Utah Symphony | Utah Opera made an artistic splash with the opening installments of music director Thierry Fischer?s Beethoven symphony cycle, but not all of the news coming from the state?s largest arts organization was musical in nature. In December, the orchestra?s musicians agreed to a three-year contract extension ? including a pay cut.
Keep the music alive ? Utah Symphony musicians agreed to an unprecedented three-year contract extension to help sustain Utah Symphony | Utah Opera through another difficult year. In a contract extension effective Dec. 1, orchestra musicians agreed to waive $616,000 of their salaries this season, with a total waiver of $1.1 million over the next three seasons. From 2008 to 2015, when the current extension will expire, the musicians will have endured $3.8 million in salary cuts. Fischer, whose contract is negotiated separately, kicked in $45,000.
Revving up the cycle ? The Utah Symphony musicians call it ?Beethoven Boot Camp.? Fischer is leading the orchestra in all nine Beethoven symphonies this season, starting with the Ninth on opening night and counting backward. (So far: Four down, five to go.) ?An orchestra that can play Haydn, Beethoven or Mozart really well can play anything else really, really well,? Fischer says. And he?s serious about this project ? the orchestra bought a new set of timpani more appropriate to music of that era. ?Everyone is just amazed at the difference, and I don?t mean just the sound of me,? timpanist George Brown said of the enthusiastic audience response on opening weekend. ?The sound coming from the whole orchestra was just as exciting ? more compact, and with more precision and more clarity ? more punchy.?
Beyond Beethoven ? Another composer close to Fischer?s heart is Hector Berlioz. The conductor promised a ?big Berlioz party? every year ? and this season, he?s thrown two. In September, he and the orchestra traveled across the street to the Salt Lake Tabernacle to perform the Berlioz Requiem with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir; two months later in Abravanel Hall, they presented the composer?s oratorio ?The Childhood of Christ.?
So long, farewell ? Popular Utah Symphony associate conductor David Cho left for Texas this fall after five years in Utah. He?s the new associate conductor of Rice University?s Shepherd School of Music in Houston, and in July will take over as music director of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra. Vladimir Kulenovic is his replacement in Utah. Other turnover occurred within the orchestra. The most high-profile departure was that of associate concertmaster Gerald Elias, who?s added ?best-selling mystery novelist? to his r?sum? after 23 years in Abravanel Hall. Others retiring this past season include violist Julia Lawrence (45 years), principal percussionist Craig Fineshriber (41 years), violinist Carol Borman (39 years) and oboist Holly Gornik (36 years). Amid the departures, one Utah Symphony musician holds the distinction of being the world?s longest-serving orchestra player: violinist Frances Darger, at 68 years and counting.
A notable newcomer, Scott Hagen?s Utah Wind Symphony, started its inaugural season June 2. The ensemble already plays with professional polish and intends to become fully professional in the future.
Noteworthy ? Among other notable events in 2011, the Salt Lake Choral Artists? performance of Karl Jenkins? ?The Armed Man: Mass for Peace? had memorable impact, as did Michael Ballam?s transformation into Fagin in a Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre production of ?Oliver!? In an artistic coup, Ballam?s UFOMT also brought Mussorgsky?s opera ?Boris Godunov? to the Logan stage.
On the road again ? The Mormon Tabernacle Choir released only two albums this year, but let?s not be too hard on ?America?s Choir.? Mack Wilberg and his 360 singers also embarked on a concert tour of several high-profile East Coast venues, staged a flash mob in Colonial Williamsburg, Va., and released a digital download of their 9/11 memorial show and a DVD of their 2009 summer tour.
David Burger, Celia R. Baker and Robert Coleman contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/lifestyle/53123930-80/utah-symphony-orchestra-music.html.csp
when does daylight savings start earthquake in texas earthquake in texas official time news 9 tuscaloosa tuscaloosa
No comments:
Post a Comment