Normally, you would expect someone who has just finished his first year at Juilliard to spend the summer relaxing and enjoying some well-deserved free time. But for cellist Matt Zalkind, performing is still uppermost in his mind.
The son of Utah Symphony musicians Larry and Roberta Zalkind, Matt Zalkind has been devoting at least part of his summer vacation at his parents' Salt Lake home to preparing for his first local performance in two years. "I really wanted to perform here for the public," Zalkind said.
The last time he was seen locally was at the Utah Symphony's Salute to Youth concert in September 2003, playing the first movement of Dvorak's Cello Concerto. "Besides that concert," he said, "I haven't done much here."
Zalkind will appear Monday in the auditorium of the Salt Lake City Library. He said he's prepared a program that includes some works he's been playing for awhile, along with some new pieces. "I picked the program because of the wide time span it has, and because there is a lot of variety in it."
The two halves of the recital will open with works he's performed in the past — Boccherini's Sonata in A major and Schumann's Cello Concerto. "The Boccherini is a two-movement piece, about 10 minutes long," Zalkind said. "It's a basic, standard cello piece."
The Schumann, on the other hand, is one of the repertoire's major works, which Zalkind spent much of his first year at Juilliard preparing for a competition. "Juilliard has one or two competitions a year for each instrument. The winner of each competition gets to play with the Juilliard Orchestra." Zalkind's performance impressed the judges, and he was one of the finalists in the cello competition.
A new piece for Zalkind is Prokofiev's Cello Sonata. "It's a great work, but it's really hard," he said. "Having it on the recital forced me to learn it."
Besides these three works, Zalkind will also play a showpiece for cello. "This is a new thing for me."
It was his teacher at Juilliard who convinced the young cellist to tackle some of these pieces. He said he's been enjoying learning them. "They're kind of fun, even though it's slow work learning them because they're technically demanding. But it's good to get them learned and played."
Zalkind will round out his recital Monday with Paganini's "Variations on One String," a work transcribed from the original violin by the legendary cellist Emanuel Feuermann.
The pianist accompanying Zalkind will be University of Utah faculty member Heather Conner. "I'm lucky that she's available." This isn't their first collaboration. "I've worked with Heather in the past, when I made some audition tapes."
Originally, it was fellow Utahn and Juilliard student Evan Shinners who was going to accompany Zalkind. However, Shinners' teacher wants him to concentrate on the concerto repertoire rather than chamber music. "Evan does a lot of solo work himself, and he had too much going on."
Zalkind said it's been a tremendous experience studying at Juilliard. "Life at Juilliard is incredible. I couldn't be happier with the way things have been going for me. And living in New York is amazing, too."
If you go . . .
What: Cellist Matt Zalkind, pianist Heather Conner
Where: Salt Lake City Library Auditorium
When: 7 p.m. Monday
How much: Free
E-mail: ereichel@desnews.com