Utah Symphony Presents Mozarts Concerto No. 25 & Dukas' Sorcerer's Apprentice

Utah Symphony Presents
Mozarts Concerto No. 25 and
Dukas' Sorcerer's Apprentice

Piano Concerto No. 25 & Sorcerer's Apprentice
Friday, October 25 8:00 PM / Saturday, October 26 8:00 PM 
Finishing Touches
Friday, October 25 10 AM

Utah Symphony, led by guest conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier, presents Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s majestic Piano Concerto No. 25 and the dramatic Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Paul Dukas, the charming musical fable made famous by Disney’s Fantasia.

Acclaimed rising American pianist Orion Weiss joins the Utah Symphony for the Mozart piano concerto, which was written during one of the greatest years of the composer’s compositional life and stands tall among his impressive wealth of piano masterpieces. The orchestra also performs Jean Sibelius’ heroic Symphony No. 5, the original version of which was premiered by Sibelius himself with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra on his own 50th birthday, December 8, 1915.

It would be a challenge to find a composer who had a more important year than Mozart did in 1786, in which he completed The Marriage of Figaro, the “Prague” Symphony, the “Hoffmeister” String Quartet and the B-flat Major Piano Trio, and finally Piano Concerti nos. 23, 24 and 25. It was also the beginning of a transition for Mozart, from the performing pianist phase to the opera composer phase. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 was last performed by the Utah Symphony in 2009. Stefan Solyom conducted and Gunilla Sussmann was soloist.

“Pity the poor one-piece composer” writes Orrin Howard in his essay on Dukas’ great scherzo The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which premiered in May of 1897 and immediately launched the composer into stardom. An apt piece for the orchestra to play during the Halloween season, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice has been frequently performed by the Utah Symphony over the years. The last Masterworks Series iteration was in 2002 under Pavel Kogan. Dukas’ Fanfare to La Péri was last performed by the Utah Symphony as part of the Lollipops Series. The year was 2005 and Scott O’Neil was on the podium.

Related Events:
The Utah Symphony’s Finishing Touches Series returns in the 2013-2014 season on Friday, October 25, 2013 at 10 AM. These events are a behind-the-scenes look at the orchestra during the final rehearsals. They will impress upon attendees the diligence and dedication that goes into each performance.

Tickets can be purchased by phone at (801) 355-2787, in person at the Abravanel Hall ticket office (123 W. South Temple) or online by visiting www.utahsymphony.org.


Guest Artists

Orion Weiss, Piano 
One of the most sought after soloists in his generation of young American musicians, pianist Orion Weiss has performed with the major American orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and New York Philharmonic. The 2013‐14 season will feature Weiss with orchestras around North America, including the Milwaukee and Vancouver Symphonies; in the summer of 2014 he will perform again with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The 2012-13 season saw Weiss in repeat engagements with the Baltimore Symphony and New World Symphony; he released a recital album of Dvorak, Prokofiev, and Bartok in spring 2012, and also spearheaded a recording project of the complete Gershwin works for piano and orchestra with his longtime collaborators the Buffalo Philharmonic and JoAnn Falletta. Named the Classical Recording Foundation’s Young Artist of the Year in September 2010, in the summer of 2011 Weiss made his debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood as a last---minute replacement for Leon Fleisher. In 2004, he graduated from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Emanuel Ax.

Yan Pascal Tortelier, Conductor
Yan Pascal Tortelier enjoys a distinguished career as a guest with the world’s most prestigious orchestras. He began his musical career as a violinist and at fourteen won first prize for violin at the Paris Conservatoire and also made his debut as a soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Following general musical studies with Nadia Boulanger, Tortelier studied conducting with Franco Ferrara at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, and from 1974 to 1983 he was Associate Conductor of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. Recent highlights have included his debut performances with the Iceland and Stavanger Symphony Orchestras, return visits to the BBC Philharmonic and Hallé Orchestras, the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, and the San Francisco, St Louis, Cincinnati and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras.

Program
Paul Dukas
     Fanfare to precede La Péri

Paul Dukas
     The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
     Concerto No. 25 in C major for Piano and Orchestra, K. 503
          I. Allegro maestoso
          II. Andante
          III. Allegretto Orion Weiss, piano

Intermission

Jean Sibelius
     Symphony No. 5 in E-Flat major, Opus 82
          I. Tempo molto moderato - Allegro moderato - Presto
          II. Andante mosso, quasi allegretto
          III. Allegro molto - Misterioso

Pre-concert chat one hour before each evening concert with Guest Conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier and Vice President of Symphony Artistic Planning Toby Tolokan.

About the Utah Symphony
Founded in 1940, the Utah Symphony is dedicated to providing Utah residents and visitors with great performances which engage, educate and enrich lives. Utah Symphony | Utah Opera, the orchestra’s parent organization, reaches 450,000 citizens in Utah and the Intermountain region, with educational outreach programs serving more than 200,000 students annually. The orchestra presents more than 70 performances each season in Abravanel Hall, participates in the Utah Opera's four annual productions at the Capitol Theater, in addition to numerous community concerts throughout Utah and the annual outdoor summer series – the Deer Valley® Music Festival –in Park City, Utah. With its many subscription, education and outreach concerts and tours, the Utah Symphony is one of the most engaged full-time orchestras in the nation. For more information visit www.utahsymphony.org.

Abravanel Hall
123 West South Temple
Salt Lake City, UT


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