Happy Birthday to Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg! (1843-1907)

Grieg was a nationalist composer, and integrated Norwegian folk music into many of his works. He is also the most well-known Norwegian composer. He was able to do a great deal of recording later on in his career, especially of his piano works. He also had great hair.

When he was 23 he wrote a Funeral March for a friend who had died. (This friend, Rikard Nordraak, also wrote the Norwegian national anthem.) The same march was played at Grieg’s funeral. Pretty cool to be able to write the music for your own funeral!

This is one of Grieg’s most well-known piano pieces, and immortalizes the home he built with his wife – Troldhaugen (Troll Hill). Wedding-Day at Troldhaugen:

Here’s a movement from his Peer Gynt Suite – Morgenstimmung, which has probably been featured in more cartoons and commercials than any other classical music work:

And one of my favorite Grieg works – his Piano Concerto in A minor. You can hear this work live this summer on our 1812 Overture concert on August 12!

This week’s composer is Grammy-winning American composer Joan Tower! It’s not too often than we feature a living composer on the blog! Tower was born in New York in 1938, but she moved to Bolivia at a young age. She credits her experiences there for making rhythm such an important part of her work. She moved back to the United States for college.

Tower has written a wide variety of works, from chamber and solo pieces, to orchestra works, and a ballet commission. In 2008 the recording by the Nashville Symphony under Leonard Slatkin of Tower’s piece Made in America won three Grammy’s for Best Orchestral Performance, Best Classical Album, and Best Classical Contemporary Composition. We’ve been fortunate the past few years to have Joan Tower come to the Deer Valley® Music Festival, and work with our Emerging Quartets and Composers program.

Here are a couple of Tower’s works:

Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman

Simply Purple for Viola

We had a great season last year with five sold-out shows, and this year we’ve got another amazing lineup! Here are just a few of the great performances we have coming up at Snow Park Outdoor Amphitheater:

The Music of the Eagles: A Rock Symphony with the Utah Symphony
Vivaldi’s Four Seasons
Chris Botti with the Utah Symphony
Summer Pops with Keith and Time for Three
Idina Menzel and the Utah Symphony
The Music of Queen with the Utah Symphony

We also have a great selection of chamber music and chamber groups in St. Mary’s Church and Temple Har Shalom. Visit the Deer Valley Music Festival website to explore the whole season, and buy your tickets!

Our Saturday Pops concerts will open with the timeless Music of the Eagles, followed by best-selling jazz artist Chris Botti performing with the Utah Symphony. Broadway powerhouse and “Glee!” favorite Idina Menzel will also perform with the orchestra. Another incredible evening of popular Broadway showtunes with Jerry Steichen and noted stars from Broadway will then return to the Festival, and the series will conclude with the Music of Queen.

Friday Classical series concerts, also at the Deer Valley® Snow Park Outdoor Amphitheater, will include performances with Time for Three and the Von Trapp Children. The Utah Symphony will also present a performance of Holst’s The Planets, accompanied by projections of stunning NASA images above the stage. Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture will then close the series.

Wednesday Chamber Orchestra concerts at St. Mary’s Church will feature Utah Symphony performances of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins, an evening of Eastern European dances, and Bottesini’s Gran Duo Passione Amorosa for two basses.

The serene setting of St. Mary’s will also host the Chamber Ensemble Series on Thursdays. Audiences will enjoy performances by Trio Voronezh (folk music band), Anonymous 4 (vocal a cappella quartet) and the always popular Muir String Quartet. Temple Har Shalom will host a performance featuring works from the Jewish American songbook.

Summer packages are available now, and single tickets will go on sale March 21. Visit the Deer Valley® Music Festival website to explore the whole summer season!

How to participate:

1. New Media Music Critics must be a current fan or follower of Utah Symphony | Utah Opera. facebook.com/utahmusic or twitter.com/usuo
   
2. Potential New Media Music Critics just need to send an email to cyoung@usuo.org to sign-up. ONLY THE FIRST 50 WHO SIGN-UP WILL RECEIVE ONE FREE TICKET TO THE JULY 18 PERFORMANCE, although all who sign-up can sit in the reserved section and participate in the competition.
3. New Media Music Critics are required to post at least 5 updates during the performances. Use hash #dvmf for tracking purposes.
4. No video or photography is allowed during the performance due to federal copyright laws. Those who post video or photography from the performance will be disqualified from the competition.
5. New Media Music Critics must check-in at the marketing table prior to the performance in order to receive their ticket.

Click here for info on the performance. ABBA the Music: The Symphonic Hits features two of the original members of ABBA.

On Saturday, February 28, Maestro Keith Lockhart, CEO & President Melia Tourangeau, VP of Marketing & Development Deer Valley® Music Festival Carey Cusimano, Director of Special Events Amanda Deuel, VP of Marketing & Public Relations Kevin Bentz, and Deer Valley Resort President and General Manager Bob Wheaton hosted Deer Valley® Music Festival donors and VIPs for a Ski with Keith day.

Bob was a great host and took us up Bald Mountain for a few great turns and views of the Jordanelle Valley early in the morning while lunch was hosted by Mr. & Mrs. Gordon at the Mariposa. We all had a great time and USUO wishes to thank Bob and the Gordon’s for helping to make this such a wonderful day on the slopes. If you are interested in receiving information on our Deer Valley® Music Festival donor events, please contact Amada Deuel at adeuel@usuo.org for details. Until next time…

More photos are available on our Facebook fan page.

Broadway Rocks!

• Mac & Cheese Dialogues: “The best way to enjoy the Utah Symphony is outside with food!”
• O’ Happy Day: “We went to Deer Valley and heard the Utah Symphony play a selection of Broadway songs in the outdoor amphitheater. We brought along a fancy picnic and snuggled into blankets and just felt grateful to be together.”

Highlights of Gilbert & Sullivan

• Joseph and Stephanie’s Family: “It was a lovely evening with beautiful scenery, especially as the moon came up and over the mountains.”

Mormon Tabernacle Choir with the Utah Symphony

• Lunch Lady Chronicles: “It was fabulous!!! The setting is so beautiful, right up on the mountainside under the stars of the Deer Valley Ski Resort. We had a picnic dinner on our blanket and then enjoyed the concert.”
• Inside Heather’s Head: “The Utah Symphony was fantastic as well, playing some of the most beautiful songs. It got a bit chilly but I enjoyed every second of it. The highlight of the night was after the choir had performed Betelehemu and my dad had overheard a lady behind us that complimented on how the choir moved saying, ‘I didn’t know Mormons could move like that!’ I almost peed my pants of laughter!”
• Melglo Adventures: “The choir went up on stage and the orchestra was preparing. This was so worth hearing!!! It was a wonderful eve out under the stars.”

Gladys Knight & the Utah Symphony

• The Bastians: “It was a great night, under the stars!”
• Tommy, Kolbi, & Avonli: “We took some blankets and picnic and spread them out on the grass hill and had a nice dinner and watched the performance. It was just wonderful.”

Utah Symphony at Scera Shell

• Keep up the good work: “The Symphony was amazing. I love classical music and it was wonderful to hear such beautiful, stirring music. If you ever get the chance to hear the Utah Symphony, don’t pass it up. It raises your spirit to a higher level.”

Thanks everyone for the kind comments! This year’s festival was a lot of fun. I’m already looking forward to next year. For now, everyone is recovering from the Festival while at the same time working hard to get ready for our regular season concerts. These start in September and I’m sure there will be lots more blogging about the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera going on when they do.

What could be better for the grand finale week of the Deer Valley® Music Festival?

I feel very fortunate to have had firsthand experience with both of these groups. Soon after returning to Salt Lake City from graduate school, I accepted an invitation to join the Tabernacle Choir. What a thrilling experience it was to be a part of this unique organization – essentially all amateurs, but in fact, as we know, one of the greatest and most beloved choirs in all the world. Its sheer numbers generate the kind of excitement and fervor you’ll feel listening to its stirring signature piece, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, but it can move you equally deep in your heart with tender renderings from Brahms Requiem to the lovely songs Shenandoah, and Waters Ripple and Flow.

As a singing member, in additional to performing weekly “from the crossroads of the West,” I traveled with the choir on tours to Nashville, Louisville, Washington D.C., Mexico City, Munich, Paris, and London. After relinquishing my spot in the choir (having in the meantime joined the Utah Symphony), I nevertheless have very fond additional memories of traveling with the choir on its tour to Eastern Europe in 1991, when in such cultural capitals as Budapest, Warsaw, and Moscow I can attest to the joy that the choir’s singing brought to those listeners who found themselves lucky enough to get tickets.

Of course, the Utah Symphony has taken marvelous tours as well, bringing our music to many areas of the United States over the years, as well as to South America (summer of ‘71), England (’75), and the European Continent in ‘66, ‘77, ‘81, ‘86, and ‘05. I have had the privilege of participating in all of these tours except the earliest two, as I joined the orchestra in the fall of 1971.

In Utah we are indeed blessed to have two such preeminent musical organizations which are so outstanding and revered throughout the world. To experience them together in the same concert just does not happen every day, so please do not miss this concert! I believe it will remain happily in your memory for a long time to come.

Sincerely,

Julianne Johnson
Violin, Utah Symphony

Mormon Tabernacle Choir with the Utah Symphony
Friday, August 15, 2008 at 7:30 PM
Deer Valley Snow Park Amphitheater

Utah Opera highlights soloists in a concert conducted by the inimitable and popular Gerald Steichen–NEWS FLASH! The orchestra really likes him, too!! Enjoy a return engagement by the Georgia Guitar Quartet, this time performing a cappella at the Deer Valley® Music Festival.

Additionally, this week includes one of my all time favorites—Camille Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals. This cleverly-conceived masterpiece is truly a multi-purpose work—equally appropriate to the formal concert stage or to the intimacy of a concert for children. The instruments and sections of the orchestra assume the roles of zoo animals and “speak” music that uncannily resembles the voices of the animals they portray. The work is accompanied by scrumptious poetry written by Ogden Nash. This presentation is enhanced by an off-stage instrument petting zoo. Bring your kids and get your “zoo-ducation!”

I hope to see you this week in Park City!

Sincerely,

Erich Graf
Principal Flute, Utah Symphony