COURTESY OF THE ST. LOUIS SYMPHONY/DILIP VISHWANAT
According to the weather prophets, Forest Park will be a near-perfect 70 degrees when people assemble on Art Hill with picnics and lawn chairs tonight to listen to the St. Louis Symphony's free annual outdoor concert at 7 p.m. (This may, if memory serves, even beat last year's pretty-nice weather.)
Conducted by Gemma New and featuring the St. Louis Symphony IN UNISON Chorus led by director Kevin McBeth, the night's programming will look like this:
Smith, "The Star-Spangled Banner"
Mozart, The Marriage of Figaro Overture
Brahms Hungarian Dance No 5
J. Strauss, Jr., Thunder and Lightning Polka
Falla, Ritual Fire Dance from El amor brujo
Stravinsky, Infernal Dance from The Firebird
Johnson, “Lift Every Voice and Sing”
Johnson, "Peace Like a River"
Bernstein, Selections from West Side Story
Rodgers, The King and I Overture
John Williams, Theme from Jurassic Park
Ward, "America the Beautiful"
Sousa, "Stars and Stripes Forever"
FInale: Fireworks shot off from the base of Art Hill
The selections preview the symphony's upcoming season (which you can peruse here). The concert has become an annual must-do event, not just for die-hard, full-season symphony ticket holders, but a huge swath of St. Louisans; the concert attracts up to 10,000 people each year. Because it's such a popular event, plotting out your parking strategy (or taking public transportation) is recommended. This map shows free parking in areas marked with a "P"; you can also park a bit further away and take the free Forest Park trolley, which runs every 15 minutes between 5:25 and 9:45 p.m. (Trolley stops are marked on the map with an "S.")
Picnicking is encouraged—just be sure to make sure you don't pack glass, which is prohibited for obvious reasons. And if you don't want to schlep stuff, there will be a bevy of food trucks parked along Fine Arts Drive, including Cha Cha Chow, Go Gyro Go, Harvest Express, HarvestXpress, Sarah's Cake Stop and STL BLT and Vito's Sicilian Pizzeria & Ristorante.
The St. Louis Symphony's opening weekend is already sold out, by the way—it's performing a live score to a projection of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (read more about that concert here). This is also Maestro David Robertson's final season; you can watch him lead the symphony during the Mozart Festival, which begins September 23 and features appearances by acclaimed pianist Emmanuel Ax.
