Now Streaming on USUO: Utah Symphony Performs Mendelssohn, Grieg and Rodrigo 

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From: Utah Symphony | Utah Opera <info@usuo.org>
Date: Tue, Apr 13, 2021 at 2:00 PM
Subject: Streaming Now: Utah Symphony performs Mendelssohn, Grieg, and Rodrigo
To: <newsdesk@broadwayworld.com>

Media Contact:
Jonathan Miles | Utah Symphony | Utah Opera
jmiles@usuo.org | (801) 869-9021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Now Streaming on USUO: On Demand

Utah Symphony performs Mendelssohn, Grieg and Rodrigo 

Joined by conductor Marcelo Lehninger and guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas

Email jmiles@usuo.org for press access to USUO: On Demand content.

Link to Press Kit with Photos & Videos

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (April 13, 2021) - The Utah Symphony continues performances from its digital stage, this time led by Brazilian-born conductor Marcelo Lehninger, Music Director of the Grand Rapids Symphony since 2016. They are joined by audience-favorite guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas, who performs Joaquín Rodrigo's “Fantasía para un gentilhombre” as well as three surprise encores. The symphony also plays Felix Mendelssohn's “String Sinfonia No. 10” and Edvard Grieg's “Holberg Suite.” This latest release is offered today through May 12, 2021 for on-demand streaming through USUO: On Demand, Utah Symphony | Utah Opera's streaming portal. For more information and to access the concert, visit https://usuo.org/on-demand/.

In Mendelssohn's adolescent years, he wrote 13 sinfonias for string orchestra. The 10th, written when he was only 14, is featured on this program and unfolds as a single movement inspired by the early Classical symphonies of composers such as Haydn and Bach. These string symphonies were thought to be lost, but were thankfully discovered in a library in Berlin after World War II.

Grieg's “Holberg Suite” was originally composed for the piano to celebrate the 200th birthday of the suite's namesake, Norwegian writer Ludvig Holberg, but was later adapted by Grieg for string orchestra, which is the arrangement far more often heard today. The “Holberg Suite” blends Norwegian folksongs with classical Baroque dances and showcases a wide range of color and techniques.

Rodrigo's “Fantasía para un gentilhombre” (Fantasia for a Gentleman) is essentially a guitar concerto composed in 1954 for guitarist Andrés Segovia—the gentilhombre referenced in the title. Its melodies are based on a collection of songs and dances by the 17th century Spanish composer Gaspar Sanz. Villegas performs as soloist in this performance.

Brazilian-born Marcelo Lehninger is in his third year as Music Director of the Grand Rapids Symphony. In 2018, he brought the orchestra to Carnegie Hall, its first performance at the famed venue in thirteen years. He previously served as Music Director of the New West Symphony in Los Angeles, for which the League of American Orchestras awarded him the Helen H. Thompson Award for Emerging Music Directors. After a very successful two-year tenure as Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra that included stepping in for James Levine on short notice in Boston and on tour at Carnegie Hall, Marcelo served as Associate Conductor for an additional three years. These performances mark his debut conducting the Utah Symphony.

Pablo Sáinz-Villegas has been acclaimed by the international press as the successor of Andrés Segovia and an ambassador of Spanish culture in the world. Since his debut with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos at the Lincoln Center, he has played in more than 40 countries and has been invited to play with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Philharmonic of Israel, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the National Orchestra of Spain, making him a benchmark for the symphonic guitar. He made his Utah Symphony debut at a 2016 outdoor concert at Red Butte Gardens and returned in 2019 to perform Rodrigo's “Concierto de Aranjuez” at Abravanel Hall on the Masterworks Series.

The George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation is Utah Symphony | Utah Opera's 2020-21 season sponsor, and O.C. Tanner Company is the season's Masterworks Series sponsor. The C. Comstock Clayton Foundation is the Guest Artist Sponsor for this performance. Utah Symphony | Utah Opera is supported by the citizens of Salt Lake County through the Zoo, Arts & Parks Program.

USUO: On Demand

This is the third Masterworks Series concert to be featured on USUO: On Demand this season. Other Masterworks Series streams include Israeli guest conductor Asher Fisch leading the Utah Symphony in Strauss and Mendelssohn and Thierry Fischer leading Stravinsky's “Pulcinella” and selections from Pegolesi's “Stabat Mater”, which is available through April 23. Utah Opera also presented an all-aria concert stream entitled, “Light on the Horizon,” which featured themes of hope and optimism.

In October, Utah Symphony | Utah Opera launched USUO: On Demand, online concert experiences ranging from intimate recitals with international soloists to chamber programs to full Utah Symphony Masterworks Series concerts. Performances are available for on-demand streaming for 30 days.

Upcoming Live Performances with Audience

In late February, Utah Symphony | Utah Opera announced the return of audiences to live performances at Abravanel Hall and Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre starting March 25 through the remainder of the spring season. Six different Masterworks concert programs and a May opera production are planned as live performances featuring shorter programs smaller instrumentation to allow for greater physical distancing between artists. The frequency of performances has increased due to the reduced capacity for each performance.

Upcoming concerts include Madeline Adkins Plays “The Lark Ascending” on April 22, 23, and 24; and Thierry Fischer Conducts Bach, Wynton Marsalis, Carter, & Wagner on April 29 and 30 and May 1.

Program

Utah Symphony presents
Pablo Sáinz Villegas plays Rodrigo
Streaming April 13 through May 12 at USUO: On Demand

Marcelo Lehninger, conductor
Pablo Sáinz Villegas, guitar

MENDELSSOHN: String Sinfonia No. 10
GRIEG: "Holberg Suite"
RODRIGO: "Fantasia para un gentilhombre"

Tickets

Streaming tickets are available for $15 and can be purchased at usuo.org/on-demand or by calling (801) 533-6683. Utah Symphony subscribers can access $10 tickets by logging into their USUO.org account.

Listed prices are minimums and offer a low entry price for the community. Patrons have the option to pay above the minimum price, if they desire, to help support Utah Symphony | Utah Opera.

About the Utah Symphony

Founded in 1940, the Utah Symphony performs more than 175 concerts each season and offers all Utahns access to world-class live performances of the world's greatest music in the state's top venues. Since being named the orchestra's seventh Music Director in 2009, Thierry Fischer has attracted leading musicians and top soloists, refreshed programming, drawn increased audiences, and galvanized community support. In addition to numerous regional and domestic tours, including the Mighty 5 Tour of Utah's national parks and the Great American Road Trip, which also included Utah state parks and national monuments, the Utah Symphony has embarked on seven international tours—from Europe to Central and South America—and performed at Carnegie Hall in 2016 coinciding with the orchestra's 75th anniversary celebrations.

The Utah Symphony has released more than 100 recordings, and recent releases include an all-Berlioz album featuring four of the composer's works in 2020, an all-Prokofiev album (SACD) of the composer's film scores, and a three-volume set of all five Saint-Saëns symphonies, both on Hyperion Records in 2019, and on Reference Recordings, Mahler's Symphonies No. 1 and 8 (2015 and 2017, respectively) and “Dawn to Dust” (2016), which features three Utah Symphony-commissioned works by Nico Muhly, Andrew Norman, and Augusta Read Thomas. The orchestra's discography with former Music Director Maurice Abravanel includes not only the complete Mahler symphonies, but also premiere recordings of works by Honegger, Milhaud, Ned Rorem, Satie, Schumann, and Varèse.

Utah Symphony | Utah Opera, the orchestra's parent organization, reaches 450,000 residents in Utah and the Intermountain region in a typical season, with educational programs serving more than 137,000 students annually. These initiatives include child-friendly Family Series concerts, pre-performance lectures before every classical symphony and opera performance, and other hands-on learning events and activities for adults and special needs individuals. In addition to performances in its home in Salt Lake City, Abravanel Hall, and concerts throughout the state of Utah, the Utah Symphony participates in Utah Opera's four annual productions at the Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre and present the six-week Deer Valley Music Festival each summer in Park City, Utah, the orchestra's summer residency. With its many subscription, education, and community concerts and tours, the Utah Symphony is one of the most engaged orchestras in the nation.

Utah Symphony | Utah Opera is committed to making our programs accessible to people with disabilities. It is our goal to integrate accessibility in all we do, including our programming, community engagement and the overall audience experience. For information regarding accessibility features, visit https://usuo.org/accessibility/.

For more information about the orchestra, visit utahsymphony.org.

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Press Contact:
Jonathan Miles, Utah Symphony | Utah Opera
Vice President of Marketing & Public Relations
jmiles@usuo.org | (801) 869-9021 

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