Reflections on 2008, Mozart’s piano concerto, and bailouts for the arts

At the end of each calendar year, the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune sum up the year in classical music. This year, Ed Reichel did a “top 10″ list, and the Utah Symphony captured five out of the ten spots. He also included an “honorable mention” for Ralph Matson’s brilliant performance of Britten’s Violin Concerto in November. In the Salt Lake Tribune, Catherine Reese Newton reflected on Keith’s final season as Music Director and violinist Kenny Kutchler passing away.

Yesterday, the Salt Lake Tribune previewed our upcoming concert Mozart’s Grand Piano Concerto. I didn’t realize it, but the conductor Stefan Solyom is another young conductor who was trained by Jorma Panula (same as Pietari Inkenen who conducted Mozart’s Requiem last month). Gunilla Süssmann will perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25.

Finally, I menioned the article the other day with the JFK quote, but Michael Kaiser (President of the Kennedy Center) wrote an editorial in the Washington Post where he argued that the arts are the latest in need of a bailout. Specificially, he is asking for emergency grants, unusual access to endowments, tax breaks for corporate gifts, and encouragement for foundations to increase spending. You can read the entire article on www.washingtonpost.com.