It is a truth widely acknowledged that the economy lately has resembled nothing more than a flushing toilet. It is another truth widely acknowledged that the audiences for classical music ain't what they used to be.But the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra managed to buck both those trends last month, showing a 12.5 percent increase in revenue and a 3 percent increase in attendance over its 2007 holiday programs. That comes out to $737,000, generated by 17,800 concertgoers, an average of 2,000 per
The arrival of a brilliant conductor was drowned out by labor discord. Now the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra begins a new season -- with some strings attached.
It's a good time to be David Robertson right now.Not only has the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra music director been nationally-lauded for his superior singing and kazoo-playing, he has his musicians for another four years, thanks to a remarkably-peaceful labor agreement earlier this week.And now Robertson and the SLSO will be honored today at the League of American Orchestras convention in Chicago with an ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming. The SLSO took the first-place award for Programmi
flickr.com/photos/alexfilesThe news came from England yesterday that orchestra conductor Sir Edward Downes, 85, and his wife Joan, 74, committed suicide together last week in Switzerland with the aid of a right-to-die organization called Dignitas.Lady Downes was terminally ill and in the last stages of cancer. Sir Edward, who had been the principal conductor for the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, was, according to a statement issued by his son Caractacus and daughter Boudicca, "almost blind and inc
Over the weekend, the Saint Louis Symphony gave a preview of Powerful Percussion, the concert it will be performing at Carnegie Hall in New York this season. The highlight of the show was undoubtedly the second number, Tan Dun's Water Concerto for Water Percussion and Orchestra, in which percussionist Colin Currie did some amazing things with water with some surprisingly homely pieces of equipment.colincurrie.netCurrie percussing.​Currie's performance engendered a couple of collective epiphany
