Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra @ Utah Symphony (SLC: Feb 11 - 12)


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 24, 2011

CONTACT: Hilarie Ashton
Public Relations Manager, Utah Symphony | Utah Opera
(801) 869-9027, hashton@usuo.org

THE UTAH SYMPHONY TO BE SHOWCASED IN BARTÓK’S CONCERTO FOR ORCHESTRA
Guest conductor Pascal Rophé and pianist Joyce Yang will also make their debuts with the Utah Symphony

SALT LAKE CITY – With a program including Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra and Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1, Utah Symphony audience members will be able to enjoy an upcoming presentation of thoroughly soloistic music.

Internationally acclaimed guest conductor Pascal Rophé and pianist Joyce Yang, recent recipient of an Avery Fischer Career Grant and Juilliard’s Arthur Rubinstein Prize, will also make their debuts with the Utah Symphony for these performances Friday and Saturday, February 11 and 12 at 8 p.m. in Abravanel Hall.

The instrumentation of Shostakovich’s piano concerto will not only feature Yang, but also Utah Symphony principal trumpet, Jeff Luke, along with a purely string orchestra. Bartók’s most popular work, the Concerto for Orchestra expertly features every section of the orchestra, highlighting the individual virtuosity of the players. It was the last work he composed and is accepted today as the finest example of the non-symphony form. Also on the evening’s program is Stravinsky’s dissonant yet charming Song of the Nightingale, which was originally an opera written in stages framing his iconic Rite of Spring and re-worked as a ballet shortly after.

Tickets for these performances start at $15 and can be purchased by calling (801) 355-ARTS (2787), in person at the Abravanel Hall box office, or by visiting www.usuo.org. Subscribers and those desiring group or student discounts should call (801) 533-NOTE (6683). Ticket prices will increase $5 when purchased the day of the performance.

Patrons are invited to attend a free pre-concert lecture each night, 45 minutes prior to the start of the performance in the First Tier Room of Abravanel Hall.

Press photos available at http://www.utahsymphony.org/media.php. (Username: usuoimages, password: media).

Artist Bios:

Pascal Rophé, Conductor
Pascal Rophé has built up an enviable reputation for his interpretations of the great symphonic repertoire of the 18th and 19th centuries. From 1992, after studying at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris and winning second prize at the 1988 Besançon International Competition, he went on to collaborated closely with Pierre Boulez and the Ensemble intercontemporain, where he also worked extensively with David Robertson.

Pascal has worked with composers (George Crumb, George Benjamin, Harrison Birtwhistle, Pascal Dusapin, Bruno Mantovani, Michael Jarrell, Philippe Hurel, Ivan Fedele, Luca Francesconi), soloists (Antoine Tamestit, Roger Muraro, Tabea Zimmermann, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet), and orchestras (Philharmonia, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, RTE National Symphony, Ulster Orchestra, Ensemble intercontemporain, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, RAI Torino, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo. Pascal also served for three years as Music Director of Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège-Bruxelles until June 2009.

Joyce Yang, Piano
Born in Seoul, Korea, Ms. Yang received her first piano lesson at age four from her aunt. By age ten, she had entered the School of Music at the Korea National University of Arts, and subsequently made a number of concerto and recital appearances in Seoul and Daejon. In April 1999, Ms. Yang was invited to perform at a benefit concert with the Juilliard Orchestra, conducted by Leonard Slatkin. She recently graduated from Juilliard with special honor, as the recipient of the 2010 Arthur Rubinstein Prize, and was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant, one of the most prestigious prizes in classical music.

Ms. Yang has been continually engaged by orchestras across the U.S. and abroad and has performed with the Chicago Symphony, National Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Houston Symphony, National Orchestra of Brazil, Estonian Symphony Orchestra, and Hong Kong Philharmonic, working with renowned conductors such as Edo de Waart, Lorin Maazel, James Conlon, Leonard Slatkin, David Robertson, Bramwell Tovey, Eri Klas, Nicolai Alexeev, and Gianandrea Noseda. As a frequent recitalist, Ms. Yang has appeared in Chicago Symphony Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Tonhalle in Zurich, and the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. 

Joyce Yang is featured in In the Heart of Music, the film documentary about the 2005 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. A Steinway Artist since 2008, she currently resides in New York City.

Program:

Igor Stravinsky               Le Chant du rossignol (Song of the Nightingale)
Dmitri Shostakovich       Concerto No. 1 in C Minor for Piano and Orchestra, op. 35
I.  Allegro moderato
II.  Lento
III.  Moderato
IV.  Allegro brio
Joyce Yang, Piano

INTERMISSION

Béla Bartók                   Concerto for Orchestra
I. Introduzione—Andante non troppo—Allegro vivace
II. Giuocco delle coppie— Allegretto scherzando
III. Elegia—Andante non troppo
IV. Intermezzo interrotto—Alletretto
V. Finale—Pesante—Presto


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Hilarie Ashton
Public Relations Manager
801.869.9027
hashton@usuo.org