Composing the Future

In October 2025, during the world premiere of the movie Soul on Fire, Marie-Hélène Bernard observed people standing on the sweeping spiral staircase of the newly renovated and expanded Powell Hall at The Jack C. Taylor Music Center. Looking through the new arch-shaped windows, she observed even more people on the red carpet outside. 

As the president and CEO of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO), Bernard enjoys watching people, studying how they react to and use the space. 

The symphony has long trusted the intuition of audiences, Bernard says. 

“So it’s interesting for me to see where people go, and where they naturally convene,” she says. “We’ve had some parties and other gatherings, and there are as many people in the new lobby as there are in the existing lobby of Powell Hall, and I have found that fascinating.”

The refreshed Powell Hall opened with a formal ribbon cutting on Sept. 19, 2025. For those who use and visit it, it’s like a homecoming, she says.

“It’s hard to describe, but Powell Hall is like a friend to a lot of people who have grown up in St. Louis and are still here,” she says. “There’s something really comforting about (it).”

The 2025-2026 season is in full swing at the venue, including conductors and artists returning and making debuts; four world premieres of SLSO commissions; movie score concerts like “Home Alone” and “The Lion King;” and performances from the St. Louis Symphony Chorus, the St. Louis Symphony IN UNISON Chorus, the St. Louis Children’s Choirs and the St. Louis Dance Theatre.

The $140 million, 64,000-square-foot expansion and renovation has been in the works for more than a decade. While the initial goal for the construction and endowment enhancement was $155 million, the community has managed to contribute $173 million, with the campaign continuing through the end of the year. 

“This is a truly amazing gift,” St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer told the crowd at the ribbon cutting as she spoke of supporters and donors. “Not only to the symphony, but to our local arts scene and our community at large, and a true, true driver of economic activity here in our community. The symphony and its renovated home will elevate St. Louis as an international arts and cultural destination.”

An Outsider’s Impression

When Bernard first came to St. Louis to interview for the job in 2014, it was a crisp, sunny October weekend, the type where the city really presents its beauty — and potential. 

Bernard had never visited before. She’s a Quebec native of Belgian descent, and started her career as a corporate and tax lawyer before joining the orchestra field. When she interviewed for the job here, she was the executive director and CEO of the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston. 

During her stay, she visited Forest Park, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Saint Louis Art Museum, and other favorite local attractions. She knew the reputation and “very impressive history” of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, knew it as the second oldest in the country, and knew it for its community focus and innovative spirit. She grew up knowing about Leonard Slatkin, who was assistant conductor and music director of SLSO (and now serves as its Conductor Laureate), and knew she would have a positive impression of the symphony itself.

But she wasn’t prepared for St. Louis.

“I was completely blown away by the beauty of this city and the architecture and the history and all of this,” she says. “So I was very, very interested and intrigued.”

When she visited Powell Hall, built in 1925 as a movie palace and vaudeville hall, she felt in awe of its beauty. But in the back of her mind she thought: It looks a little dated. It needs a refresh. 

During a performance — and she has told this story many times, she says — she saw a line of men waiting to use the restroom.

“And there’s a rule in the entertainment business — and I have been in this business, by then, at least 20 years — when you see men waiting to use a restroom, you have a problem.”

She learned people might have to make a choice between using the restroom or buying a drink. She learned musicians had virtually no space backstage. She knew the building needed work, but overall, she was impressed.

“Wow,” she recalls thinking at the time. “What a jewel.” 

She got to work. 

Planning with the Locals

Bernard knew coming in that she and the symphony staff and board would endeavor a big project. They took a few years to establish a case for support — the why and the how. In 2019, the board gave the green light to hire architects. At each stage there was an approval process, and the voices of experts and non-experts alike.

“There was a desire to make this a St. Louis/Midwest project,” she says. “We have extraordinary trades in our town, and also very, very solid people who work in the field of renovation and expansion.”

Snøhetta, an architecture firm with offices worldwide, was the project lead and design architect. St. Louis-based architectural design firm Christner Architects was the architect of record. Schuler Shook was the Chicago-based theater planning consultant; BSI Constructors, based in St. Louis, was the project construction manager; and Kirkegard, based in Chicago, was the project acoustics design firm. Nearly two dozen more companies, most of them local, worked on the project. 

When construction started in earnest in 2023, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra took its show on the road. The venues included Stifel Theatre in Downtown St. Louis, the J. Scheidegger Center for Performing Arts at Lindenwood University, and the Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Audiences stuck with the symphony, and new ones arrived to support it. About 40% of ticket buyers were newcomers, Bernard says. 

“St. Louis as a community truly rallied to make this possible,” she says, “and not just from the standpoint of the renovation and expansion, but they did very well supporting our orchestra while we were away from Powell Hall for two full seasons. And that’s remarkable.”

A New Start

Powell Hall is now a comfortable home for its musicians — and its audiences. 

The expansion of Powell Hall, called the Jack C. Taylor Music Center, includes a new box office and lobby. There are more elevators, larger dressing rooms, and 12 practice rooms — where before, musicians had to warm up in back hallways or even a boiler room. There are fewer total seats, but the plush, new ones are slightly larger and more comfortable. There’s new paint and lighting. And yes, more restrooms. 

A 4,000-square-foot education and learning center will allow more programming, and can serve as an event venue, practice space, or place for more people from the community to come in and listen and learn. Before, such events had to take place on stage or in the lobby. 

“Every surface was chosen with acoustics in mind,” says Sarah Ruddy, SLSO education programs manager, who, after the ribbon cutting, beamed for visitors who strolled in the space. “This is a game changer for us.” 

The renovation also includes a new entrance on the north side of the building, facing Delmar Boulevard.

“This did not happen by accident,” Bernard says. “We were very intentional about creating a north entrance to signal to the north of our city and to our neighbors… that this is also their home, that you’re welcome, and this is their venue as well.”

She envisions Powell Hall to continue the work of activating the neighborhood, even beyond the Grand Center Arts District, which continues to emerge as a cultural destination. 

The Grand Center Arts Academy sits just across the street from the venue, with The Fabulous Fox, The Kranzberg Arts Center, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, and more within a few blocks. This fall, The Sheldon unveiled its own $11 million renovation.

“Our vision is to continue to be an agent of growth in Grand Center,” Bernard says. “That we continue to really create a neighborhood that’s welcoming, inviting, fun, where you say, ‘Hey, let’s go to Midtown to see what’s going on tonight.’ It doesn’t really matter to you what program is on any stage as you come because you know you’ll find good drinks, good company, good food, and there’s going to be great art and great cultural experiences.”

An International Destination

Bernard will continue to study audiences, and work intentionally with the community to bring more attention to St. Louis.

That means courting national and international press: The New York Times featured the expansion in September. The Violin Channel, My Modern Met, and Symphony have each covered the news.

She also knows the symphony has to remain competitive to attract talent from around the world — the orchestra recently agreed on a new four-year contract that runs from September 2026 through August 2030 — and to tout St. Louis as an attractive place to live and raise a family. 

“We have one of the strongest health care systems in the country, we have great schools, and it’s true that we have great affordability, that you can buy a home in St. Louis,” she says. When she sees musicians leave for orchestras in cities like Boston and San Francisco, she sometimes hears of the struggle to afford a home there, she says. “(You) can really buy a house in St. Louis and create a wonderful life. So I think all of these things are not to be neglected. Those are great assets that we have to sell.”

When Bernard came to St. Louis, people thought she would be here for a short while, and consider it a stepping stone to someplace bigger, she says. 

But she sees a “fabulous” community, one that locals sometimes find tough to recognize. 

She also sees a shift in that attitude, with new leaders and talent forging a new path. For that, she says, she’s “very, very hopeful.”

“I see the orchestra not just as a performing arts organization,” Bernard adds, “but as an agent that is working to join others to shape that St. Louis of tomorrow.”