Yo-Yo Ma

There’s good news, bad news, and good news about the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s first gala concert in a decade, featuring cellist Yo-Yo Ma, on Saturday, October 24.

The good news, for the SLSO, is that the gala is sold-out, with a waiting list. That’s also the bad news, at least for people who wait until the last minute to buy tickets. But the good news for them - if they move fast, starting Monday - is that the box office is going to sell 60 standing-room tickets to the concert, at $50 each.

Meanwhile, the SLSO’s third bloggers’ night is coming up, on Friday, October 30. Here’s what Chief Blogger Eddie Silva sent out to his troops. If you’re a St. Louisan who blogs about classical music, contact Eddie at eddies@slso.org, and ask to be included; every bona fide participant will get a pair of tix and a chance to meet up for drinks.

The SLSO is planning its third Bloggers’ Night on Friday, October 30. As with Bloggers’ Night last spring, the program is the same that is going to Carnegie Hall. The SLSO is participating in the Ancient Paths, Modern Voices festival at Carnegie, a celebration Chinese culture.

So the program is:
Stravinsky Song of the Nightingale
Tan Dun Water Concerto
Bright Sheng Colors of Crimson
Bartok The Miraculous Mandarin Suite
David Robertson, conductor
Colin Currie, percussion

The Stravinsky and Bartok figure in as Western composers imagining the East in the early 20th century. Tan Dun and Bright Sheng are contemporary Chinese composers. Tan Dun’s music you may be familiar with—he won an Academy Award for the score to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. His Water Concerto is going to be especially exciting for both the auditory and visual senses. Colin Currie performs this piece, which is composed for Chinese water percussion instruments—people may get wet. He also performs Bright Sheng’s Colors of Crimson, a marimba concerto. David Robertson has said he wanted to do this piece after Currie played a marimba concerto in 2008, and discovered how good the marimba sounds in Powell Hall.

As before, you write your reflections of your concert experience, post it on your blog and send me the link so I can post it on the slso blog. …