The hero’s journey has been explored in many famous operas: Prince Tamino in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Richard Wagner’s Siegfried and Parsifal and Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, just to name a few. Composer Héctor Armienta adds Zorro to that genre in the operatic canon, which is about to receive its Utah premiere in a production by … Read more
The best way to summarize NOVA Chamber Music Series’ 2026-2027 season is that it’s a major warm-up for next year’s golden anniversary celebrations. Undoubtedly having proven its historical significance in raising the heights of chamber music excellence in Salt Lake City, NOVA continues to expand the horizons of its repertoire. World premiere commissions will be … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is Part I of a retrospective on the 50th anniversary of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation. Part I highlights the origins and formative years while Part II (go to this link) summarizes The Bachauer’s multifaceted legacies on and off the concert stage. The Utah Review is grateful for the assistance of … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Utah Review will publish a daily diary about the Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation’s 2024 International Artists Competition. Follow this link daily through June 30, as we update the proceedings, starting with the quarterfinals, continuing through the semi-finals and then to the final round when three pianists will compete for the prizes, … Read more
While Abravanel Hall in downtown Salt Lake City will be the site of the final round in the 2024 Gina Bachauer International Artists Competition, when three pianists will perform concertos with the Utah Symphony on both the evenings of June 28-29, the connection between the Bachauer Foundation and the Utah Symphony goes much deeper, starting … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Utah Review is pleased to present extensive coverage of the 2024 Gina Bachauer International Artists Competition. Each day this week, we will present profiles of the quarterfinalists. This week will focus on preview features and beginning June 17, a daily diary will be published about competition highlights. The nation’s second largest piano … Read more
There are many classical music concertgoers who can rattle off names of some of today’s most respected violinists and pianists but what about guitarists — notably, those who are masters of the electric guitar. How many have heard of masters such as Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, and John Petrucci? Others include Steven Mackey, … Read more
While the Utah Symphony billed its December opener highlighting Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, the two performances of pianist Awadagin Pratt on the Utah premiere of Jessie Montgomery’s Rounds and a Bach keyboard concerto, respectively, constituted the evening’s most thrilling moments. The three standing ovations that Pratt received immediately after Rounds, a Grammy-nominated piece for piano … Read more
Pianist and conductor Awadagin Pratt remembers meeting Jessie Montgomery, violinist and composer, several years ago and playing chamber music together for a week. “She talked about the experiences she had in making the transition from a violinist to a composer and her thoughts about music making in general,” Pratt said in an interview with The … Read more
NOVA Chamber Music Series’ 46th season is all about personality, as noted previously in The Utah Review. The eight concerts for the 2023-24 season will showcase a generous sampling of the outstanding level of musicianship that exemplifies just how high the bar of artistic quality has been set in Utah. The Utah Review offers a … Read more