Classical Music

St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Conductor Laureate Leonard Slatkin will celebrate his birthday with concerts that showcase his support for contemporary composers and up-and-coming musicians.

St. Louis Symphony’s Jack C. Taylor Music Center will encompass a renovated Powell Hall plus new facilities including an education center and rehearsal spaces. SLSO will resume concerts at its longtime home in September 2025.

Erin Freeman, a choral director and conductor based in Washington, D.C., will become the third-ever leader of St. Louis Symphony Chorus. Predecessor Amy Kaiser retired in 2022 after 27 years at the helm.

Lyric Green started playing the bass at 12 years old. A year later, the rising high school freshman is spending part of her summer at the Juilliard School in New York.

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra has reached the midpoint of a more than $100 million renovation of Powell Hall, which is expected to reopen in 2025. Orchestra officials also have raised more than $145 million to fund the project and other priorities, including an outreach program.

St. Louis-based artist Damon Davis worked with the experimental classical ensemble Alarm Will Sound to create “Ligeia Mare,” an opera based in Black musical forms. They’ll perform a 20-minute excerpt tonight in a program that also includes new music by seven other composers.

St. Louis Symphony Orchestra on Saturday will perform “Brahms X Radiohead,” a musical fusion by conductor/composer Steve Hackman.He said it draws on the intense anxiety present in each.

St. Louis Symphony will again split its concerts among several venues in its 2024-25 season, including the Stifel Theatre. Programs will include three world premieres and 20 pieces that the orchestra has never before performed.

Robert Hart Baker, music and artistic director for Belleville Philharmonic Society, told board members in September that he needed to take a leave of absence due to kidney-related problems. By November, the 69-year-old died.

St. Louis’ music scene is flourishing. Here’s how you can find which show to check out next.