SAINT LOUIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

The 'Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra' ('SLSO'), a major United States symphony orchestra based in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1880, it is the second-oldest symphony orchestra in the United States after the New York Philharmonic.

Contents

History

Music Directors

References

External links

History

Before moving to its current home in Powell Symphony Hall, it performed for many years at the Kiel Opera House. The orchestra has given concerts regularly at Carnegie Hall and has made overseas tours to Europe and to Japan. The SLSO has recorded for the Columbia, RCA Victor, Red Seal, Telarc, and Angel EMI labels. It has also issued CD recordings on its own label, Arch Media, and has received six Grammy Awards and fifty-six nominations. For Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, the SLSO has been the resident orchestra since 1978, divided into two ensembles, each performing two of the operas in the season.
The symphony has an extensive education and community outreach program, known as the Community Partnership Program. SLSO musicians give several hundred free performances a year of chamber music in schools, churches and other venues, such as community centers. The symphony in partnership with IN UNISON, an association of 36 local African-American churches. The IN UNISON Chorus, drawn from IN UNISON churches and area residents, performs with the symphony as well as on its own programs. Also associated with the symphony is the Saint Louis Symphony Chorus, which was founded in 1977. Its first director was Thomas Peck, and its current director is Amy Kaiser. The Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra was established in 1970 by Leonard Slatkin.
The national prestige of the SLSO grew most prominently during the tenure of Leonard Slatkin. During his tenure, the SLSO made many recordings for the EMI and RCA Victor labels, and toured to Europe and the Far East, as well as concerts at Carnegie Hall. However, this growth in prestige was not matched by stabilization of long-term finances. As of 2000, the SLSO endowment stood at US$28 million.^[1] In 2000, the executive director and President of the Symphony at the time, Don Roth, had secured a US$40 million challenge grant from the Taylor family to help the SLSO money situation.^[2] However, in that same year, he revealed the situation of severe financial problems with the SLSO finances, which nearly led to the orchestra's bankruptcy in 2001. Roth resigned his position in July 2001, and was succeeded by Randy Adams, a retired St. Louis bank executive. Adams embarked on extensive fund-raising efforts in the following years, seeking to enlarge the endowment of the SLSO in the process. As part of the budget cuts and cost-saving measures, the musicians agreed to salary cuts over that time, and also a reduction of their 52-week contract to 42 weeks.
In January 2005, a labor dispute related to salaries led to a cancellation of concerts for two months.^[3] While the musicians considered themselves to be locked out, and the management considered this action to be an illegal strike, the action was ruled in the courts to be an illegal strike.^[4] In March 2005, the musicians and Adams agreed to a new contract.^[5][6][7]
The American conductor David Robertson is the current Music Director of the SLSO as of September 2005, having been named to that position in December 2003. In September 2006, he extended his contract to 2010. The post of Assistant Conductor, who also acts as music director of the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, is currently held by Scott Parkman, who will relinquish this title after the 2007-2008 season. Past SLSO Assistant Conductors have included Slatkin, Gerhardt Zimmermann, David Loebel, and David Amado.
In January 2007, Peter Czornyj became the orchestra's new vice-president of artistic administration, succeeding Jeremy Geffen. In February 2007, the SLSO announced the resignation of Adams from positions as its President and Executive Director, as of June 2007.^[8][9][10]

Music Directors

★ 1880-1894 Joseph Otten ★ 1894-1907 Alfred Ernst ★ 1907-1921 Max Zach ★ 1921-1927 Rudolph Ganz ★ 1931-1958 Vladimir Golschmann ★ 1958-1962 Edouard van Remoortel ★ 1963-1968 Eleazar de Carvalho

★ 1968-1975 Walter Susskind ★ 1975-1979 Jerzy Semkow ★ 1979-1996 Leonard Slatkin ★ 1996-2002 Hans Vonk ★ 2002-2004 Itzhak Perlman, music advisor ★ 2005-''present'' David Robertson

References

1. Facing the Music
2. Stop the Music

3. Symphony strike echoes across US
4. Labor Board Rules St. Louis Symphony Strike Is Illegal Ben Mattison
5. St. Louis Symphony Management and Musicians Reach Tentative Deal Ben Mattison
6. St. Louis Symphony Musicians Approve New Contract, Ending Two-Month Work Stoppage
7. Unfinished Symphony
8.
9. Symphony president says he will step aside in June Sarah Bryan Miller
10. St. Louis Symphony President Randy Adams Resigns Vivien Schweitzer

External links

★ Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra official website

★ ''Riverfront Times'', article by Eddie Silva, 5 April 2000

★ ''Riverfront Times'', article by Eddie Silva, 7 March 2001

★ ''Riverfront Times'', article by Eddie Silva, 15 May 2002

★ ''St. Louis Magazine'', article by Jeanette Batz Cooperman, September 2005

★ ''St. Louis Magazine'', essay by Lynnda Greene, September 2005

★ ''The New Yorker'', article by Alex Ross on David Robertson, 5 December 2005