Renovation of the St. Louis Symphony’s Powell Hall will include new seats, more legroom, and expanded facilities; seating capacity will be reduced from 2,683 to 2,150. Rendering courtesy of SLSO.
“The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra will occupy two main temporary homes for its next season while Powell Hall undergoes a major expansion and renovation,” writes Daniel Durchholz in Thursday’s (2/16) St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “The announcement came along with the schedule for the 2023-24 season—the orchestra’s … fifth with Stéphane Denève as music director. The $100 million expansion will continue … into 2025. Groundbreaking … is expected to take place in April. Concerts will be split between Stifel Theatre downtown and the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center [at] the University of Missouri-St. Louis…. Several performances will be hosted by the J. Scheidegger Center for Performing Arts at Lindenwood University … The season kicks off Sept. 21 with the orchestra’s traditional free concert on Art Hill in Forest Park, then begins in earnest … with concerts Sept. 23-24 at Stifel…. Among the highlights are performances by superstar violinist Hilary Hahn and cellist Yo-Yo Ma … The orchestra will perform a complete cycle of Beethoven’s five piano concertos … There are world premieres of works by Jeff Beal and Adam Schoenberg and Julia Wolfe, plus a U.S. premiere by Hannah Eisendle. Eighteen pieces will be new to the SLSO repertoire, including nine by composers of today.”
