The Utah Symphony is an American

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

based in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. The orchestra's principal venue is

Abravanel Hall Abravanel Hall is a concert hall in Salt Lake City, Utah that is home to the Utah Symphony, and is part of the Salt Lake County Center for the Arts. The hall is an architectural landmark in the city, and is adjacent to Temple Square and the ...

. In addition to its Salt Lake City subscription concerts, the orchestra travels around the Intermountain West serving communities throughout Utah. The orchestra accompanies the

Utah Opera The Utah Opera is an American opera company that has been merged with Utah Symphony since July 2002, with a combined audience of more than 150,000 annually. History In 1978, the Utah Opera company presented its first production of Puccini's '' ...

in four productions per year at Salt Lake's Capitol Theatre. In addition, the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera have a summer residency at the

Deer Valley Music Festival The Deer Valley Music Festival is the summer home of the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera. It occurs each summer in July and August in Park City, Utah at the Deer Valley Resort, St. Mary's Church, Temple Har Shalom, and salon performances in local home ...

, located in

Park City, Utah Park City is a city in Utah, United States. The vast majority is in Summit County, and it extends into Wasatch County. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake City' ...

. The orchestra receives funding from the Utah State Legislature for educational concerts. The Symphony has a division in Utah Valley that is based out of the Noorda Center for the Performing Arts at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.

History

The first attempt to create a symphony orchestra in the Utah area occurred in 1892, four years before Utah achieved statehood. The Salt Lake Symphony (not to be confused with the modern

Salt Lake Symphony The Salt Lake Symphony was founded in 1976 and is a volunteer orchestra that performs in the Libby Gardner Concert Hall in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Salt Lake Symphony is best known for its yearly Vienna Ball Gala on Valentine's Day each year. The ...

) was created and presented just one concert before disbanding. In 1902, the Salt Lake Symphony Orchestra was formed, and it remained in existence until 1911. In 1913, the Salt Lake Philharmonic was formed, and it continued until 1925. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, the

Federal Music Project The Federal Music Project (FMP) was a part of the New Deal program Federal Project Number One provided by the U.S. federal government which employed musicians, conductors and composers during the Great Depression. In addition to performing thousan ...

(an employment-assistance program which formed part of

Federal Project Number One Federal Project Number One, also referred to as Federal One, is the collective name for a group of projects under the Works Progress Administration, a New Deal program in the United States. Of the $4.88 billion allocated by the Emergency Relief ...

, an arm of the

Works Project Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, in ...

) hired Reginald Beales to create a musical group in Utah. He formed the Utah State Sinfonietta with a core of 5 members. That group grew rapidly and toured extensively, presenting concerts throughout Utah. By 1940, federal funding for arts projects had ceased, so local enthusiasts formed the Utah State Symphony Orchestra on April 4, 1940, with Fred E. Smith as president. They scheduled their first concert for May 8, 1940 and asked Hans Henriot to conduct it. The resulting concert was so successful that the group offered Henriot a contract to direct the orchestra. This ensemble grew to 52 part-time musicians. In 1947,

Maurice Abravanel Maurice Abravanel (January 6, 1903 – September 22, 1993) was an American classical music conductor. He is remembered as the conductor of the Utah Symphony Orchestra for over 30 years. Life Abravanel was born in Salonika, Rumelia Eyalet, Otto ...

became the orchestra's music director. He built the ensemble into a full-time orchestra and developed its wider national reputation. He recorded and toured extensively with the orchestra. Under Abravanel, the orchestra first recorded with

Vanguard Records Vanguard Recording Society is an American record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York City. It was a primarily classical label at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, but also has a catalogue of recordings by a n ...

and then with

Vox Records Vox Records is a budget classical record label. The name is Latin for "voice." Some Vox releases such as Peter Frankl's Debussy Piano Works and György Sándor's Complete Prokofiev Sonatas were reissued in premium vinyl boxsets by the audi ...

. including complete symphony cycles of Mahler and of Tchaikovsky, as well as works by Varese, Milhaud, Gottschalk, Honegger, and Satie. The Utah Symphony’s recordings of Mahler’s symphonies with Abravanel were the first complete cycle recorded by an American orchestra (Vanguard). Honors for Abravanel's Mahler recordings with the orchestra include the “Mahler Medal of Honor” from the Bruckner Society of America (1965) and the International Gustav Mahler Society award for “Best Mahler Recording” (Fifth Symphony, 1975). During Abravanel’s tenure, the Orchestra’s music education program grew into one of the most extensive arts education programs in the region. Educational concerts were given on orchestra tours across the Intermountain West and at home in the Salt Lake Valley. Abravanel concluded his tenure as music director in 1979. That same year, it left its longtime home at the Mormon Tabernacle and moved into Symphony Hall (renamed Abravanel Hall in 1993), its first dedicated concert venue. The Orchestra’s season grew to a year-round schedule by 1980. Successors to Abravanel included Varujan Kojian (1980–1983),

Joseph Silverstein Joseph Harry Silverstein (March 21, 1932 – November 21, 2015) was an American violinist and conductor. Known to family, friends and colleagues as "Joey", Silverstein was born in Detroit. As a youth, Silverstein studied with his father, Bernard ...

(1983–1998), and

Keith Lockhart Keith Alan Lockhart (born November 7, 1959) is an American conductor. He is the Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Chief Guest Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra, and the Artistic Director of the Brevard Music Center in North Caro ...

(1998–2009). Under Silverstein and Lockhart, the orchestra continued its commitment to contemporary American music. In July 2002, the governing boards of Utah Symphony and Utah Opera decided to consolidate both organizations, resulting in the formation of ''Utah Symphony , Utah Opera''. At the time of the merger, it was one of only two merged symphony and opera companies in the United States. In September 2009,

Thierry Fischer Thierry Fischer (born 28 September 1957) is a Swiss orchestra conductor and flutist. Early life and education Fischer was born in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (Zambia) to Swiss parents. He studied flute with Aurèle Nicolet and began h ...

became the orchestra's music director. Contemporary works commissioned by the orchestra during Fischer's tenure have included ''EOS (Goddess of the Dawn)'' by

Augusta Read Thomas Augusta Read Thomas (born April 24, 1964) is an American composer and professor. Biography Thomas studied composition with Oliver Knussen at Tanglewood; Jacob Druckman at Yale University; Alan Stout and Bill Karlins at Northwestern University ...

and the percussion concerto ''Switch'' by

Andrew Norman Andrew Norman (born October 31, 1979) is an American composer of contemporary classical music whose texturally complex music is influenced by architecture and the visual arts. His string trio '' The Companion Guide to Rome'' (2010), was a runne ...

. Fischer is currently contracted with the Utah Symphony through the 2021–2022 season. In May 2019, the orchestra announced that Fischer is to conclude his tenure as its music director at the end of his current contract, at the close of the 2021–2022 season. However, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, in October 2020, the orchestra announced a change to the scheduled conclusion of Fischer's contract as its music director, through August 2023, to supersede the May 2019 announcement. In January 2009, the orchestra named

Gerald Steichen Gerald Steichen (born 1963 in Tonkawa, Oklahoma) is an American music conductor, pianist and stage actor. Steichen holds music degrees from Oklahoma City University and from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He has conducted sym ...

as its principal pops conductor. In 2017, Conner Gray Covington was appointed to the role of Assistant Conductor and then promoted to Associate Conductor. After Covington stepped down in 2021, Ben Manis became the next assistant conductor, beginning in the 2022-23 season, after his successful audition with the orchestra. David Robertson first guest-conducted the orchestra in October 2020. He returned for an additional guest-conducting engagement in December 2021. In December 2022, the orchestra announced the appointment of Robertson as its first-ever creative partner, effective with the 2023-2024 season, with a contract of 3 years.

Music Directors

* Hans Henriot (1940–1945) *

Werner Janssen Werner Janssen (born Werner Alexander Oscar Janssen;Maurice Abravanel Maurice Abravanel (January 6, 1903 – September 22, 1993) was an American classical music conductor. He is remembered as the conductor of the Utah Symphony Orchestra for over 30 years. Life Abravanel was born in Salonika, Rumelia Eyalet, Otto ...

(1947–1979) *

Varujan Kojian Varujan Kojian (March 12, 1935; Beirut, LebanonMarch 4, 1993; Santa Barbara, California) was an Armenian-American conductor from Beirut, Lebanon. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris and by 1956 joined Los Angeles Philharmonic where he became an ...

(1980–1983) *

(1983–1998) *

(1998–2009) *

(2009–present)

References

External links

*
Musicians of the Utah Symphony website

Utah Symphony page on orchestra history

Official collective page of Utah Symphony , Utah Opera

Deer Valley Music Festival
{{DEFAULTSORT:Utah Symphony - Utah Opera Musical groups established in 1940 American orchestras Musical groups from Salt Lake City Wikipedia requested audio of orchestras Performing arts in Utah Symphony orchestras 1940 establishments in Utah