Utah Symphony Announces Consecutive Masterworks Weekends Featuring Suk’s “Serenade for Strings” and Beethoven’s “Eroica”

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (October 21, 2020) – Utah Symphony announced the fourth and fifth live Masterworks programs of the 2020-21 season at Abravanel Hall, with Concertmaster Madeline Adkins leading strings in a program that also highlights percussion and woodwind performers November 12, 13 and 14, and Music Director Thierry Fischer conducting the orchestra November 19, 20 and 21 in Beethoven’s “Eroica” in celebration of the composer’s 250^th birthday. Tickets for the general public go on sale October 26 at 12 PM.

The fourth Masterworks program November 12, 13 and 14 opens with Biber’s 1673 Baroque-era Battalia, an ingenious piece depicting a battle with strings becoming sounds of musket shots, folk songs, and field drums. Bohemian composer Josef Suk’s cheerful and sunny Serenade for Strings is the centerpiece of the evening led by Concertmaster Madeline Adkins. Named after Kū, the Hawaiian god of war, and inspired by Hawaiian chants, Rouse’s percussion quartet Ku-Ka-Ilimoku will fill the hall with the rhythmic sounds of what Rouse describes as a “propulsive war dance.” The final, mysterious movement of the flute duet Masque: Incidental II highlights the equal importance of silence and sound in Takemitsu’s music. The program concludes with Mozart’s unconventional Serenade No. 12, essentially a symphony for wind instruments, a musical journey filled with somber darkness but ending with light and joy.

The following weekend, November 19, 20 and 21, Utah Symphony’s strings, timpani, brass, and winds are reunited with Music Director Thierry Fischer leading Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, also known as his powerful and ground-breaking “Eroica,” in celebration of the composer’s 250th birthday. The monumental work is paired with an arrangement for brass by Associate Principal Trumpet Jeff Luke of Schoenberg’s Friede auf Erden (Peace on Earth), which premiered in 1911 for chorus and small orchestra with text drawn from a Christmas poem.

In keeping with recommended coronavirus health precautions and after six months of silence in Abravanel Hall, the orchestra opened its 2020-21 season in September with shorter in-person programs that required fewer musicians to allow for greater physical distancing between artists. The frequency of performances has increased due to the reduced audience seating capacity in the hall – these November Masterworks presentations have added Thursday evenings and Saturday matinees to the regular Friday and Saturday performance offerings.

Estimated concert length is 70 to 80 minutes (with no intermission). The programming on this performance has been modified to abide by local, state, and national health and safety recommendations. This project is funded in part by the CARES Act and the Utah State Legislature through Arts & Museums.

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RELATED EVENTS

Utah Symphony will perform the music of the Beatles in four live performances accompanied by hundreds of rare and unseen historic photos, video and animation on November 5, 6 and 7 at Abravanel Hall. REVOLUTION: The Music of The Beatles is a new symphonic experience featuring top vocalists and musicians accompanied by Grammy Award-winner Jeff Tyzik’s new arrangements. REVOLUTION includes music transcribed and arranged for orchestra from the original master recordings at Abbey Road. Tickets are on sale now.

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PROGRAM

Suk’s Serenade for Strings with Biber, Rouse, Takemitsu & Mozart

November 12, 13 & 14 2020 | 7:30 PM | Abravanel Hall (Doors open at 6:30 PM)
November 14, 2020 | 1 PM | Abravanel Hall (Doors open at Noon)

Madeline Adkins, Concertmaster/Leader

BIBER: Battalia á 10
SUK: Serenade for Strings
CHRISTOPHER ROUSE: Ku-Ka-Ilimoku
Keith Carrick, Eric Hopkins & Michael Pape, percussion
TŌRU TAKEMITSU: Masque – Incidental II.
Mercedes Smith & Caitlyn Valovick-Moore, flute
MOZART: Serenade No. 12

Beethoven’s “Eroica” with Schoenberg’s Peace on Earth

November 19, 20 & 21 2020 | 7:30 PM | Abravanel Hall (Doors open at 6:30 PM)
November 21, 2020 | 1 PM | Abravanel Hall (Doors open at Noon)

Thierry Fischer, conductor

BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 3 “Eroica”
SCHOENBERG (arr. Jeff Luke): Peace on Earth

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TICKET INFORMATION

Current season subscribers and patrons with account credit or gift certificates from a canceled performance may purchase additional tickets or exchange their existing tickets beginning October 20 at noon. Single tickets will go on sale to the general public on October 26 at 12 PM for performances that are not sold out on subscription.

Tickets may be purchased using the new Utah Symphony | Utah Opera mobile app, available free for iPhone and Android. Tickets may also be purchased online at usuo.org, or by calling USUO Patron Services at 801-533-NOTE (6683) or through ArtTix.org. In-person assistance is not available at this time. For Ticket Office hours and the most up-to-date information, please visit us at usuo.org, and follow us on social media.