Baritone Robert W. Ingram will present an afternoon of African-American sprituals and folk songs at 3 p.m. today at Westminster College's Jewett Center for the Performing Arts.
Accompanied by pianist Kenneth Runnacles, Ingram will sing such familiar favorites as "Oh, Mary" and "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands," along with a sequence recalling the ministry and passion of Christ. Admission is free.Currently adjunct professor of music, speech and theater at Westminster, Ingram holds degrees from Indiana University and the University of Illinois. In addition he studied in Boston; Paris; and Stuttgart, Germany, and has performed his one-man show "Paul Robeson" nationally as well as at several Utah theaters and campuses.
- THE UTAH SINFONIETTA, a chamber orchestra composed of student and professional players, will make its debut at 7 this evening at St. Ann's Church, 450 E. 2100 South.
Under conductor Ronald Mead Horton, the orchestra will be heard in three works: the Prelude to Act 1 from Wagner's "Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg," Sibelius' "King Christian II" Suite and Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony. There is no admission charge, but voluntary donations will be accepted.
Horton, who served from 1975 to 1979 as music director of Ballet West and for another year as conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ecuador, says the Sinfonietta harks back to his early days as a member of the Utah Symphony. "Back then the symphony used to take talented young people with no experience and put them in the orchestra next to people who knew what they were doing," he recalls. "It was an excellent way to learn the craft."
Members were selected last month after several weeks of auditions. Professional players include flutist Karen Perkins, clarinetist Kathy Pope, bassoonist Roger Hicks, violinist Judith Rich and Fred Easter, horn. George Blum, formerly a member of the Tucson Symphony, is concertmaster.
- THE WESTMINSTER CHAMBER ORCHESTRA and the Oratorio Society of Utah will combine for a free concert this evening at 8 in the Jewett Center for the Performing Arts on the Westminster College campus.
Conducted by Jeff Manookian and Morris Lee, the program will consist of the Overture to Mozart's "Don Giovanni," Brahms' Alto Rhapsody and Beethoven's Mass in C major. Vocal soloists will include soprano Linda Lee, alto Doris Brunati, tenor Dave Arnold and bass Robert Lee.
Saturday, April 11, at 7:30 p.m. Lee will also direct the Westminster College Chorus in a free concert in the Jewett Center. Also featured will be the Renaissance Singers in a selection of 16th-century madrigals and ballads and a Renaissance band performing music of Finck, Senfl and Praetorius on sackbuts and shawms.
- THE CACHE VALLEY CIVIC BALLET will conclude its full-length presentation of Tchaikovsky's "Sleeping Beauty," staged by artistic director Sandra Emile, with a performance Monday, April 6, at 7:30 p.m. in Utah State University's Chase Fine Arts Center. Tickets are $6, available at the door.
- THE SHOW CHOIR FESTIVAL, sponsored by the Weber State University department of performing arts and hosted by the Weber State Singers, is scheduled for Tuesday, April 7, at 7 p.m. in the Ogden school's Browning Center for the Performing Arts.
High schools participating in this year's events are Layton, Brighton, Hillcrest, Olympus, Bountiful and Soda Springs. Performances will not be adjudicated but will receive written evaluations.
The Large Choir Festival, also at WSU, will take place Friday and Saturday, April 10 and 11, at 7 p.m. in the Browning Center. Performing will be concert choirs, madrigal and chamber choirs from area high schools.
Admission to each is free.
- THE BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY Percussion Ensemble and Panoramic Steel Ensemble will share the stage Tuesday, April 7, at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall of the Provo school's Harris Fine Arts Center.
Included will be arrangements from Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 and Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique" along with contemporary pieces by Steve Reich, Jean-Luc Ponty and Christopher Rouse. Tickets at $4 ($3 BYU faculty and students and senior citizens) are available at the music ticket office, 378-7444.
In other campus concerts, all free to the public, the BYU Symphony Orchestra will perform Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall of the Harris Fine Arts Center. Directed by Walter Birkedahl and Jim Hardy, the program will consist of "Siegfried's Rhine Journey" and the Act 1 Prelude to "Die Meistersinger" by Wagner, a group of Dvorak "Slavonic Dances" and Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony."
On Wednesday, April 8, there will be performances, also at 7:30 p.m. in Madsen, by the BYU Guitar Ensemble and, in the Tanner Building, the BYU Vocal Jazz Ensemble. A songwriters showcase will be presented Thursday, April 9, at 7:30 p.m. in Madsen, followed by a concert Saturday, April 11, at 7:30 p.m. by the BYU Children's Choir, in the de Jong Concert Hall.
Finally trumpeter Neal Woolworth will present a faculty recital Saturday, April 11, also at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall. Included on his program will be music of Handel and Dello Joio as well as Stravinsky's "L'Histoire du Soldat," the last featuring a small chamber group conducted by David Blackinton.
- GUITARIST SCOTT TENNANT of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet will be presented in recital Tuesday, April 7, by the Utah Classical Guitar Society. Starting time is 8 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, South Temple and C streets.
Three years ago the Detroit-born Tennant became the first American guitarist to win first prize in the Tokyo International Competition. Earlier he had been awarded silver medals in the 1984 Toronto International Guitar Competition and the 1988 ORTF Competition in Paris. He currently teaches at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
His program Tuesday will feature him in Bach's E major Suite, BWV 1006a, Carlo Domenico's Variations on a Turkish Folk Song and pieces by Dowland, Leo Brouwer, Andrew York, Tarrega and Albeniz. Tickets are $9 in advance or $10 at the door ($2 UCGS members); for information call 269-8290.
- THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION of Teachers of Singing will present the four artists who placed highest in its statewide 1992 Young Artists competition in concert Wednesday, April 8, at 7:30 p.m. in the Temple Square Assembly Hall.
Karen Brookens, Colleen Rose Butler, Carolyn Talboys-Klassen and Marta Burnett Johns will sing a program of arias and art songs. Admission is free, but limited to those 8 and older.
- THE OGDEN COMMUNITY CHOIR will perform Mendelssohn's "Elijah" three times during the coming week. On Thursday, April 9, they will be in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square, and on Friday and Sunday, April 10 and 12, in the Ogden Tabernacle. All of these free performances will begin at 7:30 p.m.
Evelyn M. Harris conducts the 80-voice choir, with Kenneth B. Becraft as associate conductor and Karen J. Miller as organist. Many choir members sing solos, with Richard Holbrook, Dave Ellis and Bill Weaver in Elijah solos.
- "RHYME, RHYTHM & REASON," a performance by Weber State University's Orchesis Dance Theater, will be presented Thursday through Saturday, April 9-11, at 7:30 p.m. in the Browning Center for the Performing Arts.
Patti O'Neal, visiting dance faculty member, has choreographed five works for this concert, some of them dealing with the black experience in America. Other choreographies are by Joni Wilson and Joanne L. Lawrence. Tickets at $6 ($3 students/seniors) may be purchased at the Dee Events Center or at the door.
- FOUR BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY choirs will join the BYU Philharmonic, Clyn Barrus conducting, for performances of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 Thursday and Friday, April 9 and 10, in the de Jong Concert Hall of BYU's Harris Fine Arts Center and Saturday, April 11, in the Salt Lake Tabernacle.
Starting time for each is 7:30 p.m., with tickets to the BYU performances $4 ($3 students/faculty and seniors). Admission to the Saturday-evening performance is free.
Four vocal soloists will be joining the BYU ensembles in the work's choral finale - soprano Marilyn Rudolph, mezzo-soprano Lila Stuart, tenor Marcus Denton and baritone C.H. Hill. Stuart and Hill are BYU faculty members and Denton is from the University of Arizona.
Also participating will be the BYU Men's and Women's Choruses, the Concert Choir and the BYU Singers.
- THE BYU BALLROOM DANCE COMPANY will present its spring concert in three performances - Friday and Saturday, April 10 and 11, at 7:30 p.m. with a 2:30 matinee Saturday. All three will be in the Marriott Center, with tickets $6 ($5 students/faculty and seniors) and a matinee-only family pass $20. For information call 378-2981.
Highlights will be new choreography and new costumes for all five teams. Most of the new dances are by company artistic director Lee Wakefield, with costumes designed by Linda Wakefield. Guest choreographers are Tony Meredith and Melanie LaPaton, second-ranked U.S. professional Latin American dancers, who have staged a cha-cha, "Todo, Todo, Todo."
Among soloists will be BYU's Thomas and Lori Hicks, current U.S. amateur Latin champions, and the Wakefields in an exhibition dance to Natalie Cole's "Unforgettable." The evening will conclude with all 180 dancers in a star-spangled, all-American tribute.
Many numbers from this program will be on the company's European tour in May, after competition in Blackpool, England, where the company has won eight times.
- THE UTAH SYMPHONY will become "a little bit country" as it welcomes singer Marie Osmond in concerts Friday and Saturday, April 10 and 11, at 8 p.m. in Symphony Hall.
With music director Joseph Silverstein conducting, the orchestra will open the evening with a selection of lighter classics, including Sousa's "El Capitan," Chabrier's "Espana" and Tchaikovsky's "Capriccio Italien."
Then Osmond will take the stage for the second half, spotlighting her in some of the songs that have helped her reach the No. 1 spot on the country music charts.
Tickets range in price from $12 to $27 ($5 students). For information call 533-NOTE.
- THREE ARTISTS FROM the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival will perform on the Chamber Music Society of Logan's final concert of the season Friday, April 10, at 8 p.m. in Utah State University's Eccles Conference Center auditorium.
Featured will be violinist Ida Levin, cellist Carter Brey and pianist Christopher O'Riley in piano trios of Ravel and Beethoven (the "Archduke") and three tangos of the Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla. Their appearance is part of a 10-day tour that will also take them to Seattle, Berkeley and Santa Barbara, Calif., and St. Paul, Minn.
Each has been a regular festival participant and an Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient. In addition Levin and Brey have soloed with the Utah Symphony.
Tickets are available in advance at Sunrise Cyclery, the USU ticket office or at the door.
- JOSEPH SILVERSTEIN will conduct the Utah Symphony in a program of "Saturday Morning Cartoon Classics" on April 11 in Symphony Hall. The young people's concert will be presented twice, at 11:30 a.m. and again at 1 p.m.
With animated cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny and his pals projected above the stage, the orchestra will be heard in such pieces as Rossini's "Barber of Seville" Overture and Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries." In addition cartoonists will also be available in the lobby before each concert to draw caricatures for a fee.
Tickets, at $3 children, $6 adults, are available on a standby basis only but the symphony has always been able to find seats for everyone. For information call 533-NOTE.
- THE VIOLIN MAKING SCHOOL of America will celebrate its 20th anniversary this week with a variety of events at the school, 308 E. 200 South, and a free concert Saturday, April 11, at 3:30 p.m. at Symphony Hall.
Performing will be members of the Utah Symphony, all on instruments manufactured by the school's graduates. Also taking part will be Utah Symphony music director Joseph Silverstein, who is one of several violinists, including Pinchas Zukerman and Jaime Laredo, who perform on graduate-made instruments.
Included on the program will be the Bach Double Concerto, Mozart's "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" and two movements from Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings.
Since its founding in 1972, said director Peter Prier, the school has graduated 89 instrument-makers, 68 of whom will be returning for the celebration. To date around 90 percent of the school's graduates have jobs in or own their own violinmaking businesses.
- ZIVIO ETHNIC ARTS ENSEMBLE, along with guest artists Dionysios, the Greek folk dance troupe, will entertain with Balkan folk dance, music and song on Saturday, April 11, at 8 p.m. in Kingsbury Hall at the University of Utah.
Now in its 12th year, Zivio performs authentic folk dances from Eastern Europe, and live music on ethnic instruments. This year's concert features the Yugoslav regions of Slavonia, Vojvodina and Dalmatia; Yugoslav and Greek Macedonia; Bulgaria; and Hungarian dances from Transylvania.
Besides dances from Thrace, Dionysios will join with Zivio in dances from Greek Macedonia, choreographed by Joe Kalayonides Graziosi.
The ensemble's choir, Pjevaci, will perform both traditional and modern arrangements of folk songs, notably the Bulgarian repertory. Also to be heard are such unusual instruments as the gadulka, tamburitza, bagpipes, and Greek Bouzouki.
Tickets are $8 ($5 students, seniors and children), available in advance at Kingsbury Hall, Soundoff Records and Acoustic Music, or at the door.