St. Louis Symphony - Debussy's La Mer - Stories In Sound

By Sam Wisman

Published October 11, 2026 at 2:00 PM CDT

This dazzling sonic journey explores powerful natural phenomena through music. Conductor Dalia Stasevska makes her SLSO debut with Debussy’s La Mer, and multi-talented artist Aphrodite Patoulidou performs Luciano Berio’s Folk Songs and introduces Sibelius’ Luonnotar with an improvisation on the nyckelharpa, a traditional Swedish keyed fiddle.

An agreement with the St. Louis Symphony allows us to share audio for each program up to two weeks after the program's original air date.

Host

Rod Milam
St. Louis Public Radio

Commentator

Lauren Eldridge Stewart
Assistant Professor of Music at Washington University

Conductor

Dalia Stasevska

Program

Nautilus
by Anna Meredith, arr. Ross and Meredith

Scene with Cranes from Kuolema (Death), Op. 44, No. 2
by Jean Sibelius

Folk Songs
by Luciano Berio
Aphrodite Patoulidou, soprano

Backstage intermission interviews
Dalia Stasevska, Will James (SLSO principal percussionist), Aphrodite Patoulidou

Improvisation on a Kalevala Melody
Trad. arr. by Aphrodite Patoulidou
Aphrodite Patoulidou, soprano and nyckelharpa

Luonnotar (Kalevala), Op. 70
by Jean Sibelius

La mer
by Claude Debussy

These broadcasts are produced by St. Louis Public Radio and made possible in partnership with St. Louis Public Radio and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.