“David Robertson and Orli Shaham first met in the green room—where performers wait to go onstage—at Powell Hall on Jan. 21, 1999,” writes Sarah Bryan Miller in Saturday’s (10/14) St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “He was a young conductor, making his debut with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; she was the program’s featured soloist…. ‘We were married on Jan. 3, 2003. The green room, therefore, is hallowed ground.’ Robertson [became] music director of the SLSO [in] the 2005-2006 season. Shaham has been a regular [guest performer], but they’ve rarely performed together here since then. Now, in Robertson’s final season as music director, they’re taking the opportunity to make more music together with this orchestra…. Next weekend, Shaham, Robertson and the orchestra will collaborate on Sergei Rachmaninoff’s ‘Variations on a Theme by Paganini.’ … Shaham calls the big, unconventional work ‘a non-concerto concerto.’ … The program opens with Steven Mackey’s ‘Mnemosyne’s Pool,’ in its St. Louis premiere. … ‘It was in St. Louis that Orli really got to know Steve’s music,’ he says. The SLSO was among the orchestras that commissioned Mackey’s piano concerto ‘Stumble to Grace,’ which was written for Shaham. ‘There are lots of connections.’ ”
Posted October 19, 2017
