A night at the Utah Symphony

         View of the Abravanel concert hall from the third tier seating area

Nothing restores the soul like an evening at the symphony; marveling at the visionary genius of composers both past and present embodied by a talented group of musicians who bring their creations to life.

Last night was the opening night of Rachmaninoff’s popular Concerto No. 2 for Piano in C Minor, op. 18., conducted by Thomas Wilkins and performed by the Utah Symphony Orchestra featuring internationally renown pianist, Jon Kimura Parker. Being a huge Rachmaninoff fan, and an adorer of 19th and 20th century Romantic era music in general, I had to attend. Luckily, I was able to find last-minute tickets the night before.

My first visit to Abravanel Hall was last December for Utah Opera’s impressive performance of Mozart’s Requiem. It's always a treat to return to this beautiful venue. Abravanel Hall first opened as Symphony Hall back in 1979, and was later renamed in 1993 for Maurice Abravanel, the beloved conductor who started with the Utah Symphony in 1949 and built it from a part-time community orchestra into a world-class ensemble over the course of 33 years. The building itself was built with many pain-staking acoustical and artistic details, from the sound lock corridors designed to isolate lobby noise from the concert hall, to the glittering chandeliers made of 18,000 hand cut Bohemian crystals. Also in the lobby is an original Chihuly installation standing 27 feet tall, designed to commemorate the 2002 Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City.

The highlight of last night’s concert was when Jon Kimura Parker took his place at the piano to play Rachmaninoff. The performance of the Utah Symphony Orchestra and Mr. Parker were phenomenal, and Parker received a standing ovation at the concert’s conclusion, which lead to a couple surprise encores. Parker introduced his first encore, Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in G Major, as a piece he learned when he was 15, and the second was a Billy Joel song he played at his recent 30-year high school reunion (the virtuoso clearly has a humorous side to him, read his factoids page on his website).

I look forward to attending more performances of the Utah Symphony whose talent and intimate blending of technical skill were a delight to the artistic senses.

For more information: 
• Map it!  Find parking by heading west to the parking lot located on the corner of North 200 West and West South Temple
• Visit the Utah Symphony website
• Read the history of the Maurice Abravanel Hall
• Pianist John Kimura Parker's website