The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is heading back to Art Hill for its annual free concert, kicking off the orchestra's 147th season on September 16 with a program that stretches from Beethoven to John Williams before capping the night with fireworks over the Grand Basin. No tickets are required, and the show starts at 7 p.m. with vendors and family activities opening hours earlier.
According to FOX 2, Music Director Stéphane Denève will lead the orchestra through a program featuring works by Beethoven, Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, and Leonard Bernstein, along with selections from John Williams' Star Wars scores. The concert will conclude with John Philip Sousa's The Stars and Stripes Forever, followed by fireworks over the Grand Basin. Denève became the orchestra's 13th music director in 2019, and in October 2023 the post was endowed in perpetuity as The Joseph and Emily Rauh Pulitzer Music Director following a major gift from Emily Rauh Pulitzer, according to the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.
A Tradition Rooted in 1968
This year's performance marks the 58th anniversary of the orchestra's first-ever concert on Art Hill, which took place in 1968, per the orchestra. The 2026 concert is endowed in perpetuity by the MacCarthy Foundation and is performed in memory of longtime SLSO supporter Mary Ann Lee, the orchestra notes. Founded in 1880 as the St. Louis Choral Society, the SLSO is the second-oldest professional symphony orchestra in the country, trailing only the New York Philharmonic, according to background compiled from the orchestra's own history.
The orchestra returned to its home venue, Powell Hall, last September following a two-year, $140 million renovation and 64,000-square-foot expansion designed by Snøhetta, according to KSDK. The project added new educational spaces, expanded lobbies, and a patron drop-off forecourt. That renovated hall will host the bulk of the SLSO's season once the outdoor tradition on Art Hill wraps up the summer calendar.
Two Choruses Join the Orchestra
Both of the orchestra's resident choruses will share the stage for the September 16 performance. The St. Louis Symphony Chorus, an auditioned, professional-level ensemble composed mostly of regional volunteer singers, was founded in 1976 under Music Director Jerzy Semkow, per the orchestra's history. The St. Louis Symphony IN UNISON Chorus, formed in 1994 by Dr. Robert Ray to perform and preserve music of the African diaspora in partnership with local Black churches, maintains partnerships with more than 30 congregations across the region, the orchestra notes.
The program will also include Carl Orff's O Fortuna from Carmina Burana, Ottorino Respighi's Pines of the Villa Borghese, and J. Rosamond Johnson's arrangement of Lift Every Voice and Sing, featuring both choruses. The free Art Hill performance is known for drawing massive crowds, regularly attracting between 15,000 and 22,000 attendees to Forest Park; an estimated 22,000 people showed up in 2023 despite heavy rain, the orchestra has said.
Food Trucks and a Family Fun Zone
More than 20 local food and drink vendors, including Steve's Hot Dogs, Grace Chicken & Fish, Blues Fired Pizza, and Go Gyro Go, will open at 5 p.m. ahead of the 7 p.m. concert, giving attendees time to picnic on Art Hill before the music starts. Visitors are encouraged to bring chairs and blankets, as FOX 2 reports.
A Family Fun Zone will run from 6 to 7 p.m. with interactive music activities, including a musical scavenger hunt and a conducting station staffed by members of the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, which offers pre-professional training to student musicians across the region. The orchestra says more information on the concert is available on its website.
Part of a Busy Season for Forest Park
The concert lands amid a run of high-profile investment and recognition for Forest Park, which Hoodline reported snagged a national playground crown earlier this year and recently saw its Sky Palace reopen after a $2.5 million renovation. The symphony itself has also been part of the city's broader festival calendar this year, including a performance at Powell Hall tied to St. Louis's Juneteenth celebrations.
