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 honors musical nomads in the season opener

“A wandering minstrel I,” sings Nanki-Poo as he introduces himself in “The Mikado”; “A thing of shreds and patches.”

You wouldn’t call the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra “a thing of shreds and patches,” but with Music Director Stéphane Denève at the podium for the opening concert of the season last Sunday they were certainly doing some musical wandering. Certainly the first half of the program paid considerable homage to those famous wanderers, the Roma, with concert standards inspired by Hungarian folk tunes and the “Nomad Concerto” by Mason Bates.

Stéphane Denève
Photo: Dilip Vishwanat

Which is rather appropriate for an orchestra that will continue to lead a nomadic existence until the renovation of Powell Hall is completed next fall.

Things got off to an energetic start with a rousing performance of the “Rákóczi March”, a.k.a. the “Marche hongroise” from Part I of  the 1846 opera/oratorio hybrid “La damnation de Faust” (“The Damnation of Faust”) by Hector Berlioz (1803–1869). It’s the sort of orchestral showpiece that never fails to get an enthusiastic response—which it did.

Up next was another favorite, a set of the “Hungarian Dances by Johannes Brahms (1833–1897). Originally composed for piano duet and published in four sets between 1869 and 1880, the dances were orchestrated by various composers, including Brahms. Denève selected the three that the composer orchestrated (Nos. 1, 3, and 10) and played them attacca—i.e., without pause.

It was a smart choice, highlighting the contrast between the energetic first and tenth dances (marked Allegro molto and Presto, respectively) and the more introspective third (Allegretto). The result was a kind of “mini suite” that showed off both the composer’s orchestration and the virtuosity of the band. I was very taken with the flutes (including Ebonee Thomas, who seemed to be holding down the currently vacant Principal position for this concert) in the Dance No. 1, and the playful oboes and bassoons (under Associate Principals Phil Ross and Andy Gott, respectively) were a delight in Dance No. 3.  

Denève gave the dances the “full Roma” treatment, with just the right touches of rubato evoking the music’s folk origins.

The first half concluded with the “Nomad Concerto” by Mason Bates (b. 1977), composed for and premiered in January 2024 by this weekend’s soloist, violinist Gil Shaham. “Envisioned to showcase the legendary Old World sound of Gil Shaham,” writes Bates at his web site, “the concerto is informed by a diverse range of traveling cultures from Eastern Europe to the Middle East.”

Gil Shaham
Photo: Chris Lee

Running just under 30 minutes, the four-movement concerto is, as promised, an ideal virtuoso vehicle for Shaham. The last time I saw him with SLSO in January 2017 I praised his singing tone and the obvious joy of his playing. That’s still true, but this time I was also impressed by the versatility he displayed in delivering the wide range of sounds Bates has written for him. In the first movement (“Song of the balloon man”) his was wistfully Chaplinesque. He and the orchestra exchanged rapid-fire motifs in the brief “Magician at the bazaar” in a way that summoned up visions of flash paper going off all over the string section.  The third movement (“Desert vision: oasis) used the orchestra’s lower voices to suggest an arid expanse of wilderness, with the violin offering brief relief in the form of a yearning  version of the Jewish folk tune “Ani Ma’amin” (“I believe”).

Shaham and the band really cut loose, though, in the concluding movement, “Le jazz manouche.” Inspired by the sound of the legendary 1930s–1940s jazz combo Quintette du Hot Club de France—especially guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli—the score has the soloist and orchestra trading licks the way an actual combo would. Shaham and the first violins seemed to be having an especially good time playing off each other here. Will James on jazz percussion and Peter Henderson on piano added considerably to the period atmosphere.

As much as I loved Shaham’s performance, though, I found it difficult to become involved with Bates’s score.  It felt more like a quasi-Impressionist collection of motifs that suggested but never really achieved the status of themes. It reminded me a bit of Debussy, except without the melodies and harmonic infrastructure.

The concert concluded with the Big Event, Berlioz’s splendiferous 1830 “Symphonie Fantastique.” Denève and the orchestra played this wildly hallucinatory work (Leonard Bernstein once dubbed it "the first psychedelic symphony in history”) back in 2019, as the closer of his last concert as Music Director Designate (he became the official MD that fall). At the time I described Denève’s interpretation as consistently engrossing, filled with interesting details (something that would prove to be a hallmark of his work on the podium) and concluding with a downright hair-raising final two movements. I’m repeating myself here because all of that still applies to what we experienced last Sunday.

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra season continues October 4th and 6th at the Touhill Performing Arts Center; check out my preview for more information or head over to the SLSO web site.

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

Symphony Preview: Mix and match

Back in the days when I was still doing a weekly show at KDHX, I loved to put together different and often seemingly unrelated songs into sets designed to highlight the relationships among them.  St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Music Director Stéphane Denève often takes a similar approach to his programming, zooming in on connections that aren’t obvious at first glance. Or at first hearing, as the case may be.

[Preview the music with my Spotify playlist.]

Berlioz in 1832
Painting by Émile Signol

You’ll witness and exceptionally fine example of this in concerts that open the new SLSO season this weekend (Friday and Sunday, September 27 and 29). The first half opens with the “Marche hongroise” (“Hungarian March”) from Part I of  the 1846 opera/oratorio hybrid “La damnation de Faust” (“The Damnation of Faust”) by Hector Berlioz (1803–1869). In the context of the full work (performed so splendidly by the SLSO in 2023), the sound of the Hungarian army tramping off to war gives Faust the opportunity to compare the enthusiasm of the soldiers with his own indifference to worldly joys. “Et quel feu dans leurs yeux,” he muses. “Tout cœur frémit à leur chant de victoire ; Le mien seul reste froid, insensible à la gloire.” (“And what fire burns in their eyes! Every heart throbs to their song of victory; Only mine remains cold, insensitive to glory.”)

Played more often as an instrumental excerpt, as it will be this weekend, it’s a rousing piece that shows off the composer’s flair for colorful orchestration. It doesn’t sound particularly Hungarian, but it’s so much fun that it hardly matters. And Berlioz wasn’t really interested in cultural fidelity anyway.

Brahms c. 1872
Photographer unknown
Public Domain

More authentically Hungarian are the 21 “Hungarian Dances” by Johannes Brahms. Based mostly on Hungarian folk tunes, the dances were originally composed for piano duet and published in four sets between 1869 and 1880. They were then orchestrated by various composers, including Brahms. This weekend we’ll hear the only ones orchestrated by the composer himself: No. 1 in G minor, No. 3 in F major, and No. 10 F major (E major in the original piano version).

As George S. Bozarth and Walter Frisch write in Grove Online, Brahms was first “exposed to the style hongrois, a blending of Hungarian musical gestures and gypsy performing style…when Hungarian political refugees on their way to the USA passed through Hamburg after the suppression of the revolutions of 1848.” Which makes the local premiere of the “Nomad Concerto” by Mason Bates a logical way to conclude the first half of the program.

Composed for and premiered in January 2024 by this weekend’s soloist, violinist Gil Shaham (brother-in-law of former SLSO Music Director David Robertson), this four-movement work, as the composer writes at his web site, “explores the mysterious and soulful music of the wanderer”:

Envisioned to showcase the legendary Old World sound of Gil Shaham, the concerto is informed by a diverse range of traveling cultures from Eastern Europe to the Middle East.  In the same way that nomadic musics have continually reimagined themselves, the many styles informing the concerto are swirled together into a unique soundworld.

The ”Nomad Concerto” is too new to be available on the usual streaming sources, including YouTube, so I’m unable to offer my own impressions of the work. That said, Peter Dobrin, reviewing the world premiere for The Philadelphia Inquirer, wrote that “Bates in this new piece once again proves a composer unusually commanding of atmosphere and emotion.” So you now know as much about it as I do.

This won’t be the first appearance of a Mason Bates work on an SLSO program, though. His 2015 “Anthology of Fantastic Zoology” got its impressive local debut by the band under the baton of Leonard Slatkin in 2023. As I wrote back then “his is an eclectic and inventive voice that is very much welcome these days. I hope to see and hear more of his work here in the future.” It looks like I got my wish.

Mason Bates
Photo: Ryan Schude, courtesy of the SLSO

After intermission it’s back to Berlioz with his splendiferous 1830 “Symphonie Fantastique.” I have always loved it to pieces, despite the rather unsavory story of its origins (tl;dr: it’s the result of the composer’s amatory pursuit of the Irish Shakespearean actress Harriet Smithson in a manner that would get him a restraining order these days, if not an actual prosecution). Maestro Denève conducted a bang-up reading of this work in May 2019 so I admit to looking forward to his latest thoughts on the matter.

The Essentials: Stéphane Denève conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and violinist Gil Shaham in the St. Louis premiere of the “Nomad Concerto” by Mason Bates. The concert includes Berlioz’s “Hungarian Marche” from “The Damnation of Faust” and the “Symphonie Fantastique, as well as three “Hungarian Dances by Brahms. Performances are Friday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 3 pm, September 25 and 27, at the Stifel Theatre downtown.

On Saturday, September 26, at 8 pm Mason Bates, in his alter ego of DJ Masonic, joins St. Louis DJ Alexis Tucci for “Symphonie Electronique.” Described as “a genre-defying electronic dance music party with SLSO musicians and the audience,” “Symphonie Electronique” takes place at The Hawthorn nightclub on Washington Avenue downtown.

Symphony Preview: Getting with the program

This weekend, four of the five works Stéphane Denève and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) will perform are unabashedly programmatic--what they used to refer to as "program music" in Music Appreciation classes. The fifth, by way of contrast, is by a guy who did his level best to insist that he only wrote "absolute" music.

Composer John Adams
Photo: Vern Evans

As I learned back when they still routinely taught music in the public schools (yes, I am a geezer) the difference between "absolute" music (your basic sonatas, concertos, symphonies, etudes, et al.) and "program music" (the "symphonic poem" and anything else with a descriptive title) was that the former had no specific external reference while the latter was inspired by or descriptive of something non-musical. That "something" can encompass anything from a literary classic (Schumann's "Manfred Overture") to a painting (Rachmaninoff's "Isle of the Dead") to a mountain-climbing expedition (Richard Strauss's "Alpine Symphony")--all of which have been heard on the Powell Hall stage recently.

The program this weekend opens a pair of short pieces of "program music" that involve being transported. Not in the emotional sense of being swept away, but in the far more mundane sense of being taken from one place to another by a machine.

Up first is John Adams's "Short Ride in a Fast Machine" from 1986. The work is described as a "fanfare for orchestra" on the composer's web site, where Mr. Adams explains the title by posing a question: "You know how it is when someone asks you to ride in a terrific sports car, and then you wish you hadn't?"

Running around four minutes, "Short Ride in a Fast Machine" is a headlong rush down narrow country roads. The woodblock, clarinets, trumpets, and synthesizer keep up a fast, steady beat while the rest of the orchestra races ahead, holding on for dear life. In his notes on Adams's web site, Michael Steinberg describes the piece as "joyfully exuberant," but to me it has always had a "how the hell do you stop this thing?" subtext.

And, yes, it's also great fun.

Arthur Honegger in 1928
By Agence de presse Meurisse -
Bibliothèque nationale de France,
Public Domain, Link

Up next is Arthur Honegger's "Pacific 231," a piece inspired by the composer's love of train travel. "I have always loved locomotives passionately," he once noted. For me they are living creatures and I love them as others love women or horses." Originally titled simply "Mouvement Symphonique No. 1" (the first of a series of three), the title "Pacific 231" was added later as an acknowledgement of its inspiration in the many hours he spent in train travel in his youth.

This is music so vividly descriptive of the experience of riding on a powerful locomotive that it eventually became the basis of a 1949 film that featured footage of locomotives synched up with the music. Not that the visuals are really necessary; you can hear the massive engine start up and begin to gather speed at the beginning in the percussion, low strings, and brasses. Soon other instruments join in as the momentum increases. The city and suburbs swirl past until, finally, you're flying through open fields with the woodwinds and higher strings. Finally there's a massive orchestral crash as the air brakes kick in and the mighty 231 slows to a stop at your destination.

If you have ever ridden on a high-speed intercity train of the type they have in Europe, you'll recognize the feeling.

Guillaume Connesson
Photo by Fanny Houillon

The inspiration for the next work, a saxophone concerto by Guillaume Connesson, is also inspired by a "train," but only in the homophonic sense. Titled "A Kind of Trane," it's a tribute to the virtuosity and frenetic energy of the late jazz saxophonist John Coltrane.

First performed at the World Saxophone Congress in 2015, "A Kind of Trane" is scored for two saxophones (soprano in the first and third movement and alto in the second) and, in fact, was played by three different soloists at its premiere. As Tim Munro writes in this week's program notes, the first two movements are inspired by specific Coltrane albums--"A Love Supreme" and "Ballads," respectively, while the final, wildly virtuosic movement (titled "Coltrane on the Dance Floor") "contrasts the freedom of Coltrane's playing with what he thinks is the 'robotic' nature of today's dance music."

That last movement really is a killer, demanding pretty much everything a player can give. Watch the performance by Nicholas Prost, who first performed it at the 2015 premiere, to see what I mean. The music builds to a wild climax until the solo line collapses into a few quiet toots, as though the exhausted Coltrane has collapsed into a chair and reached for a stiff drink.

For this performance, one soloist will tackle all three movements. Fortunately, that one performer is Tim McAllister, who has displayed the kind of superhuman virtuosity this music clearly needs in previous appearances with the SLSO.

Albert Roussel in 1913
Public Domain, Link

In contrast to those last three pieces, the next item on the bill of fare is Albert Roussel's Symphony No. 3 in G minor, Op. 42, from 1930. It has no programmatic subtitles. Indeed, Roussel, in a 1928 interview, declared that his goal as a composer was "to achieve...a music that is entirely self-contained, music that aims to free itself from any pictorial or descriptive element and completely removed from any geographical connection."

Did he succeed with his third symphony? There are certainly no descriptive titles to any of the four movements but, least to me, they all conjure up some fairly specific images.

The pounding rhythms of the Allegro vivo first movement, for example, suggest the kind of mechanical precision that characterizes the 1924 "Ballet Mécanique" of his contemporary George Antheil (an American composer living in Paris at the time), although that driving motion is tempered by lyrical passages. The Adagio second movement is a sometimes unsettling mix of the eerie and ominously dramatic. To me, it conjures up memories of the Catacombs and/or Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, but your mileage could vary.

The third and fourth movements, in sharp contrast, suggest wild nights at a rowdy cabaret in Montmartre or maybe the more unbuttoned Quartier Pigalle, home of the Moulin Rouge. Or a lively jazz club anywhere, really.

That said, your reaction might be completely different. Which would, of course, reinforce Roussel's insistence that the Symphony No. 3 isn't "about" anything in particular.

I forgot to mention her, didn't I?
officialboderek.com

Wrapping things up is one of the most popular orchestral works ever written and certainly the best-known thing Maurice Ravel ever wrote: "Boléro." 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 in a knife-wielding brawl.

There will be no weapons at Powell Hall this weekend, fortunately, so you will be able to enjoy Ravel's Greatest Hit in safety.

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." Happily, that album is still available in digital form from Amazon and is mandatory listening for anyone who enjoys a good, smart laugh.

The Essentials: Stéphane Denève conducts The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, along with saxophonist Timothy McAllister on Friday at 10:30 am and 8 pm and Saturday at 8 pm March 6 and 7. Performances take place at Powell Symphony Hall in Grand Center.

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

Symphony Review: Leonard Slatkin returns with an entertaining evening of music old and new

The evening air was crisp and so was the playing of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO last night (Saturday, October 12) as Conductor Laureate Leonard Slatkin led the band in an entertaining and expertly played program of music that spanned nearly 250 years.

Leonard Slatkin
Photo courtesy of the SLSO

The concert opened with a new version of a piece that Mr. Slatkin originally commissioned in 1996, his final year with the orchestra. As a kind of farewell present, he asked four composers who had been in residence at the SLSO during his tenure--Joseph Schwantner, Joan Tower, Donald Erb, and Claude Baker--to each create a different variation of the "Caprice No. 24" by Niccolò Paganini. Slatkin wrote one of his own as well and titled the result "Yet Another Set of Variations (on a Theme of Paganini)."

As Mr. Slatkin approached his 75th birthday he thought a revision might be in order. The new version has the same title as the original but it now has thirteen short movements by a dozen composers (including Mr. Slatkin) that's just under 20 tremendously entertaining minutes in length. The wide emotional range of the suite runs from the solemnity of Truman Harris's "Sarabande" (featuring the bassoon, Mr. Harris's instrument) and the drama of John Corigliano's "Apotheosis (:90)" (referring to the fact that each variation was supposed to run between 60 and 90 seconds) to the Spike Jones-ish comedy of Mr. Slatkin's "Introduction, Theme, and Variant (with apologies to S.R.)."

The latter makes fun of the most famous set of Paganini variations--the "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" by Sergei Rachmaninoff (i.e. "S.R") as does Mr. Slatkin's "Quodlibet and Finale," which references all the other composers involved and includes Kelly Karamanov playing the Rachmaninoff's famous 18th variation offstage from what sounded like on old upright piano.

Mostly, the work was about colorful orchestration, musical in-jokes, and a general sense of fun. Donald Erb's "Ave Atque Vale L.S." sounds like an intoxicated after-party. Film and television composer Daniel Slatkin (son of Leonard) covered an impressive number of musical movie memes in his "Paganini Goes to the Movies." And William Bolcom's "Presto scherzando" sounds like a soundtrack for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

"Yet Another Set of Variations (on a Theme of Paganini)" also sounds like a wild ride for the musicians, who are inundated with what were clearly virtuoso passages. Needless to say, the members of the SLSO pulled it off with their customary assurance.

Jelena Dirks
Photo courtesy of SLSO

Speaking of assurance, SLSO Principal Oboe Jelena Dirks displayed plenty of that in a graceful rendition of Mozart's one and only Oboe Concerto that honored what program annotator David Garrett accurately calls the "galant manner" of the piece. And she did it with sparkling precision and a good sense of what Donald Francis Tovey (as cited by Mr. Garrett) saw as the operatic underpinnings of the concerto. The "Adagio non troppo" second movement, for example, could easily be a little love song from one of Mozart's comic operas, and the "Rondo: Allegretto" finale actually quotes a tune from "The Abduction from the Seraglio." Ms. Dirks's oboe sweetly sang the former and skipped cheerfully through the latter.

As a bonus (and something of a reference to the work that opened the concert), Ms. Dirks finished each movement with a cadenza written by a different composer. So we had John de Lancie (long-time Principal Oboe of the Philadelphia Orchestra) for the first movement, English oboist Melinda Maxwell for the second, and John Mack (also a former Principal Oboe with the Philadelphians) for the third.

The concert concluded with a glorious, wide-screen, hi-def performance of Richard Strauss's colorful and rousing tribute to himself, "Ein Heldenleben" ("A Hero's Life"). Maestro Slatkin gave it a sweepingly romantic interpretation that did not neglect the fine details of Strauss's inventive use of the orchestra. Richard Freed once observed that "Ein Heldenleben" "represented in its time a new level in the exploitation of the resources of the modern orchestra, and it remains an outstanding landmark in that respect," and you could certainly hear all of that in this utterly compelling performance.

Richard Strauss in 1898
By Fritz Erler (died 1940)
Private collection, Public Domain
commons.wikimedia.org

And the SLSO musicians played flawlessly. Big laurel wreathes are especially due to the horns and the massive brass section as a whole, which sounded great, even in the softest passages. It helped that Mr. Slatkin had the brass section spread out across the entire width of the stage, just in front of the percussion, which made it easier to hear the individual sections, even during the rock concert--level din of the "Hero's Battlefield" section.

Concertmaster David Halen had what is essentially the star turn in "The Hero's Companion" section. It's a loving tribute to Strauss's wife, soprano Pauline de Ahna, in which the violin plays the role of Ms. de Ahna, and an emotionally varied one it surely is. In a letter to Romain Rolland (cited by Mr. Freed), the composer described her musical character as "very complex, a trifle perverse, a trifle coquettish, never the same, changing from minute to minute." Mr. Halen neatly captured the character's many moods.

Principal English Horn Cally Banham also had a lovely moment in the transition to the final section, "The Hero's Retreat from the World and Fulfillment," but ultimately the entire orchestra performed heroically under Mr. Slatkin's skilled direction. I'm a sucker for Strauss, granted, but this was nevertheless a well-balanced and unfailingly arresting performance.

Next at Powell Hall: Stéphane Denève returns to lead the orchestra and violin soloist Karen Gomyo in Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1. The program also includes a suite from Poulenc's ballet "Les Biches," and Rachmaninoff's "Symphonic Dances." Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 pm, and Sunday at 3 pm October 18-20 at Powell Symphony Hall in Grand Center.

Symphony Preview: Tales of the unexpected

Former Music Director Leonard Slatkin, who led the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) during what was possibly its period of highest international visibility (and who is now a resident of Our Fair City once again) returns to lead the SLSO this weekend (Saturday and Sunday, October 12 and 13) in an evening of works which all have intriguing histories.

The concert opens with a new version of a piece that Mr. Slatkin originally commissioned in 1996, his final year with the orchestra. As a kind of farewell present, he asked four composers who had been in residence at the SLSO during his tenure--Joseph Schwantner, Joan Tower, Donald Erb, and Claude Baker--to each create a different variation on the "Caprice No. 24" by Niccoló Paganini. Slatkin wrote one of his own as well and titled the result "Yet Another Set of Variations (on a Theme of Paganini)."

Leonard Slatkin

As Mr. Slatkin approached his 75th birthday (which, interestingly, falls on the same date as mine...) he thought a revision might be in order. Here's what he did, from his program notes for this weekend:
:

I invited five orchestras where I have held a position of artistic leadership to commission five composers with whom I have shared a close collaboration over the course of my career. Specifically, the SLSO invited John Corigliano to contribute a new variation, as it was with that orchestra that I first conducted and recorded John's music. Composer Truman Harris served as assistant principal bassoon in the National Symphony and assisted me in orchestrating several works I wrote for that ensemble. Guillaume Connesson was resident composer with the Orchestre National de Lyon during my tenure. Cindy McTee, aka Mrs. Slatkin, was closely associated with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Daniel Slatkin is my son and a composer for motion pictures and television. His variation was commissioned by the Nashville Symphony, one of the most active recording orchestras in the country.

Mr. Slatkin revised his earlier variation and wrote additional material to tie everything together, and we'll hear this result this weekend.

It's worth noting that Paganini's original caprice includes some pretty fancy variations of its own, as you can both see and hear in a YouTube video featuring violinist Salvatore Accardo and including images of the sheet music synched with his performance. The 24th caprice has proved to be irresistible as the basis for more variations by a wide variety of composers from Brahms to Eugène Ysaÿe. Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" is probably the most well known of the lot, even producing a romantic tune (in variation 18) that has had a life of its own, including a brief run as the accompaniment for (if my memory is correct) a Folger's coffee commercial.

Pop and jazz songwriters have gotten into the act as well. Most notably, Andrew Lloyd Webber made Paganini's tune the basis of his 1977 "Variations," recorded in 1978 with his brother Julian Lloyd Webber as the soloist. That set of variations, like Rachmaninoff's, also produced a little earworm of a melody that eventually grew lyrics courtesy of Don Black and got the title "Unexpected Song."

Mozart, as drawn by Doris Stock, 1789

Speaking of things unexpected, for nearly 150 years, nobody expected to hear Mozart's K. 314 Oboe Concerto for the simple reason that it had simply dropped out of sight after Anton Meyer, an oboist in Prince Esterhàzy's orchestra, requested a copy for his own use in 1883. It was chalked up as a lost work until 1920. In notes for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Phillip Huscher describes what happened then:

In 1920, Mozart scholar and conductor Bernhard Paumgartner, who was director of the Salzburg Mozarteum archives, discovered a package of old orchestral parts. The bass part was marked "Concerto in C/Oboe Principale" followed by Mozart's name. When Paumgartner recognized the music, however, as the familiar flute concerto in D major--the one flutists had long counted as the second of Mozart's two concertos--a 137-year-old mystery began to unravel. Apparently, sometime during the winter of 1777-78, Mozart had made an arrangement of the oboe concerto in order to make fast work of a commission for the amateur flutist Ferdinand de Jean, probably passing the recycled work off as brand new. By exposing Mozart's fraud, Paumgartner's find simultaneously cut Mozart's flute concerto output in two and handed oboists a concerto they had never expected to play.

This weekend will be the first time the concerto has been played by the SLSO (although the SLSO Youth Orchestra did it in 1987, with Mr. Slatkin conducting). The soloist will be SLSO Principal Oboe Jelena Dirks. In a brief email interview, I asked her if playing a piece written for the somewhat simpler oboe of Mozart's day posed any challenges. Her answer was surprising and educational:

Interestingly enough, the Classical period oboe is much more closely related to the modern oboe than the Baroque oboe. Much of the progress that has been made since Mozart's era lies simply in the addition of keys. While keys are meant to make things easier (especially in the complicated, more adventurous compositions of the Romantic and Contemporary eras) they also have some intriguing consequences. One of the biggest changes which resulted is that they even out the colors of different notes. However, the fact is, even to this day, no two notes sound alike on the oboe. That is one of the best and also one of the trickiest things about the oboe! I learned to revel in the differences of sound, to use it when I think it's effective and to hide it when I don't want it.

So what does that all mean in the context of this particular Mozart concerto? Ms. Dirks elaborated:

[T]he opening phrase is a trill, a scale, and then a high c (a brilliant note on the oboe). It is fun to exercise this note and to explore the open nature of the c- as in allegro aperto (open) from the first movement tempo marking. In the vocal second movement, I try for as close to singing an opera aria as I can get. In the third movement, the writing is such that it portrays the bright joyfulness of C major on the oboe. So, to answer your question the long way around, it is more about embracing the qualities of the oboe than anything else!

Jelena Dirks
Photo courtesy of SLSO

The qualities of the oboe, in fact, are what attracted Ms. Dirks to the instrument in the first place. "I come from a family of professional string players," she notes, "and when my mom hosted a baby shower for one of her friends (yes, an oboist!) I was eager to try something no one else in my family played."

Sometime during the party I remember a conversation in which my mom's friend asked me to try making the embouchure for an oboe, and then told me that "I would make a perfect oboist." I don't remember knowing what an oboe was, my ten year old self simply thought 'wow, can I please play that?'...I think it's safe to say that I continued playing oboe because I do thrive on a challenge and I also fell in love with the sound and the expressive nature of the instrument and repertoire.

"Expressive" is certainly a word you might use to describe the final work on the program, Richard Strauss's 1899 "Ein Heldenleben" ("A Hero's Life"). It's one of the more impressive examples of musical egotism, right up there with Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique". Despite the composer's disclaimer that the work was only party autobiographical and that it was intended to be "a more general and free ideal of great and manly heroism," there's not much doubt that Strauss' hero was Strauss. The work is chock full of quotes from Strauss' music and its portrayal of music critics by a gaggle of chattering woodwinds provoked the expected outrage from the composer's detractors.

As Richard Freed observes in program notes for The Kennedy Center, Strauss eventually had to admit the hero in "Ein Heldenleben" was, in fact, himself:

Strauss did concede, after all, in a remark to the writer Romain Rolland, that he found himself "no less interesting than Napoleon," and his gesture of conducting the premiere himself instead of leaving that honor to the respected dedicatee may well be viewed as further confirmation of the work's self-congratulatory character.

That said, "Ein Heldenleben" is such a lavish and dramatic work that it ultimately doesn't matter whether Strauss meant it as a symphonic selfie or not. "A Hero's Life," writes Mr. Freed, "represented in its time a new level in the exploitation of the resources of the modern orchestra, and it remains an outstanding landmark in that respect." It uses a massive orchestra of over 100 players (some of whom will be offstage for the big "battle" sequence, in which The Hero vanquishes his enemies) and includes infrequently heard instruments like the B-flat and E bass clarinets, the tenor tuba, and the contrabassoon. The sheer volume and variety of sound is impressive.

The Essentials: Leonard Slatkin conducts The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra along with Principal Oboe Jelena Dirks in Mozart's Oboe Concerto, K. 314; Richard Strauss's "Ein Heldenleben"; and "Yet Another Set of Variations (on a Theme of Paganini)." Performances are Saturday at 8 pm, and Sunday at 3 pm October 12 and 13 at Powell Symphony Hall in Grand Center.

St. Louis classical calendar for the week of September 30, 2019

It's officially fall, but the weather is hot and so is the local classical scene, with concerts from (among others) the SLSO, the Chamber Project, and nationally known organist Christopher Houlihan.

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The Bach Society of St. Louis presents Bachtoberfest on Friday, October 4, at 6 pm. " Join us for a festive evening of beer, wine, German fare and Deutschland's favorite drinking songs at the Anheuser Busch Biergarten! Attire is casual or Oktoberfest flair!" The event takes place at the Anheuser Busch Beer Garden, 1200 Lynch. For more information: www.bachsociety.org.

Members of The Chamber Project St. Louis

The Chamber Project STL presents a Very Open Rehearsal on Thursday, October 3, from 7 to 8pm. "Be a part of a working rehearsal with Chamber Project St. Louis. Learn about the process of making music in this casual, interactive musical experience. Ask questions about the music, the instruments, the musicians - whatever comes to mind. A moderator will facilitate engagement between the audience and the musicians, who will be preparing a piece for the upcoming concert on October 11." The event takes place at the Thornhill Branch of the St. Louis County Library, 12863 Willowyck Dr. For more information: chamberprojectstl.org.

Christopher Houlihan

Hope Lutheran Church presents organist Christopher Houlihan in a dedication recital for the church's newly constructed Parsons Pipe Organ on Friday, October 4, at 7:30 pm. "Houlihan's organ dedication recital includes favorites by Bach, Buxtehude, Schumann, Herbert Howells, and excerpts from Louis Vierne's Symphony No. 2. A renowned interpreter of Vierne's organ music, Houlihan's 'Vierne 2012' tour attracted international attention and critical acclaim for his marathon performances of Vierne's six organ symphonies in six major North American cities. The Los Angeles Times called his performance there 'a major surprise of the summer, a true revelation'.” Hope Lutheran Church is at 5218 Neosho Street. For more information: http://www.hopelutheranstl.org/home.

The St. Louis Chamber Chorus presents Swimming Over London on Sunday, October 6, at 3 pm. "Join the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus for the opening of Barnes' 31st year and another season of inspired choral music. Bob Chilcott's piece Swimming Over London inspires the theme, which is designed to suit the concert's venue. Now an African American masonic lodge, Masonic Prince Hall Grand originally housed a swimming pool! In addition to Chilcott's piece, the repertoire explores the motif of water in legends of submerged cities (Brahms and Edgar Bainton), to music that evokes lakes and rivers in England, Scotland and Poland in part songs celebrating the Thames (Arthur Bliss), Loch Lomond (Vaughan Williams), and the Vistula (Henryk Górecki)." The concert takes place at the Masonic Prince Hall Grand Lodge, 4525 Olive in Midtown. For more information: www.chamberchorus.org.

Lily Afshar

The St. Louis Classical Guitar Society presents Lily Afshar in Celebrating Women of Classical Guitar on Saturday, October 5, at 8 pm. “Who better to kick off our celebration of women in classical guitar than the first woman in the world to be awarded a Doctor of Music in Guitar Performance? Dr. Lily Afshar holds this claim to fame alongside her long list of equally as impressive accolades. Originally from Iran, her performance will feature Persian and Azerbaijani Ballads which are sure to delight.” The performance takes place at the Ethical Society, 9001 Clayton Road. For more information: www.guitarstlouis.net.

Edo de Waart conducts The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra along with pianist Joyce Yang in Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 and Elgar's Symphony No. 1 on Friday at 10:30 am and Saturday at 8 pm, October 4 and 5. "Two composers, contemporaries yet strangers, poured their whole selves into their music. Pianist Joyce Yang, “an astonishing virtuoso,” makes her SLSO debut. She captures a full kaleidoscope on Rachmaninoff's journey from darkness into light. Elgar's First Symphony was a hit from its first performance, a musical autobiography that surges with pride, love and joy." Performances take place at Powell Symphony Hall in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Gemma New

Gemma New conducts The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in a free community concert on Friday, October 4, at 7 pm. Sharing the stage with more than 100 music educators in a program that celebrates the importance of music education. The EXTRA CREDIT concert is a special side-by-side concert with musicians of the SLSO that celebrates the contributions of educators who teach music. The erformance takes place at Powell Symphony Hall in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Gemma New conducts The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in Music Without Boundaries on Sunday, October 6, at 3 pm. "Music is a language spoken around the world, with unique regional dialects created through differences in rhythm, style, instrumentation and tradition. In partnership with the World Traveler Gallery at The Magic House, we will travel around the world exploring a variety of music from different cultures." The concert includes works by Bernstein, Ravel, and Mendelssohn. The erformance takes place at Powell Symphony Hall in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

St. Louis classical calendar for the week of April 22, 2019

The Bach Society of St. Louis kicks off the Bach Festival 2019 this week and Leonard Slatkin returns to conduct the SLSO in the first of two sets of concerts.

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The Bach Society at St. Stanislaus

The Bach Society of St. Louis presents the Bach Society Young Artists and pianist Sandra Geary on Sunday, April 28, at 4 pm. "These four soloists will perform Bach arias and other favorite pieces from the impressive wide-ranging repertoire of operatic and recital works. This concert is presented jointly with the Bach Society of St. Louis and is part of the Bach Society's 2019 St. Louis Bach Festival." The concert takes place at Second Presbyterian Church, 4501 Westminster Place in the Central West End. For more information: bachsociety.org.

The St. Louis Brass Band presents 20th Anniversary Blazin' Brass on Sunday, April 28, at 2:30 p.m. "The Saint Louis Youth Brass Band will also be featured. "Strike Up The Band" and "Gaelforce" have been traditional featured repertoire of the Brass Band for these twenty years and will open and close this concert. Many other favorites from throughout the years will be performed as tribute to the many performers who have made this ensemble the wonderful success it is today." The concert takes place at Bonhomme Presbyterian Church, 14820 Conway Road. For more information: stlbb.org.

The Schola Antiqua Chicago

St. Louis Cathedral Concerts presents the Schola Antiqua Chicago on Friday, April 26, at 8 pm. "Schola Antiqua of Chicago is a professional early music ensemble dedicated to the performance of repertory before the year 1600. An ensemble that executes pre-modern music with "sensitivity and style" (Early Music America), Schola Antiqua takes pride in providing the highest standards of performance, research, and education as it highlights underserved repertories from this period. Founded in 2000, the organization has received invitations to perform from museums, libraries, festivals, universities, and other institutions across the country. The ensemble is currently Artist-in-Residence at the Lumen Christi Institute and formerly a resident artist at the University of Chicago." The performance takes place at The Cathedral Basilica on Lindell in the Central West End. For more information: cathedralconcerts.org.

Leonard Slatkin returns to conduct the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Chorus Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 3 pm, April 27 and 28. The program consists of Loren Loiacono's Smothered by the Sky, Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1 with soloist Olga Kern, and Bernstein's Symphony No. 3 ("Kaddish") with narrator Charlotte Blake Alston. Performances take place at Powell Symphony Hall in Grand. Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Eric Schreiber

The Sheldon Concert Hall presents St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Assistant Concertmaster Erin Schreiber, along with members of the SLSO, in Women's Suffrage on Wednesday, April 24, at 8 p.m. "One hundred years ago the U.S. Congress voted to approve the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote. We mark this long overdue congressional action with a concert that celebrates women in classical music -- composers such as Fanny Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann and Amy Beach." The Sheldon is at 3648 Washington in Grand Center. For more information: thesheldon.org.

The Washington University Department of Music presents a Wind Ensemble Concert on Thursday, April 25, at 7:30 pm. The concert includes music by Aaron Copland, Cécile Chaminade, and Carl Maria von Weber, and takes place in the concert hall at the 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity in University City. For more information, music.wustl.edu.

The Washington University Department of Music presents the Washington University Symphony Orchestra in Fiesta Latina: A Celebration of Latin Music on Sunday, April 28, at 3 pm. The concert features A Haitian Phantasy by Ludovic Lamothe and selections from El Amor Brujo by de Falla, and takes place in the concert hall at the 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity in University City. For more information, music.wustl.edu.

St. Louis classical calendar for the week of April 1, 2019

No fooling, there's a lot of great music in town this week, including a special April Fool's Day event by the Chamber Music Society.

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The Black Tulip Chorale presents A Little Love in Your Heart: 50 Years from Stonewall on Sunday, April 7, at 3 pm. "The Black Tulip Chorale opens its second season with a tribute to the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. After untold years of persecution and discrimination, the events in June 1969 marked the birth of the “gay liberation movement”. Including songs on the jukebox at the Stonewall and Gabriel Fauré's gorgeous “Requiem,” the Black Tulip Chorale celebrates the continuing journey towards justice, freedom, and equality. This performance is free to the public." The performance takes place at First Presbyterian Church of Kirkwood, 100 E. Adams in Kirkwood, MO. For more information: https://www.facebook.com/BlackTulipChorale.

The Chamber Music Society of St. Louis presents Foolproof on Monday and Tuesday, April 1 and 2, at 7:30 pm. "Who knew? Our concert falls on April Fools' Day. We never want to pass up an opportunity to have fun, so… stand back…we'll try not to get too rowdy." The concert includes Mozart's "Musical Joke," Stravinsky's "Circus Polka," and Haydn's String Quartet No. 2 ("The Joke") as well as a Beethoven parody by Dudley Moore. Performances take place at the Sheldon Ballroom, 3648 Washington in Grand Center. For more information: chambermusicstl.org.

Irina Kulikova

The St. Louis Classical Guitar Society presents a Great Artist Guitar Series concert with Irina Kulikova on Saturday, April 6, at 8 pm. "Born in 1982 Russian guitarist Irina Kulikova made her professional debut at age 12 traveling in Russia and abroad for gala concerts and festivals. She has performed as a soloist, in ensembles, and with orchestras. Ms. Kulikova graduated with distinction at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg (Austria), the Gnessins Academy in Moscow (Russia) and the Conservatoire of Maastricht (The Netherlands). She lives and teaches in The Netherlands." The performance takes at the Ethical Society of St. Louis, 9001 Clayton Road. For more information: guitarstlouis.net.

Gemma New conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in a program of new music by students of the Missouri University composition program on Wednesday, April 3, at 8 pm. The program consists of music by Benedetto Colagiovanni, Libby Roberts, and Mikkel Christensen. The concert takse place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Allegra Lilly

Gemma New conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra along with soloists Mark Sparks, flute, and Allegra Lilly, harp, on Friday at 10:30 am, Saturday at 8 pm, and Sunday at 3 pm, April 5-7. The program consists of usic by Mozart, Richard Strauss, and Thomas Adès. The concerts take place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

St. Louis University presents a Student Honors Recital on Monday, April 1, at 7:30 pm featuring "nine students chosen by the music faculty through an audition process, representing the high level of artistry coming out of the Program's vocal and instrumental studios." The performance takes place at St. Francis Xavier College Church on the campus in Grand Center. For more information: slu.edu/arts.

The Washington University Department of Music presents a student honors recital on Saturday, April 6, at 3 pm. The concert takes place at the 560 Music Center at 560 Trinity in University City. For more information, music.wustl.edu/events.

Gil Shaham

The Washington University Department of Music presents Great Artists Series recital with Gil Shaham, violin and Akira Eguchi, piano, on Sunday, April 7, at 7 pm. "Gil Shaham is one of the foremost violinists of our time: his flawless technique combined with his inimitable warmth and generosity of spirit has solidified his renown as an American master. Mr. Shaham has more than two dozen concerto and solo CDs to his name, earning multiple Grammys, a Grand Prix du Disque, Diapason d'Or, and Gramophone Editor's Choice." The concert takes place at the 560 Music Center at 560 Trinity in University City. For more information, music.wustl.edu/events.

Webster University presents the Webster University Percussion Ensemble, directed by Erin Elstneron Sunday, on Sunday, April 7, at 7 pm. The concert takes place at the Community Music School of Webster University, 535 Garden Avenue on the Webster University Campus in Webster Groves, MO. For more information: www.webster.edu/music/eventscalendar.html

St. Louis classical calendar for the week of March 25, 2019

Concerts this week include both orchestral and chamber music events with members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra as well as a program of arts songs and spirituals by African-American composers at Eliot Unitarian Chapel.

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Eliot Unitarian Chapel presents a Friends of Music concert on Sunday, February 31, at 3 pm. The program will feature Robert McNichols, Jr., baritone, accompanied by Chris White, pianist, performing art songs and spirituals by African-American composers, including Margaret Bonds, Harry T. Burleigh and Florence Beatrice Price. The concert takes place at Eliot Unitarian Chapel is at 100 South Argonne in Kirkwood. For more information: fomcstl.org.

The Metropolitan Orchestra

The Metropolitan Orchestra performs on Sunday, March 31, at 7 p.m. The program includes Brahms's Concerto for Violin and Cello with violinist Julia Sakharova and cellist Kurt Baldwin, and Sibelius's Symphony No. 2. The concert takes place at First Presbyterian Church, 100 E. Adams in Kirkwood. For more information: metro-orch.org.

Opera Theatre of St. Louis presents Opera Tastings on Saturday, March 30, at 7 pm. "Soprano Teresa Castillo, mezzo-soprano Rehanna Thelwell, tenor Edward Graves, and baritone Robert Mellon will perform operatic classics from The Marriage of Figaro, Carmen, and Porgy and Bess, among others. Pianist Timothy Cheung will accompany the singers. Each venue will present its own specifically crafted tasting menu created to accompany an intimate concert of arias and duets from across opera's rich history. Each musical selection is paired with wine, beer, spirits, small bites, or desserts, based on the inspiration of each venue's chef." The event, which features "artisan Mexican cuisine with a modern twist," takes place at Catrinas, 1207 Century Dr. in Edwardsville, IL. For more information: experienceopera.org.

Opera Theatre of St. Louis presents Opera Tastings on Sunday, March 31, at 1 pm. "Soprano Teresa Castillo, mezzo-soprano Rehanna Thelwell, tenor Edward Graves, and baritone Robert Mellon will perform operatic classics from The Marriage of Figaro, Carmen, and Porgy and Bess, among others. Pianist Timothy Cheung will accompany the singers. Each venue will present its own specifically crafted tasting menu created to accompany an intimate concert of arias and duets from across opera's rich history. Each musical selection is paired with wine, beer, spirits, small bites, or desserts, based on the inspiration of each venue's chef." The event, which features "eclectic aria-inspired cuisine wine pairings from Ces & Judy's," takes place at The Venue at Maison du lac, 2603 Wild Plum Valley in Pacific, MO. For more information: experienceopera.org.

The Tallis Scholars

St. Louis Cathedral Concerts presents the a cappella ensemble The Tallis Scholars on Thursday, March 28, at 8 pm. "Known as leading performers of Renaissance sacred music, The Tallis Scholars have earned world-wide recognition as “a capella superstars”. The world-renowned group continues to develop their exclusive sounds, praised by reviewers for its supple clarity and tone, and brings fresh interpretation to music by contemporary as well as past composers." The performance takes place at The Cathedral Basilica on Lindell in the Central West End. For more information: cathedralconcerts.org.

Members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra perform Taxidermy, a program of contemporary percussion music, on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 26 and 27, at 7:30 pm. "Taxidermy showcases the SLSO's percussion section, with composer Caroline Shaw making flower pots sing, Juri Seo creating quirky tunes from tubes, Danny Clay demonstrating musical games for percussion instruments and Mayke Nas performing piano surgery. Injuries treated, the piano takes center stage for Missy Mazzoli's dream evocation of another time, another place, complete with video by Zlatko Cosic." The performances take place at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation on Washington in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Jakub Hrusa conducting the Bamberg Symphony
Photo by Andreas Herzau

Jakub Hrusa conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, along with violinist Karen Gomyo, Friday and Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 3 pm, March 29-31. The program consists of a suite from Bartok's' ballet The Miraculous Mandarin, Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 9. The concerts take place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

The Sheldon Concert Hall presents St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster David Halen, along with members of the SLSO, in D-Day and the Formation of the United Nations on Wednesday, March 27, at 8 p.m. The concert features works by Aaron Copland's Violin Sonata and the original chamber orchestra version of his ballet Appalachian Spring. The Sheldon is at 3648 Washington in Grand Center. For more information: thesheldon.org.

The Washington University Department of Music presents Charles Metz and Michael Pecak in Four-Handed Conversations, a program of fortepiano duos and duets by Haydn and Mozart, on Monday, March 25, at 7:30 p.m. The free event takes place in the Goldberg Formal Lounge in the Danforth Center on the Washington University campus. For more information, music.wustl.ed.

The Washington University Department of Music presents a senior song recital by Michelle Schrier on Sunday, March 31, at 1 pm. The concert features songs by Jason Robert Brown, Henry Purcell, and Stephen Sondheim, among others, and takes place at the 560 Music Center at 560 Trinity in University City. For more information, music.wustl.ed.