Utah Symphony

[happyone]

I still get the 9 concert package - I normally take my Father and his wife when our packages overlap - he has 12

What night do you attend - we have saturdays

[BigFatMeanie]

I still get the 9 concert package - I normally take my Father and his wife when our packages overlap - he has 12

What night do you attend - we have saturdays

Almost always on Fridays.

[happyone]

I was really impressed by the symphony last Saturday - Chopin's 1st Piano Concerto, Dvorak's 7th Symphony and a piece by a lady who was born the year I graduated for High School, called "Dust Devils". The soloist for the Chopin was 23 and looked about 15 from where I was sitting (row 21)

We had some young people (20's) sitting on either side of us who left at intermission - I was a bit surprised - the second half was the Dvorak. I've seen people leave at intermissioin before, but it is normally when the second half is something that has been written in the last half of the 20th century.

[BigFatMeanie]

I generally don't prefer things written in the 20th century or later, but Dust Devils was "interesting". Not sure I would want to hear it again though.

The crowd on Friday got Lisieki to do an encore. Did he do one on Saturday? Of course, encores and standing Os are cheap these days so...

[happyone]

Yes he did, a Chopin Etude (I can't remember which one) He had a more than 5 min Standing O and came out 3 or 4 times before sitting down and performing the encore.

I thought the "Dust Devils" was listenable - I don't think I would seek it out either :

[happyone]

A little tidbit I found interesting from the Preconcert lecture from last night symphony. The guest soloist, Stefan Jackiw, was speaking and talking about his violin. He has been playing since he was 16, more than half of his life. It was made in 1704 in Italy. The maker was someone I haven't heard of, but according to Stefan, was not very prolific. Anyway, after Friday night concert, an audience member knocked on his dressing room door. The man was a MD for Park City and had a violin case. The man owned the violin, made in 1705 by the same maker.

The Doc let the soloist play it for a bit. He said there were familiarities, but he could tell it was a different instrument. He also remarked it was probably the first time since 1705 they had been side by side.

The Brahms Violin Concerto was excellent. Three of the other four pieces on the program had never been played by the Symphony. The last time the forth piece was played was 1947.

[Bo Diddley]

A little tidbit I found interesting from the Preconcert lecture from last night symphony. The guest soloist, Stefan Jackiw, was speaking and talking about his violin. He has been playing since he was 16, more than half of his life. It was made in 1704 in Italy. The maker was someone I haven't heard of, but according to Stefan, was not very prolific. Anyway, after Friday night concert, an audience member knocked on his dressing room door. The man was a MD for Park City and had a violin case. The man owned the violin, made in 1705 by the same maker.

The Doc let the soloist play it for a bit. He said there were familiarities, but he could tell it was a different instrument. He also remarked it was probably the first time since 1705 they had been side by side.

The Brahms Violin Concerto was excellent. Three of the other four pieces on the program had never been played by the Symphony. The last time the forth piece was played was 1947.

Cool story.

[happyone]

Last week the symphony screened "Stare Wars" episode 4 while playing the score.

These film screening have got to be a big money maker for the USO - it was completely sold out and they did it three times last week (Thur, Sat, and again on Mon)

There were not as many people in costume as I expected.

Our seats were right on the end of the row (seats 53/55). The screen was partially blocked (the upper right hand corner, maybe 1/6 of the screen if I didn't lean over.)

It brought back good memories. I saw it the first time in Japan while on my mission (1977) on my 21st birthday - probably 9/10 of the mission went to it that day - certainly everyone in my Zone. We saw it in a theater with a curved screen - kind of like the old Century or Cinedome Theaters. Where I was seated the screen extended to the edges of my peripheral vision. That first sequence is burned on my memory!

After the movie all the missionaries went to an all-you-can-eat buffet in one of the better hotels in Osaka

They are doing another film screening in June - one of the Harry Potters, IV I think.

[happyone]

Something must have changed in modern classical music - I actually liked tonight's piece. It might even be played again. Called Transend, it was a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Golden Spike. It was commissioned by 12 different symphonies, so it will at least get performed 12 times

It was sandwiched between two Copland piece - Appalachian Spring and Billy the Kid along with Bruch's 1st Violin Concerto. It was almost a full house. It started at 5:30 instead of the usual 7:30. I wonder how many of the empty seats were people who forgot the change of starting time.

[Brian]

All this talk makes me reminisce about high school and season tickets to the USO. I remember the very first time I heard the Shostakovich piano concerto #2 was by the USO. I was deeply moved by its beauty. The pianist almost seemed possessed at the last few measures and took a few moments to collect himself.
I haven’t lived close a decent orchestra since The USO, and I miss frequent live music.......
Jealous.

[happyone]

The Symphony's Music Director/Conductor, Thierry Fischer, is stepping down after the '21-'22 season. That should give the powers-that-be plenty of time to choose his successor

I've really enjoyed his tenure here. He has done some remarkable things, both with the programming and with the music.

[Copelius]

The Symphony's Music Director/Conductor, Thierry Fischer, is stepping down after the '21-'22 season. That should give the powers-that-be plenty of time to choose his successor

I've really enjoyed his tenure here. He has done some remarkable things, both with the programming and with the music.

He was a great conductor to work with on Mahler's 8th.

[happyone]

I liked what he did - I thought he got a lot more out of the symphony than Lockheart did

[UVACoug]

That's too bad. I think Fischer did amazing things for the orchestra and it will be hard to find someone of equal talent to replace him. The modern trend seems to be for conductors to stay with an orchestra for about 10-12 years rather than an entire career, so this is consistent with that I guess. Glad to hear will maintain a connection though and return as a guest often.

[happyone]

Last weekends concerts finished up the season. The second piece was a bit unusual. The gentleman conducting the preconcert lecture said we were in for a surprise with the second piece on the program. Written by a protogee of Shostakovich, Alfred Schnittke, it was called "Moz-art ala Hyden". The musicians come on stage (about 20 or so string players). One of the violinist seem to have forgotten his music as he came on. After what came later, I wonder if it wasn't planned. The lights then go out. All I could see was shadows. Quite frankly the first 2 or 3 minutes sounded like the were tuning their instruments Then the lights come up and they play a recognizable melody (something from Mozart). After about 5 or 6 minutes the light go off again and you can see the violinist wandering off stage, while still playing. You can see Fischer throw up his hands and he walks off the stage. The lights come up and there are 2 Cello player and a Base player left on the stage. - We then go to intermission.

The other 2 pieces were one of Hyden's symphonies - the Musicians were all standing while playing and the second half was Mahler's 1st Symphony, The Titan. Both were excellent as usual