By Eric Dundon
For the first time since 2017, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is heading to Europe for a five city, four country concert tour. But before the musicians board airplanes for their transatlantic flight on March 21, they delivered the tour program to a full house at Powell Hall on Thursday, March 16.
Abuzz with excitement and palpable energy, Powell Hall filled with applause as Music Director Stéphane Denève greeted the audience in the languages represented by the countries the SLSO will visit on the tour: Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain.
Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson received a raucous standing ovation for his interpretation of Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto. He followed that with a heartfelt and tender performance of Ave Maria by Sigvaldi Kaldalóns, Ólafsson's Icelandic compatriot.
Following the conclusion of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, musicians packed their instruments into large cargo containers bound for Europe. Curious audience members filed out of Powell Hall past dozens of trunks that began their journey to Vienna on March 17.











