ST. LOUIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA’S MARCH CONCERTS INCLUDE THREE SLSO PREMIERES, CHORAL PERFORMANCES, GRAMMY AWARD-WINNING ARTISTS, AND A BON VOYAGE CONCERT FOR THE ORCHESTRA’S EUROPEAN TOUR

March 3-4: Assistant Conductor Stephanie Childress leads the orchestra in two SLSO premieres: Oswald Huỳnh’s Gia Đình (Family) and Joseph Haydn’s Keyboard Concerto No. 11 with frequent SLSO guest Peter Henderson; concerts conclude with Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 3, “Rhenish”

March 10-11: Conductor Nicholas McGegan leads the SLSO in selection from Ludwig van Beethoven’s Egmont and the first SLSO performances of Felix Mendelssohn’s The First Walpurgis Night with the St. Louis Symphony Chorus

March 12: Grammy Award-winning duo, Indigo Girls, shares the stage with the SLSO

March 16: Music Director Stéphane Denève and acclaimed pianist Víkingur Ólafsson team up for a one-night-only bon voyage concert with the SLSO prior to the orchestra’s European tour; concert includes Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto, Sergei Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges Suite, and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances

March 19: Childress leads the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra in a free community concert featuring Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 and a movement from Johannes Brahms’ Violin Concerto with YO co-concertmaster Ayman Amerin

March 31: Folk and bluegrass pioneer Béla Fleck performs his latest album, My Bluegrass Heart

(February 2, 2023, St. Louis, MO) – Today, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra announced details for its concerts at Powell Hall throughout the month of March. Concerts include a one-night-only bon voyage concert for the orchestra prior to its five-city European tour with acclaimed pianist Víkingur Ólafsson; programs with Assistant Conductor Stephanie Childress and longtime collaborator Nicholas McGegan; a performance with the Grammy Award-winning duo Indigo Girls, and a presentation of celebrated folk and bluegrass music by artist Béla Fleck.

Tickets start at $15 for classical concerts, $10 for Youth Orchestra concerts, and start as low as $40 for other concerts. Tickets may be purchased at slso.org or by calling the Box Office at 314-534-1700. A full concert calendar is available at slso.org or on the SLSO’s mobile app available for iOS or Android. Both Saturday night classical concerts will be broadcast live on 90.7 FM KWMU St. Louis Public Radio, Classic 107.3, or online (stlpr.org). Audiences can attend a Pre-Concert Conversation, an engaging discussion about the music and artists on the program, one hour prior to each classical concert in the auditorium. 

The SLSO’s 143rd season runs through June 2023. For more information, visit slso.org. 

Schumann’s “Rhenish” Symphony

Friday, March 3, 2023, 7:30pm

Saturday, March 4, 2023, 10:30am*

Stephanie Childress, conductor

Peter Henderson, piano

Oswald HUỲNH                                      Gia Đình (First SLSO performances)

Joseph HAYDN                                       Keyboard Concerto No. 11, Hob. XVIII (First SLSO performances)

Robert SCHUMANN                              Symphony No. 3, “Rhenish”

*Refreshments courtesy of Kaldi’s Coffee and Eddie’s Southtown Donuts. Shuttle service available from Plaza Frontenac.

SLSO Assistant Conductor Stephanie Childress returns to lead the orchestra in classical concerts, following her April 2022 classical season debut. The March 3-4 concerts open with two pieces new to the SLSO but composed more than 230 years apart. The SLSO first performed Oswald Huỳnh’s Gia Đình (Family) as part of a yearly collaboration with the Mizzou New Music Initiative at the University of Missouri, in which the orchestra workshops scores by student composers. Childress asked Huỳnh—an initiative participant—to expand on his original work for full orchestra. Next, frequent SLSO collaborator and Maryville University professor Peter Henderson joins the orchestra for Joseph Haydn’s Keyboard Concerto No. 11, composed in 1784 and marked by a lively, gallant style. The concerts close with Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 3, “Rhenish.” Written during a happy time in Schumann’s life, the symphony draws inspiration from Ludwig van Beethoven’s groundbreaking Symphony No. 3, as well as Schumann’s trip to the German Rhineland with his wife, pianist Clara Schumann.

Beethoven and Mendelssohn

Friday, March 10, 2023, 7:30pm

Saturday, March 11, 2023, 8:00pm

Nicholas McGegan, conductor

Sarah Price, soprano

Danielle Yilmaz, soprano

Victoria Carmichael, alto

Thomas Cooley, tenor

Enrico Lagasca, bass-baritone (SLSO debut)

St. Louis Symphony Chorus | Trent Patterson, guest director

Ludwig van BEETHOVEN                     Selections from Egmont

Felix MENDELSSOHN                            The First Walpurgis Night (First SLSO performances)

Frequent SLSO collaborator Nicholas McGegan returns for a dramatic musical pairing of works by Ludwig van Beethoven and Felix Mendelssohn inspired by famed author Goethe. Both feature calls for liberty—heroically in Beethoven’s Egmont, playfully in Mendelssohn’s The First Walpurgis Night. The St. Louis Symphony Chorus joins McGegan and the orchestra for the first SLSO performances of The First Walpurgis Night. A fixture at the SLSO for more than 30, this will be McGegan’s 37th classical program with the SLSO.

Indigo Girls with the SLSO

Sunday, March 12, 2023, 7:00pm

Stephanie Childress, conductor

Indigo Girls, vocals and guitar

Repertoire announced from the stage. This concert was rescheduled from May 2022.

On Sunday, March 12, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers—better known as the Indigo Girls—return to Powell Hall for a third collaboration with the SLSO. The power of unity, both in music and in life, has been an Indigo Girls calling card ever since they burst into the spotlight with their 1989 self-titled breakout album. Since then, the band has racked up Gold and Platinum records, taken home a coveted GRAMMY® Award, and earned the respect of high-profile peers. This performance was rescheduled from May 2022. The SLSO will honor tickets for the original concert date.

Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances

Thursday, March 16, 2023, 7:30pm

Stéphane Denève, conductor

Vikingur Ólafsson, piano

Sergei PROKOFIEV                                 The Love for Three Oranges Suite

Edvard GRIEG                                         Piano Concerto

Sergei RACHMANINOFF                      Symphonic Dances

For one night, the SLSO invites St. Louisans to hear a program with Music Director Stéphane Denève and acclaimed pianist Víkingur Ólafsson at its home in Powell Hall on Thursday, March 16, 2023—a bon voyage concert celebrating the SLSO’s return to international touring for the first time since 2017. Ólafsson will play Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto, the same piece he made his SLSO debut with in November 2021. The concert also includes music by two composers Denève greatly admires: music from Sergei Prokofiev’s satirical opera—the rarely-performed The Love for Three Oranges Suite; and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, an orchestral showpiece and a “desert island” work for Denève. On March 21, the SLSO embarks on a five-city tour that will see the same program performed at some of the world’s most-celebrated concert halls, including the Vienna Konzerthaus (Vienna, Austria); Centre for Fine Arts (Brussels, Belgium, as part of the Klara Festival); Muzikgebouw Eindhoven (Eindhoven, the Netherlands); Concertgebouw (Amsterdam, the Netherlands); and Auditorio Nacional de Música (Madrid, Spain).   

St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra

Sunday, March 19, 2023, 3:00pm

Stephanie Childress, conductor

Ayman Amerin, violin

Johannes BRAHMS                               Allegro non troppo from Violin Concerto

Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH                        Symphony No. 5

The St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra continues its three-concert season by featuring the winner of the annual YO Concerto competition. Ayman Ishmael Amerin, the YO co-concertmaster and junior at Fort Zumwalt West High School, will perform a movement from Johannes Brahms’ Violin Concerto. Then, the orchestra performs Dmitri Shostakovich’s most provocative work—his Symphony No. 5, noted for its over-the-top musical depiction of Soviet patriotism in response to official criticism of his earlier musical output. YO Music Director and SLSO Assistant Conductor Stephanie Childress leads this concert.

Béla Fleck’s My Bluegrass Heart

Friday, March 31, 2022, 7:30pm

Béla Fleck, banjo and vocals

Repertoire announced from the stage. This performance does not feature the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Folk and bluegrass pioneer Béla Fleck returns to Powell Hall to perform his latest work, My Bluegrass Heart, a 19-track album that took the 2021 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album. Over the long and lauded course of his unique creative run, Fleck – the world’s premier banjo virtuoso and a celebrated musical adventurer – has both dug deep into his instrument’s complex global history and unlocked the breadth of its possibilities.

About the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra

Celebrated as a leading American orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is the second-oldest orchestra in the country, marking its 143rd year with the 2022/2023 season and its fourth with Music Director Stéphane Denève. The SLSO maintains its commitment to artistic excellence, educational impact, and community collaborations, honoring its mission of enriching lives through the power of music.

The SLSO serves as a convener of individuals, creators, and ideas, and is committed to building community through compelling and inclusive musical experiences. As it continues its longstanding focus on equity, diversity, inclusion, and access, the SLSO embraces its strengths as a responsive, nimble organization, while investing in partnerships locally and elevating its presence globally. For more information, visit slso.org.

Top photo is SLSO guest Peter Henderson