St. Louis classical calendar for the week of December 9, 2019

Two big annual holiday concerts take place at Powell Hall this week, along with chamber music just down the block at the Sheldon.

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The Bach Society Christmas Candlelight Concert

The Bach Society of St. Louis presents the annual Christmas Candlelight Concert on Tuesday, December 10, at 7:30 PM. “A St. Louis Christmas tradition, the Christmas Candlelight Concert is sure to leave you feeling merry and bright. Plan to join us for Poulenc's Gloria with soprano soloist Michele Kennedy, the beloved candlelight processional, and even the “12 Days of Christmas” with a special appearance by The St. Louis Children's Choirs and Webster University Chamber Singers. Come experience a night filled with Christmas cheer to kick off your holiday season!" The performance takes place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: www.bachsociety.org

The Chamber Music Society of St. Louis presents The British Are Coming on Monday and Tuesday, December 9 and 10, at 7:30 pm. "Enjoy some British charm, courtesy of Holst and Purcell, and a 'London' trio by honorary Brit Franz Joseph Haydn." Performances take place at the Sheldon, 3648 Washington in Grand Center. For more information: chambermusicstl.org.

The New Music Circle presents Fred Frith on Saturday, December 14, at 8 pm. "Renowned and exploratory British guitarist / composer Fred Frith is an icon of avant-garde music, employing a rare musical intelligence, accompanied by an omnipresent sense of humor." The performance takes place at Joe's Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury. For more information: newmusiccircle.org.

The Mercy Holiday Celebration

Stuart Malina conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra along with the Holiday Festival Chorus and soloist Rachel Potter in the Mercy Holiday Celebration Friday through Sunday at 2 and 7:30 pm, December 13-15. "Check laughter and cheer off your holiday list at the Mercy Holiday Celebration with the SLSO. Enjoy your favorite holiday classics performed by the SLSO and Holiday Festival Chorus, plus a special visit from Santa Claus himself. This unforgettable experience will put you in the holiday spirit and show you why thousands of St. Louis residents make this concert an annual tradition." The concerts take place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

The Department of Music at Washington University presents a Winds Division Recital on Monday and Tuesday, December 9 and 10, at 3 pm. The concerts take place in the E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall at the 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity in University City. For more information: music.wustl.edu/events.

The Department of Music at Washington University presents a Flute Choir concert on Monday, December 9, at 7:30 pm. The event takes place in the E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall at the 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity in University City. For more information: music.wustl.edu/events.

The Department of Music at Washington University presents a Messiah Sing-Along on Sunday, December 15, at 3 pm. "Join the choirs of Washington University in singing the Christmas portion of G.F. Handel's 'Messiah.' Bring your own score or borrow one at the door!" The event takes place at Graham Chapel on the Washington University campus. For more information: music.wustl.edu/events.

St. Louis classical calendar for the week of December 2, 2019

Christmas concerts are starting to appear this week, with holiday-themed events at the Cathedral Basilica and Powell Hall.

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The Chamber Music Society of St. Louis presents As the Winds Blow on Saturday, December 7, at 2 pm. "No windbags here. Just some exciting woodwind music that will take your breath away. Works by Reicha, Hindemith, Vinter, Nielsen and Ibert." Performances take place at the Sheldon, 3648 Washington in Grand Center. For more information: chambermusicstl.org.

CHARIS

CHARIS, the St. Louis Women's Chorus, presents Snapshot on Friday and Saturday December 6 and 7, at 8 pm. "A picture is worth a thousand words-at minimum-and a single snapshot can inspire a multitude of stories and interpretations. In CHARIS's fall 2019 show, “Snapshot,” we draw inspiration from two photographic sources: first, the Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs on display at Missouri History Museum, and second, portraits commissioned from local photographers that capture the lives and stories of individuals in our local community, especially the women and members of the LGBTQ+ community who are at the heart of our mission. Each song in the concert will be inspired by a photograph and its thousands of possible words." The performances take place in the auditorium at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park. For more information: charischorus.org.

St. Louis Cathedral Concerts presents Christmas at the Cathedral on Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 2:30 pm. "Experience the joy of the music of Christmas with the St. Louis Archdiocesan Choirs and Orchestra . The program includes the Christmas portion of The Messiah and other Christmas classics old and new at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis!" The concerts take place at the Cathedral Basilica in the Central West End. For more information: cathedralconcerts.org.

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra presents the Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra in Big Band Holidays on Wednesday, December 4, at 7:30 pm. "It's the most wonderful time of year! The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis are coming to Powell Hall. Featuring soulful, big band versions of classics like “Jingle Bells,” “Joy to the World” and “Brazilian Sleigh Ride,” Big Band Holidays is an uplifting holiday program that's sure to brighten the season." The performance taks place at Powell Symphony Hall in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Richard Egarr
Photo courtesy of the SLSO

Richard Egarr conducts The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, along with violin soloists Kristin Ahlstrom and Angie Smart and flute soloist Andrea Kaplan in Baroque Fireworks. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 3 pm, December 6-8. "Handel heralds the holidays. Brilliant brass gleam in the Music for the Royal Fireworks and Water Music. Then strings take center-stage for Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3, featuring the famous “Air on a G string.” Conductor Richard Egarr leads the orchestra from the harpsichord for Bach's Brandenburg No. 5, which features soloists from the SLSO." Performances take place at Powell Symphony Hall in Grand Cente. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

The Department of Music at Washington University presents Solisti St. Louis featuring Amy Greenhalgh, viola, Benedetta Orsi, mezzo-soprano, and Dana Hotle, clarinet, performing music by Saint-Saëns, Richter, Weber, and Tchaikovsky on Friday, December 6, at 7:30 pm. The event takes place in the E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall at the 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity in University City. For more information: music.wustl.edu/events.

The Department of Music at Washington University presents bass-baritone Eric Owens and pianist Jeremy Denk performing Schubert's song cycle Winterreise on Sunday, December 8, at 7 pm. The event takes place in the E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall at the 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity in University City. For more information: music.wustl.edu/events.

Symphony Preview: What are you doing New Year's?

Robert Ellison, Hugh Smith, and Gina Galati with the band

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In an earlier post I gave you a preview of upcoming holiday concerts at Powell Hall. At the time I thought I had included everything right up to Christmas, but it seems I missed an important event. Here's the story, along with a preview of post-Christmas action.

Friday, December 23, 7:30 p.m.: The Compton Heights Concert Band Holiday Pops Spectacular -Best known for its summer concerts in Tower Grove and Francis parks in the city, the band pulls out all the stops for this 18th annual evening of holiday favorites. On the podium will be the band's Music Director, Edward Dolbashian, who is also the Music Director of the St. Louis Civic Orchestra and Alton Symphony. The concert marks the 40th Anniversary Celebration of the founding of the band and features what's described as a "family friendly program" of holiday favorites, Christmas carols, sacred classics such as "O Holy Night", and the "Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's Messiah, done as an audience sing-along.

Soloists are tenor Hugh Smith and baritone Robert Ellison (who have performed with the band often over the years), along with Winter opera founder and noted soprano Gina Galati, along with the 100-voice East Central College Combined Choirs.

The Compton Heights Concert Band is a St. Louis institution. I don't know how I could have missed it. You won't want to do the same. Tickets are available at the St. Louis Symphony web site. The band is also offering a limited number of Gold Patron tickets that include seats in the Dress Circle Box and Grand Tier Box Seats, along with a gala post-concert reception in the lobby with Hugh Smith, Gina Galati, and Robert Ellison, catered by LoRusso's Cucina. To order Gold Patron tickets, you'll need to call 314-776-2227.

Aram Demirjian
Photo: David Bickley

Thursday and Friday, December 29 and 30, 7 p.m.: Disney in Concert - Aram Demirjian conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra along with vocalists Lisa Livesay, Whitney Claire Kaufman, Aaron Phillips, and Andrew Johnson.

Disney in Concert: Tale as Old as Time is one of a collection of concert packages marketed by Symphony Pops Music in which orchestras play selections from Disney films while synchronized clips are shown on screen. In some cases, clips from multiple movies like Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, and The Little Mermaid are combined into medleys with titles like "Villains," "Enchanted Helpers," and "They Finally Meet." There are also film-specific collections like the "Hercules Gospel Medley" and selections from The Princess and the Frog and Frozen. Symphony Pops provides the video, the soloists, the arrangements, and a scripted narrative. The local orchestra provides the players and the conductor who, in this case, is Kansas City Symphony Associate Conductor Aram Demirjian.

This will be the first SLSO appearance for Mr. Demirjian, who has been praised by the Kansas City Star for his “confident and expressive style.” His crowded 2016-2017 schedule includes conducting gigs with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Louisiana Philharmonic, and debuts in San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and Fresno, as well as his European debut with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. He's also the Music Director Designate of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra.

Tickets for this one are selling fast and the SLSO web site notes that "limited view seating" is now available. A quick check of the site as I'm writing this indicates that available seats are few and far between, so if you're planning to attend, you'll want to order now.

David Robertson
Photo: Dan Dreyfus

Saturday, December 31, 7:30 p.m.: New Year's Eve Celebration - David Robertson conducts the orchestra in the annual New Year's Eve gala. "Enjoy an enchanting evening full of magical music and unforgettable surprises!" says the SLSO web site. And by "surprises" they mean "the concert program" because that is, in fact, a secret that won't be revealed until the music starts.

Still, we can make educated guesses based on previous years. Expect lots of good humor, both from the music and from Mr. Robertson, who can be a very funny guy when he gets his hands on a microphone. In 2012, for example, the orchestra did Morton Gould's "Tap Dance Concerto" and featured some good-natured sing-alongs with the audience. Dance music has, in fact, been a major part of the New Year's concerts. And waltzes are always associated with New Year's Eve in any case.

The concert is a big seller-as I'm writing this only a handful of tickets are left, mostly in the upper reaches of the balcony-but if you can't get tickets, don't despair. Last year St. Louis Public Radio began broadcasting the concert live.

Review: Steven Jarvi puts his own stamp on a festive holiday concert with the St. Louis Symphony

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

SLSO Resident Conductor
Steven Jarvi

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Although it's usually a heavily attended event, freezing drizzle and the resulting treacherous streets put a major dent in the turnout for the Mercy Holiday Celebration at the St. Louis Symphony Friday night (December 16, 2016). And that's a shame, since conductor Steven Jarvi really put his stamp on the evening, with an intelligent selection of music that included more than a few works I'd never heard before.

For a pops concert that usually sticks to the tried and true, that was a delightful and welcome surprise. Morton Gould's arrangement of "Jingle Bells'" for example, was ingenious and whimsical, with icy harmonics from the violins, a plaintive oboe, muted horns, and a quiet finale that gave the whole thing a kind of pointillist delicacy. The orchestration of "Carol to the King" by Mormon Tabernacle Choir music director Mack Wilberg featured lively "fife and drum" interchanges among the flutes, trumpets, and snare drums. And the "Refried Farandole" by composer/performer/producer Sam Hyken brought the concert to an appropriately rousing conclusion. This virtuoso expansion of the "Farandole" (from Bizet's incidental music for L'Arlesienne, which includes the traditional Provençal carol "The March of the three Kings") was completely new to me and it was tremendous fun, especially when performed with such precision.

Kevin McBeth

Perhaps the most beautiful selection of the evening, though, came from Kevin McBeth's Holiday Festival Chorus, composed of singers from area high schools. For an a cappella performance of the "Ave Maria" by twentieth-century German composer Franz Xaver Biebl, the choir was split in half, with singers and soloists both on stage and upstairs in the dress circle. Heard from our seats on the orchestra floor, this gave the music a wonderful antiphonal quality that called to mind the works of Gabrielli and the other Venetian Renaissance polychoral composers. Mr. Jarvi conducted with a look of real joy that was, I'm sure, shared by many of us in the audience.

The chorus also distinguished itself in more traditional selections like "The First Nowell" and, most notably, in the decidedly non-traditional "South African Gloria" by William Bradley Roberts, Professor of Church Music at Virginia Theological Seminary. With its syncopated percussion and lively foot stomping from the chorus, this was music guaranteed to bring a smile to the face and joy to the heart. It also sounded tricky to perform, so kudos to Mr. McBeth and his singers for doing so well by it.

That's not to say that the usual trappings of this annual holiday event weren't in place. The concert opened with a swinging, brassy arrangement of "Winter Wonderland." St. Nick (played with engaging jollity by Whit Reichert) showed up for his usual visit and arranged for a child from the audience to "conduct" the orchestra in Leroy Anderson's "Sleigh Ride." And there was a guest appearance by a singer from the world of Broadway and TV: Nicole Parker.

Nicole Parker

Ms. Parker is probably best known for her work on MADtv, but she also has extensive musical theatre credits, including the plum role of Elphaba in the first North American tour of Wicked. She had some great moments, including a charming "White Christmas" with the orchestra and chorus and a funny "My Favorite Things" with impersonations of Ellen DeGeneres, Julie Andrews (eerily accurate), Diane Keaton, and Celine Dion (complete with an absurdly ornamented vocal line). Her "Defying Gravity" might not have had much to do with the holidays, but it certainly soared. So, icy streets not withstanding, it was an evening as festive as the holiday decorations in the Powell Hall lobby and as cozy as a red Christmas sweater.

Seasonal concerts continue at Powell Hall with the Bach Society Christmas Candlelight Concert on Thursday, December 22nd, and Disney in Concert on the 29th and 30th. The orchestra will round out the year with the annual New Year's Eve gala on the 31st. Visit the SLSO web site for details.