Look for two world premieres, a celebration for a maestro, the annual Forest Park concert and other highlights as the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s 145th season gets underway later this year.
The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) and Stéphane Denève – in his sixth year as music director – have announced details of the 2024-2025 season, with another year of performances held at venues across the St. Louis area as expansion and renovation work continues at Powell Hall.
The orchestra’s annual Forest Park concert – a St. Louis tradition for more than 55 years – signals the beginning of the new season. The free concert on Sept. 19 features a performance by SLSO and culminates with fireworks over Art Hill.
Two SLSO commissions will make their world premiere: Nina Shekhar’s Accordion Concerto and Anna Clyne’s “Palette.”
Shekhar’s Accordion Concerto will receive its world premiere Jan. 10 and 11, 2025, with conductor Daniela Candillari, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ principal conductor, and accordionist Hanzhi Wang, who will make her SLSO debut to perform the concerto.
Clyne’s “Palette” combines electronically augmented sounds captured from microphones placed among the musicians with the live orchestral performance for a unique sonic experience. Denève will conduct the performances Feb. 14 and 15, 2025.
In addition, the orchestra will present U.S. premieres of Daniel Slatkin’s “Voyager 130” (Oct. 25 and 27) and Guillaume Connesson’s “Lost Horizons” Violin Concerto (March 21 and 22, 2025).
Daniel Slatkin’s premiere of “Voyager 130” is part of a weekend of concerts celebrating the legacy of his father, SLSO conductor laureate Leonard Slatkin, who served as music director from 1979 to 1996. The program also includes “Timepiece” by Cindy McTee, Leonard Slatkin’s wife; plus the maestro’s own arrangement of piano sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti for winds; and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5.
The first SLSO performances of works by Mason Bates, Gabriela Lena Frank, Detlev Glanert, Adolphus Hailstork, James MacMillan, Cindy McTee, Kevin Puts, Outi Tarkiainen, John Williams and more are also featured in the upcoming season.
Denève opens the season Sept. 27 and 29 with the much-anticipated return of violinist Gil Shaham – a close collaborator of Denève’s and frequent SLSO guest – giving the first SLSO performances of Mason Bates’ “Nomad Concerto.”
Closing out the season May 3 and 4, 2025, is a semi-staged version of Edvard Grieg’s opera, “Peer Gynt,” with internationally renowned soprano Camilla Tilling in the lead role of Solveig and Vidar Skrede on Hardanger fiddle. Performances include staging, costumes and actors, led by acclaimed writer and director Bill Barclay in adaptation of the Henrik Ibsen play.
For a second year, the orchestra will perform at venues throughout St. Louis to accommodate ongoing construction at Powell Hall. SLSO is using the opportunity to connect with communities and to showcase the orchestra and its musicians.
Performance venues for the 2024-2025 season include the Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Stifel Theatre, J. Scheidegger Center for Performing Arts at Lindenwood University, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, The Sheldon and the E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall at 560 Music Center at Washington University.
Subscriptions are on sale now. Single tickets for specials, films and holiday concerts go on sale in May. Single tickets for classical concerts go on sale this summer.
