News: 2012 Utah Arts Festival Announces Composer Commissions

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2012 Utah Arts Festival Announces Composer Commissions

Timothy Kramer & Henry Wolking Present World Premieres During The Utah Arts Festival, June 21–24 on Library Square

Salt Lake City, UT:  The 2012 Utah Arts Festival announces two composer commissions, for Chamber Ensemble and Jazz will premiere during the Festival on Library Square, June 21 through June 24.

The Mandel Foundation proudly sponsors the 6th annual Composer Commission for Chamber Ensemble with the piece Lake Effect, written by Timothy Kramer on Saturday, June 23 at 4 pm in the Library Auditorium. Major orchestras and ensembles have performed Kramer’s works throughout the world. He has received grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the NEA, the MacDowell Colony, Meet the Composer, BMI, ASCAP, and the AGO, among others. His degrees are from Pacific Lutheran University (B.M.) and the University of Michigan (D.M.A.). He was a Fulbright Scholar to Germany. Originally from Washington State, he taught at Trinity University in San Antonio for 19 years before taking a new post in 2010 as Professor and Chair of the Music Department at Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois. In San Antonio, he also founded CASA (the Composers Alliance of San Antonio). His works are published by Southern, Earnestly Music, Hinshaw, and Selah and are recorded on Calcante, North/South, and Capstone.

Winner of the 2012 Utah Arts Festival Jazz Composer’s Commission, Henry Wolking, will take the stage Friday, June 22 at 8:30 pm on the Festival Stage, with the world premiere of his work Time Passing Time.Henry Wolking is a composer, performer (trombone), conductor, author, professor emeritus, and former chair of jazz studies and professor of music at the University of Utah. He received his BME from the University of Florida, and was awarded his MA at North Texas State University. In 1972, at the age of 23, his reputation as a composer and performer brought him to the University of Utah as head of the Jazz area. By 38, he was a tenured professor. He is currently recording with PARMA and will release his string quartet recordings, “The Old Gypsy” and “Gone Playin’” for clarinet and chamber orchestra, later this year. Recording sessions with the Moravian Philharmonic will take place in the Czech Republic, and will be distributed internationally by Naxos via enhanced CD and through Amazon.

The 2012 Utah Arts Festival runs Thursday, June 21 through Sunday, June 24 from noon to 11 p.m. on Library Square, 400 South and 200 East in downtown Salt Lake City.

Adult admission is $10 at the gate, $7 in advance. Children 12 and under are free. Seniors 65 and above are $5. Reduced adult admission is $5 and available from noon to 3 p.m. on Thursday and Friday.

For details and more information visit www.uaf.org. Follow the Utah Arts Festival on Facebook and Twitter @utahartsfest.