Rob Levy Special to the Post-Dispatch
What do St. Hildegard of Bingen -- a writer, composer, philosopher and Christian mystic from the Middle Ages -- and jazz pioneer Billy Strayhorn -- a composer, pianist, lyricist and arranger famous for his work with Duke Ellington have in common?
They are two of the composers that will be featured in the SLSO Community Concert: "Untold Stories LGBTQ+ Composers Through Time." Hosted by the St. Louis, Symphony Orchestra and the Missouri History Museum, the hourlong concert will highlight the stories of composers from the LGBTQ+ community.
Spanning the last 1,000 years, the recital features stories and music from nine composers whose lives were affected by prejudice and legal consequences. In addition to Strayhorn and St. Hildegard are electronic music pioneer Wendy Carlos; Hong Kong singer and activist Anthony Wong Yu Ming; and pianist, conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein.
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While this concert celebrates the music of queer artists, it is, as Maureen Byrne, vice president of education and community partnership at SLSO, points out, not the first time the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra has featured prominent LGBTQ+ artists in performances.
"We have a history of supporting the LGBTQ+ community with our programming. A great example is Jean-Baptiste Lully. We've always performed his music. We've also performed Leonard Bernstein's music, but not necessarily with this clear lens of acknowledging fully who they were.
"This program allows us to put a bit of sunshine on the fact that the arts have always been very close with LGBTQ+ communities. This concert celebrates that. As for the St. Louis Symphony, when we can connect through representation with all our diverse communities, we are going to do that. This is a wonderful way to interact with our LGBTQ+ plus community."
This latest installment of the Untold Stories, programming aimed at highlighting the often overlooked narratives of orchestral music, was created and narrated by Amy Greenhalgh, the director of strings and a lecturer at Washington University, who helped launch the series last year.
For this concert, Greenhalgh, a frequent performer with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, will be joined by violinists Janet Carpenter and Asako Kuboki, cellist Bjorn Ranheim, viola player Shannon Williams, trumpeter and vocalist Michael Walk and Dillon Carl of the St. Louis Symphony IN UNISON Chorus.
Byrne explains on how the concert came about: "Amy told me about this program a couple of years ago, and I thought it was fantastic. I was looking for the right time and place to bring it to our community, and Washington University was the first collaborator in it. Meanwhile, I had been talking with the Missouri History Museum about their Gateway to Pride exhibit and realized we had the perfect thing to collaborate on."
The concert is being held in conjunction with Gateway to Pride, the first-ever full-scale exhibit on St. Louis' LGBTQ+ history.
Byrne says it was challenging to create such an all-encompassing program.
"Looking at it now, it is a very ambitious performance. (Greenhalgh) had to scale back on the stories and drill into what stories were the most important to tell. She landed this concert in a wonderful place. I'm not sure many people could have put together this program as well as she has," Byrne says.
While the concert is focused on community outreach and making deeper connections, a hopeful Byrne is looking ahead to further LGBTQ+ themed programming.
"Public concerts like this emphasize how inclusivity and community building are the bedrock of the organization. This one seems to have hit a mark."
Gateway to Pride and "LGBTQ+ Composers Through Time" is not the first partnership between the two organizations. Although collaborations have happened over the decades, a more recent one happened last June when the SLSO and the Missouri History Museum teamed up for a Juneteenth celebration. During the pandemic, the orchestra performed several concerts there, one outside of the museum and a socially distant concert inside.
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