🗓️ THURSDAY, JANUARY 7 | 7:30 PM
📍BROWNING CENTER AT WSU
The Utah Symphony performs Rachmaninoff’s sweeping Third Symphony alongside Bernstein and Bolcom in a program built to move you, whether you know the music or not. From the first blazing notes of the Candide Overture to the lush final pages of the Rachmaninoff, this is an evening that takes you from pure joy to deep emotional sweep with a discovery in between.
The concert begins with Bernstein’s Overture to Candide, a two-minute shot of orchestral adrenaline that became one of the most performed American works of the 20th century. You may already know the melody. Then comes a rare treat: William Bolcom’s Violin Concerto, a colorful American work that blends folk, ragtime, and classical idioms into something lyrical and surprising. Concertmaster Madeline Adkins steps out of the first chair and into the soloist spotlight for this one. It’s the kind of piece that sounds familiar on first listen, even if you’ve never heard it before.
The evening closes with Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3, music as lush and sweeping as anything the composer ever wrote. Folk-inspired melodies, moments of quiet restraint, and a finale that builds to something overwhelming. It’s less performed than his famous Second Symphony, but equally powerful. Rachmaninoff composed it in the mid-1930s, and you can hear a lifetime of longing in every phrase. On a January night in Utah, it fits the season perfectly.
On the podium is Delyana Lazarova, the Utah Symphony’s Principal Guest Conductor. Ogden audiences got a taste of her energy last season when she opened the Masterworks series, and she’s back with a program that plays to her strengths: a competition-winning Bulgarian conductor with a natural affinity for Russian repertoire. This is the kind of program that rewards showing up and letting the music do the rest. No preparation needed. Just come, listen, and let the Utah Symphony and Rachmaninoff’s symphony do the work. Join us at Austad Auditorium on Thursday, January 7 at 7:30 PM.
Program
Delyana Lazarova, conductor
Madeline Adkins, violin
BERNSTEIN Overture to Candide
BOLCOM Violin Concerto
RACHMANINOFF Symphony No. 3
