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
SALT LAKE ELECTRIC ENSEMBLE: RETURN ALBUM Return, the newest album release of the Salt Lake Electric Ensemble (SLEE), transmits listeners to their own virtual interstellar journey, exploring a legion of cosmic soundscapes with surprising pleasures in timbral shifts and rhythmic modulations which listeners can enjoy and immerse themselves in as they see fit. A masterpiece … 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
Salt Lake City’s music calendar is filled regularly with concerts offering a superior level of musicianship that would be envied in any major U.S. urban cultural center. The Utah Review summarizes four concerts from the last four weeks as a sampler of what is available in the local community throughout the fall, winter and spring … 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
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
Capping a season of many adventurous thrills, NOVA Chamber Music Series upcoming final concert of 2018-2019, The Head and The Heart, is apt in many ways. For her final concert as music director this season, Madeline Adkins, also Utah Symphony’s concertmaster, has selected four works spanning 250 years, assembled the usual legitimate all-star slate of … Read more
This past weekend, Portuguese-born pianist Luis Magalhães made the 9,800-mile journey from his South African home to Salt Lake City for the Western Hemisphere premiere of Nikolai Kapustin’s Double Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra, Opus 105, in the upcoming NOVA Chamber Music Series concert titled Parallel Worlds. The concert (April 28, 3 p.m., Libby … Read more
Reflections, the most recent NOVA Chamber Music Series concert, eloquently conveyed its theme in a cohesive, imaginative way that any artistic director should envy. Throughout the season, Madeline Adkins, NOVA’s music director, has expanded upon the organization’s unique branding for programming concerts with themes that elucidate new dimensions of music appreciation. Adkins, the Utah Symphony … Read more