Musician’s Note: “New World” Symphony

I’ve been playing violin with the Utah Symphony for 12 years and feel very fortunate to have such a unique and fulfilling job.

One of the great things about playing in an orchestra is the opportunity to play great repertoire, like the “New World” Symphony, which is full of beautiful melodies and tone colors. To sit in the middle of an orchestra, feel the sound washing over me, and enjoy how the many parts fit together is quite an experience. I highly recommend it.

Another great piece in the repertoire we’ll be performing this week is the Beethoven Concerto for Violin and Orchestra. It has been one of my favorite pieces for as long as I can remember, and it was one of the first recordings of classical music I owned when I received a cassette tape of Itzhak Perlman for Christmas. I liked it so much I traded my entire coin collection (very valuable to a nine-year-old boy!) with a friend to get his orchestral score so I could read along with the tape. Now, I have more than 20 recordings of this concerto, and I still never get tired of it. Actually, one of my favorite performances of the piece was when Joseph Silverstein played it with the Utah Symphony many years ago; his warm sound and poised phrasing was ideal to me.

Please join us for these and more wonderful pieces at the Deer Valley® Music Festival!

Joe Evans

Violin, Utah Symphony