Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra Begins Streaming Virtual Concerts

You won't have to leave your couch to listen to the sweet sounds of classical music this year. Instead, you can have an orchestra in your living room: The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra will once again stream performances with its digital concert series.

Beginning January 26, fans can stream the first in a series of five online concerts. The Bach and Schubert Digital Concert features Alan Stewart, principal percussionist, performing J.S. Bach’s partita, but he will transform it into a “magical marimba performance,” SLSO’s website reads.

One concert will be released each month until May, and then the performances will be available to stream until August 31. Other music includes Mozart, Dmitri Shostakovich, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and more.

“I am so pleased to share these concerts beyond the walls of Powell Hall," Music Director Stéphane Denève says on the website. "Through these concerts accessible anywhere, we hope to build musical bridges with people in St. Louis and across the world. Nothing brings us more joy than connecting with people through music. We hope you enjoy watching these performances as much as we loved creating them for you.”

Virtual concerts began for the SLSO last year in order to make music more accessible to all. This year, the first virtual concert is timed between the postponement of the orchestra’s popular Harry Potter concert and as other St. Louis institutions, such as the Saint Louis Art Museum, are closed during the surge of COVID-19 cases. The art museum is expected to reopen on February 1.

You can purchase tickets online at www.slso.org/digitalconcerts; single tickets cost $18 and a digital passport that gives access to all five concerts costs $45. From there, content will be accessible on the orchestra's website.

Follow Jenna on Twitter at @writesjenna. Email the author at [email protected]

• Sign up for our weekly newsletters to get the latest on the news, things to do and places to eat delivered right to your inbox.
• Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.