St. Louis Symphony Orchestra history

During the 1881/82 season the 80-member chorus was joined by an orchestra of 31 members.

In 1893, the St Louis Choral-Symphony was formally incorporated.

It remained largely a choral organization through its performances at the 1904 World's Fair under Alfred Ernst when it expanded to a 200-member chorus and an orchestra of 55.

Committed to nurturing the next generation of musicians and supporting music educators, the SLSO began concerts for schoolchildren in 1921 under Music Director Rudolph Ganz, one of the first orchestras to institute an education program in the country.

Originally founded in 1923 as The Women's Committee of the Saint Louis Symphony Society, the SVA currently has more than 130 active members whose efforts champion the mission of the SLSO: enriching lives through the power of music.

Since its opening in November 1925, the St Louis Theatre had presented the best in live vaudeville as well as motion pictures.

Previn’s family fled Nazi persecution and moved to Los Angeles in 1939.

In 1941, Schatzkamer was chosen from a field of sixty pianists to play Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in New York’s Lewisohn Stadium with a National Youth Administration Orchestra.

The orchestra's first performance in Carnegie Hall was in 1950.

In 1951, while stationed in San Francisco with the United States Army, he began studies in conducting with Pierre Monteux.

He made his conducting debut with the St Louis (Mo.) Symphony in 1963.

In 1964 Schatzkamer became the founding conductor of the Gateway Festival Orchestra of St Louis.

Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, built on the original village plat, is dominated by the 630-foot (192-metre) stainless-steel Gateway Arch (1965),…

After the opening of Powell Hall on January 24, 1968, musicians and critics alike reacted with enthusiastic praise.

From 1970, the Gateway Festival Orchestra performed in the open-air shell of the Brookings Quadrangle on the Washington University campus.

Also associated with the orchestra is the St Louis Symphony Chorus, which was founded in 1977.

International tours began in 1978 with the first European tour, including three concerts at the Athens Festival.

When Leonard Slatkin became as Music Director in 1979, the orchestra's creative direction was further sharpened on American repertoire, while still maintaining a sterling reputation as a standard-bearer for European repertoire.

In 1982, Time Magazine called the SLSO the second-best orchestra in the country.

The SLSO's recording profile has resulted in 60 Grammy Award nominations and nine wins, including wins for Best Classical Orchestral Recording in 1985 for Prokofiev's Symphony No.

When its 1991 tour of Europe was postponed due to the first Gulf War, the SLSO toured Missouri, giving free concerts under the theme "America's Musical Spirit." The SLSO also has performed under the Gateway Arch as part of Fair Saint Louis on several occasions.

Following the catastrophic flood of 1993, the SLSO played a free benefit concert for flood victims.

Founded in 1994 by Robert Ray, the chorus performs with the SLSO annually at its Gospel Christmas and Lift Every Voice: Black History Month Celebration concerts, as well as at its free community concert and throughout the community.

Since 1995, Amy Kaiser has served as the chorus director.

In 2000, the SLSO's endowment stood at US$28 million.

Roth resigned his position in July 2001, and was succeeded by Randy Adams, a former St Louis bank executive.

Maestro Schatzkamer retired from the GFO in 2002 at the age of 86, having established the GFO as a cultural treasure in the St Louis area.

In 2003, Stéphane Denève first guest-conducted the orchestra.

The innovative St Louis Symphony: Live at the Pulitzer Series, started in 2004, is an endeavor to identify and perform impactful chamber music works from the 20th and 21st century.

In March 2005, the musicians and Adams agreed to a new contract.

Adams stood-down as the orchestra's president and executive director in June 2007.

Bronstein left the SLSO to head the Peabody Conservatory in the spring of 2014.

In February 2015, the SLSO named Marie-Hélène Bernard, then-president of the Handel and Haydn Society as its new president and CEO, effective July 1, 2015.

Maestro Richards retired from the GFO at the end of the 2018 season and relocated to California where he is currently Specialist in Orchestra and Strings for ECS Publishing Group.

Present-day Music Director/Conductor, Darwin Aquino, began his tenure with the GFO in 2019.

When the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic caused a pause in concerts at Powell Hall in March 2020, the SLSO never fell silent.