WINDOW
Through the looking glass
SEPT 7, 7:30PM
The 560 Music Center
We open our twelfth season with a program challenging our senses to go beyond what we can see, with inspiration drawn from architecture specific to St Louis and a melody from the steppes of Uzbekistan. The program begins with a piece by Kristin Kuster exploring the work of architect Tadao Ando. Ando, who designed the Pulitzer Museum in St. Louis, uses the hardest of materials - steel and concrete - but also considers intangibles such as light and wind as they appeal to our senses. Khachaturian synthesizes the rhythms and melodies of his homeland into a sonic looking glass, bringing the listener to a far-away world. Music by Haydn and Gaubert transport us back in time to worlds both familiar and unknown. We conclude this program with a new work by St. Louis composer David Werfelmann.
Tadao Museum: naoshima, Japan
Kristin Kuster, Ando: light against shade
Franz Joseph Haydn, Trio No. 2, Op. 100 for flute, violin and cello
Aram Khachaturian, Trio for clarinet, violin, and piano
David Werfelmann*, Commission - World Premiere
RESILIENT
Recovery, reflection and failing well
OCT 11, 7:30pm
projects+gallery
Often, the lens we use to hear music changes with the passage of time. Despite early popularity, Mendelssohn was met with anti-semitism and denigration of his work. Though he was not regarded as a success during his lifetime, his work is now treasured for its creative originality. Growing up in the American South, Florence Price fought hard for her success in a country divided by race and deeply ingrained gender roles. Nearly 20 years after the heartbreaking tragedy of 9/11, Cindy McTees’ Adagio provides us with a chance to respond, contemplate, and heal.
Projects+gallery: st. Louis, MO
This is our first performance in an exciting new space, projects+gallery in the Central West End.
Cindy McTee*, Adagio
Florence Price, Five Folk Songs
Felix Mendelssohn, String Quintet No 2
BEAUTY
Redefining the ideal
NOV 22, 7:30pm
Contemporary Art Museum
Who gets to decide what’s beautiful and why? From the old traditions of Brahms, to the new pop infused, multicultural sounds of Dinuk Wijerante, the music on this program will give you new ways to hear old sounds.
Contemporary art museum: st. Louis, Mo
Dinuk Wijeratne, Two Pop Songs on Antique Poems
TBA, Commissioned work
Johannes Brahms, Sextet In G major
RECESS
A musical playground
FEB 4, 7:30
Jefferson College
PACE Series
FEB 9, 7:00pm
Schlafly Tap Room
Let’s have a little fun, we’re performing at a brewery after all! A playful program of music for winds, this concert is sure to please. Inspired by local composer LJ White’s duet for clarinets, “Big Fish”, we asked him to write a new piece for this concert which also features a thrilling work by Valerie Coleman and some beloved music for winds not often heard.
chamber project at the schlafly tap room
LJ White, Big Fish
Jean Françaix, Sixtuor
LJ White, New work for wind quartet
Valerie Coleman, Tizange
TENACITY
In spite of all
MAR 12, 7:00-8:00pm
World Chess Hall of Fame
(abbreviated program)
MAR 14, 7:30pm
The Chapel Venue
TENACITY explores works by composers dealing with subjects almost too painful to bear, coupled with composers on the other side of tragedy, revealing the hope beyond the pain. Nilou Nour, a young Iranian-American composer, dives into humanity’s psychological depths in a piece that reflects upon the work of the White Helmets in Syria. After serving in the front lines of both World Wars, the composer Laszlo Lajtha was responsible for the return of radio broadcasts to post-war Budapest. In his Harp Quintet, we hear the relief following the war and the survival of spirit through conflict. Opening the program is Perkinson’s last unfinished work, Elegy, a symbolic finish to the work of a great African-American composer. Beautiful, haunting, and inspiring music for flute, harp and strings expresses the full range of human experience.
Chamber Project at the world chess hall of fame
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Elegy
Nilou Nour*, White Helmets as Death
Jacques Ibert, Deux Interludes
Lászlo Lajtha, Harp Quintet No 2
CONFLUENCE
Convergent and divergent thinking
APRIL 17, 7:30pm
The Missouri History Museum
free
We frame this program, and our season, as the joining of musical ideas - as in two rivers combining to make a larger whole. In Ennanga, we hear the influence of the Ugandan harp set into Still’s percussive textures. Kim Portnoy combines elements of jazz, the American musical, and classical idioms. Missouri native Shelley Washington captures her midwestern upbringing in a piece dedicated to her family in Middleground. In his last published work, globetrotting Martinů wields a lifetime of knowledge, using a palette of sounds evoking minimalism and a touch of jazz.
Confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers
This is our third annual program in collaboration with the Missouri History Museum. This concert is presented as part of the Mighty Mississippi exhibit.
William Grant Still, Ennanga
Kim Portnoy*, From an Imaginary Musical
Shelley Washington*, Middleground
Bohuslav Martinů, Chamber Music No 1
CHOICE
Your favorites
MAY 19, 7:30pm
The Sheldon Concert Hall
Our annual audience choice concert - curated by you, our audience!
Composers with * have a St. Louis or Missouri connection.
Programs subject to change.