Utah Symphony Presents Dvorak's 'New World' Symphony

Join Utah Symphony's next Masterwork Series concert for an adventurous night with Dvorak's New World Symphony at Abravanel Hall on March 29 & 30, 7:30PM. Utah Symphony Music Director Thierry Fischer will conduct the concert with award-winning Guest Cellist Alban Gerhardt. Works by Rossini, Dutilleux, and Dvo k are included in the program, which imaginatively describe the feeling of exploring a new world. Tickets, priced from $18 to $69 ($15 for students), are available for purchase through www.utahsymphony.org or by calling (801) 355-2787.

During this Masterwork evening, Maestro Fischer will lead the Utah Symphony through several adventure-inspired pieces, of which Guest Cellist Alban Gerhardt will join for Dutilleux's Tout un monde lointain, a modern-day cello concerto. Other works on the program include Rossini's Overture to William Tell, the beginning of an 1829 opera, and Dvo k's New World Symphony.

The guest cellist Alban Gerhardt is a highly acclaimed recording artist, who has won several awards including the BBC Music Magazine Award and the ECHO Klassik Award, which he won three times. He was shortlisted for a Gramophone Award in 2015. Mr. Gerhardt has recorded extensively for Hyperion, and his latest recording of the Bach suites will be released later this year. The Guardian described him as one of the finest cellists around expressive, unshowy and infinitely classy. Mr. Gerhardt plays a Matteo Gofriller cello dating from 1710.

The luckiest part of the beginning of my musicianship was the encouragement of my parents to work independently instead of being my second pair of ears. I was the opposite of a child prodigy, went to school like everybody else, but I had one very useful talent: I had an excellent concentration which made me, in spite of a rather normal intelligence, a very good student, explained Mr. Gerhardt.

As Neil Armstrong took the iconic first steps on the moon, he brought along a recording of Dvo k's Symphony No. 9 From the New World to accompany him on his own new world journey. Inspired by his time in America, Dvo k drew upon Native American melodies and African American spirituals. The program also features Dutilleux' shimmering cello concerto Tout un monde lointain, inspired by the poetry of French poet Charles Baudelaire.

Originally, the From the New World Symphony was performed in 1893 in Carnegie Hall where Dvo k received an overwhelming round of ovation until he was compelled to come back on stage and bow all over again. The melody line in his symphony is considered to be one of the most the most beautiful and unique compositions in classical music.

The Czech composer Dvo k loved the various sounds from the ethnically-diverse Americas. In an interview with the New York Herald, he lauded the legacy of American music. These beautiful and varied themes are the product of the soil, Dvo k said. They are the folk songs of America, and your composers must turn to them.

Dvo k's From the New World Symphony features pieces of old folk songs, spirituals and Native American music that are not totally identifiable, but in the second movement, a well-recognized song called, Goin' Home can be identified. Though the origin of the song is unknown, and some believe that Dvo k himself created the tune, many audience members felt nostalgic about the tune when it first played in 1893.

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