Music

World, U.S. premieres highlight recent spring productions of Sackerson, Repertory Dance Theatre, NOVA Chamber Music Series

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This spring has blossomed with numerous adventurous concerts and performances, including several world and U.S. premieres, with works presented by the Repertory Dance Theatre, Sackerson and NOVA Chamber Music Series. SACKERSON: SCARLET For a small theatrical company without a permanent home, Sackerson has managed consistently to electrify the Salt Lake City performing arts scene with … Read more

Samba Fogo’s Ouça promises to be exuberant, gregarious visual, listening experience

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The guitarist Andre Feriante wrote that we “live in silence.” In finding his natural pulse as a composer, he believes “music that is aware of the gates of silence can cause you to see more of where you really live.” Music that inspires contemplation and heightened senses can take many forms – introspective and quiet … Read more

Unconventional pairings, old and new, highlight NOVA Chamber Music Series’ Bach and New Horizons

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Today, it seems unbelievable to think that in the decades following J.S. Bach’s death in 1750, his music was relegated for the most part to obscurity. Concert life in the 18th century was vastly different from today’s programming objectives, as William Weber, a frequently cited social historian of music, has researched. In 18th century Leipzig, … Read more

Fry Street Quartet to close out Haydn-Bartók cycle in NOVA Chamber Music Series gallery concert

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An atypical but most enlightening cycle juxtaposing string quartets composed by Franz Joseph Haydn and Béla Bartók will come to a close in a March 25 concert by the Fry Street Quartet, as part of the NOVA Chamber Music Series’ gallery programs. Two Bartók quartets – the lyrical second and the experimental fourth which employs … Read more

Timeless values shape Salt Lake City Public Library’s celebrations of key historic milestones, new 21st century initiatives

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There are three milestones this year for the Salt Lake City Public Library system. The City Library main branch marks its 15th year in its award-winning building, the system celebrates its 120th anniversary and the Chapman branch in the Poplar Grove neighborhood on the city’s west side, one of the last Carnegie libraries in Utah, … Read more

Two worthy Utah Enlightenment examples: Dan Higgins’ In. Memory. Of, NOVA Chamber Music Series’ Micro-Concerto program

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Two recent Salt Lake City performances once again highlight the creative entrepreneurial impact of the Utah Enlightenment. DAN HIGGINS: IN. MEMORY. OF., AN EVENING OF STORYTELLING AND DANCE Talkbacks after a performance or a screening of a new film can be risky, frustrating and deflating. There are plenty of justifications why many creative professionals hesitate … Read more

Salt Lake Electric Ensemble’s recording of Philip Glass masterpiece Music with Changing Parts released on composer’s famous recording label

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Nearly 50 years ago, Philip Glass (now 81) composed some of the most brilliant pieces of early minimalism. They were the seeds of a new complex music practice that only in the 21st century has been clarified for its utmost significance. Alex Ross, the eminent music critic for The New Yorker magazine, has written about … Read more

NOVA Chamber Music’s Series Micro-Concerto program features muscular slate including new 40th anniversary commission by Utah composer

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Muscular is the apt adjective to describe NOVA Chamber Music Series’ next concert which pairs two of Beethoven’s most compact chamber ensemble works with a dazzling micro-concerto for percussionist and the premiere of a new piece by Utah composer Morris Rosenzweig, made possible by the Chamber Music America classical commissioning program. The four works comprise … Read more

Three worthy February performances: NOVA Chamber Music Series’ On the Threshold of Winter, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s Strata, PYGmalion Productions’ I And You

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NOVA CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES: ON THE THRESHOLD OF WINTER, CHAMBER OPERA, MICHAEL HERSCH Michael Hersch is an extraordinary composer. His chamber opera titled On the Threshold of Winter, which recently was presented in an astonishing production by the NOVA Chamber Music Series, makes as huge demands on audience members as it does on the soprano … Read more

NOVA Chamber Music Series presents an extraordinary festival this week dedicated to music of Michael Hersch

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I hereby recall the water from your cells, The sea sends me word Via an emissary. “I have a need for fuel (On the threshold of winter). Now I understand why for some time Dark clouds have hovered above me: Within them there’s a large part of myself Waving good-bye. The Emissary of the Blue … Read more