The last live NOVA Chamber Music Series concert before the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered all live performances in the city occurred on March 1, 2020, a program featuring music by Nordic composers performed in the Utah Museum of Fine Arts’ Great Hall. In the last 18 months, NOVA has stayed visible with a series of virtual … Read more
Pianist Cahill Smith fits nicely into the NOVA Chamber Music Series’ family, as well as the Utah State University music school in Logan. Take the following example. In two Carnegie Hall recitals, respectively in 2013 and 2015, he dedicated his performances to works by Russian composer Nikolai Medtner, a far less known contemporary of Sergei … Read more
INTRODUCTION One year ago, when The Utah Review presented the 2019 edition of the top 10 moments of the Utah Enlightenment, it was a jubilant representation of Utah’s integral strengths as a community of the arts and the momentum that catapulted Salt Lake City as one of the Intermountain West’s most dynamic centers for creative … Read more
In the last decade, many performers and creative producers have risen to articulating the dimensions of human sustainability and vibrancy when it comes to speaking up about climate change and other major environmental impacts. The diverse spectrum of examples continues to proliferate in all genres of music. In July 2019, the band The 1975 released … Read more
Fierce Grace, the most recent NOVA Chamber Music Series’ concert, was more than a credible parallel where music and song stood in for the stemwinders one might have heard at a political rally during the suffragette and civil rights movements. Rousing spiritual moments highlighted the three works, including the Utah premiere of the cycle of … Read more
Countermeasures is an apt title for a piece of music. The term typically refers to political or military tactics or to a biological instinct of nature where plants and animals respond to a threat or combat danger. Like authors, composers sometimes struggle with titles. “My working title initially for this piece was ‘Four for the … Read more
HONG XU: GINA BACHAUER INTERNATIONAL PIANO FOUNDATION It was a perfect homecoming for Chinese pianist Hong Xu, who opened the 2019-2020 season series of concerts for the Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation. Xu, who won the bronze medal at the 2001 Bachauer competitions at the age of 17 in Salt Lake City, returned last week … Read more
Close ties of several varieties will connect the upcoming NOVA Chamber Music Series concert featuring string chamber music of György Ligeti (1923-2006) and Johannes Brahms (1834-1897), also featuring the Fry Street Quartet in its first performance as the organization’s new music directors. One broad but close tie is how the music of Ligeti and Brahms … Read more
Works by two prominent American composers along with a precedent-setting chamber piece for pianos and percussion by one of the 20th century’s greatest composers and three of Chopin’s most exquisite nocturnes for piano will comprise the opening concert for NOVA Chamber Music Series’ 42nd season. The Night Music concert also is the first being programmed … Read more
The outstanding lineup for the upcoming Gina Bachauer International Piano Festival in Salt Lake City comprises three internationally known pianists, a Utah soprano and the Fry Street Quartet, the string ensemble in residence at Utah State University, along with nine young pianists, some of whom might compete in next year’s junior and young artists competitions … Read more