In the News

Successful relationships of more than 40 years are something to celebrate. Perhaps even envy.

America’s Emerson String Quartet has been active for 43 years. Three quarters of the group, violinists Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer and violist Lawrence Dutton, have been playing together since they formed the ensemble in 1976. Cellist Paul Watkins has been part of the group for almost seven years. Few groups could claim such longevity and so many original members.

The Emerson String Quartet, a renowned chamber ensemble known for its lively, nuanced playing, announced on Thursday that it would disband in 2023, after nearly a half-century.

The quartet’s members said they had decided it was time to move on so they could focus on teaching and solo work.

The Emerson String Quartet, which for 45 years has dominated the genre with playing that ranges from tripping elegance to brutal stomp, will spend the next two years saying good-bye. That leaves time for at least one more New York premiere, an all-Beethoven road show, a European tour, and an entire valedictory season: “A huge crescendo, then a subito piano,” violinist Philip Setzer says with relish. “We all know artists who said they were going to retire and just kept going and going,” adds fellow violinist Eugene Drucker.

Known internationally as a visionary man of the theater, Bill T. Jones has built a reputation over the past 38 years for his ability to visualize the human condition through choreography and dance. Having received the National Medal of Arts, a MacArthur Genius Award, a Kennedy Center Honors Award and multiple Tony Awards, to name just a few of his honors, there is little imaginative territory Jones has not attempted.

Professional dancers from the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company will perform the world premiere of a new work alongside Bloomington community dancers, including Indiana University students, Feb. 22 at Indiana University Auditorium.

Bill T. Jones, 69, is a choreographer, MacArthur Genius Fellowship Award winner, two-time Tony award winner, author and cofounder of the Bill T. Jones /Arnie Zane Dance Company. He’s performing with his own company for the first time in 15 years from Sept. 28 to Oct. 9 in a new work, Deep Blue Sea, commissioned by New York City’s Park Avenue Armory.

During a phone call from her New York City home, multi-Grammy-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin’s voice reveals patience and acceptance regarding the situation imposed by the current pandemic that has kept her and every other touring artist out of concert halls. “I haven’t traveled since the middle of February,” Isbin says. “But I live a block from the river and can go jogging whenever I want, and the grocery store where I shop is four blocks away.

In modern popular music, "sampling" is a common technique, taking an excerpt or element of an earlier song and transforming it into something new. This idea, in fact, dates centuries back.

The Utah Symphony's upcoming O.C. Tanner Masterworks Series program offers prime examples of musical tributes-or, what could be considered sampling in symphonic music. The concerts take place September 24 and 25 at Abravanel Hall, and the public is also invited to a ticketed dress rehearsal on the morning of September 24 to witness the artistic process of refining a performance.

George Li's profile has skyrocketed through the rankings of classical pianists in recent years. He has racked up prominent competition successes, most notably the Silver Medal at the 2015 Tchaikovsky International Competition. He's still only 25 years old, but he's already played alongside many of the world's most prominent conductors and orchestras in concerto settings. His recording contract with Warner Classics has yielded two highly praised albums.

A few bumps are inevitable on the Utah Symphony’s road back to normalcy. At last week’s opening program, illness led to two changes of conductors and a programming adjustment.

This week, Ludovic Morlot was on the podium replacing Thierry Fischer due to the music director’s recent hospitalization. Also George Li was the substitute pianist in place of Andrei Korobeinikov, who was sidelined by a pandemic-related visa delay.