Utah Music articles published in 15 Bytes, Utah’s art magazine, including classical, chamber, jazz, world, experimental.
Sinfonia Salt Lake, Salt Lake City’s newest professional chamber orchestra, gave its inaugural concert on January 25 and its second on May 16 at the First United Methodist Church in Salt Lake City. There is certainly a place for such an orchestra in the Salt Lake City area’s orchestral […]
Alyssa Pyper will perform a set of works for solo voice, violin, and electronics at 12 Minutes Max this Sunday at the City Library in Salt Lake City. For Pyper, this particular set of works is about reclamation. “I’ve worked to craft a re-telling of personal narratives through […]
Color Animal, one of the musical projects of local musician Andrew Shaw, who was profiled in this month’s edition of 15 Bytes, has released their first music video, for “Heal Me,” from their third full-length album Why Don’t We Have Fun? “All four members of the band … […]
The Utah Symphony’s return, after 50 years, to New York City’s famed Carnegie Hall on April 29 was one of the high points of the performing arts institution’s exceptional 75th anniversary season. They were last there in 1966, under the baton of Maurice Abravanel, to open Carnegie Hall’s […]
Repertory Dance Theatre has a long tradition of collaborating with the arts community. It only makes sense for them to culminate their 50th anniversary season with a collaboration. “Revere” brings together various artists to honor José Limón, whose work has been part of RDT’s repertoire since 1967. The Salt Lake […]
“It seems so hard to get people to actually listen to music,” says Salt Lake City rock musician Andrew Shaw. “There’s so much saturation right now with so many bands making great music and other entertainment vying for your attention. Someone dedicating any amount of time in […]
On Monday, March 14, KUED will air the first of what will be a trilogy of films commemorating 100 years of the National Park Service. The trilogy, called Year of the Parks, begins with “National Park Symphony,” a visual portrait (or music video, depending on how you want […]
Swiss composer Frank Martin (1890-1974) is one of the most enigmatic composers in that nation’s musical pantheon. The integrity, rigor, and honesty of his music, in multiple genres, are perhaps unmatched, even in comparison to other exceptional 20th-century composers. Martin’s “Mass for Unaccompanied Double Choir” fits this template especially well. […]
The Utah Philharmonia is the largest orchestral ensemble of the University of Utah School of Music. Its most recent concert, given at Libby Gardner Concert Hall in Salt Lake City on February 11, presented the ensemble at one of its peaks. With an enthusiasm second to none, the School of […]
If you’re planning on attending Ballet West’s production of Romeo and Juliet this month, you might notice the company has hired a new maestro: Tara Simoncic. Artistic Director Adam Sklute has brought her in over the past several years for projects, but she was appointed as the orchestral […]
Chamber music, at least in some circles, has a reputation for being difficult to embrace with warmth and then thoroughly enjoy, but those that do tend to become lifelong aficionados. There is often a stark intimacy and immediacy to this genre, and even more so to the string […]
Dr. Michael Hicks is a widely-published musicologist at Brigham Young University. He teaches music theory, score analysis and aesthetics. He is also a singer/songwriter and a composer. His new work for string quartet titled “Of the” will premiere on January 31st at Libby Gardner Concert Hall as […]
Salt Lake City and its surrounding environs are gifted with a raft of talented classical music ensembles and long-standing concert series. 2015 was, as in recent years, filled with an array of choices for memorable performances. Many, if not most, of my comments will be gushingly positive, but […]
In three days, two of Utah’s premiere classical music organizations collaborated in Salt Lake City in a way that will continue on four additional weekends for the 2015-2016 concert season. Both entities premiered compositions by a living composer – one being a world premiere, and the other two Utah premieres. The now-venerable but lively […]
Sitting in the lush, wood-paneled dignity of the University of Utah’s Libby Gardner Concert Hall, watching a group of talented musicians dressed in black evening wear play the music of a cutting-edge composer, you find mirth welling up in your chest, swelling towards a guffaw, and wonder, “Is […]
Everyone’s favorite musician and folklorist, Hal Cannon is performing with his group 3hattrio at a free in-store concert and Dark Desert Night CD release at Ken Sanders’ Rare Books in Salt Lake City (Thursday, Nov. 5th), followed by two performances at the Moab Folk Festival (Nov. 6-7). Modern dance patrons can sample five of 3hattrio’s pieces in tandem with RDT at “Revel” (November 19 – 21, 2015) at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, Salt Lake City.
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) was a masterful French composer, and is best known for his languidly vigorous and consoling choral Requiem — likely his most performed composition. His chamber music is exquisitely crafted, but this craft can at times conceal some of the intense emotional arcs that it harbors. It is […]
