Utah Symphony Music Director Designate Markus Poschner Mentors High School Students
Poschner leads 47 student musicians at Abravanel Hall before opening the Deer Valley Music Festival with Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.
For conductor Markus Poschner, the music of Anton Bruckner is more than repertoire—it's a lifelong pursuit. Utah audiences will experience that passion firsthand as Poschner returns to the podium May 22 and 23 at Abravanel Hall to lead the Utah Symphony's Masterworks season finale, including Bruckner's Symphony No. 4—one of the composer's most beloved and cinematic masterpieces.
Known for its soaring brass fanfares, sweeping landscapes, and the thrilling "Hunt Scherzo,” Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony transports audiences into a world of nature, medieval romance, and triumphant orchestral power.
Bruckner’s music has become a defining part of Poschner’s artistic identity. In 2024, he completed one of classical music’s most ambitious recording projects, the definitive 18-album Bruckner: The Symphonies – Complete Versions Edition with the Bruckner Orchestra Linz and the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra—an internationally celebrated project that earned a Special Achievement Award from the International Classical Music Awards and further established him as one of today’s leading interpreters of Bruckner. The May 22 and 23 concerts will mark Poschner’s first opportunity to share his expert interpretation of Bruckner with his Utah Symphony audience.
Joining Poschner for the season finale is pianist Youl Sun, winner of the 2024 Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation International Artists Piano Competition, performing Camille Saint-Saëns’ dazzling Piano Concerto No. 5, “Egyptian.” Inspired by the composer’s travels along the Nile, the concerto blends shimmering virtuosity, exotic color, and lyrical beauty.
(In 2026-27, Poschner will lead three Masterworks concerts with the Utah Symphony, amid a busy season that also includes his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic—one of the top orchestras in the world—in February 2027.)
With each visit to Utah since he was announced Music Director Designate in 2024, Poschner has fallen more in love with the symphony’s home venue, Maurice Abravanel Hall. He also finds great importance in orchestras reaching beyond the concert hall and engaging in a variety of ways with their community. For that reason, Poschner enthusiastically looks forward to his debut at the Deer Valley® Music Festival, the summer home of the Utah Symphony in Park City. He will be the first Utah Symphony Music Director in two decades to lead performances there, marking a major new chapter for the festival and the orchestra.
For Poschner, the festival represents more than a summer performance venue—it reflects his vision for creating musical experiences that feel welcoming, inspiring, and connected to the community. “The Deer Valley® Music Festival gives us a perfect opportunity to get in touch with new audiences, with young audiences, with every part of our society,” Poschner says, adding that he expects that natural beauty of the backdrop in the great outdoors of Park City will add a layer of inspiration to the concert experience for both artists and audiences. “It’s a magic place. You can feel it immediately—the view of the mountains, the atmosphere, the acoustics. In my mind, I’m just thinking how to grow this kind of venue here and develop it.”
Poschner opens the summer season July 17 and 18 with one of the most iconic works in the orchestral repertoire: Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Performed beneath the open skies of the Wasatch Mountains at the Snow Park Outdoor Amphitheater, the natural setting will only enhance the power of Beethoven’s Romantic masterpiece. The monumental work builds toward the triumphant “Ode to Joy,” as the orchestra, chorus, and soloists unite in one of music’s most unforgettable finales.
On July 17, the opening night of the Deer Valley® Music Festival, Utah Symphony | Utah Opera will also host pre-concert and post-concert gala events in Park City—a celebration of artistry, community, and the future musical excellence. (For more information, click here.)
Poschner continues to carry forward his vision for Deer Valley® Music Festival the following weekend, leading Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, bursting with energy and beautiful orchestral colors. This program also marks the return of the jazz-inspired, genre-defying string trio Time for Three, performing Contact by Kevin Puts, winner of a GRAMMY® Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.
Conducting for the first time at St. Mary’s Catholic Church on July 22, Poschner leads an all-Mozart program—featuring Utah Symphony Concertmaster Madeline Adkins in Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 2 and concluding with Mozart’s radiant Symphony No. 41, “Jupiter.”
Before taking the podium for the Bruckner season finale this weekend, Poschner has spent the early part of this week mentoring and conducting the next generation of musicians through Utah Symphony’s annual Side-by-Side program. In one of the symphony’s longest running education programs, 47 high school students from across Utah spent weeks rehearsing and participating in coaching with Assistant Conductor Jessica Rivero Altarriba, Creative Partner David Robertson, and Utah Symphony musicians. This week, their work culminated in a final rehearsal and performance alongside the Utah Symphony, with Poschner at the podium.
The Side-by-Side program gives students an in-depth view of what it's like to work as a professional musician, and reflects the Utah Symphony's long-standing commitment to music education and cultivation of the next generation of musicians. That work is deeply personal for Poschner. The son of a conductor and music teacher, some of his earliest childhood memories are of listening to piano lessons from beneath the instrument—a formative experience that shaped his lifelong belief in the power of music to build connection and community.
“I’m here to share my love of music, because I deeply believe in the power of music to bring people together,” Poschner says. “This creates a community. It seems more important today than ever before to bring people together.”
Videos
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