Events

Conductors
Robert Baldwin

Earthly realities, heavenly music. No better way to kick off four decades of music making in Salt Lake City! The 40^th Season opens with one of the most beloved works by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg, the Peer Gynt Suite No. 1. Compiled from incidental music for the Ibsen play of the same title, Grieg’s compilation contains four movements that have long been audience favorites, including the deeply moving Åse’s Death and the slightly scary In the Hall of a Mountain King. We will follow this familiar music with something no one has heard before—a world premiere! Phillip Bimstein’s The Brahma Viharas was written especially for Charlotte Bell, our SLS English horn player. It is a work celebrating and describing the four Buddhist virtues of Loving Kindness, Compassion, Joy and Equanimity using the solo English horn and the colors of a modern orchestra. Since we are on the topic of life and death, we thought it appropriate to close the concert with Richard Strauss’s great tone Poem, Death and Transfiguration, a testament to the late Romantic philosophy. Depicting a dying artist, thoughts of life pass through the orchestra as memories: his childhood innocence, the struggles of his manhood, the attainment of his worldly goals; and at the end, the longed-for transfiguration from the infinite reaches of heaven. It’s an orchestral thrill ride worthy of the life it depicts.

Conductors
Robert Baldwin

• Grieg Peer Gynt Suite #1 (Op. 46)
• Bimstein, Phillip The Brahma Viharas, A Meditation for English Horn and Orchestra World Premiere Solo: Charlotte Bell, English Horn
• Strauss, Richard Death and Transfiguration (Tod und Verklärung, Op. 24)

• Bimstein, Phillip The Brahma Viharas, Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra Solo: Charlotte Bell, English Horn

November sees the SLS presenting two of the finest Russian masterpieces for audiences. It’s a celebration in need of a fanfare, so we’ve added Miklos Rozsa’s rousing Entr'acte March from “El Cid” to open the festivities. Recent Salt Lake resident and conductor of the Utah Opera Chorus, pianist Caleb Harris will join us for Sergei Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Easily Rachmaninov’s most inventive work, it also contains one of the top melodies ever written, so popular that it has been used in several films. The centerpiece of the concert will be Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 (Pathetique). This symphony, sadly the composer’s last work, is nevertheless Tchaikovsky’s finest example of symphonic writing. Full of every element of life, the slow last movement is possibly a precursor of Tchaikovsky’s death which occurred only days after the premiere performance. The poignancy and power of the work make it a universal favorite with audiences ad players alike.

Shepherds and Kings await us in our 2015 Holiday Concert. We will be performing several selections from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio as well as our third production of Menotti’s beloved holiday opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors. We will be joned by the talents from the University of Utah’s Lyric Opera Ensemble, directed by Dr. Robert Breault. Join us for a program light on little holiday kitsch, but loaded with the appropriate sentiment to start your season on the right foot with the giving spirit.

Saddle up, pardners! Join us for a Wild West version of our annual Family Fun Concert. There will be western favorites and some surprises, too, as we learn about music, cowboys, horses and tumbleweeds. Always fun and appropriate for the entire family, our Family Fun concert has been an annual favorite for generations, and is fun for all generations!

The winners of the SummerArts Piano Concerto Competition take center stage with Salt Lake Symphony conducted by Resident Conductor and U of U DMA alum, Jong-hun Bae. These gifted young people will each play one concerto movement.

Few pieces have the primal energy as Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. This year marks a first for the Salt Lake Symphony, our initial performance of this monumental work. Originally intended for ballet when composed in 1913, the piece has become a staple in the concert hall as the quintessential work of the early 20^th century. With its driving rhythms and eerie sounds, it’s a piece that creates a lasting memory for performers and audiences alike. It’s not the only legacy we will celebrate at this concert, though. We will open the concert with our annual side-by-side performance, featuring talented young musicians sitting alongside our musicians. After their rousing opening of Dvo?ák’s Slavonic Dances, we will perform the Utah premiere of Jett Hitt’s Yellowstone Concerto, with Dr. Hasse Borup playing the solo violin part. Join us for and evening of music and musicians filled with energy and excitiement. This is an event not to be missed!

After last month’s rhythms from Stravinsky, we could only follow it with the rhythms of another master, Ludwig van Beethoven. Join guest conductor Gordon Johnson (Great Falls Symphony) as he leads the Salt Lake Symphony through Beethoven’s glorious Symphony No. 7. Once called the apotheosis if the dance, the work sparkles with thrilling motives that build to an amazing climax in each movement. We are pleased to also welcome the young musicians of the Rocky Mountain Strings to perform Sarasate’s Navarra on this program. The group, from right here in Salt Lake County, is renown for their technique and artistry, all the result of excellent teaching right here in Utah. The concert opens with Respighi’s The Fountains of Rome, a colorful slideshow in sound of some of Rome’s most famous landmarks.

We end our 40^th Anniversary Season with a trip to France and spend it with some of our favorite collaborators, the Utah Voices, directed by Kelly DeHaan. Music from the French Baroque to Impressionism will be featured, culminating with the spiritually-moving Requiem by Gabriel Faure. Thank you to all of our patrons for a fantastic 40^th season. We look forward to performing for you next September as we begin Season 41!

The Salt Lake Symphony joins the Choral Arts Society of Utah for the Annual Days of '47 Pops Concert in Abravanel Hall to kick off Utah's Pioneer Celebration. Sterling Poulson and Robert Baldwin share conducting duties leading the choir, orchestra and special guests in two nights of Family Friendly Music.

Sponsored by:
KUTV 2News
Sorenson Legacy Foundation

Salt Lake's new Eccles Theater Hall becomes alive with sounds of Russia and Germany for our opening concert. The program will feature our outstanding horn section in Weber’s Overture to Der Freischütz. We are pleased to welcome Utah Symphony principal cellist Rainer Eudeikis to perform Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, an exciting work of virtuosity and melodic invention. Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 ends the evening. Prokofiev’s Fifth is a monument of the 20^th century orchestral repertoire and a testament to the creative artist. Though lacking an exact program, Prokofiev described the work as “a hymn to free and happy Man, to his mighty powers, his pure and noble spirit.” Don’t miss this unforgettable, uplifting evening of music!