The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra welcomes a new face to its podium this weekend, as Estonian conductor Kristiina Poska leads concerts on Friday and Saturday that pair a beloved Mozart piano concerto with a contemporary US premiere and Robert Schumann's final symphony. The performances take place at Powell Hall, where pianist Marie-Ange Nguci returns to play Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 in the hall's newly renovated auditorium for the first time.
Poska's SLSO debut comes as the opening stop on a fall 2026 US tour that will also take her to debut podiums with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, according to the conductor's official website. As reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Poska and Nguci have history together, having worked on four concerts across Belgium in 2021. Poska currently serves as Music Director of the Orchestre Français des Jeunes and is working on a multi-year project recording the complete Beethoven symphony cycle with the Flanders Symphony Orchestra, according to her official site. The Post-Dispatch also notes that Poska lives in Belgium and keeps a residence in Estonia.
A US Premiere With Estonian Roots
The program's centerpiece novelty is the US premiere of Ülo Krigul's Proteus Pulse, a nine-minute orchestral work inspired by the fluid nature of water and the Greek god Proteus, composed in a steady 4/4 meter at an Andante tempo of 90 beats per minute, per St. Louis Arts Scene. The piece received its world premiere in 2022 with the Flanders Symphony Orchestra in Ghent, Belgium, with Poska on the podium, and the Post-Dispatch reports that both Poska and Krigul attended those 2022 premiere performances. Krigul is also expected to attend the St. Louis performances, according to the Post-Dispatch.
Rounding out the evening is Robert Schumann's Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, nicknamed the Rhenish. Official SLSO program materials and Britannica confirm the work as Schumann's third symphony, composed and orchestrated in a single month in 1850 after he moved to Düsseldorf to become the city's municipal music director. The Post-Dispatch's account of the program describes Schumann writing the symphony during a period of major life change, after he and his family relocated to Düsseldorf, Germany, where he fell in love with the Rhine River and its surrounding countryside. The symphony, composed in 1850, stands as the final symphony Schumann wrote, according to Britannica.
Mozart's 'Elvira Madigan' Returns to the Program
Soloist Marie-Ange Nguci takes on Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, a work that picked up the popular nickname Elvira Madigan after its second movement appeared prominently in the 1967 Swedish romance film of the same name, according to the Symphony's own event materials. Mozart originally wrote the concerto in 1785. Nguci, who was born in Albania and now splits her time between Paris and Basel, Switzerland, entered the Paris Conservatory at age 13, per the Post-Dispatch. She previously performed a Beethoven concerto with the SLSO in 2024, and this weekend's concerts take place in the renovated Powell Hall auditorium, according to St. Louis Arts Scene.
Powell Hall's Modernized Stage
That renovated auditorium is part of the $140 million Powell Hall renovation within the Jack C. Taylor Music Center, which reopened in September 2025 and drew more than 180,000 visitors during its 2025–26 inaugural season, according to the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Architectural firm Snøhetta led the 64,000-square-foot expansion, which added a new north entrance on Delmar Boulevard, an expanded public plaza, and modernized rehearsal spaces, per Snøhetta. The expansion marked the venue's centennial and overhauled its backstage and public facilities.
The hall has not been without its headaches since reopening. On June 21, 2026, thieves made off with an exterior brass fire connection from the building; St. Louis police investigated the theft, as Hoodline previously reported. Missouri scrap-metal recordkeeping rules can help investigators trace stolen brass.
How to Catch the Concert From Home
Audiences who can't make it to Powell Hall in person still have options. Saturday's performance will be broadcast live on St. Louis Public Radio (90.7 FM) and Classic 107.3 FM, and the concert will remain available for online streaming on slso.org for 30 days afterward, according to the Symphony. The radio broadcast is expected to include intermission interviews with guest artists and orchestra leadership.
