It is with great excitement that we announce plans for the 2024-2025 Concert Season. I have titled the season: “Expect the Unexpected.” I think you’ll see why as you scroll through the season.
Besides the concert dates, soloists and music, you will see the instrumentation list as well as the designation (OC). This represents an orchestra choice piece, either submitted to the online form or from the many personal conversations we might have about music. I was pleased to be able to include 8 pieces, all of them major orchestral works, and all from orchestra player recommendations.
A few other things to note (I’ll explain this further at rehearsal for the players). Several of our concerts will be “outside the box,” and are intriguing alternatives to the average concert. The November concert will be an exploration of Shakespeare and music, with guest actors from the UofU Actor Training Program and SLC’s own Utopia Early Music providing context for the evening of orchestral music inspired by Shakespeare, featuring music of the era as well as famous Shakespeare scenes. In December, Jim Bobick (our original operatic Scrooge) will narrate a new story that I am writing for Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. We will make it fun, educational, slightly updated, and full of holiday cheer. The final “outside the expectations” concert will be our May Concert, an exploration of sound and silence. Our friend Phillip Bimstein will host the evening, and our very own Charlotte Bell will transform the pre-concert talk into a meditation and listening workshop. Gorecki’s powerful Symphony no. 3 will provide the main sonic exploration of the evening, a work I have hoped to conduct for a long time.
A lot of great repertoire awaits! We will start with Mahler and Pärt, and will visit Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Dvorak, Handel, Borodin, Beethoven, Ravel, Rachmaninov and Sibelius and others along the way. Two distinguished soloists will be playing works by contemporary female composers, the latter being a world premiere with Utah ties to both soloist and subject matter. Our friends the SummerArts Piano Winners, Viennese Ballroom Dancers, soprano Melissa Heath, and the traditional Side-By-Side High School Musicians will also make their expected appearances, providing legacy to this new feel of the season.
But BEFORE all that, we have a summer concert and workshop, too! The SLS will be the ensemble in residence for the inaugural Interpret, Inspire Improvise! A Conductors Workshop to be held at the U. Save the dates if you are a string player, oboist, bassoonist, hornist, trumpeter or timpanist! June 28-30. Sessions will take place at Libby, with a free concert on Sunday, June 30 at Canyon Rim Park.
Looking forward!
Salt Lake Symphony 2024-25 Season: Expect the Unexpected
(OC = Orchestra Choice, requested repertoire)
SLS Summer 2024
Late June 2024 SLS Summer Conductors Workshop and Summer Park Concert
(Outdoor concert venue yet to be booked)
17’ Handel: Royal Fireworks 0303-3300-tmp-str
30’ Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings (OC)
September 27 or 28 (TBD due to Presidential Debate). Return of the Titan!
*4*4*4*3 – 7431 – 2tmp, 3 perc – hp – str (14/12/12/12/8)
9’ Arvo Pärt: Fratres for Strings and Percussion (OC)
55’ Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D Major, “Titan“ (OC)
November 2. Shakespeare and the Symphony, with Utopia Early Music and Actors from the UofU Department of Theatre Actor Training Program
*3*322 – 4231 – tmp+2 – hp – str (14/12/10/10/6)
1’ Actor/Intro Speech: Oberon’s speech (Act II, Scene ii) “…wake when some vile thing is near”
10’ Felix Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture
4’ Utopia Early Music feature Moro lasso–Carlo Gesualdo
2’ Actor: Desdemona’s monologue (Act IV, Scene ii)
14’ Antonin Dvorak: Othello Overture
5’ Utopia Early Music Feature: Agincourt carol
5’ Actor: Eve of St. Crispin’s Day from Henry V
3’ William Walton: Death of Falstaff from Henry V
3’ Utopia Early Music feature: Campion: shall i come sweet love to thee
c.10’ Actors: Romeo and Juliet Act 2, Scene 2 (Balcony Scene)
20’ Peter Ilyich Tchaikokvsky: Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture
3’ Utopia Early Music feature– Dowland: Now o now I needs must part
2’ Actor: Puck’s final speech from Midsummer Night’s Dream Act V, Scene i)
5’ Mendelssohn: Wedding March from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
December 5-7. Amahl and the Night Visitors/A Christmas Carol with U Opera at the Grand 1211 – 1100 – tmp/perc – hp – pno – str (3/2/2/2/1)
53’ Giancarlo Menotti: Amahl and the Night Visitors
7’ Gustav Holst: Christmas Day
12’ G.F. Handel: Four arias (TBD) from The Messiah
15’ Gerald Finzi: In terra pax
3’ Handel: Hallelujah Chorus
December 14. Pops/Family concert featuring Santa’s Guide to the Orchestra; 2:00 Matinee Performance. Jim Bobick, Narrator; U Opera? Robert Baldwin and Oswaldo Machado, conductors.
Est: *3222 – 4231 – tmp+5 – hp – pf/cel – str (12/10/10/10/6)
8’ Anderson: Christmas Festival with choir (Baldwin with Choir)
5’ Arr. Holcombe: Festive Sounds of Hannukah
18’ Britten/Baldwin: Santa’s Guide to the Orchestra (w/new “Santa-spiced” narration)
7’ Gustav Holst: Christmas Day
2’ Nelson, arr. Moss: Frosty the Snowman (sing-along)
2’ Marks, arr. Ployhar: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (sing-along)
3’ G.F. Handel: Hallelujah Chorus (sing-along)
January 25. Summer Arts Piano Competition Winners Concert
(Est: *3222 – 4231 – tmp+1 – hp? – str)
February 8. Vienna Ball
March 15. Spirit of Spring. Hasse Borup, violin; Side by Side musicians
*3222 – 4231 – tmp +5 – hp – str (12/10/8/8/6)
16’ Alexander Borodin: Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor (Side by side students) (OC)
15’ Augusta Reed Thomas: Violin Concerto No. 1, “Spirit Musings”
28’ Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, Op. 60 (OC)
April 12. Musical Latitude. Laura Grantier, clarinet
*3*3*3*3 – 4331 – asx – tmp+5 – hp – pf – str (14/12/12/12/8)
9’ Maurice Ravel: Alborada del gracioso
c.20’ Nadine Silverman: Trails, An Excursion for Clarinet and Orchestra (world premiere)
35’ Sergei Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances (OC)
May 17. Sound and Silence: An Immersive Audience Experience of Meditation and Music. Soprano, TBD. Phillip Bimstein and Charlotte Bell, Concert and Workshop Meditation Leaders.
*32*3*3 – 4231 – tmp+3 – str (14/12/12/12/8)
16’ Jean Sibelius: Night Ride and Sunrise, op. 55
5’ Phillip Bimstein: “Silence” from Refuge
3’ G.F. Handel, Rheinhard: Ombra mai fu (Largo) from Xerxes
5’ John Cage: 4’33”
55’ Gorecki: Symphony No. 3 “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs” (OC)
Before the Downbeat 