{"id":1590,"date":"2011-02-25T02:18:42","date_gmt":"2011-02-25T02:18:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=1590"},"modified":"2023-11-13T13:48:24","modified_gmt":"2023-11-13T19:48:24","slug":"utah-chamber-artists-bernstein-mozart-and-the-miraculous-case-of-the-high-cs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/utah-chamber-artists-bernstein-mozart-and-the-miraculous-case-of-the-high-cs\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah Chamber Artists: Bernstein, Mozart and the Miraculous Case of the High \u201cC\u201ds"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Utah Chamber Artists director Barlow Bradford<\/p><\/div>\n

by Crystal Young-Otterstrom<\/p>\n

Once upon a time I hated all music written after 1900. That statement was true for all music including pop and<\/em> classical. Shocking, I know. Little by little I happened upon pieces of music that blew my mind, until I finally became the music nerd I am today — wildly obsessed with modern music. Now I pretty much hate everything written before 1900. Just kidding. Sort of…<\/p>\n

One of those modern pieces that blew my mind is Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms which I first heard as a lowly freshman or sophomore at BYU. Utah Symphony performed the piece with their new (at the time) music director, Keith Lockhart. I
\nfollowed along thinking, “this isn’t too weird,” when suddenly they performed the second movement (the text is Psalm 23 in Hebrew) with a young boy soprano from the Madeleine School. My mind wasn’t just blown \u2013 I was literally brought somewhere else entirely new. It was so beautiful that tears were streaming down my face. I was officially open to the concept that modern music could be cool. And beautiful. And amazing. And, utterly moving.<\/p>\n

I’ve always wanted to hear it live again (recordings just aren’t the same) and now here’s my chance (and yours). Utah Chamber Artists, under the helm of Artistic Director Barlow Bradford, will perform this gorgeous work on February 28th at 7:30pm at Libby Gardner Concert Hall as part of their \u201cMozart & Bernstein: The Long and Short of It\u201d performance. I have long admired their beauty and precision, and I can’t wait to hear this work in their more than capable hands…er, throats. Not only that, but I’ll hear a lot of the same symphony players I heard back in 1999 since many of the orchestra members of Utah Chamber Artists are also members of the Utah Symphony.<\/p>\n

Guest artist Celena Shafer will perform the \u201cshort\u201d Bernstein work on the program, the aria \u201cGlitter and be Gay\u201d from Bernstein\u2019s opera Candide. This aria is hilarious and unbelievably, almost atrociously high. It\u2019s actually one of this music nerd\u2019s own showpieces, and I\u2019m excited to hear it in the masterful technique of Celena Shafer. I deeply worship Celena’s beautiful voice. She is in demand all over the world as a soloist and we are lucky she is based in Utah and supports the music scene here when her time allows. In this piece, the character Cunegonde is singing about how she hates being a \u201ckept\u201d woman, and yet, she loves all the beautiful jewelry… and there\u2019s not just one but oh, ten or so HIGH C\u2019s!!!!!!!!!! Not to mention the final (held no less!) E-flat. This is vocal pyrotechnics. Don\u2019t forget to fasten your seat belts!<\/p>\n

Shafer\u2019s personality is just as fun as her voice is beautiful: \u201cBarlow was my theory professor at the University of Utah when I was a freshman and I had a huge crush on him!\u201d she says. \u201cI remember receiving extra credit for his class by attending a Utah Chamber Artists concert. I was mesmerized by the unique choral sound produced by UCA. I’ve been a fan ever since. It is such fun to return to sing with UCA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now if you\u2019ve noticed there\u2019s both a long and a short piece of Bernstein\u2019s on this \u201cLong and Short of It\u201d program, and that Mozart is also part of the title, then yes, added to this already perfect concert is nothing less magnificent than Mozart\u2019s Requiem<\/em>. This is the famous piece Mozart died before finishing. You might remember it from the movie Amadeus<\/em>. This work is beloved for good reason. Celena will join a quartet of incredible singers for this piece: Kirsten Gunlogson, Tyler Nelson, and Michael Chipman. The short Mozart work on the program will be his \u201cLaudate Dominum,\u201d which will again feature Celena. You might recognize it once you hear it.<\/p>\n

Concludes Celena: \u201cThe trick with this concert\u00a0for me will\u00a0be the ability to switch\u00a0between two contrasting\u00a0styles. The Bernstein requires vocal agility and stamina, with a ton of bravado (and vibrato!), while the Mozart requires such an intimate sound (and less vibrato!).\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss this outstanding concert. I\u2019ll be there!<\/p>\n

Monday, February 28, 7:30 PM
\nLibby Gardner Concert Hall<\/a><\/p>\n

Tickets: $15 adult \/ $10 student \/ $50 family of 6<\/p>\n

kingtix.com\u00a0(or at the door)<\/p>\n

For more info:<\/p>\n

www.utahchamberartists.org<\/a><\/p>\n

If you want a chance to win free tickets, \u201cLike\u201d them.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/facebookcom\/utahchamberartists<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Crystal Young-Otterstrom Once upon a time I hated all music written after 1900. That statement was true for all music including pop and classical. Shocking, I know. Little by little I happened upon pieces of music that blew my mind, until I finally became the music nerd […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/barlow5.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-29 14:42:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1590"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70590,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1590\/revisions\/70590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}