November 30, 2021

Photos by Nolan Xiong

On Oct. 20, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra came to MU to perform at Jesse Auditorium for the University Concert Series. This performance kicked off the series 2021-2022 season.  

Conducted by assistant conductor Stephanie Childress, the orchestra performed two pieces. The program for the night began with Franz Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 64, “Tempora mutantur” and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36. 

Childress, 22, began studying at Cambridge University for musicology at 16. Though young, according to her biography on the SLSO website, Childress has earned many awards, including second prize at La Maestra in 2020, an annual conducting competition. 

“I know that a few eyebrows have been raised when people find out my age, but I’ve always seemed to have done things a bit earlier than people in my year,” Childress explained “I went to university a bit earlier. Even when I was at school I skipped a year so I was a bit younger than my peers. It’s never bothered me.”

Before the concert, the SLSO participated in an outreach event held with MUs School of Music. In this event, the orchestra performed three compositions created by School of Music students at Sinquefield Music Center. Erik Harris is the principal double bass for the SLSO and was a part of the orchestra’s performance and the outreach event. 

“That’s so exciting for us to be able to collaborate with young composers from Mizzou,” Harris said. “These are the composers of tomorrow and they’re writing music of our day. And it’s exciting to be able to share in that artistic process. We always look forward to collaborating with the young composers from Mizzou.”

During the event, the company practiced the pieces multiple times. Childress gave the students suggestions throughout the process. The company worked to achieve the students’ goals of what sound they hoped to achieve in their composition. Each student took an interactive role in leading the orchestra sections by asking the company to try certain things and describing what they might want to hear differently.

“I’ve heard it’s been a very successful scheme so far, and I’m really just looking forward to seeing how the pieces come together tomorrow with the orchestra,” Childress said the day before the event.

An hour and a half after the outreach event, the symphony’s concert program began. Childress kicked off the concert by introducing the program for the night, describing Haydn’s composition as ‘sparkling’ and the Tchaikovsky piece as ‘monstrous’ and ‘gargantuan.’ 

After the introduction, Haydn’s symphony began. The four movements lasted around 20 minutes before intermission. Afterward, more members of the SLSO filled the stage, almost doubling every section in size. 

Then the Tchaikovsky piece then began. 

“Tchaikovsky [is] obviously one of the great composers and we love playing his music, but it’s always very challenging,” Harris said. “The last movement of the Tchaikovsky symphony is just a sort of a blaze of glory where everybody’s treading away as loud and as fast as they can. That’s the most challenging, but also the most exciting part of the program.”

When the Tchaikovsky program ended, the crowd gave a standing ovation.   

“It’s always great to play college towns and college audiences,” Harris said. “They’re an educated and receptive audience to a variety of programs. So this is more of a traditional program, but it’s exciting to present the standard orchestra repertoire to audiences that don’t often get to hear pieces played at this level in this quality.”

Edited by Namratha Prasad | nprasad@themaneater.com

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