the talents of the SLSO’s IN UNISON Chorus, a chorus that preserves and performs music from the African diaspora. (Photo by Virginia Harold)
December 18 – The SLSO’s popular Holiday Celebration took place in two venues this season, both featuring Broadway and West End veteran Scarlett Strallen. (Photo by Virginia Harold)
January 20 – Conductor Laureate Leonard Slatkin joined the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra for its second concert of the season, which was performed alongside SLSO musicians.
January 21 – Slatkin took audiences on a three-concert tour of American music, including performances of three landmark George Gershwin works, ending with Rhapsody in Blue, which was premiered 100 years earlier. (Photo by Virginia Harold)
January 27 – Music Director Stéphane Denève leads musicians on a darkened stage in multi-media performances of music by Francis Poulenc, Sergei Prokofiev, and Albert Roussel. (Photo by Virginia Harold)
February 3 – For the first time, the SLSO offered a special concert catered to the youngest listeners. Members of the Symphony Volunteer Association led pre-concert activities that engaged children with the concert experience. (Photo by Brendan Batchelor)
February 17 – The St. Louis Symphony Chorus joined the SLSO for building-shaking performances of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, opening with the famous O Fortuna theme. (Photo by Virginia Harold)
March 1 – The interior of the auditorium was refreshed with paint, requiring seven stories of scaffolding. (Photo by Eric Dundon)
March 16 – Dancers in the Saint Louis Dance Theatre (formerly the Big Muddy Dance Company), executed choreography to performances of Adam Schoenberg’s Picture Studies. This was the second dance collaboration with the company. (Photo by Virginia Harold)
March 28 – A quartet performs at the Contemporary Art Museum for the opening of the Paul Chan: Breathers exhibit. (Photo by Phillip Hamer)
April 13 – A Jedi and Chewbacca were spotted at the Stifel Theatre for performances of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. (Photo by Phillip Hamer)
April 15 – Bassoonist Julia Paine shares a fun moment with a student at Stix Elementary School in St. Louis during a school visit. (Photo by Brendan Batchelor)
May 3 – Cellist Yo-Yo Ma performs Edward Elgar’s Cello Concert to a sold out house at Stifel Theatre. This special evening raised more than $1.1 million for the SLSO’s programming. (Photo by Virginia Harold)
June 7 – SLSO strings players perform a selection in front of 3,000 listeners at 370 Lakeside Park in St. Peters. The park reached capacity for the first time for this SLSO concert. (Photo by Eric Dundon)
June 17 – Members of the SLSO and the IN UNISON Chorus commemorate Juneteenth at a performance at the Missouri History Museum. (Photo by Phillip Hamer)

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