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Utah Symphony announces its 2015-16 classical season

Submitted by the Utah Symphony | Utah OperaMusic Director Thierry Fischer and President and CEO Melia Tourangeau announced the Utah Symphony's 2015-16 classical season programs and events celebrating the Orchestra's 75th anniversary.

Highlights of this milestone season include a two-week Beethoven Festival and cycle of the composer’s complete symphonies; performances of Mahler’s Symphonies 5 through 9 to conclude the Orchestra’s two-year complete symphony cycle of the composer in honor of former music director Maurice Abravanel; world premieres of an orchestral work by Nico Muhly and a percussion concerto by Andrew Norman, both to be recorded for future release; collaborations with Utah Opera, Ballet West, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Mormon Tabernacle Choir and The Madeleine Choir School as well as concerts featuring the Utah Symphony Chorus; visits by acclaimed soloists including pianists Kirill Gerstein and Joyce Yang, Berlin Philharmonic principal flutist Emmanuel Pahud, violinists Augustin Hadelich and Stefan Jackiw, and percussionist Colin Currie; the Utah Symphony debuts of pianists Teo Gheorghiu and Louis Schwizgebel, and conductor Cristian Măcelaru; and the return of guest conductors Hans Graf, Jun Märkl, Robert Spano and Matthias Pintscher, who will lead his own work.

"This Anniversary Season is not only a tribute to the legacy of the Utah Symphony for the past 75 years, but also a tribute to the people of our state who have supported a rich cultural tradition since its founding," says Utah Symphony President and CEO Melia Tourangeau. "We plan to celebrate and showcase all that is great about our state both locally and beyond and say ‘thank you’ to this community who has stood with us all along the way in our journey. Great things are happening in Utah and we look forward to sharing it with the world."

Maestro Fischer and the Orchestra launch their seventh season together on Sept. 11 with Beethoven’s "Coriolan" Overture and Symphonies Nos. 4 and 5, opening the two-week Beethoven Symphony Festival. Maestro Fischer will lead the Utah Symphony in 11 of the 17 Masterworks Series programs, which include more than 60 works with repertoire spanning 250 years.

This season, he conducts the Mahler symphony cycle including free performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 featuring the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and The Madeleine Choir School at the Salt Lake Tabernacle as part of the O.C. Tanner "Gift of Music" free music series and continues a multi-year Haydn symphony cycle with symphonies Nos. 6 and 96. He also leads an all-Ravel program with a new staging of the composer’s opera "L’enfant et les sortileges" ("The Child and the Enchantments") with Utah Opera and The Madeleine Choir School, dance concerts featuring Debussy’s "Jeux" with new choreography co-commissioned by Utah Symphony and Ballet West, and a program with Prokofiev’s "Romeo and Juliet" performed with Utah Shakespeare Festival actors. In a special new-year performance with Utah native, soprano Celena Shafer, Maestro Fischer conducts Viennese waltzes by Johann Strauss and family.

The Utah Symphony will celebrate its 75th anniversary with a black-tie gala concert led by Maestro Fischer featuring pianist Lang Lang performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 and Grieg’s Piano Concerto. Proceeds from the gala event will benefit the Utah Symphony’s tour to New York City in Spring 2016.

Also in honor of Utah Symphony’s 75th anniversary, on April 29, 2016, the Orchestra will perform at Carnegie Hall in Stern Auditorium, marking the orchestra’s first visit to New York City in 41 years. The program for the Carnegie Hall concert includes the New York premiere of Andrew Norman’s Percussion Concerto with Colin Curie and Bartók’s "The Miraculous Mandarin."

"I look ahead to our 75th anniversary celebrations with great excitement and pleasure. The full 2015-16 season represents many attractive and inspiring programming challenges, and a culmination of our vision to collaborate and connect to people through live music," says Fischer. "Our commissions and recordings symbolize forward momentum as a modern, creative organization that is focused on innovative and artistic energy. Our performance at Carnegie Hall in Spring 2016, the release of our world premiere recordings, and the fact that we attract some of today’s most renowned soloists and guest conductors demonstrates the growth that we have been able to achieve artistically, and will continue to do as we move forward."

The Utah Symphony presents its annual chamber music concerts at St. Mary’s Church in Park City with newly appointed Associate Conductor Rei Hotoda conducting members of the Orchestra in two programs, one with works by Respighi, Grieg, Schreker and Korngold on Jan. 14 and an all-Mozart concert including concertos with pianist Jason Hardink on May 5.

Rei Hotoda begins her role as the Utah Symphony’s new associate conductor starting Sept. 2015. In addition to leading the orchestra in various programs for community and chamber concerts, regional tours, and the Deer Valley® Music Festival concerts in Park City, she will play an active role in the orchestra’s education department, conducting family, education and outreach concerts.

On the Entertainment Series, the Utah Symphony will perform the cinematic orchestral score in a special screening of the film, "Home Alone," on Dec. 18 and 19 in Abravanel Hall as well as a performance featuring 75 years of the greatest music from Broadway with conductor Jerry Steichen on Feb. 12 and 13.

For more information, visit http://www.utahsymphony.org.

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