Symphony Preview: Reveling in Ravel

This weekend (January 17 and 19) St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Music Director Stéphane Denève returns for a program devoted entirely to a composer I love almost as much as he does: Maurice Ravel (1875–1937). Like Ravel, Denève has studied at the Paris Conservatoire. Unlike the composer (who was expelled), our MD graduated with honors and has gone on to make a name for himself as an exponent of French music in general and Ravel in particular.

[Preview the music with my Spotify playlist.]

I have written extensively about all four of the works on this weekend’s program over the past decade or thereabouts. This week’s preview is based on that earlier material.

Ma mère l'oye
New York City Ballet

The concerts will open with the “Ma mère l'oye (Mother Goose) Suite”, based on a two-piano suite originally written for Mimie and Jean, the two children of Ravel's friend Cipa Godebski, an expatriate Polish artist, and his wife Ida. The kids were supposed to give the work its first performance at the Société Musicale Indépéndantes in 1910, but stage fright got the better of them and two other youngsters got the opportunity.

The work proved popular enough to merit an orchestration in 1911 and later even a full-length ballet, but it's the former that we'll hear this weekend. Inspired by the fairy stories of Charles Perrault as well as anonymous folk sources, the five movements make up a veritable musical toy box brimming with auditory delights.

Denève’s first appearance with the SLSO following his appointment as MD included a transcendent performance of the suite. This is a true showpiece for the orchestra, with lots of opportunities for solo and small ensemble work. I look forward to hearing it in the drier acoustics of the Touhill.

Next, we’ll have both of Ravel’s two piano concertos, beginning with the Concerto in G, written mostly between 1929 and 1932. For the composer, it represented an attempt to improve his own less than stellar skill as a pianist.

Ravel, as Washington University's Hugh Macdonald wrote in program notes for the Los Angeles Philharmonic (link no longer available) was not a virtuoso at the keyboard. “In his public appearances as a concert pianist,” notes Mr. Macdonald, “he had preferred to play easier pieces…. But rather than write a piece within his own capacity, he decided to write a concerto of proper difficulty and simply acquire the technique to play it.” Thus began the long and difficult nativity of the Concerto in G.

That process began as early as 1911 according to Macdonald. That was when Ravel, who had been born in the Basque town of Ciboure, sketched out a “Basque Concerto” based on themes from that region of France.  The project was scrapped, but the second movement would live again—this time with a jazzier flavor—as the notoriously difficult Adagio assai movement of the G major concerto.

Maurice Ravel birthday party, New York City, March 8, 1928
L-R: Oscar Fried, conductor; Eva Gauthier, singer;
Ravel at piano; Manoah Leide-Tedesco, composer-conductor;
and composer George Gershwin

Unfortunately, Ravel’s health was declining, resulting in memory problems and difficulty concentrating. So when it came time for the French premiere of the concerto in January 1932 the solo role went to Marguerite Long, who taught piano at the Paris Conservatoire between 1906 and 1940. And even she found it a challenge.

“It is a difficult work,” she observed in the posthumously published Au Piano avec Maurice Ravel, “especially in respect of the second movement where one has no respite.”

Part of the delay in composing the Concerto in G was the result of the composer setting it aside to work on his Concerto for the Left Hand. Ravel wrote it during 1929 and 1930 for pianist Paul Wittgenstein (the older brother of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein), who was just at the beginning of what looked like a successful career when World War I broke out. Called up for military service, Wittgenstein was shot in the right elbow during the Battle of Galicia. He was captured by the Russians and sent to a POW camp in Siberia where the injury to his arm proved to be so severe that amputation was necessary.

For the vast majority of pianists, that would be a career-ending event, but Wittgenstein refused to give up. The camp had no piano so, as Dakota White relates at the World War I Centennial web site, Wittgenstein drew the outline of a keyboard on a wooden crate and used it to practice during his confinement. After the war, he was able to use his family's wealth and social connections to commission works for the left hand from leading composers of the day, including Ravel.

Wittgenstein gave the work its premiere on January 5th, 1932, with Robert Heger conducting the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and recorded it in 1937 with the Concertgebouw Orchestra under Bruno Walter. You can hear that performance on YouTube . It’s still worth listening to, despite the dated mono sound.

There's a nocturnal feel to the concerto. There’s a dark bitonal introduction featuring the contrabassoon, flashy cadenzas for the soloist, and a central march/scherzo which, like the Adagio assai in the G major concerto, shows the composer’s fascination with jazz. It feels like Ravel is inviting us to a dance in the graveyard—a celebration of renewed life in the shadow of the massive death of the "war to end all wars." Ravel served as an ambulance driver in the cataclysm, and I think the horrors he saw influenced many of his post-war works, including this one.

The soloist for both of these very demanding concertos is a frequent visitor to our town, Kirill Gerstein. I last saw him here in October, 2022, when he gave us a disciplined and grandly romantic Concerto No. 2 by Rachmaninoff with Hannu Lintu (another familiar face) at the podium. In addition to his frequent guest appearances with the SLSO, he recorded a Gershwin album with the band for Myrios in 2018, which I would highly recommend. His performances, in my experience, are often a singular mix of strong technique and interpretive creativity.

Ida Rubenstien, 1922
Public Domain

The concerts close with one of the most popular orchestral works ever written and certainly the best-known thing Maurice Ravel ever produced: “Bolero.” Composed originally on commission for the dancer Ida Rubinstein, “Bolero” was first performed by her at the Paris Opéra on 22 November 1928 with choreography by Bronislava Nijinska and designs by Alexandre Benois.

The scenario, as printed in that first program, describes a wild night in a Spanish tavern that gets wilder when a female dancer leaps on to a table as "her steps become more and more animated." The late New York Times music critic Louis Biancolli (quoted in the 1962 edition of Julian Seaman's "Great Orchestral Music: A Treasury of Program Notes") goes into greater detail, describing an increasingly erotic bacchanal, which ends (as the key changes to C major) in a knife-wielding brawl.

Sex and violence always sell, I guess. There are many more fascinating facts to be had about "Boléro," including its sexual subtext. Actor/writer Albert Brooks had some fun with that aspect of the work on his subversively brilliant 1975 LP "A Star is Bought." The original is out of print, sad to say, but the whole thing is available on YouTube.

The Essentials: Stéphane Denève conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and pianist Kirill Gerstein in an all-Ravel program Friday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 3:00 pm, January 17 and 19, in auditorium at the Touhill Center on the University of Missouri–St. Louis campus. The Friday performance will be broadcast Saturday, January 18, at 7:30 pm on St. Louis Public Radio and Classic 107.3 and will also be available for a limited time at the SLSO web site.

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of January 13, 2025

What's on St. Louis theater and cabaret stages this coming week. Please leave a comment if anything was wrong or got left out

Chicken and Biscuits

The Black Rep presents the comedy Chicken and Biscuits through January 26.  “Nothing is sacred in this laugh-out-loud comedy as rival sisters Beverly and Baneatta bring the drama to their father’s funeral….God rest his soul. But the side eyes aren’t just for each other. Beverly tries to keep a lid on her daughter’s curiosity while Baneatta has some attitude for her son and his Jewish boyfriend. In the middle of it all-a shocking family secret is revealed. Get ready to gasp and clutch your pearls” Performances take place at the Edison Theatre on the Washington University campus. For more information: www.theblackrep.org.

Kirkwood Theatre Guild presents the Yazmina Reza’s God of Carnage Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sundays at 2 pm, January 17s through 25. “Present day. A playground altercation between eleven-year-old boys brings together two sets of Brooklyn parents for a meeting to resolve the matter. At first, diplomatic niceties are observed, but as the meeting progresses, and the rum flows, tensions emerge and the gloves come off, leaving the couples with more than just their liberal principles in tatters.” Performances take place at the Reim Theatre in the Kirkwood Community Center on South Geyer Road. For more information, ktg-onstage.org.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents the Athena by Grace Gardner January 15 through February 9 “Mary Wallace and Athena are brave, and seventeen, and fencers, and training for the Junior Olympics. They practice together, they compete against each other, they spend their lives together. They wish they were friends.” Performances take place in the Emerson Studio Theatre of the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus. For more information: www.repstl.org.

Winter Opera presents Donizetti’s Anna Bolena Friday at 7:30 pm and Saturday at 2 pm, January 17 and 19. “Dive into a world of passion, betrayal, and Tudor intrigue with Gaetano Donizetti's operatic masterpiece, Anna Bolena! Queen Anne Boleyn, once the king's favored mistress, now finds herself out of favor. King Henry VIII, consumed by a new desire for Jane Seymour, hatches a plot to bring down his wife. Witness the emotional turmoil of a queen facing accusations, the torment of a love lost, and the fight for survival in the cutthroat world of the English court” Performances are in Italian with English supertitles and take place at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center, 201 E. Monroe in Kirkwood, MO. For more information: winteroperastl.org

The Theatre Guild of Webster Groves presents the comedy Over the River and Through the Woods Friday and Saturday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 2 pm, January 17 through 19. Performances take place at the Guild theatre at 517 Theatre Lane, at the corner of Newport and Summit in Webster Groves. For more information: www.webstergrovestheatreguild.com.

Looking for auditions and other artistic opportunities? Check out the St. Louis Auditions site.

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Symphony Review: "American Sounds" showcases musical and cultural diversity at the SLSO

This past Saturday, January 11^th, Opera Theatre’s Principal Conductor Daniela Candillari led the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) in a program consisting of “The School for Scandal Overture,” Op. 5, by Samuel Barber (1910–1981); the Symphony No. 9, Op. 95, “From the New World” by Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904); and the world premiere of the Accordion Concerto by contemporary American composer Nina Shekhar (b. 1995). As a powerful argument for the value of diversity, musical and otherwise, it was hard to beat.

[Find out more about the music with my symphony preview.]

Daniela Candillari
Photo courtesy of the SLSO

Written when Barber was still a student at the Curtis Institute in 1931, the “Overture” was intended not as a curtain raiser for a production of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 1777 comedy but rather as a stand-alone musical picture of the play’s themes. That made it an exemplary match for someone with Candillari’s extensive theatrical background. And, in fact, her reading strongly accented the emotional contrasts in Barber’s score, which ranges from the playful to the lushly romantic.

The strings and winds gave just the right pointillist punch to the spikey theme that surely represents the gossipy Sir Benjamin Backbite, while Cally Banham’s English horn warmly introduced the theme that reminds me of the May/December romance between Sir Peter and Lady Teazle. The Touhill’s concert hall doesn’t have a curtain, but this was nevertheless an excellent curtain raiser.

Shekhar’s concerto was up next. As Candillari told us from the podium Saturday night, this remarkable piece was the genesis of the entire program in that it’s the work of a young American composer (like Barber) that is strongly influenced by the music of a different culture (Bohemia, in Dvořák’s case). For Shekhar, a first-generation Indian American, that influence is the tradition of the musical form of the raga and the harmonium, a hand-pumped reed organ that is often used in Indian music. “I have always loved the accordion’s reedy timbre,” writes the composer, “particularly because it reminded me of the harmonium.”

Hanzhi Wang
Photo: Matt Dine

Given that Dvořák also wrote for the European harmonium (in his “Bagatelles,” Op. 47), that closes the circle.

The concerto opens with the unearthly sound of a wine glass stroked by wet fingers (the vérillon, the basis for Benjamin Franklin’s glass harmonica), backed up by bowed vibraphone. We hear the descending three-note motif (A-G-F) that will become the basis of the first half. This quickly becomes embedded in a musical mist reminiscent of Charles Ives’s “The Housatonic at Stockbridge.” Finally the accordion enters with elaborate riffs on the basic motif and everything slowly climbs one of several big orchestral summits before subsiding and finally going tacet to make way for a virtuoso cadenza for the accordion.

The music then shifts into a more anxious mood with a repeated motoric motif in the strings. The accordion picks it up, at which point it begins to sound not unlike the “train” sound so popular with blues harmonica players (not surprising, since both the accordion and harmonica produce their sound in essentially the same way). There’s another massive orchestral build that includes a variety of instrumental techniques (string harmonics, glissandi, tone clusters, etc.) once regarded as unconventional but that now seem to be part of every composer’s toolbox. It all fades away except for a sweet little duet for the accordion and viola (nicely done by Beth Guterman Chu), after which the concerto ends with accordion trills that slowly dwindle to silence.

Like many newer works for full, post-Wagner orchestra (80 players, more or less), the concerto makes major technical demands of the orchestra and conductor. Hats off to Candillari and the band for pulling this off with such assurance. The big climaxes still sounded, at least from my seat in the first floor boxes, like a Phil Spector “wall of sound” on steroids, so I can just imagine what a challenge it would be to both play and listen carefully in the orchestra.

A laurel wreath is also due soloist (and co-commissioner) Hanzhi Wang. Playing a high-end Pigini button accordion, she dazzled in the rapid solo passages and positively crooned in the more intimate moments. She and Shekhar worked closely on the development of the concerto so it’s perhaps not surprising that it fits her like a custom-tailored suit, but even so this was a stunning performance.

Nina Shekhar and Daniela Caldilari

As to the concerto itself, I’ll admit to initially finding it fascinating and even, in the more meditative first half, mesmerizing. The technical skill involved in creating the work was impressive, but it somewhat wore out its welcome for me before its 23 minutes (or thereabouts) were up. I would expect to see this making the rounds of many of the major orchestras for a while, but I’m not so sure of its long-term survival.

Like the Barber overture, Dvořák’s “New World” is a work of marked dramatic contrasts and here, again, I think Candillari’s operatic experience came in handy. Her change of emphasis for each appearance of the first movement’s lyrical second theme made it a kind of musical punctuation mark that added clarity to the symphonic structure. The Largo second movement, with its familiar English horn solo (nicely done by Cally Banham), had a strong sense of melancholic longing. The Allegro con fuoco finale was especially commanding, with a wide emotional range and fine playing all around.

The SLSO has a pretty solid history with the Dvořák Ninth in recent years, with world class performances by Stephanie Childress in 2022 and former Music Director David Robertson in 2014 and 2017. Candillari kept that tradition alive Saturday night.

Next at the SLSO: Music Director Stéphane Denève conducts an all-Ravel program Friday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 3:00 pm, January 17 and 19. Kirill Gerstein is the soloist in the Concerto in G and the Concerto for the Left Hand. The orchestra opens the program with the “Mother Goose Suite” and concludes with the ever-popular “Bolero.” Performances take place at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. The Friday concert will be recorded for rebroadcast on Saturday, January 18, on St. Louis Public Radio and Classical 107.3.

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

Symphony Preview: New worlds, new sounds

The regular concert season of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO)  resumes on this Friday and Saturday (January 10 and 11) as Opera Theatre’s Principal Conductor Daniela Candillari leads the orchestra in music by Dvořák and Samuel Barber, along with the world premiere of the Accordion Concerto by composer and multi-instrumentalist Nina Shekhar with Hanzhi Wang as the soloist.  The fact that this program is accurately titled “American sounds” tells you a lot about our nation's musical diversity.

[Preview the music with my Spotify playlist.]

The concerts open with the “School for Scandal,” composed by Samuel Barber (1910–1981) at the ripe old age of 21 (and finally performed two years later), when the composer was still a student at the Curtis Institute. Along with his 1935 “Music for a Scene from Shelley,” the overture established his reputation as an exponent of music that was “distinctive and modern but not experimental.”

Samuel Barber, photographed by
Carl Van Vechten, 1944
Public Domain

If you’re not familiar with the 1777 Sheridan comedy that inspired the music, fear not; the overture is an entertaining mix of sprightly and romantic themes that’s perfectly capable of standing on its own. Barber described it as “a musical reflection of the play’s spirit,” which is a mix of social satire, romantic misfires, and mistaken identities typical of late 18^th-century British comedies. The Encyclopedia Britannica has a plot summary for those interested.

Next, it’s the world premiere of the Accordion Concerto by contemporary American composer Nina Shekhar (b. 1995). Commissioned for accordionist (and this weekend’s soloist) Hanzhi Wang by Young Concert Artists and The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the work runs around 23 minutes. “Writing this concerto,” says the composer, “was an exciting opportunity to learn more about this amazing instrument and allow its unique sound world and extensive technical capability to enrich my own musical vocabulary.”

To me, that vocabulary looks fairly rich already. Her official biography describes her as “a composer and multimedia artist who explores the intersection of identity, vulnerability, love, and laughter to create bold and intensely personal works.” A quick glance at her past projects reveals an artist with a wide range of interests and a willingness to embrace unorthodox techniques.

To pick just one example, her “Mad Libs,” commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, adapts the “fill in the blanks” format of the vintage party game of the same name. The performers were given short stories and musical settings that contain “blanks.”  The students then filled in the story blanks with words of their choosing and came up with sounds that represented those words. 

Nina Shekhar
Photo: Shervin Laniez

Closer to home, her “Turn Your Feet Around” (2021), written for the new music group Alarm Will Sound and the Mizzou International Composers Festival (where the group is the ensemble in residence), deconstructs Gloria Estefan’s “Get on Your Feet.” Check out the video and don’t let yourself be fooled by the unexpected uses of silence.

Closing the concerts is the Symphony No. 9 in E minor, op. 95, (“From the New World”) by Antonín Dvořák. The Czech master wrote it during a visit to America in the early 1890s, and while he never explicitly quotes any American folk material, there's still something about this music that strongly suggests America. From the flute theme in the first movement that seems to echo "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," to the second movement Largo that has (at least for me) always evoked the majestic solitude of the plains (Dvořák said he wrote it after reading Longfellow's "Hiawatha"), to the "bluesy" flatted seventh chords of the finale, Dvořák "New World" symphony just shouts "USA"—even if it does so with a strong Czech accent.

Some critics have complained about the symphony's structural weaknesses and its episodic nature.  In an essay published posthumously in "The Symphony" (Penguin Books, 1967), English composer/conductor Julius Harrison noted that the work "has come in for considerable criticism as being mainly a succession of enchanting and virile tunes…presided over or helped out by a strongly rhythmic phrase bundled into each movement whenever Dvořák found himself wondering how best to proceed."

Anton and Anna Dvořák in London, 1886
en.wikipedia.org

I beg to differ. As conductor Joshua Wallerstein pointed out in the episode of his “Sticky Notes” podcast dedicated to the Ninth, that “strongly rhythmic phrase” is not just something tossed in whenever Dvorak wasn’t sure what to do. In combination with the pentatonic scale on which it’s based, it is in fact the tiny acorn from which the mighty oak of the symphony grows. It's embedded in every single melodic idea (starting with the main theme of the first movement) and is the major unifying factor of the symphony. “[T]his piece is not only a heavily traditional symphony,” observes Wallerstein, “it’s practically through composed from its very first notes.”

Dvořák gets more respect than he used to these days. As a long-time fan of his music, I’m happy to see that.

P.S. This week’s playlist doesn’t have the Shekhar concerto since but it does have fine recordings of the Barber and Dvořák, both by the SLSO conducted by Leonard Slatkin.

The Essentials: Daniela Candillari conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Friday at 10:30 am and Saturday at 7:30 pm, January 10 and 11. The program consists of Samuel Barber’s “The School for Scandal” Overture, the world premiere of Nina Shekhar’s Accordion Concerto with soloist Hanzhi Wang, and the Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 (“From the New World”). Performances take place at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the University of Missouri St. Louis campus. The Saturday concert will be broadcast live on St. Louis Public Radio and Classic 107.3

UPDATE Friday, January 10th: Due to the cancellation of the Friday morning concert, a second performance has been added on Saturday the 11th at 10:30 am. Details at the SLSO web site.. Check the web site for details.

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

Symphony Review: The SLSO lights up the new year

The annual New Year’s Eve concert by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) has always been a festive occasion and this year was no exception. Indeed, the mix of elegance and entertainment former SLSO Assistant Conductor Stephanie Childress brought was particularly welcome for many of us who view the coming few years with more than a little apprehension. As it says in John 1:5, “the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.”

[Find out more about the music with my symphony preview.]

This year the theme was “dance music from around the world,” and while that description turned out to be a bit of a stretch, the results spoke for themselves. The important thing is that the evening was bright, balanced, and good-humored—everything, in short, that it needed to be.

Steven Franklin
Photo courtesy of the SLSO

There were certainly more than enough dance-inspired pieces. The concert opened with a lively yet nuanced “Slavonic Dance No. 1” by Dvořák and was followed by the sparkling overture to Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” ballet with (to quote Mr. Gilbert) “gaily tripping, lightly skipping” playing in the upper woodwinds.

Next was Anna Clyne’s 2013 “Masquerade,” a raucously cheerful work that felt like an exponentially more sophisticated take on the ground covered in Ketelby’s “Bank Holiday (‘appy ‘amstead).” It’s a wild sonic mashup that demands (and got) precise playing by the orchestra.

Clyne is one of those composers who can be profound OR playful as her whimsy takes her—an enviable skill, to say the least. Her music has often been heard at the SLSO, which will present the world premiere of her multi-media work “PALETTE” on Valentine’s Day weekend.

SLSO Principal Trumpet Steven Franklin and Principal Trombone Jonathan Randazzo were the soloists in a 2024 orchestral expansion of Joseph Turrin’s 2000 “Fandango” for trumpet, trombone, and concert bands. There’s flashy stuff here (close harmony and tricky double-tonguing, just for starters) that was played with a brilliance matching the soloists’ sequined tuxedos. Indeed, this is the first time I can recall a soloist’s wardrobe getting applause before the music even starts. Very New Year’s Eve, that.

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s orchestration of his kitschy solo piano bonbon “Valse de la Reine” (“The Queen’s Waltz”) offered a charming, easy-on-the-ears interlude between “Fandango” and the rousing Act I closer, Walton’s sweeping, patriotic “Crown Imperial (Coronation March).”

Composed for the coronation of King George VI in 1937, the piece is very much in the “Pomp and Circumstance” tradition with a fast opening tune and a broad, ceremonial march that makes its first appearance in the trio and returns in the big, all-stops-out coda. I first encountered this piece in the Frederick Fennell/Eastman Wind Ensemble Mercury recording of W. J. Duthoit’s band arrangement back in the 1960s and was impressed by the difficulty of some of the wind writing, particularly for the horns. The SLSO horn section got a richly deserved ovation for their performance Tuesday night.

The second half opened with "Danse Baccanale” from Camille Saint-Saëns’s 1876 opera “Samson et Dalila.” It opens quietly enough with a melismatic  oboe solo, sinuously delivered by Jelena Dirks, before moving quickly to the dance proper. It all builds to an appropriately orgiastic finale marked “Di piú in piú animato” (“more and more animated”), which conductors often interpret as “as fast as is humanly possible.” Certainly that’s what Childress gave us in this performance and while it was thrilling, it also felt as though it was all in danger of going off the rails at times. It never did, of course, but it made for a wild ride.

Jonathan Randazzo
Photo courtesy of the SLSO

Next was a bit of pure frivolity not listed in the program and introduced by Childress (accurately, IMO) as “the gooey butter cake of American light music”: Leroy Anderson’s “The Typewriter.” It is, as far as I know, the only work out there for typewriter and orchestra. The soloists (one for the typewriter and one for the bell) are usually members of the percussion section but this time both roles were taken by none other than Childress herself.

A gutsy move, that, considering (silly as this may sound) the difficulty of the typewriter part. It’s mostly eighth notes with an Allegro vivace tempo marking, and there are points at which both the typewriter and bell have to be hit simultaneously. That didn’t always happen at this concert, but it was all such good fun that nobody (including me) really cared. As Childress wryly commented afterwards, this was proof that the SLSO could play some pieces without a conductor.

A more lyrical interlude followed with the bluesy “Lonely Town” movement from Bernstein’s “On the Town,” featuring the wistful muted trumpet of (I think) Michael Walk, followed by the mandatory Strauss waltz. Not the well-worn “Blue Danube” this time but rather slightly less famous (but no less infectious) “Frülingsstimmen” (“Voices of Spring”). The latter got a properly Viennese treatment, complete with that slight accent on the second beat, from Childress and the band.

Bringing the official program to a satisfying close were four movements from the 2004 “Carmen Symphony” by noted conductor/composer José Serebrier. Childress said that she wanted to include something operatic because it was opera that introduced her to SLSO Music Director Stéphane Denève—undoubtedly an event worth celebrating for both them and us.

More of a suite than a symphony, Serebrier’s score makes minimal changes in Bizet’s original. Mostly, he has assigned the original vocal lines to instruments in the same ranges. Escamillo’s “Toreador,” for example, is assigned to the trombone and the horns, who played with properly heroic swagger. The selections from the suite concluded with the fiery “Gypsy Dance” from Bizet’s Act II. Like Saint-Saëns’s “Baccanale,” it’s a real crowd pleaser that cranks up the speed and volume in its final moments.

This being New Year’s Eve, of course, the end of the printed program wasn’t the end of the show. Childress and the orchestra returned for Kabalevsky’s “Saber Dance” and, as always, the sing-along of “Auld Lang Syne.”

As she did the last time she conducted the SLSO New Year’s Eve concert back in 2022, Stephanie Childress impressed with her easy-going stage presence and impeccable musical taste. I hope we will see and hear more of her here in the coming years.

The regular concert season resumes on this Friday and Saturday (January 10 and 11) as Opera Theatre’s Principal Conductor Daniela Candillari leads the orchestra in music by Dvořák and Samuel Barber, along with the world premiere of the Accordion Concerto by composer and multi-instrumentalist Nina Shekhar with Hanzhi Wang as the soloist. Check out the SLSO web site for details.

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of January 6, 2024

What's on St. Louis theater and cabaret stages this coming week. Please leave a comment if anything was wrong or got left out

The Black Rep presents the comedy Chicken and Biscuits January 8 through 26.  “Nothing is sacred in this laugh-out-loud comedy as rival sisters Beverly and Baneatta bring the drama to their father’s funeral….God rest his soul. But the side eyes aren’t just for each other. Beverly tries to keep a lid on her daughter’s curiosity while Baneatta has some attitude for her son and his Jewish boyfriend. In the middle of it all-a shocking family secret is revealed. Get ready to gasp and clutch your pearls” Performances take place at the Edison Theatre on the Washington University campus. For more information: www.theblackrep.org.

Just One Look
Photo courtesy of The Blue Strawberry

The Midnight Company presents Just One Look by Joe Hanrahan, starring Kelly Howe as Linda Ronstadt, on Sunday January 12  at 3:00 pm. “Linda Ronstadt ruled the pop charts and filled stadiums in the 70’s and 80’s. The reigning rock goddess of her era, she later took on light opera - Gilbert and Sullivan on Broadway - and The Great American Songbook with Nelson Riddle. Her involvement in social issues accelerated during her relationship with California Governor Jerry Brown, then running for President. But for Linda, it was always a search for the next great song. Kelly Howe will portray Linda Ronstadt and sing her sensational songs.” Performances take place at The Blue Strawberry, 364 N. Boyle. For more information: bluestrawberrystl.com.

New Line Theatre presents A New Line Cabaret VI: Broadway Noir Friday and Saturday at 8 pm, January 10 and 11. “New Line returns to the acoustically magnificent Sheldon Concert Hall with an all-black cast singing great theatre songs black performers don't usually get to sing. You'll enjoy some of the greatest songs from classic Broadway musicals like Les Misérables, My Fair Lady, Man of La Mancha, Carousel, The Sound of Music, She Loves Me, Company, Guys and Dolls, Grease, Follies, and Pippin; plus terrific songs from more recent shows like Waitress, Dear Evan Hansen, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – and all performed by wildly talented, local performers of color, who may never get a chance to sing these songs inside these musicals.” Performances take place at the Sheldon Concert Hall in Grand Center. For more information: www.newlinetheatre.com.

Looking for auditions and other artistic opportunities? Check out the St. Louis Auditions site.

To get your event listed here, send an email to chuck at kdhx.org Your event information should be in text format (i.e. not part of a graphic), but feel free to include publicity stills.

Would you like to be on the radio? KDHX, 88.1 FM needs theatre reviewers. If you're 18 years or older, knowledgeable in this area, have practical theatre experience (acting, directing, writing, technical design, etc.), have good oral and written communications skills and would like to become one of our volunteer reviewers, send an email describing your experience and interests to chuck at kdhx.org. Please include a sample review of something you've seen recently.

St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of December 30, 2024

What's on St. Louis theater and cabaret stages this coming week. Please leave a comment if anything was wrong or got left out

Bryn Daney

The Blue Strawberry presents singer/actress Bryn Daney on Thursday, January 2, at 7:30 pm . “Returning to her hometown of St. Louis, Bryn is thrilled to debut her first solo show at the iconic Blue Strawberry! Bryn Daney is a creative and emerging singer who loves to use her voice, whether that be written, sung, or spoken. Bryn’s musical journey has now taken her to Chicago, where she is on-stage performing every chance she gets. Get ready for a night full of laughter and love as Bryn sings her very favorites from contemporary Broadway!”  The performance takes place in at The Blue Strawberry, 364 N. Boyle. For more information: bluestrawberrystl.com

Tim Schall and Joe Dreyer

The Blue Strawberry presents Sunday Standard Time with singer Tim Schall, pianist Joe Dreyer, and Willem Von Hombracht on bass on Sunday January 5, at 6 pm. “Join Tim, Joe and Willem in the lounge for a casual, classy Sunday evening of jazz standards, a little sophisticated pop and a dash of classic Broadway.”  The performance takes place in at The Blue Strawberry, 364 N. Boyle. For more information: bluestrawberrystl.com

Looking for auditions and other artistic opportunities? Check out the St. Louis Auditions site.

To get your event listed here, send an email to chuck at kdhx.org Your event information should be in text format (i.e. not part of a graphic), but feel free to include publicity stills.

Would you like to be on the radio? KDHX, 88.1 FM needs theatre reviewers. If you're 18 years or older, knowledgeable in this area, have practical theatre experience (acting, directing, writing, technical design, etc.), have good oral and written communications skills and would like to become one of our volunteer reviewers, send an email describing your experience and interests to chuck at kdhx.org. Please include a sample review of something you've seen recently.