Latest news with #UtahSymphony
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The legendary Yo-Yo Ma is coming to BYU
The legendary Yo-Yo Ma is coming back to Utah. The 19-time Grammy-winning cellist is a headliner for Brigham Young University's recently announced 2025-26 Bravo! arts series. Ma's appearance for a special gala at BYU will celebrate both the university's 150th anniversary and the centennial of the school's College of Fine Arts and Communication, according to the season lineup. Ma's BYU appearance, scheduled for Feb. 24, comes a little over a year after he performed with the Utah Symphony — an appearance that was billed as his first performance in Salt Lake City since the Opening Ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics, per Deseret News. The cellist also performed at Salt Lake's Red Butte Garden in 2021 as part of his bluegrass project, 'The Goat Rodeo Sessions,' which also features Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers mandolin player Chris Thile. BYU's art series has attracted high-profile figures in classical music over the years. In 2020, master violinist Itzhak Perlman made his debut at the school with a performance of Beethoven's Violin Concerto, as the Deseret News reported. Perlman returned to the university for two performances in 2023. Below is the full lineup for BYU's 2025-26 Bravo! art series: Sept. 19-20, Song of the North — 'A large-scale, cinematic performance combining the manual art of shadow puppetry with projected animation to tell the courageous tale of Princess Manijeh, a heroine from ancient Persia,' per the season announcement. Oct. 17, Aba Diop & the Yermande Family — Senegalese percussionist Aba Diopa brings his ensemble that combines West African and Western instruments in its performances. Oct. 24, Spanish Night with Pablo Sáinz-Villegas and Friends — Spanish guitarist Pablo Sáinz-Villegas returns to the Bravo! arts series after a sold-out solo recital. This time, backed by a trio of musicians, he'll highlight pieces from his homeland in Spain. Nov. 1, Bodytraffic — The Los Angeles-based contemporary dance company showcases a wide range of styles — ballet, contemporary, modern, Afro-Cuban and hip-hop, per BYU's Bravo! series announcement. Jan. 23, Joshua Henry — Grammy winner and Broadway actor Joshua Henry performs his show, 'Get Up Stand Up,' which 'is a soulful bop through the songs that have moved and grooved us through the decades,' according to the Bravo! series. Feb. 6-7, 'How to Train Your Dragon' — The BYU Philharmonic will perform the score to 'How to Train Your Dragon' as the film plays on the big screen. Feb. 24, Yo-Yo Ma — Ma will appear in a gala celebrating BYU's 150th anniversary and the centennial of the school's College of Fine Arts and Communication. March 17, Ímar — The Glasgow-based Celtic folk band returns to BYU for a St. Patrick's Day concert that will highlight Irish, Scottish and Manx trad music. March 26, Utah Symphony with Pablo Ferrández — Cellist Pablo Ferrández will perform Korngold's Cello Concerto and Tchaikovsky's 'Variations on a Rococo Theme' with the Utah Symphony. April 14, Bridge & Wolak — Michael Bridge (accordion and piano) and Kornel Wolak (clarient and piano), a musical duo from Canada, will perform "reimagined repertoire of classical, world and jazz fusion." Season tickets go on sale July 9, and individual tickets will be available starting Sept. 10.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Utah Symphony, Opera receive $15M commitment from O.C. Tanner
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Symphony and Opera is getting a $15 million investment from the software company O.C. Tanner to elevate arts support in the state. As part of the O.C. Tanner Key Signature Initiative, the arts organization will receive annual funding of $500,000, with another $10 million over the next 10 years. Utah Symphony and Opera said the monetary commitment will sustain and elevate its artistic endeavors while inspiring philanthropic support for arts organizations. "We are thrilled to be able to support USUO at this crucial time in its history," said Stephen Tanner Irish, representing the O.C. Tanner family. "The symphony and opera represent the crown jewel of our community's cultural vitality. We believe in their mission and encourage others to participate by attending performances and supporting the organization." Irish explained his grandfather Obert C. Tanner, for whom the company is named, had an enduring relationship with Utah Symphony conductor Maurice Abravanel. O.C. Tanner's commitment will include support for key leadership positions within the organization. The company said it wants to continue the arts organization's legacy of "artistic excellence and cultural impact" while also ensuring it has a bright future. "The commitment ... is part of a larger fundraising initiative designed to address critical undercapitalization and, with additional support, provide the necessary funding to support USUO's service to the local Utah community and stature as one of only 17 full-time orchestras in the United States and one of the nation's top regional opera companies," the symphony said in a statement. The partnership also shows the company's belief the symphony plays a vital role in Utah's cultural fabric and is the "heartbeat" of downtown, the statement said. "This remarkable $15 million commitment exemplifies O.C. Tanner's leadership in inspiring other philanthropic contributions. It calls upon Utah's philanthropic community to join in strengthening USUO's financial foundation and ensuring the sustainability of its artistic mission. With the combined support of O.C. Tanner and the broader community, USUO is poised to build on its legacy of artistic excellence and continue enriching lives through music," the symphony said. Founded in 1940, the Utah Symphony performs at the Maurice Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City, at the Deer Valley Music Festival in Park City, in Utah Opera productions and at venues throughout the state. The Utah Opera is one of just six opera companies in the U.S. with full production capabilities. The future of Abravanel Hall and the Utah Symphony came under scrutiny after the Smith Entertainment Group announced plans to revitalize the downtown area into a "sports, entertainment, culture and convention center." Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson promised the plan 'allows Abravanel Hall to remain in its present form,' but a county assessment estimates it would take about $200 million to fund the building's renovation needs.
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Utah violinist Jack Ashton, who introduced generations of students to ‘the joy of creating music,' has died
Jack Ashton, who as a kid dreamed of playing shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates before he picked up a violin and went on to inspire generations of students to find the joy in making music, died on March 15 at the age of 86. 'You could make a very strong argument that no one in the history of the state has done more for young violinists in Utah than the farm kid from Idaho,' Lee Benson wrote in a 2016 Deseret News profile on Ashton. The statement is far from hyperbole — the longtime violinist and educator was a beloved figure in Utah's classical music scene, on and off the stage. For nearly half a century, he was a member of the Utah Symphony. He taught orchestra at Olympus High School, his alma mater, for 35 years. He served as an adjunct faculty member at Snow College for 20 years, and also at Utah State University and Westminster College, according to his obituary. In 1985 he formed the Young Artist Chamber Players, a training ground for aspiring professional classical musicians that took students on tours throughout Europe and Utah. All the while, his home, where he raised a family of eight with his wife of 55 years, Marie, served as a musical center for students, recitals and other gatherings. 'Jack's always been involved because he loves teaching the kids and being with them,' Marie previously told the Deseret News. 'His payday is the satisfaction he gets from that.' All of Ashton's wide-ranging contributions stem from an unlikely encounter on his family's dairy farm in Tyhee, Idaho, about 8 miles north of Pocatello. He was a kid when a peddler renting musical instruments knocked on his door. 'Dad came in and said he told the guy at the door I'd play violin,' Ashton told the Deseret News. 'That's as much say as I had in the matter.' It quickly became apparent that Ashton had a gift, and he began taking private lessons. By the time he was a teenager, his family had sold the farm and moved to Salt Lake City, where Ashton enrolled at Olympus High School and made first-chair violinist in the All-State orchestra, per the Deseret News. That caught the attention of legendary conductor Maurice Abravanel, who helmed the Utah Symphony for 32 years and helped establish the orchestra's reputation. After Ashton finished a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Germany, completed a year in the U.S. Army and earned his degree from the University of Utah, Abravanel recruited the violinist into his orchestra. Ashton has called being a member of the Utah Symphony 'the most thrilling time of my life.' But it was in teaching, as he watched his students develop and grow and become excellent musicians, that he found the most significance. Ashton received a number of awards throughout his career, including the Utah Governor's Mansion Artist Award in 2021 that celebrated his work of 'introducing students to the joy of creating music,' per He was 83 at the time. 'They are great and their greatness clearly lies in their artist accomplishments, but I think there's something greater in both of them, and that is that they are both teachers,' Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said during the ceremony that honored Ashton and muralist V. Kim Martinez. 'I want to thank you both for sharing your art, more importantly, sharing your love of art with your students and making the world a better place.' In an interview for the award, Ashton reflected on all of the work and sacrifice that went into his career — to the extent that he'd come home and his kids would say to their mom, 'There's a guy in our house,' he joked. He shared that he felt motivated to work hard in part because both his father and grandfather had died at a fairly young age. 'I thought that I was going to die when I was 49, and so I worked as hard as I could to get a house, get everything situated for my wife,' he said. 'But I didn't die.' So for several decades Ashton devoted his life to the power of music education. 'I'm very sensitive to music, especially good music. It's like a SugarBee apple, you just can't find anything sweeter than that,' he said in the interview for his Governor's Mansion Artist Award. 'The arts can connect to a high degree, connect us with each other,' he added. 'You get your very own baton, your very own magic stick, you wave it and all of a sudden there's this tremendous sound.' Ashton was visibly emotional as he received the Governor's Mansion Artist Award, a prestigious recognition for a career he never could've imagined as a kid on his family's farm in Idaho. 'I had a dream the other night, and in this dream these young people, all these students who I've taught, came back and we were seeing each other. ... The rejoicing that went on in that dream was so beautiful,' he shared in the interview for the award. 'I think I couldn't have had that experience on the Pittsburgh Pirates, no way. I may have earned a lot more money, but I've been so blessed in what I've done.'
