Steve Martin, Indigo Girls Perform with the Utah Symphony, Now thru 7/20

The tenth anniversary Deer Valley Music Festival's fourth week will include offerings of classical, bluegrass and folk-rock music with the Utah Symphony. Keith Lockhart, Utah Symphony Music Director from 1998 through 2009 and Boston Pops conductor since 1995, will return to the Festival to conduct the Utah Symphony at the three performances.

The Festival's fourth week will commence by offering the Utah Symphony's first chamber orchestra concert of the summer tonight, July 17, at 8:00 p.m. at St. Mary's Church in Park City. Haydn, Mozart & Schubert will feature music from three famed German geniuses including Haydn's Symphony No. 70, Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3 and Schubert's Symphony No. 5. Violinist Simone Porter will perform with the Utah Symphony as guest soloist.

Audiences are then invited to enjoy bluegrass from the green grass in the next concert with Steve Martin & Steep Canyon Rangers featuring Edie Brickell. Fresh off of their Grammy win for Best Bluegrass Album, Steep Canyon Rangers will take the stage alongside banjo aficionado Steve Martin, vocalist Edie Brickell and the Utah Symphony to perform their award-winning music. The Friday, July 19 performance at Deer Valley Snow Park Outdoor Amphitheater begins at 7:30 p.m. The performance is sold out.

The final performance of the week will feature folk-rock stars Indigo Girls performing their classic hits with the Utah Symphony on Saturday, July 20, at 7:30 p.m. at Deer Valley Snow Park Outdoor Amphitheater. The Indigo Girls will perform the music from the folk duo's over 25 year career.

Guest Artists:

Keith Lockhart currently serves as Conductor of the Boston Pops and Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the summer institute and festival at the Brevard Music Center. He recently completed his highly successful 11-year tenure as Music Director of the Utah Symphony where his leadership of the symphony allowed him to stand at the front of that organization's historical merger with the Utah Opera to create the first-ever joint administrative arts entity of the Utah Symphony and Opera. Since the merger, arts institutions nationally and internationally have looked to Maestro Lockhart as an example of an innovative thinker on and off the podium. Lockhart has conducted the Symphony Orchestras of Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Montreal, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Baltimore, Atlanta, St. Louis, Nashville, North Carolina, Indianapolis, Singapore, Toronto and Vancouver as well as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra.

At 16 years old, violinist Simone Porter has been recognized by national and international critics as an emerging artist of impassioned energy, musical integrity and vibrant sound. Porter made her professional solo debut at age 10 with the Seattle Symphony and her London debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at 13. Nationally, Porter has been heard on the renowned syndicated NPR radio program "From the Top," featuring America's best young classical musicians and hosted by acclaimed pianist Christopher O'Riley. Porter also made her Carnegie Hall debut on the Emmy Award-winning TV show "From the Top: Live from Carnegie Hall." Other TV appearances include the BBC Documentary "The World's Greatest Musical Prodigies," which aired in the UK in June 2009. She has been featured on Seattle's Kiro 7 TV's Quarterly Magazine "In Color," and in August 2011, she was selected as the only Aspen Music Festival student to be featured on the popular national APM radio program "Performance Today," recorded live at Aspen's Harris Hall.

Steve Martin is currently in the fifth decade of a uniquely varied and accomplished career in which he's excelled as a comedian, author and playwright, and as a Grammy-winning, boundary-pushing bluegrass banjoist and composer in addition to being a talented actor in films like "Father of the Bride" and "Planes, Trains and Automobiles." This spring, Rounder Records will release Martin's third full-length album called "Love Has Come for You." The album is a unique collaboration with songwriter Edie Brickell and is set for release on April 23. The remarkable new album offers 13 eloquently rootsy compositions that combine Martin's inventive five-string banjo work with Brickell's distinctive vocals and vivid, detail-rich lyrics. "Love Has Come for You" is a substantial departure, as well as a creative milestone, for both artists.

In 1985, Edie Brickell began her music career when she joined local folk rock group New Bohemians as their lead singer. The newly christened Edie Brickell & New Bohemians promptly signed a recording contract and released the multiplatinum selling "Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars" in 1988, as well as the 1990 follow-up, "Ghost of a Dog." Brickell has had a prolific solo career where she has release three albums, and, most recently, she has collaborated with Steve Martin on their album "Love Has Come for You."

The rootsy, artful, bluegrass band, Steep Canyon Rangers, consists of Charles R. Humphrey III, Nicky Sanders, Mike Guggino, Graham Sharp and Woody Platt. In the past year, the band has taken its work to the next level in their collaboration with Steve Martin. In 2012 the band with the addition of Steve Martin, released "Rare Bird Alert," which was nominated for Best Bluegrass Album at the Grammy Awards. The band went on to release another album in 2013 entitled "Nobody Knows You," which won the Grammy for the same award as the previous year.

Decades into their career, the Indigo Girls still amaze conventional pundits with their ability to grow and thrive no matter the state of the music industry at any given point. Emily Saliers and Amy Ray began performing together in high school in small venues and saw their public profile take off with the 1989 release of their self-titled breakthrough, an album that included the first hit, "Closer To Fine," and went on to win Best Contemporary Folk Recording at the 1990 Grammys. In their most recent album, "Beauty Queen Sister," they deliver a beautifully crafted bath of songs that revel in spirited simplicity. Ray has a thriving solo career in which she has released four studio albums. The other half of the Indigo Girls, Saliers, is an author in conjunction with being an accomplished musician. Saliers wrote a book with her father, Don Saliers, a professor at Emory University, called "A Song to Sing, a Life to Live: Reflections on Music as Spiritual Practice."

Tickets for events can be purchased by calling 801-355-2787, in person at any ArtTix outlet or online at www.deervalleymusicfestival.org. Tickets are also available in Park City at Deer Valley Signature and Etc. stores. Group Rates are available for groups of ten or more by calling 801-869-9046. A discounted Design-A-Series subscription package (four or more concerts) is available by calling 801-533-6683 or visiting www.deervalleymusicfestival.org/das. Ticket prices are subject to change based on demand and will increase by $5 when purchased on the day of performance.

Parking at Saint Mary's Catholic Church is limited, so carpooling and taking public transportation is strongly encouraged. No food or drink is allowed inside of the Church.

Maximum chair height at Snow Park Outdoor Amphitheater is nine inches from the ground. Gates will open to all ticket holders approximately two hours before the performance begins. Patrons must be present to save a spot in line. Unattended items will be removed. Valid picture ID is required to pick up tickets at will call. No ticket reprinting is available for general admission seating. Outside food and drinks are allowed at the venue, and there are a variety of concession services at the venue offered by Deer Valley Resort.