St. Louis Symphony Orchestra March 2024 concerts include an SLSO co-commisison, opera and classical favorites, dance collaboration, and concerts for the entire family

(January 30, 2024, St. Louis, MO) – Today, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra announced details of its March 2024 concerts at four venues throughout the region. Concerts include the St. Louis premiere of an SLSO co-commissioned work, operatic favorites, a dance collaboration with The Big Muddy Dance Company, and concerts for the entire family. Stéphane Denève, The Joseph and Emily Rauh Pulitzer Music Director, leads six concerts at UMSL’s Touhill Performing Arts Center and Stifel Theatre.

Tickets are on sale now. Tickets may be purchased at slso.org or by calling the Box Office at 314-534-1700. A full concert calendar is available at slso.org or on the SLSO’s mobile app available for iOS or Android. Broadcasts of classical concerts will take place on March 9 and 23 on 90.7 FM KWMU St. Louis Public Radio, Classic 107.3, and online. Audiences can attend a Pre-Concert Conversation, an engaging discussion about the music and artists on the program, one hour prior to each classical concert.

While the expansion and renovation of Powell Hall continues, the SLSO will perform March concerts at several venues throughout the region: the Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri–St. Louis (March 3, 22-23), The Sheldon (March 6), Stifel Theatre (March 9-10; 16-17), and the J. Scheidegger Center for Performing Arts at Lindenwood University (March 24). Shuttle service will be available for concerts at the UMSL’s Touhill Performing Arts Center and Stifel Theatre starting at $15 per seat. There will be two shuttle pick-up locations for performances at Stifel Theatre: Plaza Frontenac and St. Louis Community College–Forest Park. Shuttles for performances at the Touhill Performing Arts Center at UMSL will depart from Plaza Frontenac, and free parking is available on the UMSL campus.

Operatic Favorites
Sunday, March 3, 3:00pm CST
Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri–St. Louis 
1 Touhill Circle, St. Louis, Missouri, 63121 

Stéphane Denève, conductor
Melissa Brooks, cello
Erin Schreiber, violin

Claudio Monteverdi Toccata from L’Orfeo
W.A. Mozart  The Marriage of Figaro Overture
Gioacchino Rossini  The Barber of Seville Overture
Giacomo Puccini  Intermezzo from Manon Lescaut
Vincenzo Bellini  “Casta Diva” from Norma
Amilcare Ponchielli  “Dance of the Hours” from La Gioconda
Ambroise Thomas  Mignon Overture
Georges Bizet  “Les Toréadors” from Carmen
Pablo de Sarasate Carmen Fantasy
Jacques Offenbach  Barcarolle from The Tales of Hoffmann
Jacques Offenbach  Can-Can from Gaîté Parisienne

Limited tickets remain.

Denève leads the SLSO on an operatic extravaganza through 300 years of heart-stopping melodies, captivating drama, and thrilling dances of opera. Music from Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, one of the very first operas, begins a journey through operatic masterpieces by W.A. Mozart, Gioacchino Rossini, Giacomo Puccini, Vincenzo Bellini, and Amilcare Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours,” now best known as the hippopotamus ballet from Fantasia. The SLSO’s Associate Concertmaster Erin Schreiber gives a virtuoso turn in Pablo de Sarasate’s Fantasy on Georges Bizet’s Carmen. Associate Principal Cello Melissa Brooks performs Vincenzo Bellini’s “Casta Diva” from Norma. Limited tickets remain and start at $15.

Live at The Sheldon: Percussion Spotlight 
Wednesday, March 6, 7:30pm CST  
The Sheldon Concert Hall
3648 Washington Ave., St. Louis, Missouri, 63108

Shannon Wood | curator, timpani, and percussion
Cally Banham, English horn
Tzuying Huang, clarinet
Julia Paine, bassoon
Victoria Knudtson, horn
Steven Franklin, trumpet
Amanda Stewart, trombone
Peter Henderson, piano
Shawn Weil, violin
Elizabeth Chung, cello
Erik Harris, double bass

Bohuslav Martinů  Quartet for clarinet, horn, cello, and side drum (First SLSO performance)
Morima Yerby  New Work (World premiere)
Shannon Wood Abballanu Cifalutani (First SLSO performance)
Richard Schwarz Brujo
Igor Stravinsky The Soldier’s Tale Suite 

Sponsored by the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. The performance of Morima Yerby’s work is presented in partnership with the Mizzou New Music Initiative.

The fourth of five Live at The Sheldon chamber music concerts is rooted in music featuring percussion instruments. Curated by SLSO Principal Timpanist Shannon Wood, the diverse and dynamic program features Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale Suite, the musical parable of a soldier who trades his violin for riches. Wood trades his timpani for snare drum in Bohuslav Martinů’s Quartet with snare drum and returns to timpani for the SLSO premiere of a work he composed. Tickets start at $31.

Encanto in Concert
Saturday, March 9, 2:00pm CST
Sunday, March 10, 2:00pm CDT
Stifel Theatre
1400 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri, 63103

Anthony Parnther, conductor (SLSO debut)

Germaine Franco  Encanto in Concert

The SLSO enters the enchanting world of the Madrigals with Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Academy Award-winning film, Encanto. This heartwarming tale comes alive on the majestic Stifel Theatre’s big screen, accompanied by the SLSO performance of the film’s magical, chart-topping soundtrack live. Mirabel, the seemingly ordinary Madrigal, becomes a beacon of hope her extraordinary family needs when the magic of their home is at stake. The concert features the infectious score composed by Germaine Franco, the first woman to score a Disney animated feature film, and riveting original songs by the multi-talented Lin-Manuel Miranda. Tickets start at $47.

Romeo and Juliet
Saturday, March 16, 7:30pm CDT
Sunday, March 17, 3:00pm CDT
Stifel Theatre
1400 Market Street, St. Louis Missouri, 63103

Stéphane Denève, conductor
The Big Muddy Dance Company | Kirven Douthit-Boyd, choreographer (Schoenberg)

Adam Schoenberg  Picture Studies (First SLSO performances)
Sergei Prokofiev   Romeo and Juliet Suite

Presented by the Whitaker Foundation.
Supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Dance courses through the veins of this program through sound and movement. American composer Adam Schoenberg writes music that sounds like a cross between Radiohead and Aaron Copland. His Picture Studies, a 21st-century version of Mussorgsky’s timeless Pictures at an Exhibition, brings disparate works of visual art to musical life, enhanced by choreography and dancers from The Big Muddy Dance Company. In the second half of the program, Denève leads the orchestra alone in Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet Suite, capturing the thrills and tragedy of a star-crossed love. Tickets start at $15.

Beethoven’s Piano Cycle: Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto
Friday, March 22, 10:30am CDT*
Friday, March 22, 7:30pm CDT
Saturday, March 23, 7:30pm CDT
Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri–St. Louis 
1 Touhill Circle, St. Louis, Missouri, 63121 

Stéphane Denève, conductor
Tom Borrow, piano (SLSO debut)

Hector Berlioz  Beatrice and Benedict Overture
Julia Wolfe  Pretty (First SLSO performances | SLSO co-commission)**
Ludwig van Beethoven  Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”

*Refreshments courtesy of Kaldi’s Coffee and Eddie’s Southtown Donuts.
**SLSO co-commission with the Berlin Philharmonic and Houston Symphony.

Power takes many forms in this program. It can be the majesty of Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto, known as the “Emperor.” Israeli pianist Tom Borrow brings his “supremely incandescent” touch to the concerto, written at a time of war. It can be American composer Julia Wolfe’s Pretty, tearing down walls between musical styles, between players and audiences, between genders. It can be the sheer orchestral power and imagination of Hector Berlioz’s virtuosic overture to the comic Shakespearean opera Beatrice and Benedict. Tickets start at $15.

Family Concert | Dance Party!
Sunday, March 24, 3:00pm CDT
J. Scheidegger Center for the Arts at Lindenwood University
2300 W. Clay St., St. Charles, Missouri, 63301

Jason Seber, conductor

Arturo Márquez Conga del Fuego Nuevo
Aaron Copland Variations on a Shaker Melody
Igor Stravinsky “Infernal Dance of King Katschei” from The Firebird Suite (1919)
Florence Price “Juba Dance” from Symphony No. 1
Mason Bates “Warehouse Medicine” from The B-Sides (First SLSO performance)
Georges Bizet (arr. Hoffman) “Habanera” from Carmen Suite No. 2
Georges Bizet “Les Toréadors” from Carmen Suite No. 1
Antonín Dvořák   Slavonic Dance No. 1

SLSO education programs are presented by Steward Family Foundation and World Wide Technology.

Recommended for children ages 5-10 years and their families, this Family Concert explores dances set to music from a variety of cultures, from the fiery conga of Mexico to the traditional Juba dance from African American traditions. Arrive early to join in the pre-concert activities including a scavenger hunt with the musicians of the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra. Family Concerts are inclusive of people with sensory sensitivities. Tickets start at $15.