The Jack C. Taylor Music Center, home of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, has been open for just six weeks, but the amount of new musical memories are unquantifiable.
In October 2025, the expanded and renovated venue hosted twelve concerts and several special events, welcoming thousands of people to experience the improved space. Opening with three performances of the score to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the orchestra defied genre, deftly moving from Mozart to Chuck Berry, to chamber music.
Appearing in the October 1 issue of The New York Times, the building reinforces “St. Louis’s longstanding stature as a vibrant arts center in the Midwest, and the central place of Powell Hall and the orchestra in the city’s identity and reputation.”
Critics called performances “…textured, articulated, responsive, and resonant…” (St. Louis American) and “every bit as refulgent as one could wish” (St. Louis Arts Scene).
Take a look back at some of the October 2025 festivities.
October 4—A full house enjoyed the SLSO’s performance of John Williams’ score to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone while the film played. (Photo by Jon Gitchoff)
October 4—Audience members stroll past “Gliding Toward Utopia,” the art installation in the Berges Family Foundation Lobby. (Photo by Jon Gitchoff)
October 4—The first film concert of the 25/26 season served as a perfect date night. (Photo by Jon Gitchoff)
October 11—Conductor Laureate Leonard Slatkin led the second subscription concerts of the season, which closed with Edward Elgar’s monumental First Symphony. (Photo by Jason Gray)
October 11—Pianist Emanuel Ax wowed audiences with his pristine interpretation of W.A. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25. (Photo by Jason Gray)
October 17—The SLSO celebrated rock icon Chuck Berry’s birthday with a show featuring many guest artists. Led by Anthony Parnther, guests included (left to right): Charles Berry Jr., Brian “Howlin'” Hurd, Valerie June, and Charles Berry III. (Photo by Phillip Hamer)
October 17—The celebration of Chuck Berry also included display of memorabilia from Berry’s pioneering career. (Photo by Phillip Hamer)
October 17—James Walbourne of The Pretenders was one of several guest artists joining in the Chuck Berry Birthday Bash. (Photo by Phillip Hamer)
October 24—Tabita Berglund made her SLSO debut leading a concert that included Sergei Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto, which featured soloist Augustin Hadelich. (Photo by Eric Dundon)
October 19—Member of the Symphony Volunteer Association ask children to create their own monsters as part of pre-concert activities at the Howl at Powell Concert for Kids. (Photo by Phillip Hamer)
October 19—Children dressed in costume create their own music using a “percussion wall” prior to the Howl at Powell Concert for Kids. The pre-concert activity was held in the SLSO’s new Education and Learning Center. (Photo by Phillip Hamer)
October 19—Holly Connor, a soprano, sang a song from Antonín Dvořák’s opera Rusalka. Holly’s appearance with the SLSO was her wish through the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America. (Photo by Phillip Hamer)
October 19—Families came dressed in costume for the Howl at Powell Concert for Kids. (Photo by Phillip Hamer)
October 26—Superstar violinist Augustin Hadelich was joined by seven SLSO musicians for Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet in the first of two chamber music concerts curated by guest artists. (Photo by Justin Staggs)
October 26—Violinist Augustin Hadelich performs a rarely-heard solo violin piece by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson at a chamber music concert he curated. (Photo by Justin Staggs)
October 26—Joining Augustin Hadelich were violinists Celeste Golden Andrews, Kristin Ahlstrom, and Alison Harney; violists Alejandro Valdepeñas and Michael Casimir; and cellists Bjorn Ranheim and Yin Xiong. (Photo by Justin Staggs)
