St Louis Symphony Free Community Concert in Forest Park Sept. 21

St Louis Symphony Free Community Concert in Forest Park Sept. 21

Music Director Stephane Denève leads the SLSO and members of the St. Louis Symphony Chorus and St. Louis Symphony IN UNISON Chorus in its annual concert for the community in works by Leonard Bernstein, Georges Bizet, George Gershwin, Pietro Mascagni, Florence Price, John Philip Sousa, Johann Strauss, Jr., Sergei Prokofiev, Samuel Ward, and John Williams

Celebratory opening of SLSO’s 144th season includes food trucks on Art Hill and concludes with fireworks display over Forest Park’s Grand Basin

Led by Music Director Stéphane Denève, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra marks the beginning of its 2023/2024 season with the return of its free concert in Forest Park at 7:00pm CDT, Thursday, September 21, on Art Hill. Since its inaugural Forest Park concert more than 50 years ago, the SLSO has performed for more than 15,000 people each year as a community celebration of music and the kick-off of the SLSO’s season.

The program serves as preview for the orchestra’s 144th season and Denève’s fifth as Music Director. Selections include favorites by Johann Strauss, Jr.’s, On the Beautiful Blue Danube and Radetzky March, along with selections from Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen. Music by Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin, and Florence Price brings an American flavor to the program.

The orchestra will be joined by singers in the St. Louis Symphony Chorus and St. Louis Symphony IN UNISON Chorus in performances of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and “America the Beautiful.” A close collaborator of the inimitable film composer John Williams, Denève programmed selections of Williams’ scores from Raiders of the Lost Ark and Amistad. The festivities end with a show-stopping fireworks display following John Philip Sousa’s patriotic anthem The Stars and Stripes Forever.

Stephane Deneve

Performed in memory of longtime SLSO supporter Mary Ann Lee, this concert marks the 55th anniversary of the first Forest Park concert in 1968. Attendees are encouraged to come early, bring chairs and blankets, and enjoy food trucks at the top of Art Hill. New this year, the SLSO’s education and community teams will host a family fun zone at the top of Art Hill, encouraging families to engage with music through activities including music creation, conducting musicians of the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, and a scavenger hunt.

Local vendors at the concert will include Angie Burger, ByJack, Cajun Seduction, Cha Cha Chow, Delicious Delights by Uniqly D’zynd, Doggie Mac’s Food Truck, Fire and Ice Cream Truck, Five Aces Bar-B-Que, Go Gyro Go, Grace Meat +3, Holy Crepe, NY Tom’s Food Truck, Picture Perfect Panini, Soul Burgers, STL BarKeep, Takozz Real Mexican Food, The Popcorn Bar, and Urban Chestnut Brewing Company. Food and drink vendors will be available starting at 5:00pm.

Following the concert in Forest Park, Denève leads the orchestra in its first classical concerts of the season, September 23-24, featuring renowned violinist Hilary Hahn—notable for her emphasis on accessibility to music, social media presence, and performances on film scores—in her first SLSO concerts in more than 20 years. Concerts take place at the Stifel Theatre in downtown St. Louis and include Richard Strauss’ Don Juan and Till Eulenspigel’s Merry Pranks, Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with Hahn, W.A. Mozart’s The Magic Flute Overture, and Paul Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

Tickets for all 23/24 season concerts are on sale now and can be purchased at slso.org or by calling the SLSO Box Office at 314-534-1700.

Calendar listing:

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Stéphane Denève open its 2023/2024 season with a free community concert on Forest Park’s Art Hill at 7:00pm Thursday, September 21. The annual concert—featuring classical music, film music, and patriotic tunes—concludes with a festive fireworks display.

Thursday, September 21, 2022, 7:00pm CDT
Art Hill at Forest Park, 1 Fine Arts Drive, St. Louis, Missouri, 63110

Stéphane Denève, conductor
Members of the St. Louis Symphony Chorus
Members of the St. Louis Symphony 
IN UNISON Chorus | Kevin McBeth, director

John Stafford Smith (arr. Sousa/Damrosch) The Star-Spangled Banner

J. Rosamund Johnson                           “Lift Every Voice and Sing”

Johann Strauss, Jr.                                 On the Beautiful Blue Danube

Johann Strauss, Jr.                                 Radetzky March

Sergei Prokofiev                                     March and Scherzo from The Love for Three Oranges

Leonard Bernstein                                 Candide Overture

Georges Bizet                                         Selections from Carmen Suite No. 1 & 2

Pietro Mascagni                                     Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana

Florence Price                                         “Juba” from Symphony No. 3

George Gershwin                                  Girl Crazy Overture

John Williams                                         “The Raiders March” from Raiders of the Lost Ark

John Williams                                         Dry Your Tears, Afrika from Amistad

Samuel Ward                                          “America the Beautiful”

John Philip Sousa                                  The Stars and Stripes Forever

This concert is performed in memory of Mary Ann Lee.

2022 concert photo by Virginia Harold

About the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra

Celebrated as one of today’s most exciting and enduring orchestras, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is the second-oldest orchestra in the country, marking its 144th year with the 2023/2024 season and its fifth with Music Director Stéphane Denève. Widely considered one of the leading American orchestras, the Grammy® Award-winning SLSO maintains its commitment to artistic excellence, educational impact, and community collaborations—all in service to its mission of enriching lives through the power of music. 

The transformational expansion and renovation of its historic home, Powell Hall, slated to be completed in 2025, builds on the institution’s momentum as a civic leader in convening individuals, creators, and ideas, while fostering a culture welcoming to all. Committed to building community through compelling and inclusive musical experiences, the SLSO continues its longstanding focus on equity, diversity, inclusion, and access, embracing its strengths as a responsive, nimble organization, while investing in partnerships locally and elevating its presence globally. For more information, visit slso.org. 

Photo by Caitlin Custer.

St Louis Symphony and Chorus Put the Hallelujah in Handel’s ‘Messiah’

St Louis Symphony and Chorus Put the Hallelujah in Handel’s ‘Messiah’

By CB Adams

On the same first weekend of December 2022, the New Yorker magazine published a cartoon depicting a couple in a theater, clutching programs as others around them departed. The husband says to the wife, “Whose idea is it to start with the ‘Hallelujah’ Chorus?” This coincided with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Chorus’s performances of one of George Frideric Handel’s masterworks, his oratorio “Messiah.”

I generally do not “review” an audience’s engagement with a performance, but with the New Yorker cartoon in mind, I’m safe stating that the respectful and enthusiastic audience would have stayed for all of score’s 57 numbers, even if rearranged with an opening “Hallelujah.”

Although originally intended for the Christian season of Lent, “Messiah” has morphed into a staple of high culture Christmas entertainments, along with Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” and Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol.”

But seasonal ubiquity shouldn’t diminish the sheer beauty of this music experience, which Handel feverishly composed in just 24 days in 1742. I have no proof, but I am convinced that the compressed composition process contributes to the cohesive, “of a piece” nature of “Messiah.” Artistic constraint often enhances creativity.

Laurence Cummings

The SLSO’s performance on Dec. 4, under the baton of guest conductor Laurence Cummings proved that “Messiah” when well-performed continues to deserve its place as one of the most famous, canonical and widely shared pieces of  music – classical or otherwise. Cummings is a British conductor and specialist in historical performance, especially the Baroque era. At Powell Hall, he led the orchestra and chorus from one of two center stage harpsichords. The other was played by Mark Shuldiner. The excellent-as-always chorus was led by the also-excellent guest choral director, Patrick Dupré Quigley.

There’s room in Handel’s score for plenty of interpretation and emphasis. Cummings chose to elevate the score’s reverential Passion theme, which proved a welcome antidote to the holiday season’s usual predilection for exuberant celebrations. There was still plenty of that celebratory spirit during the stand up for the “Hallelujah” chorus and the robust final ovations.

The reverential was also evident in the way the four soloists, seated two to a side, approached the front of the stage with deliberate gravitas. The cadre of soloists were soprano Amanda Forsythe, countertenor Key’mon Murrah, tenor John Matthew Myers and baritone Jonathon Adams. All were well-matched and well-attenuated with the orchestra and chorus. Of the four, Forsythe and Murrah were the most stylish and powerful, though this might partly be because of their respective parts. The voice of baritone Adams’s voice was muddled and lost a couple of times during his solos, especially at their beginnings, but this was not off-putting.

 The SLSO’s 2022 interpretation of “Messiah” was the total package for a fulfilling performance that bundled the sheer beauty of the music, Handel’s incredible skill as a c composer, a well-aligned symphony and chorus and confident soloists. To borrow a phrase from another, Grinchier annual holiday treat, “Welcome Christmas. Bring your cheer.”

Another year, another Handel’s Messiah at Powell Hall