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Symphony's jazz connection is just one part of free outreach

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Oct. 1, 2013: Jazz and the St. Louis Symphony haven’t been strangers. So when Maureen Byrne, Community Programs manager at the St. Louis Symphony, received a phone call from Phil Dunlap, Jazz St. Louis’ director of education, about collaborating with The Bad Plus to perform works by Igor Stravinsky, it wasn’t unusual. Classical music and jazz can and do co-exist quite nicely here.

“This was not the first time the Symphony has worked in collaboration with Jazz St. Louis,” Byrne said during a recent telephone interview from her office at Powell Hall. “The Wynton (Marsalis) gala concert for our Red Velvet Ball last year was a collaborative event with Jazz St. Louis. So when Phil Dunlap called up about the Bad Plus-Stravinsky concert, we were very much interested in participating.”

The concert, billed as “Stravinsky: Real and Imagined,” starts with SLSO musicians performing Stravinsky chamber works – followed by the Bad Plus playing its reinterpreted version of “The Rite of Spring.” 

“We’re bringing the ‘Real’ part of the program,” Byrne said, “in the sense that the Symphony musicians will be playing the scores of the Stravinsky pieces as written.

“We thought that with the very inventive approach The Bad Plus was going to take with “The Rite of Spring,” we could balance that by presenting works of Stravinsky that are not as well known.”

In putting the SLSO piece of the concert together, Byrne recognized that the audience would likely be a very mixed bag of jazz and classical aficionados. This would be an opportunity to introduce the talented musicians within several sections of the Symphony – by scheduling rarely performed Stravinsky compositions.

“We actually started putting the program together with a transcription of Stravinsky’s “Histoire du Soldat” for clarinet, violin, and piano,” Byrne said. “That piece will feature our assistant concertmaster Erin Schreiber on violin, associate principal clarinet Diana Haskell and pianist Patti Wolf.

“And we decided to include “Fanfare for a New Theater” not only because it seemed appropriate for a performance at the Viragh at Chaminade, but because it also gave us the opportunity to introduce our new principal trumpet, Karin Bliznik, who will perform the duet piece with trumpet player Caroline Shafer.”

The program is rounded out with several solo pieces for clarinet , a violin/piano piece and a rare bassoon duo – which Byrne noted was composed by Stravinsky on cocktail napkins.

“Diana will perform Stravinsky’s “Three Pieces for Clarinet,” she adds. “All three have very different flavors – from calm, to fun and sweet to crazy. Erin and Patti will play a “Pastorale” re-written for violin and piano, and we also have a very rare performance of “Lied ohne Namen,” a duet for bassoons featuring principal Andrew Cuneo and associate principal Andrew Gott.”

The Bad Plus’ performance includes visuals projected on a screen.

“The visuals for Bad Plus are terrific,” Byrne said. “So we’re bringing some visuals to add to our part of the program as well. It should be an interesting combination.”

“Stravinsky: Real and Imagined” is just one concert in a spectrum of SLSO outreach performances. These programs bring SLSO musicians into an array of interesting performance spaces – as well as bringing audiences on stage with musicians for intimate performances at Powell Hall.

“We have a variety of educational concerts in the schools at Powell Hall, but those really aren’t in my bailiwick,” explains Byrne. “Our Community Programs – all of which are free -- are designed to reach out into many different communities and groups throughout the area.”

The Symphony’s Community Programs include the St. Louis Landmarks series, as well as programs like Symphony in the City, Symphony in Your Neighborhood, Symphony in Your College, SymphonyCares for Seniors and Symphony Where You Worship.

“For the Landmark Series, we’ve presented concerts at the Old Courthouse and the Art Museum, and have events coming up at the Central Library, the Jewel Box in Forest Park and the Planetarium,” Byrne said.

“Symphony in the City is our series that brings the audience on stage at Powell Hall,” she adds. “One of them coming up in March is part of the Bosnia Memory Project we’re collaborating on with the International Institute of St. Louis and Fontbonne University.

“With our Symphony at Your College series, we visit McKendree University and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville for performances. And our SLSO resident conductor, Steven Jarvi, is also the conductor of the Washington University Orchestra, so we’re collaborating on a performance of Brahms’ Double Concerto in November at the 560 Center.”

To find out more about the Community Programs events presented by the SLSO in collaboration with other organizations, go to: www.stlsymphony.org/freeconcerts.

Terry Perkins is a freelance writer based in St. Louis. He has written for the St. Louis Beacon since 2009. Terry's other writing credits in St. Louis include: the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the St. Louis American, the Riverfront Times, and St. Louis magazine. Nationally, Terry writes for DownBeat magazine, OxfordAmerican.org and RollingStone.com, among others.