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The St. Louis Symphony
Select Sundays from 2 - 4 p.m. and Wednesdays 8 - 10 p.m.

*Scroll down to listen to available episodes*

Classical KC extends its local reach to re-broadcast the most recent performances by the Grammy Award-winning St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to the music, these broadcasts include backstage interviews with soloists, conductors and orchestra members.

These broadcasts are produced by St. Louis Public Radio and made possible in partnership with St. Louis Public Radio and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Hosts

Rod Milam
St. Louis Public Radio

Jonathan Ahl
St. Louis Public Radio

Commentators

Lauren Eldridge Stewart
Assistant Professor of Music at Washington University

Jennifer Gartley
Director of Programming and Applied Music at Washington University

*An agreement with the St. Louis Symphony allows us to share audio for this program up to two weeks after the program's original air date.*

  • Dedicated to Music Director Stéphane Denève and the SLSO, Kevin Puts’ Concerto for Orchestra is a complex, beautiful, and satisfying emotional journey. This music resonates in Powell Hall alongside a new work by Chinese composer Jasmine Guo and Beethoven’s heroic Emperor Piano Concerto, performed with finesse by acclaimed pianist Víkingur Ólafsson.
  • Music by three of America’s most respected contemporary composers comes together for a thrilling ride to the far corners of the galaxy. The orchestra performs John Adams’ driving fanfare and selections from John Williams’ iconic film scores. The SLSO also plays "Contact" by composer-in-residence Kevin Puts, featuring the Grammy-winning trio, Time for Three.
  • Experience stunning performances and sensational stories featuring remarkable women. Anna Sułkowska-Migoń opens her SLSO debut with a dynamic overture by fellow Polish musician, Grażyna Bacewicz. Leila Josefowicz displays her formidable talent in Berg’s soul-searching Violin Concerto, and the orchestra conjures the magic of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade.
  • David Robertson, SLSO Music Director from 2005 to 2018, returns to conduct works by four American musical luminaries. Robertson’s own piano concerto, written for and performed by Orli Shaham, Steven Mackey’s Turn the Key, Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Something for the Dark, and Leonard Bernstein’s Second Symphony features a solo piano voice representing the composer’s own introspective journey.
  • The Magic Flute is a story that blends fairy tale and philosophy. One of Mozart’s most brilliant orchestral scores, this magnificent, extravagant opera-in-concert production combines the talents of the SLSO, a cast of acclaimed vocalists including Kansas City born tenor Ben Bliss, and the St. Louis Symphony Chorus and Children's Chorus.
  • Humanity is at the core of this transformative program that includes Sergei Prokofiev's wartime Fifth Symphony, and RE|Member by Reena Esmail. And composer Billy Childs expresses trauma, resilience, and empowerment within the Black American experience through his poignant symphonic poem, Diaspora, brought to life by saxophone soloist Steven Banks.
  • Conductor Dima Slobodeniouk joins the SLSO for the first time, leading the orchestra in Peter Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. Wu Wei plays a stunning concerto by Finnish composer Jukka Tiensuu on the sheng, a mouth organ and one of the oldest-known Chinese instruments, dating back more than 3,000 years. Plus, we'll hear Lotta Wennäkoski’s Flounce.
  • The SLSO and St. Louis Dance Theatre come together in an adventurous collaboration to imagine Igor Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite in an entirely new way. Ballet music from Claude Debussy and Albert Roussel complete a program that celebrates partnerships between dance and music.
  • Music Director Stéphane Denève and the SLSO break out the bubbly for a sparkling New Year’s Eve Celebration, simulcast LIVE on St. Louis Public Radio and Classical KC. Revel in an evening of lively music, from Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Bernstein’s Candide Overture to Bizet’s Selections from L’Arlésienne and more.
  • Handel’s Messiah draws us in time and time again. Nicholas McGegan, one of the world’s foremost experts on Handel’s music, conducts the SLSO and St. Louis Symphony Chorus in this beloved holiday tradition.