Latest / St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Concert Rebroadcasts / Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe

Transcript

Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe · St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Concert Rebroadcasts

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_05: Live from Powell Hall at the Jack C.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_05: Taylor Music Center, this is the St.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Symphony Orchestra.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_05: Tonight, music director Stefan Deneve will lead the orchestra in a program that opens with Kevin Putz's Virlet after Guillaume de Machot.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_05: The concert continues with the world premiere of Natalie Joachin's Family for Chorus and Orchestra featuring the St.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Symphony in Unison Chorus.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_05: It's Kevin Macbeth, Director.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_05: After intermission, the concert will conclude with Maurice Ravel's, Daphnis, and Chloe Choreographic Symphony featuring the St.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Symphony Chorus Aaron Freeman, Director.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_05: Good evening.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_05: I'm Rod Milam and welcome to the final live broadcast of the St.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Symphony Orchestra's 2025-26 season on St.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Public Radio and simulcast on Classic 107-3.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_05: You can listen to us online, see a copy of tonight's program notes and much more at stlpr.org slash symphony.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_05: During our intermission, we'll have a chance to speak with Stefan Deneve, Natalie Joachin, and Kevin Macbeth.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_05: Right now, we have a chance to speak to our commentator for the evening, Lauren Eldritch Stewart.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_05: Lauren, good evening.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Good evening, Rod.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_05: Well, Lauren, there are an awful lot of people on Powell Hall's stage tonight.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_05: Why don't you tell us about them?
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, let me tell you why all these people are on stage.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: But in order to do so, I'm actually going to talk a little about the second work on tonight's program and then backtrack to the first.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: The second work on tonight's program is Family by Natalie Joachin.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: Family was commissioned by the SLSO for the In Unison course, an ensemble that is presently taking their seats on stage.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: In Unison became very involved as the inspiration for Family.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: During the pandemic, Joachin conducted a number of Zoom conversations with chorus members about their experiences with the ensemble, which grew out of the community partnerships program of the SLSO.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: The themes of connection and family kept coming up, and we'll hear direct quotations of these conversations tonight.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately, the intended 2022 premiere was canceled due to a COVID resurgence, but we will hear the world premiere in this weekend's series of concerts, four years later, as a key part of this season's close.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: So, what should you expect sonically?
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Listen for the clear expression of themes linked through transitions that are almost gradient in character.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: The lyrics here, formed within what In Unison director Kevin Macbeth termed a co-creative relationship in this week's Noted Podcast, are so evocative.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: In her program note, Joashin related that each person shared stories of generational connections to music within their own families that contributed to deep fellowship and community, but also an explicit description of InUnison as their chosen musical family.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: I have shaped this work to share their collective story.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: One brimming with love, support, joy, sorrow, longevity, and belonging.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: To me, they remind us all of the true meaning of family, chosen or otherwise, the deep sense of comfort that no matter what, you will always have each other.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: Family is preceded on the program by another SLSO commission, Virlet, after Guillaume de Michaux by Kevin Putz.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: This is another composition that emerges out of a close relationship.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: This one between the composer and our music director, Stefan Deneve.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, Virolet was written to commemorate the start of Deneve's role as music director in September 2019.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: A Virlet was a genre of dance song popular in the 14th century when French composer Guillaume de Michaux was at the height of his fame.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: Putz uses a song by Michael named Dame à vous sans retour as a germ of sorts, which he then expands.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: This phrase translates to Lady to You Without Reserve and continues, I give my heart, thoughts, self, and love.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: It is completely believable that this virolet began as a dance form.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: Kutz inserted several gestures that reflect this sense of movement, from the way that the theme circulates around the Wiltwind section to the way that the metrical irregularity forces the listener to trust the pulse of the music.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: The meter in this piece switches back and forth from being counted in two to being counted in three, a pattern that is unpredictable and a lot of fun.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_05: Well, you can see a copy of tonight's program notes at stlpr.org slash symphony.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_05: You can also find a link to St.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Public Radio's Jeremy Goodwin's feature on Natalie Juschem's family.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_05: Right now you're listening to the St.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Symphony Orchestra live from Powell Hall on St.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Public Radio and online at stlpr.org.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_05: Let's talk about Kevin Putts.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_05: Kevin Putz was born in 1972, right here in St.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_05: Louis.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_05: The first performance of this piece was on September 21st, 2019.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_05: Stefan Dev was conducting the St.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Symphony Orchestra.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_05: And speaking of Stefan Dev, he's coming out on stage right now.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_05: The orchestra and the chorus and the audience is clapping and receiving our music director.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_05: And now we'll have our first work for the evening.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_05: Kevin puts his burlet after Guillaume Dumash.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_02: Good evening! Bonsoir to all of you.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_02: We are all together now.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I can't believe that the Cecil's weekend marks already the final concert of our first season in this improve gorgeous power hall at the Jack Citello Music Center.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: We will miss you here.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: I hope you will miss us and but don't cry.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: We'll be back and well I know that uh you already have bought tickets for each and every concert of last season, uh next season even, but if you have not our staff is here and happy to uh deliver the best it is for indeed all this concert next season.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_02: I believe seriously that this next season continue the momentum of these efforts and we can't wait to uh continue uh playing for you here.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh meanwhile, uh at the very end of this concert, right after we will have the bar open and we will welcome you there.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_02: I'll be there to uh meet you, but I think we have to walk a little bit before.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: So we will play for you in the second part of the concert the monumental uh Daphne Chloe by Maurice Ravet.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: And we will be joined for that with our Saint Louis Symphony Chorus, and on the screen you will see some supertitles.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_02: Those are the exact translation in English of what is written in French in the conductor's core, and that should help you to uh imagine what is the ballet story as it unfolds musically.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_02: But uh now in the the first part of our concert the whole family is united because our also beloved in unison chorus is with us tonight.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_02: And and actually, we are about to offer you a world premiere called Appropriately Family by the composer Nathalie Joachin, and it's a great honor that Nathalie is with us here in Saint Louis tonight, and please give her a warm Saint Louis and welcome, Nathalie! So Natalie, welcome back in Saint Louis, and we are about to play a piece that you wrote already a few years ago because the whole process was this finally premiere has been quite salty.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_02: Can you tell us a bit more about it?
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, well, good evening to you all, and thanks for being here.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's such a pleasure to finally be bringing this piece to you.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Stefan first reached out to me way back when a long, long time ago in 2020 or so asked me to write this piece, not just for the orchestra, but for your very special in Unison choir.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I jumped at the opportunity.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so I've felt a little weird because of course it's it's strange to write for a big group of people that you've never met before.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: So my first question was, well, can I talk to them?
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: And uh normally I might meet with them over dinner or over coffee, but we couldn't do that.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it was the early days of what I call the Zoomies.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: So we all met on Zoom and had some very, very beautiful conversations.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: My main question to everybody was, what does music mean to you?
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe more importantly, what does this chorus mean to you?
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: The beautiful thing is that when you talk to people and they share a little bit about their experience, uh, you hear, of course, what they're saying, but so much of what's underneath what they're saying.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: And every single person that I spoke to had a beautiful sentiment of this chorus being uh a family for them and this hall and this orchestra being a home for them.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: So that's uh how I started to write the piece.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_02: And sadly the piece could not be premiere in 2022 because uh the pandemic uh made it uh canceled as a last minute that I was devastating.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_02: But you actually rewrote it.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_02: What did you do to uh uh uh use the time?
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: The thing of the lightning of that is that you uh uh you changed these things.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was sad to not see it happen, but you know, getting a chance to revisit a piece is always uh beautiful, especially when it's got pretty good bones.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: So it was nice to come back to it, but to have an opportunity to highlight and feature more of the orchestra sound amazing and I cannot wait to hear them again tonight.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_02: And what about the text?
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_02: What about the the worldview?
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I also been doing that got to feature more of the text.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm sure that you're used to hearing songs that are sort of through written and have lyrics or have a story.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: This is a little different in that it's kind of a text collage.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: I sort of took the key words that came out in just about all of the conversations and pulled out what felt really important, uh, of course, the word family, but also things like heart and home.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: It'll sound a little funny, but I do think that there's a beautiful story that gets told.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_02: I love it because you you use uh so many words starting with age.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_02: Home, hug, uh, hope, heart, and you say to them the real sort of uh let's make a phrase actually it's not just a word.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that uh there's something really poignant about connecting these ideas, right?
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: This uh this idea of being hopeful and uh the thing that gives us hope most often is what gives us a sense of home.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_02: And we know each other since quite some years because uh Natalie is also a great flutist, and the first time we performed together was uh on stage with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Philadelphia.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_02: You were uh performing a concerto, and uh uh I have to say that not only you're a great flutist, but you're also a beautiful singer, and I can't really sorry to put you on the spot.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_02: Can you sing a little something that we hear your voice?
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_02: A little teaser.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I can.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: They'll sing it much better than I do, so I'll I'll downplay it.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: But one of my favorite lines that they sing is We understand, we understand each other.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, thank you.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: We do.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_02: So we will now leave the stage.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_02: I'll just go through, and the orchestra will tune, and I'll come back to perform the world premiere of Family by Nathalie Joachin with Initon Chorus.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_05: While the orchestra is tuning, we want to give you a reminder.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_05: You can follow along at home with your own program notes.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_05: All you have to do is go on to our website, which is stlpr.org slash symphony.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_05: And also on the website, you'll be able to find my colleague Jeremy Goodwin's features on Natalie Roshem's family.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_05: So you can go once again to stlpr.org slash symphony to find out more about this piece.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_05: You're listening to the St.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Symphony Orchestra live from Powell Hall on St.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Public Radio and online at stlpr.org.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_05: Stefan Denava is returning to the stage for tonight's second work, Natalie Rashem's Family for Chorus and Orchestra.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_05: This is St.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Public Radio.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_05: We just heard Natalie Joshan's family for chorus and orchestra, featuring the St.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Symphony in Unison Chorus.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_05: Kevin Feth, director of the chorus, and the St.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Symphony Orchestra were led by music director Stefan Deneuve.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: And first applause by Maestre Deneuve went towards the In Unison Chorus.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_01: And he then invited members of the orchestra to stand.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: And now he's invited Natalie Joachim back on stage.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: She's making her way through the first and second violins and has mounted the podium.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: They've embraced, she's taking bows.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: And now this director Stefanineav has invited director of the In Unison chorus, Kevin McBeth, on stage.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: He is looking back towards In Unison, once again acknowledging their hard work on this piece.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: And he has now mounted the podium.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: Both Denev and Shuashin are applauding him.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: And now all three have turned around once more to applaud in unison.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_05: That's our entire intermission guest list that we have standing on that podium.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: We get to talk to all these people.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it looks like everyone's sticking around for a little while longer.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_04: What a tremendous honor to share this night with all of the SLSO family.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_04: The American author Alex Haley wrote, in every conceivable manner, the family is the link from the past and the bridge to our future.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_04: We close the first half of the concert with a perfect bridge from the past to the future.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_04: Beautiful city is a hybrid arrangement, that is, a gospel arrangement of two spirituals.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, what a beautiful city.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_04: And in bright mansions above.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_04: The theme of family is found in these spirituals as we remember our ancestors and anticipate an amazing reunion in the world to come.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_04: Please enjoy a beautiful city.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_05: They walked to the back and just took their place as if they'd done this all along.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_01: All along.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_05: A reminder: you can follow along at home with your own program notes.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_05: All you have to do is go to our website, stlpr.org slash symphony.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_05: During our intermission, we'll have a chance to speak with Stefan Denv, Natalie Rosham, and Kevin McAbeth.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_05: I'm Rod Milam, and you're listening to a live broadcast of the St.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Symphony Orchestra on St.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Public Radio.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_05: Live from Powell Hall at the Jack C.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_05: Taylor Music Center, this is the St.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Symphony Orchestra.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_05: My name is Rod Milam.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_05: Along with me is Lauren Eldridge Stewart, and along with both of us is the music director of the St.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Symphony Orchestra, fresh off of his chorus debut.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_05: Stefan Deneve.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_05: Was that you back during the chorus?
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_05: I saw you.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry, sorry, sorry.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_02: That was not my debut.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_02: It wasn't.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_02: I had the great luck to sing already a few times with uh in Unison chorus, and uh I enjoy every minute of it.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's so wonderful to sing with them.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_02: We just feel a family together.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_05: Well, that was really good to see you go back there along with Natalie Rosham taking part in that.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_05: You've spent a lot of time performing this year, too, in this new hall.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, I I I I love it.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_02: I mean it's so so fantastic.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_02: I can't have enough.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_02: So if I can sing sometimes, yes, I will join.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_05: Well, let's talk about Kevin Putz's violet that opened the your first concert as SLSO music director when you first started here.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_05: Seems fitting to have it close the first season in the renovated Powell Hall.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_05: Did you choose that or did it just happen to end up that way?
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_02: Well, actually, uh Kevin Putz became the composer in residence this season.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_02: And so I took the opportunity to revive indeed the piece he wrote for us at the occasion of uh the start of my tenure as director.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I loved it because it was a very, very, very great, joyful occasion uh to do it again now felt as fresh.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_05: And we waited a long time to hear Natalie Jochan's family.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_05: How did it feel to finally get that work debuted?
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_05: What is it, four or five years?
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_02: My God, yes.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_02: Indeed, four years ago we made an attempt.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_02: It was during the kind of recovery of uh the pandemic, and we rehearsed the piece until we had uh to cancel.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_02: And so that was devastating.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_02: But at least this gave us an opportunity to try the piece, uh, to rehearse it, and for her to hear it, and therefore to rewrite some of the parts.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_02: And so, in a way, the silver lining of the pandemic is that uh it allowed her to workshop the piece and to make it even better.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_05: How did that commission come about in the first place?
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I love Nathalie and I already had some music performed here, and I said, Can you write something for us?
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_02: Because I really want to make a world premiere with uh in unison chorus because I love them, and so she said yes right away.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_05: Well, this is not a world premiere, this is Ravel's, Daphnis, and Chloe.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_05: How did that end up being the close of the concert tonight?
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh this full season.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_02: Actually, we wanted to do big, to do big things.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_02: So we have done Bell of Five and War Requiem and I mean the Bon Opera, the Magic Flute, and and some so many big repertoires.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I wanted to end with uh something very dear to my heart, which is Maurice Ravel, and I believe it is uh one of his greatest masterworks, the longest piece he wrote, actually, Daphne's.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's a big, big, big, big, big undertaking, and I'm glad that thanks to that we could have also our Saint Louis Symphony chorus.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_02: So, yes, all the choruses and the musicians are on stage tonight, and it's a great celebration.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_02: We are all together now.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_05: Daphne.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_05: Chloe Swedes are performed frequently, but the complete ballet score isn't.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_05: You conducted it back in 2011 as a guest conductor, and then before that it was performed in 1999 by David Robertson.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_05: Why isn't it performed more frequently in full?
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_02: I think because it requires a lot of forces and it's difficult also.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_02: And we have musicians backstage, we have a super big orchestra, so it I mean, let's face it, it's also costly.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_02: So I wish we would play it more often, but indeed it seems to come basically every decade or something.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_02: So I hope we won't have to wait another decade or more to hear this gorgeous piece again.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_05: Well, let me ask you a question that I know you've not been waiting for because you hate it when I ask this.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_05: But since this is the final concert of this big season with the hall opening back up, can you name one or two memorable highlights?
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_05: And I said highlights, I didn't say favorites because I know you don't like choosing using that word.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_02: You know me well indeed.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's so hard.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the start of the season, when we were with Inison Corus in front of the hall for the rubbing cutting, that was something very special because uh I was part of the rubble cutting.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_02: We had big scissors, uh three of them.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_02: I I treasure the little part of the ribbon that I cut that day, and it was a wonderful feeling also when we had this community day and everybody was there, and it felt like it was a home, a hub for people of St.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_02: Louis.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_02: So that was that.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_02: Then of course I have to say, well, the House of Tomorrow of Kevin Put with a wonderful premiere that was pretty special.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_02: I love the big symphonies we did here, you know, the uh Rachpino Second Symphony, for instance.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_02: I love the Malo Fifth Symphony.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_02: But we had also uh opera, I love opera.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_02: So well I'm I'm afraid I'm kind of uh naming everything with little by little.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_05: Well, you have at least one more big piece by Ravel to take care of, so let me let you go ahead and go back on stage and get ready to finish up tonight.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for saying Ravel with Ravel French R.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_05: I'm very impressed by your words.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_05: We can we should do an interview in French.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_05: We should make that happen.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_05: Bonsoir, too bien.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_05: That was Stefan Deneuve in French and in English, and he's going to lead the orchestra in our final work tonight, Ravels, Daphnis, and Chloe.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_01: And joining us now is composer Natalie Joachin.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome, Natalie.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_01: Hi.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, congratulations on the long-awaited premiere of family.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_01: So we just talked about this.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Rod and Stefan just talked about this.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_01: This has been five or more years in the making.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_01: What was it like to finally hear it in Powell Hall?
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_00: It feels so great to be back here.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, just to have the orchestra and the chorus at this point really feel like family, to have started with such beautiful conversations with them.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: And even though the premiere was thwarted back in 2022, I was of course back here a few years back but with my FUMD IET, so I got to hang with the orchestra much more then.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_00: And revisiting it now, I mean it just feels beautiful.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like, I don't know, it feels like we've been building a quilt over time.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_01: When you were commissioned to write something for the SLSO and the in Unison chorus, how did you come up with the idea of family for the theme?
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: And also how did you come up with the idea of interviewing chorus members?
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, I'm a people person, I like to say.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I first heard about the commission when Stefan first reached out to me, I was nervous because, you know, SLSO is one of our one of our great orchestras here in America.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so, but then when he mentioned the chorus, I got immediately excited because again, I am a people person, and so I said, well, this is great.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'll get to work with some voices.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_00: And normally I would come down and meet them, but since I couldn't meet them as a group, what better way than to sort of just meet with them one by one as I could and learn a little bit about them, even learn a little bit about the history of In Unison.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_00: Many of them are born and raised here in St.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_00: Louis, and so have a long history with Powell Hall, with this chorus.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: At the time, there were still many founding members here, and so it was really beautiful just to get a sense of them.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I can't say that I came up with the idea myself.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, they offered me the idea through these really beautiful conversations.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_01: The director, Kevin McVeth, used the term sort of a co-creative process or a sort of collaborative process.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I was revisiting some of your work, some of your other work earlier this week, and I noticed that you don't normally write music in the style that the In Unison chorus is accustomed to.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_01: How did you arrive on something that worked for both you and the ensemble?
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that m more than anything, hybridity is something that I love to go for.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: In Unison does what In Unison does so well.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so the last thing that I wanted to do was make a caricature of what they're already known for.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_00: What always feels better is music that meets us both in the middle.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so I I say to them, you know, especially because this music is built on their stories.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: That it doesn't sound like them, but it does actually really, really sound like them, and it helped create space for me to infuse it with a little bit of Me Too.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_01: But also speaking of that sound, it seems to fit this present moment so well.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_01: But I understand that there were some revisions between tonight's performance and what was intended for the 2022 premiere.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_01: Could you talk about some of those changes or the process of some of those changes?
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, revisiting a piece is like finding an old friend.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so having the opportunity to have some space and time away from it was really beautiful.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_00: I got to go back in and see the foundations of the piece.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: And all I really did was draw out so much more of what was beautiful and poignant, allow the chorus to shine a bit more, and also feature some of our beautiful SLSO players.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_01: So Family is not the only world premiere that you have or will have this year.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_01: Could you tell us about some of your other work, some of these other opportunities?
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, next up I have a premiere coming up of an opera in progress that I've been working on for several years now with the New York Philharmonic.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's on May 22nd coming up very quickly here.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_00: And after that, some more vocal music.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm actually premiering new work with The Crossing on one of our great Philadelphia choirs and the London Sinfonietta.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_01: And lastly, I understand that as a professor at Princeton, you teach a course on storytelling.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: Why is that important to your compositional practice?
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like stories are our beautiful carriers of self as humans.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's something that we all connect to, and it gives us each an opportunity to really find connection with one another.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_00: I think more than anything else, my interest is in how all of our stories really do over overlap, how this human experience is shared by us all.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so story is really central to that.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you so much for sharing your story with us and sharing this moment with us.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_01: That was composer Natalie Zhuachen.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_01: And joining us now is in Unison Chorus director Kevin Macbeth.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_01: Good evening, Kevin, and bravo on the chorus' performance in family.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you, thank you.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_04: Good evening.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_01: I want to ask you the same question that I asked Natalie Zhuachen.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_01: After all the years that you've waited for the Premiere family, what did it feel like to finally hear it in Powell Hall?
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_04: Well, it's it's tremendously rewarding, and the and the chorus has worked very hard because it's for us, by us, you know, our it's our our our words and our thoughts, and and uh so I think that they have a special ownership.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_04: And so they were ready.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it was a lot of hard work getting here, but they were ready to perform it, ready to see Natalie again.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_04: We got a chance to connect with her when she was here four years ago.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_04: Not to coin the term, she's family, so it's just great to have her back and uh and she's pumped them up.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_04: She's you know, she's been motivating to have her here and and to be ready for this performance.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_01: Now, as a conductor, you've performed and conducted so much repertoire, right?
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_01: Repertoire from composers that are no longer living, some living composers.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_01: What did you think when you first learned that Nellie Joachim was going to interview your chorus members for the work?
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_04: I I thought it was a great idea, and uh having you know done some arranging and and I we we've done a lot of commissions and other scenarios, and so just excited about the fact that you know that they chose her.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't know, didn't really know her work.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_04: And so I got to got to work right away just listening to some of her existing music and uh finding out a little bit more about her.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_04: But uh very exciting that she wanted to make us a part of the experience.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_04: And and the chorus members were you know really quite honored to be a part of that.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_01: So you told earlier this week, St.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_01: Louis Public Radio's Jeremy Goodwin, that you encouraged your choristers to write the names of family and their scores.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_01: What was your aim in doing that?
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_04: I want them always to have some connection and some motivation, some context around singing, and we've talked so much about family, and we've talked so much about ancestors, and and uh in innocent chorus is very unique in that there are a lot of familial groups already within the chorus, you know, husband and wife, and there's mother and stepson and father and son singing together, and cousins.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_04: We have a set of twins who sing in the chorus.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_04: So that family connection is it's just it's in the water, it's in the DNA of that group.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_04: And also one of the unique things is a lot of public school teachers who have taught some of the the singers in a unison chorus.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_04: So it's just that whole connection is is born out of what we do as a as an ensemble.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_01: Now, did you put names in your score?
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_04: And I will say I I wanted to honor my sister, the oldest sibling in our family, passed away in January this year.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_04: I was thinking about my sister Deborah tonight and through all of this as a part of that, who was one of my biggest, biggest members of my fan club.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_04: She just loved every time she got a chance to come in here the orchestra and be a part of this experience.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_01: I love that idea of staying connected and and feeling and sort of maintaining that connecting, even through that thought.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_01: Another question how did you select Beautiful City as an encore tonight?
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_04: Well, it actually beautiful city's kind of been our theme.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_04: So eight months ago we started our season with Beautiful City.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_04: It's the piece that we sang out in front of the the new entrance as we had the ribbon cutting.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_04: So it's crazy to think about how fast that eight months has gone.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_04: But I would start with Beautiful City, but just knowing the connection, you know, the the spiritual has, you know, my father lives up in glory.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_04: And so right away, just that family connection, it was an easy choice.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_04: That one I knew right away was was what we should do for this.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_01: Now I want to congratulate you on your 15th anniversary as director of the In Unison Chorus.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_01: How has the chorus changed over those 15 years?
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_04: Well, we have grown.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_04: We've grown musically, we've grown as an ensemble, we've grown in number, and that continues to happen despite the 2020 uh time that we won't talk about.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_04: But I think we I think we've just all grown.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_04: We've we've experienced some wonderful music together, we've helped to create new music, so it's uh we're on the rise.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_04: It's a it's a wonderful ensemble.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_01: And you're also director of worship arts at Manchester United Methodist Church.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_01: How do you balance it all?
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_04: It's a very good question and probably takes longer to answer than we have, but it's uh a wonderful thing.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_04: I think anytime you're making music, you know, no matter the ensemble, and actually these two groups, the choir at the church and the choir here in the Unison Course, they've performed together multiple times.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_04: We've traveled together, so so it's again it's one big family with both those ensembles.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_01: Well, before you go, I want to point out to our listeners that if Kevin's voice sounds familiar, it's because it's heard before every Powell Hall concert, instructing audience members to turn off their cell phones and pagers.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_01: Our inside baseball term is the voice of God.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you, Kevin, for that very important contribution, that resounding contribution.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_01: But also thank you for coming and sharing this with us.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_01: That was St.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_01: Louis Symphony in Unison chorus director Kevin McBeth.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_01: Ravel had long been fascinated with exoticism, fairy tales, and ancient myths.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_01: So the ballet story, based on a second-century Greek romance by the writer Longus, was right up his alley.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_01: The scenario tells the story of the love of the shepherd Daphnis for the shepherdess Chloe, which is challenged by the cowherd Dorakon and the kidnapping of Chloe by pirates.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_01: The nymphs of Pan, aided by the god, rescue her.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_01: The lovers are reunited at sunrise, and there is much rejoicing.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, at one point, Diagolev considered canceling the whole production.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_01: Nevertheless, the premiere took place on June 8, 1912, at the Theatre du Chatelet, with noted dancers Vaslav Nginsky and Tamara Karcevina in the title roles and Pierre Manteu conducting.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_01: It was almost a year to the day after the premiere of Stravinsky's Protushka in the same theater with the same dancers and conductor, and a year before the Rite of Spring.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately, the ballet wasn't well received at the premiere.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_01: It was reportedly under-rehearsed, and the dancers found the 5-4 meter of the finale too challenging.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_01: Despite the ill-fate of premiere, Ravel's music for the ballet proved to be popular with audiences, and it is now regarded as one of the greatest ballet scores of the 20th century.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, Stravinsky, who was not prone to compliments, commented that it was one of the most beautiful products of all of French music.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_01: Likely because of the large forces required, the complete ballet score isn't often performed.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_01: This weekend's performances are only the third since 1999 by the SLSO.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_01: The work has lived on in the more frequently performed suites.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_01: The ballet is in three continuous movements.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_01: Ravel referred to Daphness and Chloe as a choreographic symphony and made frequent use of light motifs to represent the different characters and themes.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_01: For example, a flute motif represents the nymphs of Pan, a horn plays the love theme, and a nocturne with exotic and moody sonorities, including a wind machine, marks the transition to the summoning of Pan.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_01: The chorus provides the transition to part two, which features the warlike music of the pirate.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_01: The Daybreak sequence that opens part three is one of the most celebrated depictions of nature, with bird-like sounds by Piccolo and twittering violins.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_01: The reunited lovers reenact the Pan Searing story with the flute representing Daphness and Pan.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_05: The love music gives way to a riot of sound as the work concludes with a raucous, joyful dance.org/slash symphony.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_05: You can also find a link to St.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Public Radio's Jeremy Goodwin's features on Natalie Jochem's family.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_05: You're listening to the St.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Symphony Orchestra live from Powell Hall on St.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Public Radio and online at stlpr.org.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_01: An interesting note about the two previous performances of the complete Daphness and Chloe score by the SLSO is that the last one was conducted by Stefan Deneve in 2011, long before he became music director.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_01: The previous performance was conducted by David Robertson in 1999, several years before he became music director.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_01: Also, it was the week of that concert that Robertson first met his future wife, Orley Shaham, in the green room of Powell Hall when she was here to play Chopin's first piano concerto.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_05: And here we are with our final word for the evening.
• 1:52:09
  SPEAKER_05: You just heard of Rebel's Daphness and Chloe choreographic symphony featuring the St.
• 1:52:14
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Symphony Chorus, Aaron Freeman director, the St.
• 1:52:17
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Symphony Orchestra and Chorus were led by Stefan Deneve.
• 1:52:21
  SPEAKER_01: And after that rousing performance, Stefan Deneve has invited the orchestra to rise.
• 1:52:26
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone is on their feet on the stage.
• 1:52:29
  SPEAKER_01: The chorus, the orchestra, and the members of the audience.
• 1:52:35
  SPEAKER_01: And now Stefan Deneve is exiting the stage.
• 1:52:40
  SPEAKER_01: Members of the chorus and the orchestra are seated, but the audience is still on their feet.
• 1:52:55
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
• 1:53:07
  SPEAKER_01: And now we have some fouls for guest flutist Jasmine Choi.
• 1:53:13
  SPEAKER_01: And associate principal flutist Andrew Kaplan, who was playing an auto flute to die.
• 1:53:18
  SPEAKER_01: Also English horn player Callie Bannham.
• 1:53:21
  SPEAKER_01: And principal clarinetist Scott Andrews.
• 1:53:26
  SPEAKER_01: Also principal bassoonist Andrew Cunio.
• 1:53:30
  SPEAKER_01: Principal oboe is Yelena Dirks.
• 1:53:33
  SPEAKER_01: Let's see.
• 1:53:34
  SPEAKER_01: Now a round of applause for the entire Will Win section.
• 1:53:37
  SPEAKER_01: They were working really hard tonight.
• 1:53:38
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, they were.
• 1:53:42
  SPEAKER_01: And uh a bit of a shout out for Principal Horn Roger Casa and all of the horns.
• 1:53:52
  SPEAKER_01: Now also Principal Trumpet Steven Franklin, who at one point was playing offstage.
• 1:53:58
  SPEAKER_01: And also now all the trumpets, the trombones, the tuba, the tympanist, Shannon Wood, Principal Tempanist, Shannon Wood, and now the percussion section.
• 1:54:09
  SPEAKER_05: Which is expanded today.
• 1:54:10
  SPEAKER_05: I think there are five extra members.
• 1:54:12
  SPEAKER_01: Five extra players, right?
• 1:54:13
  SPEAKER_01: So both of the harpists, Grace Ropke and Megan Stout, and also another for principal keyboardist, Peter Henderson.
• 1:54:22
  SPEAKER_01: Now also the bassist, the cellist, the violist, the second violin, and our concertmaster David Halen, along with the first violin section.
• 1:54:38
  SPEAKER_01: Now, music director Stefan Deneve has invited the director of the St.
• 1:54:42
  SPEAKER_01: Louis Symphony Chorus, Aaron Freeman, back onto the podium.
• 1:54:46
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone is on their feet.
• 1:54:50
  SPEAKER_01: And my street neve is applauding with the baton.
• 1:54:54
  SPEAKER_01: So the baton against hand.
• 1:54:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure how much sound that makes.
• 1:54:58
  SPEAKER_05: Not very much, but it's it's the thought that counts, I think.
• 1:55:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and now both of the directors are exiting the stage.
• 1:55:08
  SPEAKER_01: And the applause continues for this final concert of the 2025, 2026 season.
• 1:55:17
  SPEAKER_01: Music director Stefaninev has invited the chorus to rise once more and invited the orchestra to rise.
• 1:55:28
  SPEAKER_01: And now he is gesturing out to the audience as if the audience should actually applaud themselves.
• 1:55:35
  SPEAKER_05: He did say he was going to be out front after the concert to meet as many people who actually show up after the show.
• 1:55:41
  SPEAKER_05: We'll see if that stands up.
• 1:55:42
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see if it holds up.
• 1:55:45
  SPEAKER_01: And once again they're exiting the stage.
• 1:55:49
  SPEAKER_05: You're listening to the St.
• 1:55:50
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Symphony Orchestra live from Powell Hall on St.
• 1:55:53
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Public Radio, simulcast on Classic 1073 and online at stlpr.org.
• 1:56:00
  SPEAKER_05: You can hear this concert in person tomorrow afternoon at 3 at Powell Hall.
• 1:56:04
  SPEAKER_05: More information is available at slso.org.
• 1:56:08
  SPEAKER_05: This evening, we heard the following works: Rebelle's Daphness and Chloe Choreographic Symphony, featuring the St.
• 1:56:13
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Symphony chorus, Aaron Freeman, director.
• 1:56:15
  SPEAKER_05: Before that, Natalie Joachim's family for chorus and orchestra, featuring the St.
• 1:56:20
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Symphony in Unison chorus, Kevin Macbeth, director.
• 1:56:23
  SPEAKER_05: And we began the evening with Kevin Putz's Virlet after Guillaume de Machot.
• 1:56:28
  SPEAKER_01: You're invited to join St.
• 1:56:29
  SPEAKER_01: Louis Public Radio for the next live broadcast of the St.
• 1:56:32
  SPEAKER_01: Louis Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, September 26th.
• 1:56:36
  SPEAKER_01: Music director Stefan Deneuve will lead the orchestra in Hector Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture, Franz Liszt Piano Concerto No.
• 1:56:43
  SPEAKER_01: 2, featuring pianist Yephim Bronfman, Andrea Tarotti's Liguria, and Otarino Rospighi's Pines of Rome.
• 1:56:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's the next live broadcast of the St.
• 1:56:52
  SPEAKER_01: Louis Symphony Orchestra, Saturday, September 26th at 7.30 p.m.
• 1:56:56
  SPEAKER_01: on St.
• 1:56:57
  SPEAKER_01: Louis Public Radio.
• 1:56:58
  SPEAKER_05: We invite you to share your thoughts about our live broadcasts of the St.
• 1:57:01
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Symphony Orchestra season.
• 1:57:03
  SPEAKER_05: You can find us online at stlpr.org and on social media.
• 1:57:07
  SPEAKER_05: Just search for and like the St.
• 1:57:09
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Public Radio Facebook page.
• 1:57:11
  SPEAKER_05: The St.
• 1:57:11
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Symphony Orchestra broadcast is produced by Mary Edwards with audio engineered by Kyle Pike.
• 1:57:16
  SPEAKER_05: Additional assistance is provided by Yvonne Frindel, Tim Munro, Natalie Joachim, Matthew Erickson, Nicholas Aquisto, Eric Dundan, Maggie Bailey, Rachel Madison, Gino Belasi, Madeline Painter Tala, and Alex Rice.
• 1:57:29
  SPEAKER_05: Also, a special thank you goes to all of the musicians of the St.
• 1:57:32
  SPEAKER_05: Louis Symphony Orchestra and Local 2197.
• 1:57:35
  SPEAKER_05: Live broadcasts of the St.
• 1:57:36
  SPEAKER_05: Lost Symphony Orchestra, our production of St.
• 1:57:38
  SPEAKER_05: Lost Public Radio.
• 1:57:39
  SPEAKER_05: We hope you have enjoyed this season's broadcasts as much as we have enjoyed bringing them to you.
• 1:57:44
  SPEAKER_01: I am Lauren Elger Stewart.
• 1:57:45
  SPEAKER_05: And I'm Rod Milan.
• 1:57:46
  SPEAKER_05: Please join us again on September 26th.