Clik here to view.
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 2
by Jeff Counts THE COMPOSER – PIOTR ILYCH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893) – Tchaikovsky was on summer “vacation” in Ukraine when he began work on his 2nd Symphony in 1872. He had recently completed his third...
View ArticleClik here to view.
B. DESSNER: Tromp Miniature
by Jeff Counts THE COMPOSER – BRYCE DESSNER (b. 1976) – As a member of The National, a band he helped his brother Aaron and others form in 1999, Bryce Dessner has enjoyed a lot of critical success....
View ArticleClik here to view.
BRAHMS: Symphony No. 1
by Jeff Counts THE COMPOSER – JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897) – Composers are not typically people who take their time with things, at least not by choice. Theirs is a history full of urgent prodigy lore...
View ArticleClik here to view.
DANNY ELFMAN: Percussion Concerto
by Jeff Counts THE COMPOSER – DANNY ELFMAN (b. 1953) – Danny Elfman’s reputation precedes him everywhere he goes, and it has for a while. For decades he has scored iconic films with music that was as...
View ArticleClik here to view.
SMETANA: Šárka from Ma Vlast
by Jeff Counts THE COMPOSER – BEDRICH SMETANA (1824-1884) – If Dvorak is rightly credited with bringing Czech classical music to the wider world, Bedrich Smetana must be acknowledged as the man who...
View ArticleClik here to view.
DVOŘÁK: Violin Concerto
by Jeff Counts THE COMPOSER – ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK (1841-1904) – Dvořák was beginning to experience the successes and pressures of international celebrity in the late 1870s. Requests for new works were...
View ArticleClik here to view.
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 1
by Jeff Counts THE COMPOSER – JEAN SIBELIUS (1865-1957) – Since long before Sibelius’ birth, Finland was a Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire. By the end of the century, Finn’s were regularly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Music of John Williams
by Matt Starling The emergence of film as a popular art form has had a major impact on the world of classical music for over one hundred years now. During this period we’ve seen a number of composers...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gently Weeps…?
by Jeff Counts There’s nothing quite like a guitar. For portability – between cities, between social classes, between the blurry stratifications of genre – the guitar has no equal. It fits into the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ghost Light PodcastEpisode 8.7 – A guitar Players Amusement Park with...
The Ghost Light Podcast sits down with guitarist Gretchen Menn and USUO VP of Education and Community Outreach Ben Kipp to discuss the upcoming Guitar Celebrations Festival featuring Another Night On...
View ArticleClik here to view.
PROKOFIEV: Selections from Romeo and Juliet
by Jeff Counts THE COMPOSER – SERGE PROKOFIEV (1891-1953) – Prokofiev returned from a concert tour with his family to Soviet Moscow in the summer of 1936. It was always the plan, but one wonders...
View ArticleClik here to view.
RAVEL: Piano Concerto in G
by Jeff Counts THE COMPOSER – MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937) – Ravel traveled to Oxford University in 1928 to receive an honorary doctorate. Awards of that sort were hardly rare for artists of Ravel’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
P. NAZAYKINSKAYA: Winter Bells
by Jeff Counts THE COMPOSER – POLINA NAZAKINSKAYA (b. 1987) – “Each piece of music that I write comes from the depth of my heart,” says Russian-born composer Polina Nazakinskaya, “from the inner ocean...
View ArticleClik here to view.
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Scheherazade
by Jeff Counts THE COMPOSER – NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV (1844-1908) – Rimsky-Korsakov had no opera projects in the queue during the 1887-88 season, so he was able to focus on orchestral composition. The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
RAVEL: Shéhérazade
by Jeff Counts THE COMPOSER – MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937) – In 1903, Ravel was a founding member (if there truly was such a thing) of Les Apaches. It was a loose confederation of artists, musicians and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
DOBRINKA TABAKOVA: Orpheus’ Comet
by Jeff Counts THE COMPOSER – DOBRINKA TABAKOVA (b. 1980) – Though born in Bulgaria, Dobrinka Tabakova has lived in London since 1991 and become an integral part of Britain’s musical life. She...
View ArticleClik here to view.
COPLAND: Symphony No. 3
by Jeff Counts THE COMPOSER – AARON COPLAND (1900-1990) – For Copland, the late 1930s and early 1940s were years of artistic crystallization. He spent them composing the works that confirmed his...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ARTURO MÁRQUEZ: Fandango
by Jeff Counts THE COMPOSER – ARTURO MÁRQUEZ (b. 1950) – Marquez was born in Sonora, Mexico and, though he also studied in America and Europe, his home country has never been far from his mind. In...
View ArticleClik here to view.
JENNIFER HIGDON: Fanfare Ritmico
by Jeff Counts THE COMPOSER – JENNIFER HIGDON (b. 1962) – Few composers have had as much influence on 21st century American music as Jennifer Higdon. She got a late start, by the precocious standards...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ghost Light PodcastEpisode 8.9 – Scheherazade Deep Dive
Co-hosts Jeff Counts and Carol Anderson sit down to discuss Scheherazade, Utah Symphony’s May performance featuring both Rimsky-Korsakov’s famous orchestral suite as well as Ravel’s lesser-known...
View Article