SAINT LOUIS SYMPHONY ANNOUNCES
UPCOMING INTERNET AND FUTURE CD RELEASES

            (ST.LOUIS)  February 4, 2008 – The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) today announced plans to actively re-enter the recording field with a number of major new releases.  Made possible by a generous gift from the Centene Charitable Foundation, the initial projects will feature the collaboration of SLSO Music Director David Robertson and the pre-eminent American composer John Adams. 

            A live performance of Adams' Harmonielehre, recorded at Powell Symphony Hall in March 2007, is being prepared as the first in a series of Internet releases in partnership with IODA, scheduled for release in Spring 2008.  Additional SLSO recordings for Internet streaming are scheduled for release throughout 2008 and 2009.  The Internet releases will be available for download at various online music stores, and will also be licensed for streaming to various on-demand and Internet radio sites.  The SLSO was able to pursue the Internet release due to a special three-year agreement with its musicians, in which the revenue from sales will be shared between the SLSO and its musicians equally.

            Live performances of the U.S. premiere of Adams' Doctor Atomic Symphony, conducted by Robertson, will be recorded for release on CD at Powell Symphony Hall in February 2008.  The Doctor Atomic Symphony, which Adams has dedicated to Robertson, will be coupled with Adams' Guide to Strange Places, the latter of which will be recorded live at the start of the 2008-09 season.  Recorded and distributed by Nonesuch, the CD release date will be announced shortly.  

            David Robertson said, "The excitement that I felt at being able to open my first season with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra by playing the Harmonielehre is matched by the joy at being able to share with a much wider public just how wonderfully the Orchestra plays this music.  The Doctor Atomic Symphony is yet another stride forward in an output which continues to defy expectations as it delights and charms." 

            Peter Czornyj , SLSO Vice President for Artistic Administration, said, “We are delighted to be announcing a number of exciting and major media projects with our Music Director, David Robertson, and the musicians of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. What finer way to re-enter the current recording field than with a series of recordings highlighting the ongoing strong artistic relationship between David Robertson and one of today’s finest living composers, John Adams. To launch our new CD and Internet recording series with live performances of John Adams’ work demonstrates clearly, I think, our commitment to the music of our time and to the role of the symphony orchestra in our time.”

             Adams' opera, Doctor Atomic, which premiered October 1, 2005, in San Francisco, is a dramatic re-telling of the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the first test of the atomic bomb. Adams has adapted the music from the opera to create a stand-alone symphony.   Adams won a Grammy Award in 1989 in the Best Contemporary Composition category for Nixon in China, and in 1998 in the same category for El Dorado.  His On the Transmigration of Souls, a choral work commemorating the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks, won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Music.  

The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra has been a source of pride for the St. Louis region since its founding in 1880, earning a reputation as a first-tier orchestra through generations of excellent performances, a mastery of wide-ranging repertoire, and a tradition of partnering with leading musical artists from around the world. Led by innovative American-born conductor David Robertson, the Orchestra continues to strive for artistic excellence, fiscal responsibility and community connection.

Releases by the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra have met with critical acclaim and have been honored with six Grammy Awards and fifty-six Grammy nominations.  In addition to its regular concert performances at Powell Symphony Hall, the SLSO is an integral part of the St. Louis community, presenting more than 250 free education and community partnership programs each year.