The fanfare for Powell Hall at the new Jack C. Taylor Music Center continues this month with the revival of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s popular happy hour series: three one-hour concerts featuring specialty cocktails and mocktails alongside on-stage commentary from the conductor and off-stage conversation with musicians.
This season’s Playlist: Symphony Happy Hour concert series—the series launched in 2019 under the name Crafted—begins on November 20 with Igor Stravinsky’s The Firebird, followed by Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 on January 15, and concludes on March 19 with selections of iconic film scores by John Williams. Doors for each Thursday evening performance will open an hour ahead of the 6:30 p.m. start time.
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“Audiences are very interested in the varieties of ways we present music,” says Eric Dundon, public relations director for the SLSO. “A lot of people may have never come to the symphony orchestra before, and that is a prime audience for us for these concerts—people who are curious about the symphony, people who are curious about classical music but have never come for whatever reason, people who don’t necessarily have that exposure but want to give it a try.”
Stéphane Denève, the Joseph and Emily Rauh Pulitzer Music Director for the SLSO, will conduct both Stravinsky and Williams, and Samuel Hollister, assistant conductor and the Fred M. Saigh Youth Orchestra Music Director, will take the stage for Beethoven.
“The goal is to expand our community of music lovers and make music always more accessible, which has been my vision from the start,” Denève says. “It’s a great opportunity to have people experience the orchestra in the most warm, easy, friendly atmosphere. It’s a bit like when you have audio guides in a museum or explanations on the walls of a gallery. And what I find very touching is that people want to learn.”
The three happy hour concerts are also available to subscribers through the Young Friends concert package, the SLSO program billed for adults between the ages of 21 and 45.
“The thing is to choose a repertoire that can be enticing from the start, like the big ballet of Firebird by Stravinsky, in itself a piece that can resonate,” Denève says. “The fame of the composer may be an asset, but the idea is to find some narrative, to find some story. I love the idea that we can put words on music that allows the music to make more sense. And when we looked at the season and tried to decide which one we would do, it was just a perfect opportunity to create a clear explanation about what’s happening and how Stravinsky makes this fairy tale so magical.”
Perennial Artisan Ales, a local microbrewery with locations in Carondelet and Webster Groves, will debut a signature beer in collaboration with SLSO at the first show of the Playlist series. Chris Kinast, head brewer at Perennial on Lockwood, crafted the Symphony Helles, a crisp, 4.8 percent ABV lager that will only be available at Powell Hall.
“I loved the original Crafted concerts,” Denève says. “I’m so sorry that COVID interrupted things, but now that we’re back home, we can really restart this series and make it a staple of our season.”
Playlist
Thursday, November 20 | 6:30 p.m.
Igor Stravinsky – The Firebird (1910)
A work of shimmering orchestral color and fairytale mystique, The Firebird was Stravinsky’s breakthrough ballet score and remains one of the most electrifying entry points into 20th-century symphonic music. Expect Denève to illuminate the narrative—the magical bird, the cursed prince, the menacing Kashchei—while guiding listeners through Stravinsky’s brilliant use of orchestral motifs and mood-setting harmony.
Thursday, January 15 | 6:30 p.m.
Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No. 7 (1812)
Beethoven once called his Seventh Symphony the “apotheosis of dance,” and its driving, rhythmic energy makes it perfectly suited to a condensed happy-hour format. Assistant conductor Samuel Hollister leads the charge, with the second movement’s famous Allegretto offering contemplative contrast to the exhilarating outer movements.
Thursday, March 19 | 6:30 p.m.
Spotlight on John Williams
From the soaring main title of Star Wars to the tender lyricism of E.T., this curated program shines a spotlight on John Williams’ career-defining film themes—many of which Denève has conducted with Williams himself on the podium. This final Playlist event promises pure cinematic nostalgia, reframed for the concert hall with the vitality of a live, full orchestra.
