Classical Music
A fine cast boosts Utah Opera’s season-opening “Boheme” – Oct 09, 2023
Musetta (Marina Costa-Jackson) and Rodolfo (Christopher Oglesby) tend Mimi (Laura Wilde) in Puccini’s La Boheme at Utah Opera. Photo: Dana Sohm
Utah Opera opened its new season in the Capitol Theatre Saturday with a wonderfully cast production of Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème. The opera was the company’s initial offering back in January 1978 and has been programmed frequently ever since.
What distinguishes this staging from the past several productions is primarily the cast. Everyone, from the leads to the smaller characters, have commanding … Read More
Old favorites well served by young artists with Utah Symphony – Sep 24, 2023
Pianist Maria-Ange Nguci performed Beethoven’s “Emperor” concerto with Eduardo Strausser conducting the Utah Symphony Saturday night at Abravanel Hall. Photo: Ian Mower
The 2023-24 season is a time of transition for the Utah Symphony as it seeks a replacement for departed music director Thierry Fischer. The orchestra is leaning heavily on proven crowd favorites to fill Abravanel Hall in the meantime. There won’t be a work by a living composer, or even a work written after World War II on a Masterworks concert until … Read More
Oliverson’s Barber is the highlight in Utah Symphony’s mixed season opener – Sep 16, 2023
Aubree Oliverson performed Barber’s Violin Concerto in the Utah Symphony’s season-opening concert Friday night at Abravanel Hall.
The Utah Symphony began its 2023-2024 season without a music director, and without one of the hallmarks of its recently departed music director: new and challenging music.
Thierry Fischer’s 13-year tenure as music director, which ended last season, featured world and U.S. premieres, ample repertoire for the 21st century, and several seldom-performed pieces that challenged audiences’ ears, often alongside … Read More
A departing Thierry Fischer says his Utah Symphony tenure has been an organic partnership – May 23, 2023
For his final program as music director, Thierry Fischer leads the Utah Symphony in Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 this weekend. Photo: Marco Borggreve
Conductor Thierry Fisher was in a relaxed mood after conducting the Utah Symphony’s first rehearsal of Oliver Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie, a ten-movement, roughly 80-minute-long piece featuring over 100 musicians. That piece would comprise the entire program on Fischer’s penultimate concert as the orchestra’s music director.
Fischer assessed the task before him. “It’s the first rehearsal of a big piece … Read More
Fischer, Utah Symphony tackle Messiaen’s strange yet compelling “Turangalîla” – May 21, 2023
Thierry Fischer conducted the Utah Symphony in Oliver Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie Friday night at Abravanel Hall. File photo: Kathleen Sykes
Throughout his tenure as music director of the Utah Symphony, Thierry Fischer has earned a reputation for curating eclectic concerts that juxtapose contrasting pieces. It is therefore notable that three of his last four concerts as music director feature only one piece each. In March, he led the orchestra in Bruckner’s Symphony No. 5, his final concerts this week will feature Mahler’s Symphony No. … Read More
Music, high-tech visuals make up for uneven libretto in Utah Opera’s “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs” – May 07, 2023
Sarah Coit as Laurene and John Moore as Steve Jobs in The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs at Utah Opera. Photo: Dana Sohm
A note at the end of the Utah Opera program synopsis states that Mason Bates and Mark Campbell’s The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs “does not purport to depict actual events as they occurred.”
Indeed, this 2017 opera isn’t the place to find profound insights into the man whose creative vision revolutionized the way billions of people communicate. The dramatic arc—flawed genius … Read More
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
