Utah Symphony Presents Pop Culture Favorites

The Utah Symphony Presents

Pop Culture Favorites

By Johann Jr. and Richard Strauss

Under the direction of guest conductor Roberto Minczuk, the Utah Symphony will present an evening of masterworks including Richard Strauss’s “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” which houses one of the most recognizable classical music excerpts used in pop culture today, first made popular by the 1968 science fiction film, “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

Promising young violinist and winner of the Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2008, Karen Gomyo will also join the Utah Symphony for Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major during this performance on Friday and Saturday, April 15 and 16 at 8 p.m. in Abravanel Hall, 123 W. South Temple.

Also on the program is Johann Strauss Jr.’s most famous work, “On the Beautiful Blue Danube.” His Viennese family of composers shared no relation with Richard Strauss, but was well-respected by the German composer. Coincidence would further connect these two composers in 1968, when excerpts from “The Blue Danube” and “Also sprach Zarathustra” were both used in the memorable soundtrack to “2001: A Space Odyssey.” This Utah Symphony performance will again bring the two composers’ popular works together, and will also include Erich Korngold’s “Much Ado About Nothing” suite.

Tickets for the evening’s performances range from $15 to $85 and can be purchased by calling (801) 355-ARTS (2787), in person at the Abravanel Hall ticket office or by visiting www.usuo.org. Students can purchase discount tickets with a student ID. Season ticket holders and those desiring group discounts should call (801) 533-NOTE (6683). Ticket prices will increase $5 when purchased the day of the performance.

Minczuk will present a free pre-concert lecture each night, 45 minutes prior to the start of the performance in the First Tier Room of Abravanel Hall.


Artist Bios:

Roberto Minczuk, Conductor
Conductor Roberto Minczuk is currently in his fifth season as Music Director of the Calgary Philharmonic. He also uniquely holds two concurrent major posts in the city of Rio de Janeiro Brazil - Artistic Director of the Orquestra Sinfonica Brasileira and Music Director and Artistic Director of the Opera and Orchestra of the Teatro Municipal Rio de Janeiro.

Until 2005, he served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Sao Paulo State Symphony Orchestra in Brazil – having completed a nine year tenure as Co-Artistic Director of that same orchestra and a two year period as Associate Conductor of the New York Philharmonic.

Maestro Minczuk takes the podium this season for the first time with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Bournemouth Symphony, the Yomiuri-Nippon Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo, and the Odense Symphony as part of the Carl Nielsen International Festival. He makes welcome returns to the Dallas Symphony, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the Vancouver Symphony, the Utah Symphony, the Kansas City Symphony and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia as part of a Kimmel Center Festival conducting the world premiere of a new Jonathan Sheffer oratorio with Angelique Kidjo as a major soloist.

Minczuk has also conducted the orchestras of Philadelphia, Atlanta, St. Louis, Dallas, Houston, Minnesota, St. Paul, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Toronto, Edmonton, Milwaukee, Nashville, Utah, Ottawa, Columbus, and New Jersey. On the international circuit, Maestro Minczuk has also appeared with (in addition to those above) the Halle Orchestra of Manchester, the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Lyon and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra among many others.

Mr. Minczuk began his career as a prodigy of the French horn and already by the age of sixteen could count among his significant accomplishments the appointment of Principal Hornist of the São Paulo Symphony. While a student at The Juilliard School, he made solo appearances with the New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall and with the New York Philharmonic as part of the orchestra's Young People's Concerts. After his graduation from Juilliard in 1987, Mr. Minczuk became a member of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra at the invitation of Maestro Kurt Masur. Returning to Brazil in 1989, he pursued conducting studies with Eleazar de Carvalho and John Neschling.

Karen Gomyo, Violin
Recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2008, violinist Karen Gomyo first caught public attention after winning the 1997 Young Concert Artists International Auditions at age 15. She has ever since been active as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician across the North and South America, Europe, and Asia.

Gomyo's engagements as soloist have included those with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, San Francisco, Saint Louis, Cincinnati, Houston, Montreal and Vancouver Symphonies, and the National Symphony of Washington D.C., to name a few. In Europe she has performed with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lille, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, and Den Haag Residentie Orkest, among others. She has worked with such conductors as Leonard Slatkin, Neeme Järvi, Andrew Litton, David Robertson, David Zinman, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Andrey Boreyko, Hans Graf, Louis Langrée, James Gaffigan, and Robin Ticciati.

Upcoming highlights include debuts with the Cleveland Orchestra, Hong-Kong Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony, Malaysia Philharmonic, as well as return visits to the Baltimore, Dallas, Toronto, Indianapolis, and Norrköping Symphonies, among others.


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Photograph provided for use by Utah Symphony. Copyright © Utah Symphony.