Guest Conducting with the St. Louis Symphony
Brava to fourth-grader Bella! While attending the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s 2018 Christmas concert, she was selected by Santa to conduct the orchestra’s performance of “Sleigh Ride”—and she did so with aplomb and impeccable timing.
Bella, who plays clarinet and piano, has attended these annual symphony performances with her parents—College biology professor Dr. Chrissy McAllister (C’93) and Dr. Russell Blaine—for the last five years, since she was in kindergarten.
“We had seen kids directing this piece in years past, and Bella has always wanted to do it,” McAllister explains, “so she was beyond thrilled when asked!”
Bella met Conductor Gemma New backstage to learn a little about how to conduct the orchestra. She was then given her very own baton, ushered onstage, and put to work—conducting right alongside New! As she walked off after the performance, Bella received a thumbs ups from the conductor, the backstage crew, and—perhaps most importantly!—the percussionist who played the critical "whip snaps" that occur several times during “Sleigh Ride.”
In her thank-you letter—which the SLSO posted on its Instagram account—Bella wrote, “Listening to all the music up close was even better than I imagined!” And she added, “I hope that I can someday play in the symphony.”
The director for communications for the symphony called Bella’s family to say how thrilled they were with her letter. In April, Bella, mom, and dad will enjoy complimentary tickets to a symphony concert along with a tour of Powell Hall and an opportunity to meet the conductor after the concert. That’s a wonderful encore, wouldn’t you say?