Utah Symphony

The Utah Symphony is a full-time orchestra in Salt Lake City, Utah. It has become a vital presence on the American music scene through its distinctive performances worldwide and its well-known recording legacy left by former music director Maurice Abravanel. The orchestra performs in Abravanel Hall (in downtown Salt Lake City near Temple Square), which is acclaimed as one of the world's great concert halls - having won awards for both its architecture and its extraordinary acoustics.

In addition to performing more than 70 subscription concerts in Abravanel Hall, the Symphony travels around the Intermountain West serving communities throughout Utah. It has also performed in Wyoming, Nevada and Idaho. In April 2005, the orchestra embarked on its first European Tour in 19 years, visiting concert halls in Austria, Slovenia and Germany. During August 2014, Utah Symphony embarked upon a week-long tour to southern Utah called "The Mighty 5®", performing free, outdoor classical music concerts with the full orchestra against the stunning red rock landscape of the state's five national parks (Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, Arches, Bryce Canyon and Zion).

Utah

Utah (/ˈjuːtɔː/ or ⁱ/ˈjuːtɑː/; Navajo: Áshįįh bi Tó Hahoodzo; Arapaho: Wo'tééneihí ) is a state in the western United States. It became the 45th state admitted to the Union on January 4, 1896. Utah is the 13th-largest, the 31st-most populous, and the 10th-least-densely populated of the 50 United States. Utah has a population of nearly 3 million (Census estimate for July 1, 2015), approximately 80% of whom live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. Utah is bordered by Colorado to the east, Wyoming to the northeast, Idaho to the north, Arizona to the south, and Nevada to the west. It also touches a corner of New Mexico in the southeast.

Approximately 62% of Utahns are reported to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or LDS (Mormons), which greatly influences Utah culture and daily life. The world headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is located in Utah's state capital, Salt Lake City. Utah is the most religiously homogeneous state in the United States, the only state with a Mormon majority, and the only state with a majority population belonging to a single church.

Symphony

A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often written by composers for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning common today: a work usually consisting of multiple distinct sections or movements, often four, with the first movement in sonata form. Symphonies are scored for string (violin, viola, cello and double bass), brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments which altogether number about 30–100 musicians. Symphonies are notated in a musical score, which contains all the instrument parts. Orchestral musicians play from parts which contain just the notated music for their instrument. A small number of symphonies also contain vocal parts (e.g., Beethoven's Ninth Symphony).

Origins

The word symphony is derived from Greek συμφωνία (symphonia), meaning "agreement or concord of sound", "concert of vocal or instrumental music", from σύμφωνος (symphōnos), "harmonious". The word referred to an astonishing variety of different things, before ultimately settling on its current meaning designating a musical form.

Harry Potter

Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels and one play written by British author J. K. Rowling. The series chronicles the life of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story arc concerns Harry's struggle against the Dark wizard Lord Voldemort, who aims to become immortal, overthrow the Ministry of Magic, subjugate non-magic people and destroy anyone who stands in his way.

Since the release of the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, on 30 June 1997, the books have gained immense popularity, critical acclaim and commercial success worldwide. They attracted a wide adult audience, and have remained one of the preeminent cornerstones of young adult literature. The series has also had some share of criticism, including concern about the increasingly dark tone as the series progressed, as well as the often gruesome and graphic violence depicted in the series. As of July 2013, the books have sold more than 450 million copies worldwide, making the series the best-selling book series in history, and have been translated into 73 languages. The last four books consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history, with the final instalment selling roughly 11 million copies in the United States within the first 24 hours of its release.

Thierry Fischer

Thierry Fischer (born 28 September 1957) is a Swiss orchestra conductor and flutist.

Fischer was born in then Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (Zambia) to Swiss parents who had been missionaries and studied flute with Aurèle Nicolet and began his musical career as Principal Flute in Hamburg and at the Zurich Opera, where he studied scores with Nikolaus Harnoncourt. His conducting career began in his 30's, subsequently directing his first few concerts with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, where he was principal flute under Claudio Abbado.

From 1997 to 2001, Fischer was chief conductor of the Netherlands Ballet Orchestra (Nederlands Balletorkest). In 2001, Fischer became principal conductor of the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast. His contract was extended in January 2004 to 2006. In 2006, Fischer concluded his tenure with the Ulster Orchestra, and stated that he left this position partly because "to be really honest, I didn't get to do all the things I wanted to do." In September 2006, he became principal conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BBC NOW), and concluded his BBC NOW tenure after the 2011-2012 season.