The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra has announced the first batch of programming for its 2026-2027, and it’s already shaping up to be an impressive one. The 147th season for the celebrated ensemble will include talented guest soloists, a historic residency, an anniversary celebration, and much more.
“It’s a very diverse, very wide array of programming spanning over three and a half centuries and offering so many different events,” says SLSO music director Stéphane Denève. “This is the goal that we have, to maintain and continue the momentum of the reopening of Powell Hall.”
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That momentum has included an influx of new patrons who are just getting to know their hometown orchestra and its programming. According to Denève, 40 percent of audience members during the 2025-2026 season so far have been new to the SLSO. Sold-out shows during the current season have seen Powell Hall filled to the brim for artist celebrations, live-scored films, and other events.
READ MORE: An inside look at the design detail of Powell Hall’s expansion
“I love to play with these full halls,” Denève says. “Something is really happening, and [Powell Hall] is becoming really a hub for music events and also events before, after, and during the intermission. We can welcome people now in a modern way.”
The hope is to continue that energy into the 147th season by offering a little of everything. The upcoming season will see old favorites—the annual free community concert in Forest Park, holiday celebrations, classical concerts—alongside world premieres of new music, first-time performances of iconic films, and guest appearances from local and international stars.
Among the highlights this season are a week of concerts with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, led by artistic director Wynton Marsalis. The legendary jazz trumpeter is entering his final season leading the ensemble and will take up residency in St. Louis March 10-14 for premiere performances of his Symphony No. 5, Liberty, co-commissioned by the SLSO.
In addition to Marsalis’ piece, the 147th season will see the premiere of St. Louis-based composer Christopher Stark’s Violin Concerto, the U.S. premiere of Ülo Krigul’s Proteus Pulse, and SLSO co-commissions of music by Detlev Glanert and Kevin Puts.
“What makes me very happy is that we are in a very, very good time where a lot of great new music is composed, performed, and liked by the audience,” Denève says. “Definitely we are in a time where you can really offer music that will touch people from the first hearing.”
Those looking for the familiar will have plenty to look forward to in the season ahead as well. Denève will conduct several essential pieces of symphonic repertoire, including Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, Brahms’ Symphony No. 3, Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, Respighi’s Pines of Rome, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, and a complete performance of Maurice Ravel’s opera L’enfant et les sortilèges.
“I am extremely excited for [L’enfant et les sortilèges] because it’s a piece extremely dear to my heart as well,” Denève says. “It’s so enchanting, and I hope people will realize how special it is to enjoy this opera.”
The upcoming season also marks the 50th anniversary of the St. Louis Symphony Chorus, led by director Erin Freeman. The chorus will perform several times throughout the season, but a special concert next spring will highlight the talented ensemble through works spanning two centuries. The pair of March 2027 performances will see the chorus take on both Joseph Haydn’s Mass for Troubled Times and the SLSO premiere of Gabriella Ortiz’s Revolución diamantina (Glitter Revolution). Denève will also dedicate a portion of the Ravel and Poulenc program to the long-running vocal ensemble.
“We have a new chorusmaster, and she wants to expand the repertoire,” Denève says. “I believe they’ll do four pieces for the very first time, despite being 50 years old…They will sing the Gloria of Poulenc with me, and it will be really dedicated to them. It’s a fabulous piece, and I’m so very happy that we’ll do this big Gloria linked with L’enfant et les sortilèges, which has the most beautiful choral part.”
It’s so beautiful, in fact, that Denève cites the work as one of his “desert island” selections. Audiences will have to wait around a year to hear it come to life—Ravel and Poulenc: Charm and Wonder takes place February 12 & 13 next year. In the meantime, audiences can take advantage of the remaining concerts on the 2025-2026 calendar and keep an eye out for more announcements to come about the 147th season.
“Every program, everything is offering something special,” Denève says. Already being there in this hall and being with everybody is something special today. And how special to hear music that is not amplified, which is just people playing acoustically in front of you? It’s very unique. There’s no other art form that puts 2,000 people together in silence to listen to the vibrations in the air that are produced just naturally without any digital treatment. It’s a refuge, I think. It’s a moment of reconnection.”
Subscription packages for the SLSO’s 147th season go on sale February 18 at 10 a.m. Single tickets will be available beginning in July 2026. For more information and a full concert calendar, visit slso.org.
