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Tales from backstage, at the hall, and in the community
with your St. Louis Symphony Orchestra


Program Notes: Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto (October 1-2, 2021)
Music can tackle the biggest questions. "When you listen to something, it influences the way you enter into the other musical worlds."
Sep 27, 20216 min read

Program Notes: Tchaikovsky's Fourth (September 25-26, 2021)
Music Director Stéphane Denève heralds a season of resilience. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky fights demons to triumph in his Fourth Symphony.
Sep 21, 20216 min read


Program Notes: Beethoven 7 (May 13-15, 2021)
Stéphane Denève: I judge a piece by its “soul presence.” The music takes you by the hand and leads you somewhere.
May 10, 20214 min read


Program Notes: Peter and the Wolf (May 7-9, 2021)
Music connects with our inner child. Great art has the power to speak to all parts of our life.
May 3, 20215 min read


Program Notes: Strauss and Mozart (April 30-May 2, 2021)
Have you ever found the orchestra’s wind section mysterious? This concert will unveil each of their sounds.
Apr 26, 20214 min read


Program Notes: Musical Journey (April 23-25, 2021)
Picture someone you know. Perhaps an old friend, someone you miss. What music would you match to these qualities?
Apr 19, 20215 min read


Program Notes: Airs and Dances (April 16-18, 2021)
Music whisks us to another time. Boccherini's music leaps, Mozart's glows, and Respighi's reflects.
Apr 12, 20214 min read


Program Notes: Welcome, Stephanie (April 9-11, 2021)
This program is centered around the reawakening of nature and therefore life. It’s very fitting now, as we try to start anew.
Apr 5, 20214 min read


Program Notes: Carnival of the Animals (April 1-3, 2021)
This concert is music of rebirth. There is sunrise, nature, the hope of Spring. French and American cultures unite, giving us two dawns.
Mar 29, 20215 min read


Program Notes: Songs, Prayers, and Rituals (March 26-28, 2021)
Our Spring season opens with music to cleanse your spirit: J.S. Bach, Ester Mägi, Arvo Pärt, and Dmitri Shostakovich.
Mar 19, 20215 min read


Program Notes: Music for Winds
As a collection of instruments, the wind quintet should not get along. Oddly, this mismatched group makes beautiful music.
Oct 28, 20204 min read


Program Notes: Mendelssohn, Montgomery, and Frank
Jessie Montgomery’s Strum and Gabriela Lena Frank’s Leyendas both dance with abandon.
Oct 28, 20204 min read


Program Notes: Schubert's Octet
The music on this program understands this all-too-human complexity.
Oct 27, 20204 min read


Program Notes: Debussy and Ravel
This program features works from this golden age of the harp.
Oct 27, 20204 min read


Program Notes: Night Music
Day eases into an unsettled night.
Strauss' Sextet from Capriccio; Mazzoli's Vespers for Violin; Schoenberg's Transfigured Night.
Oct 23, 20204 min read


Program Notes: Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence
Music can be a time-travel device or a teleportation machine. A chord progression might whisk you back a decade or two...
Oct 23, 20204 min read


Program Notes: Metamorphosen
This program connects to our current world: there is a lot of anxiety, sadness, and division, and this music gives comfort to heal our souls
Oct 18, 20204 min read


Program Notes: Beethoven's Eroica
The ‘Eroica’ is full of hope, and this is the right piece to begin making music together again.
Oct 11, 20204 min read


Program Notes: Bolero
Friday, March 6, 2020, at 10:30AM Friday, March 6, 2020, at 8:00PM Saturday, March 7, 2020, at 8:00PM Stéphane Denève, conductor Timothy...
Feb 24, 20209 min read


Program Notes: Beethoven and Schubert
Saturday, Febuary 29, 2020, at 8:00PM Sunday, March 1, 2020, at 3:00PM Nicholas McGegan, conductor Seong-Jin Cho, piano HAYDN Symphony...
Feb 17, 20209 min read
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