Classical Music

Tüür premiere achieves liftoff in Utah Symphony’s Northern program – Apr 22, 2023

Flutist Emmanuel Pahud was the soloist in the U.S. premiere of Erkki-Sven Tüür’s Lux Stellarum, with Thierry Fischer and the Utah Symphony Friday night at Abravanel Hall.

Fresh on the heels of conducting a sublime performance of Bruckner’s monumental Symphony No. 5, music director Thierry Fischer returned to the Utah Symphony to conduct another seminal fifth symphony, this one by Sibelius. The program also included Sibelius’s Finlandia and the U.S. premiere of Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür’s … Read More

Utah Symphony goes from light and jazzy to dark Russian drama – Apr 08, 2023

Tito Muñoz conducted the Utah Symphony Friday night at Abravanel Hall.

A year after making his Utah Symphony debut, Tito Muñoz returned to conduct an eclectic program featuring pianist Michelle Cann and two local premieres: Florence Price’s Concerto in One Movement and Gabriela Lena Frank’s Elegia Andina.

Inspired by a trip to Peru, Frank’s Elegia is a colorful, rhythmically intoxicating dance, lightly evoking Peruvian folk music and using the orchestra in interesting ways to create distinctive sonorities. In addition to a pulsating … Read More

Fischer, Utah Symphony scale Bruckner’s vast Fifth Symphony – Mar 25, 2023

Thierry Fischer conducted the Utah Symphony in Bruckner’s Symphony No. 5 Friday night at Abravanel Hall. Photo: Marco Borggreve

Due to its intricate structure, masterful use of counterpoint, and reverent, mystical mood, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 5 is often compared to a cathedral. 

Friday night, the vast work made its Utah Symphony debut as the only piece on a concert that became a monument to Maestro Thierry Fischer’s 12 years as the orchestra’s music director. The performance showcased the orchestra’s artistic growth during Fischer’s … Read More

Utah Opera paints a grim world in Verdi’s powerful “Rigoletto” – Mar 15, 2023

Scott Hendricks in the title role and Jasmine Habersham as his daughter Gilda in Utah Opera’s production of Verdi’s Rigoletto. Photo: Dana Sohm.

As the fatalistic strains of Verdi’s Prelude to Rigoletto wafted out of the orchestra pit, a spotlight shone on the hunched, tortured title character on a bare, dark stage. A few seconds later, an upstage spotlight shone on the opera’s villain, the Duke of Mantua, ordering his henchman to stab a third man, who crumpled as the blade enters his torso.

The … Read More

Youth on display in a dazzling Utah Symphony program – Mar 04, 2023

Randall Goosby performed Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with Jiří Rožeň conducting the Utah Symphony Friday night at Abravanel Hall.

Two young guests joined the Utah Symphony to bring vigor and pizzazz to a chilly Friday evening.

Violinist Randall Goosby, 26, dazzled with seemingly effortless excellence, while conductor Jiří Rožeň, 31, led the orchestra with seemingly endless enthusiasm.

The chic simplicity of Goosby’s crisp white shirt and black trousers matched the matter-of-fact elegance of his playing in Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1. The soloist’s … Read More

Fischer returns with varied lineup, from Haydn to Janáček – Feb 04, 2023

Thierry Fischer conducted the Utah Symphony Friday night at Abravanel Hall. Photo: Marco Borggreve

Thierry Fischer returned to the helm of the Utah Symphony Friday night for the first time this year to conduct a concert that bore the distinct hallmarks of his 13 seasons as music director.

The program featured a Haydn symphony, which has become a staple of Fischer’s tenure. And like so many of Fischer’s programs, Friday’s concert juxtaposed several contrasting pieces in a pointed way, following the Haydn with … Read More

Utah Symphony, Fawzi Haimor impress in first collaboration – Jan 28, 2023

Fawzi Haimor conducted the Utah Symphony Friday night at Abravanel Hall. Photo courtesy of Fawzi Haimor

Guest conductor Fawzi Haimor began his Utah Symphony debut on Friday night at Abravanel Hall with Feuertrunken (“Fire drunk”), a 2017 work described by its composer, Joshua Cerdinia, as “a loud meditation (if one can meditate loudly) on joy.” 

This was an apt summary of the whole program, which also featured Stravinsky’s triumphal The Firebird Suite and Orff’s sensual secular oratorio Carmina Burana. … Read More

Utah Opera’s “Daughter of the Regiment” wins hearts, minds and laughs – Jan 16, 2023

Matthew Burns as Sergeant Sulpice and Madison Leonard as Marie in Utah Opera’s presentation of Donizetti’s “Daughter of the Regiment.” Photo courtesy of Utah Opera

With its engaging and musically stunning production of Donizetti’s The Daughter of the Regiment, Utah Opera is establishing itself as a consummate producer of Bel Canto operas, particularly those in a comic vein. 

Literally translated as “beautiful singing,” Bel Canto is a style of opera from the early 1800s marked by simple, tuneful arias that showcase … Read More

Strings are the thing with Utah Symphony’s suburban program – Jan 13, 2023

Benjamin Manis conduced the Utah Symphony strings Thursday night at the Mid-Valley Performing Arts Center in Taylorsville. Photo: Ian Mower/Utah Symphony

The Utah Symphony took a downsized, all-strings program to the suburbs on Thursday night.  The occasion marked the orchestra’s first performance at the Mid-Valley Performing Arts Center, a 20-minute drive from its home base of Abravanel Hall. (The Taylorsville complex is the newest arts facility owned and operated by Salt Lake County.)

On the program were short suites by Florence Price, Benjamin … Read More

Utah Symphony’s heart is in the highlands with Scottish-flavored program – Jan 07, 2023

Douglas Boyd conducted the Utah Symphony in music of Elgar, Bruch and Helen Grime Friday night at Abravanel Hall. Photo: Ian Mower

The Utah Symphony’s first concert of 2023 had a Scottish accent, as Glasgow-born conductor Douglas Boyd led the orchestra in Scottish composer Helen Grime’s Near Midnight and Max Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy (with another Glaswegian, principal harpist Louise Vickerman, in a prominent supporting role to concertmaster Madeline Adkins).

After reading a few lines from Week-night Service, the D. H. Lawrence poem from which Grime … Read More