Australian-born pianist Leslie Howard, fresh from appearances with the Utah Symphony, will present a solo recital at 8 p.m. Friday at the Cathedral Church of St. Mark, 231 E. 100 South.
Currently engaged in recording all the solo piano music of Liszt for the Hyperion label, Howard will open the evening with Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" Sonata. Then, following intermission, he will perform Liszt's solo piano transcription of his symphonic poem "Les Preludes" and the "Two Episodes From Lenau's `Faust.' "Admission is $15, with half the proceeds going to the Utah AIDS Foundation.
- FOR THE SECOND YEAR the Utah Chamber Artists will open their season with a free night of music at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, 321 E. South Temple.
Performances titled "Autumn Collage" will be presented Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 14 and 15, at 8 p.m., with the doors opening at 7:15 p.m.
Presented will be Robert Cundick's "Fanfare for an Important Occasion"; Leonard Bernstein's Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (with Christie Lundquist and Karlyn Bond); the same composer's "Chichester Psalms"; Damas' Flute and Harp Sonata (with Sally Humphreys and Tamara Oswald); the opening movement of Vivaldi's D major Lute Concerto (with guitarist Todd Woodbury); music of Bach, Holst, Elgar and Rachmaninoff; and a choral arrangement of Barber's "Adagio for Strings."
Barlow Bradford will conduct the orchestra and chorus.
- THE CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY of Salt Lake City will open its 30th-anniversary season with a concert by the Emerson String Quartet on Monday, Oct. 14, at 8 p.m. at the University of Utah's Museum of Fine Arts.
The Grammy-winning quartet turns in three pieces: Beethoven's Quartet in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2; Schumann's Quartet in F major, Op. 41, No. 2; and the Quartet No. 4 of Ned Rorem, at one time composer-in-residence at the U.
Tickets are $25 ($5 for students), or $70 for the six-concert season. For information call 561-3999.
- ORGANIST ALISON LUEDECKE will perform Tuesday, Oct 15, at 7:30 p.m. at the Temple Square Assembly Hall. Currently director of liturgical music for the Immaculata, a parish community at the University of San Diego, she will play music of Bach, Franck, Balbastre, Jehan Alain ("Le Jardin Suspendu") and Olivier Messiaen.
She will be followed on Wednesday, Oct. 16, at 7:30 p.m. by duo-pianists Fei-Fei Yang and Carole Bradshaw, who will perform pieces by Milhaud ("Scaramouche"); Dohnanyi (the Variations on a Nursery Tune); Benjamin; Bolling; Falla; and Dukas, including the last-named composer's own transcription of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice."
Then on Friday, Oct 18, also at 7:30 p.m., violinist Kelly Parkinson and pianist Dian Baker will present a program of music by Utah composers. Featured will be sonatas by Arthur Shepherd, Robert Cundick and Helen Taylor Johannesen, the deceased wife of pianist Grant Johannesen, along with Richard Nibley's "Hors d'Ouevres."
Admission to each is free but limited to those 8 and older.
- THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH'S Utah Philharmonia will open its season with two concerts this week; the first is Thursday, Oct. 17, at 7:30 p.m. at the U.'s Gardner Hall.
With music director Robert Debbaut on the podium, the orchestra will play Henry Wolking's "Pangaea," Bruch's "Scottish Fantasy" and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 in F minor. Soloing in the Bruch piece will be violin major Karen Maloy.
The Tchaikovsky Fourth will also figure in a concert the orchestra is presenting Satuday, Oct. 19, also at 7:30 p.m., at Gardner Hall. There, however, it will be paired with the same composer's Piano Concerto No. 1, with U. faculty member Lenora Ford Brown as soloist. Again, Debbaut will conduct.
Admission to each is $6 ($3 students and senior citizens) at the door.
- BALLET WEST will take its production of "Romeo and Juliet" to Ogden this week for performances Friday and Saturday, Oct. 18 and 19, at Weber State University's Browning Center for the Performing Arts.
The curtain each night goes up at 7:30 p.m. Tickets, priced from $9 to $18 may be purchased at the Ogden Symphony and Ballet Association, 2580 Jefferson Ave.; at the Eccles Art Center; or by calling 399-9214.
Choreography to the well-known Prokofiev score is by Michael Smuin.
- THE MERIDIAN ARTS Ensemble, whose experience and sound have taken it out of hole-in-the-wall clubs and turned it into a group of world-traveling musicians, will perform in the Madsen Recital Hall of Brigham Young University's Harris Fine Arts Center on Friday, Oct. 18, at 7:30 p.m.
Established in 1987, the group avoids the title of brass quintet perhaps because of the seriousness of the title. Instead it flirts with classics but doesn't hesitate to rush its audiences forward to brass interpretations of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" or Frank Zappa's "Peaches on Regalia."
Tickets, at $8 ($6 for students, faculty and staff; $7 for senior citizens and alumni), can be purchased at the Fine Arts Ticket Office (378-HFAC).
- THE UTAH VALLEY Choral Society begins its season with an evening of the music of John Rutter on Friday, Oct. 18, at 7:30 p.m. in the Provo Tabernacle.
Directed by Lois and Larry Johnson, the program will open with Rutter's "Fancies," followed by "Five Childhood Lyrics," "The Lord Is My Shepherd," "The Lord Bless You and Keep You" and excerpts from the Requiem and Magnificat, among others.
Admission is $6 ($4 for students/seniors), with an informal pre-concert discussion scheduled at 7 p.m.
- PETER NERO returns for another round of concerts with the Utah Symphony this week, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 18 and 19, at 8 p.m. at Abravanel Hall.
There the composer/conductor/arranger and virtuoso pianist will offer a full evening of his unique blend of jazz and the classics. With two Grammy Awards to his credit, the Brooklyn-born musician makes around 150 concert and recital appearances each season.
Tickets are priced from $17 to $34; for information call 533-NOTE.
- THE JAY WELCH CHORALE will present its autumn concert Saturday, Oct. 19, at 7:30 p.m.
With Jay Welch and Sterling Poulson sharing the podium, the program will feature the group in music of Brahms (the Op. 52 "Liebeslieder" Waltzes), Rutter ("A Gaelic Blessing"), Grieg and Rachmininoff as well as arrangements by Welch and Alfred Whitehead.
There is no charge for admission.
- TOM EDWARD CLARK will be the featured piano soloist at a free concert by the Ruth Gatrell Singers on Saturday, Oct. 19, at 7:30 p.m. at Farmington City Hall, 130 N. Main. in Farmington.
Included on the program will be Gatrell's "Utah - What a Wonderful Place!" as well as her Three Preludes for Piano, the song "She's My Sister" and a new children's song, "My Father Guides Me." Flutists Eliza Gatrell and Tina Wood will also perform.
- JOSEPH DE PASQUALE, former principal violist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, will be the soloist at the annual Primrose Memorial Concert Saturday, Oct. 19, at 7:30 p.m. in Brigham Young University's Madsen Recital Hall.
De Pasquale served as principal violist in the Boston Symphony for more than two decades, beginning in 1946, before being appointed principal violist in Philadelphia. He retired from the latter position earlier this year.
Accompanied by pianist Angelin Chen, this "Dean of American Principal Violists" will be heard in works by Bruch, Milhaud and Shulman as well as transcriptions by Primrose.
In addition, de Pasquale will offer a free viola master class Friday, Oct. 18, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in E-250 of the Harris Fine Arts Center. Both events are free and the public is welcome.
- THE AMERICAN WEST Symphony will launch its 1996-97 season with concerts Thursday and Friday, Oct. 17 and 18, at Brighton High School, 2220 E. 7600 South.
Starting time is 8 p.m. for a program that will feature pianist Jeff Manookian as soloist in a new edition of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." In addition, Joel Rosenberg will lead the orchestra in Grieg's "Peer Gynt" Suite No. 1, Barber's "Adagio for Strings" and the Scherzo from the Beethoven Ninth Symphony.
There is no charge for admission, but donations for the Brighton High Fine Arts Department will be accepted.
The same program will be presented free of charge Oct. 25 and 26 at 7:30 p.m. in the Temple Square Assembly Hall.
- THE WEST VALLEY SYMPHONY will present the first concert of its sixth season on Saturday, Oct. 19, at 8 p.m. in the Granger High School auditorium, 3690 S. 3600 West.
Music director Stephen Baker will conduct the orchestra, along with associate conductor Larry Wadsworth and guest conductor Tracy Hurzler, in a Halloween-themed program. Featured will be Sibelius' "Valse Triste," Gounod's "Funeral March of a Marionette," the "March to the Scaffold" from Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique," Saint-Saens' "Danse Macabre" and selections from the movies "Jurassic Park" and "The Witches of Eastwick."
In addition, pianist Rebecca Ferrin will solo in the second movement of Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor.
Tickets are $5, available at a variety of West Valley City locations or at the door.