ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, led by music director Stéphane Denève, returns for its 2021-22 season with a free concert at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 22 on Art Hill in Forest Park.
SLSO launched the inaugural park concert more than five decades ago and continues the tradition of community engagement and celebration to begin the season in 2021. This will be Denève’s third season and the orchestra’s 142nd.
The concert will include timeless classical works from Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and Igor Stravinsky’s The Firebird. Works of Leonard Bernstein, St. Louis native W.C. Handy, and music from movie scores by composer John Williams, including Harry Potter and Raiders of the Lost Ark, will also be featured.
The Orchestra will perform Florence Price’s Adoration arranged by Akiko Hosoi for the first time. Price made history as the first Black woman recognized worldwide as a symphonic composer. There will also be a performance of “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands,” a traditional African American spiritual, featuring vocalist Nadia Maddex.
Maddex is a St. Louis Symphony IN UNISON Scholar and soprano in the St. Louis Symphony IN UNISON Chorus. The chorus performs music from African and African American traditions.
The celebration concludes with fireworks and John Philip Sousa’s The Stars and Stripes Forever.
Early arrival is highly suggested and guests are encouraged to bring chairs and blankets. Several food trucks will be on site.
The SLSO will follow CDC guidelines for COVID-19 safety procedures and is working with St. Louis City and Forest Park to determine what protocols will be necessary. Information will be shared prior to the concert at slso.org/protocols.
In addition to the concert in Forest Park, Denève leads the orchestra Sept. 25-26 for its first classical concerts of the season. The concerts feature Jessie Montgomery’s Banner and Anna Clyne’s DANCE, performed with cellist Inbal Segev and alongside a cast of dancers from different St. Louis companies, choreographed by Kirven Douthit-Boyd, COCA’s co-artistic director of dance.
Visit https://www.slso.org/ for more information about this season.