St. Louis Symphony on the South 40
Annually in September
This special collaboration with a history of over a decade takes place outside on the South 40 on the beautiful Danforth Campus. Members of the St. Louis Symphony perform following a WashU ensemble, and the evening often culminates with both groups playing side-by-side.
Co-sponsor: The First Year Center and St. Louis Symphony Community Partnership Program
Festive Friday at the St. Louis Art Museum
December 6, 2024 - St. Louis Art Museum
The magnificent halls of the Saint Louis Art Museum served as the setting for a remarkable evening of music, featuring performances by over 200 exceptionally talented Washington University musicians. Participants included members of the WashU Jazz Band, Concert and Chamber Choirs, Chamber Music Ensembles, instrumental and vocal soloists, and Jazz Combos.
Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, the Last of the Bentonia Bluesmen, with William Lee Ellis, guitar
October 16, 2023 – 560 Music Center
An evening with guitarists Jimmy "Duck" Holmes and William Lee Ellis was held as they traced the deep history of the blues in an interactive concert event. Holmes, recognized internationally as the most significant living practitioner of the country blues tradition and the proprietor of the Blue Front Café juke joint in Bentonia, Mississippi, performed alongside William Lee Ellis, a fellow guitarist with an equally distinguished background—his godfather was the pioneering bluegrass musician Bill Monroe. Together, Holmes and Ellis presented a selection of original compositions and Southern standards. The concert was followed by a Q&A session hosted by voice faculty member Candice Ivory and a reception.
Marc Copland Trio with Drew Gress & Billy Drummond: A Jazz at Holmes Special Event
December 3, 2021 – 560 Music Center
Marc Copland, a celebrated jazz artist featured in several Jazz at Holmes events, performed on the E. Desmond Lee stage with bassist Drew Gress and drummer Billy Drummond.
Ensemble Dal Niente with Ken Vandermark
October 8, 2021 - 560 Music Center
Dal Niente, in large ensemble form, teamed up with legendary saxophonist Ken Vandermark to perform brand-new music by Roscoe Mitchell, a fearless musical pioneer whose music has, over the last half-century, changed the very definition of what is possible. This program featured Roscoe Mitchell's Last Trane to Clover Five.
Co-sponsors: Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity & Department of African and African-American Studies
Rahman Asadollahi: The Sound of Azerbaijan
September 28, 2019 - 560 Music Center
Rahman Asadollahi, an Azerbaijani from Iran, was born in 1951 and is considered the world's foremost garmon player, which is the Azerbaijani accordion.
Representation & Responsibility: #Time'sUp, #MeToo, & Women in Opera
April 30, 2019 - 560 Music Center
This panel discussion focused on topics related to the #MeToo and #Time'sUp movements, as well as the portrayal of women in opera. Panelists included Adrienne Davis, Washington University William M. Van Cleve Professor of Law & Vice Provost, soprano Monica Dewey, Heather Hadlock, Associate Professor of Music at Stanford University, and Hana Sharif, Artistic Director Designate at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis.
In partnership with Opera Theatre St. Louis
Ellen Fullman and the Long String Instrument
November 9, 2018 - 560 Music Center
Ellen Fullman has been developing her installation, the Long String Instrument, for over 30 years; exploring the acoustics of large resonant spaces with her compositions and collaborative improvisations. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, commissions and residencies including: Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists (2015); Center for Cultural Innovation Grants (2008 and 2013); Japan/U.S. Friendship Commission/NEA Fellowship for Japan (2007); and DAAD Artists-in-Berlin residency (2000). Fullman has recorded extensively with this unusual instrument.
In partnership with New Music Circle
Roomful of Teeth
October 21, 2018 – 560 Music Center
Roomful of Teeth is a GRAMMY-winning vocal project dedicated to reimagining the expressive potential of the human voice. Through study with masters from vocal traditions the world over, the eight-voice ensemble continually expands its vocabulary of singing techniques and, through an ongoing commissioning process, forges a new repertoire without borders.
Sponsored by Stacey Smith and Richard Katz
Sima Bina Live in Concert (Nowruzaneh)
May 12, 2018 - 560 Music Center
Sima Bina is a notable Persian classical musician, an Iranian composer, researcher, painter, and teacher, described by Radio WDR Germany as the “grand lady of Iranian folk music.” A lifetime of dedicated work on Persian folk music has made Master Sima Bina a legendary character in the history of Iranian music. Sima Bina performed with Hossein Behroozian (Barbat), Saeid Farajpoony (kamancheh), Behnam Samani (daf), and Mehrdad Arabi (tombak).
LADAMA: a cross-cultural, Pan-American musical collaboration
September 24, 2017 – 560 Music Center
All-female Latin alternative group LADAMA harnesses music from their respective countries of origin: Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, and the United States, performing on traditional and non-traditional instruments to create a seamless Pan-American sound all their own. Though from different countries and cultures, virtuosic musicians and educators Lara Klaus, Daniela Serna, Mafer Bandola, and Sara Lucas, a St. Louis native, are sisters in song, rhythm, and spirit.
In partnership with the Sheldon and the Whitaker Foundation
Sakthi Vibrations: A new documentary film about Parai drumming
followed by Q&A with filmmaker Zoe C. Sherinian
February 24, 2017 - Brown School 100
"This documentary film reveals how two progressive Indian, Catholic nuns reclaim the polluted drum of the outcastes/Dalits to empower young female dropouts at the Sakthi Folk Cultural Centre in Tamil Nadu. The liberating tools of music and dance make the earth tremble with change."
Introduced with a live performance by the American Parai Ensemble of St. Louis.
Heart Strums featuring Hossein Alizadeh and Hossein Behroozinia performance and Lecture with Hossein Behroozinia
September 12, 2016 - 560 Music Center
This performance of Persian classical music improvisation featured Hossein Alizadeh, tar, Hossein Behroozinia, barbat and oud, Behnam Valikhani Samani, tonbak, and Saba Alizadeh, kamancheh.
Equal Play: Celebrating Women Composers with special guest composer, Joan Tower
January 31, 2017 - 560 Music Center
Members of the St. Louis Symphony were joined by celebrated composer Joan Tower.
Co-sponsor: Community Partnership Programs of the STL Symphony
Art Inspiring Music: Real / Radical / Psychological featuring New Morse Code
October 25, 2016 - Kemper Art Museum
A celebration of the Museum's tenth anniversary in the current building, this installation features works drawn from the permanent collection. Since its beginning in 1881, the collection has grown primarily through the acquisition of leading contemporary artworks that represent major international aesthetic positions of the time. The installation is organized chronologically in three sections curated by three of the Museum's curators, each exploring themes of the real, the radical, and the psychological and how responses to these ideas have evolved since the nineteenth century.
Co-sponsor: Mildred L. Kemper Art Museum
At the Fair: Music from the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition
November 12, 2016 - 560 Music Center
In 1904, all eyes and ears turned to the city of St. Louis, host of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Music publishers in St. Louis and across the United States printed songs and music in all styles inspired by the fair, its exhibits, and its attendees. Hear the sounds of the fair as preserved by the Gaylord Music Library sheet music collection.
Co-sponsor: University Libraries
Guest Lecture: "NONAAH: From Solo to Full Orchestra"
December 6, 2014 - Music Classroom Building
Guest lecturer, composer Roscoe Mitchell, explored the evolution of his composition NONAAH.
Co-Sponsor: African and African-American Studies Program
Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet
November 14, 2010 - 560 Music Center
Golden Quartet is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith which was recorded in 2000 and released on Tzadik Records. It was the debut recording by the eponymous ensemble featuring pianist Anthony Davis, bassist Malachi Favors, and drummer Jack DeJohnette.
Presented in partnership with New Music Circle