There is a huge new thing on the Salt Lake arts horizon! And if you have not heard about it, you will — soon.
The brand-new Salt Lake Chamber Orchestra (SLCO) is now a permanent institution in the city, and it presents classical and contemporary music in a way most have never heard before. Its size can range from four to sixteen players, depending on the venue. It is made up of some of the greatest virtuoso talent in the country, all young, and all trained at world-class music schools — like Juilliard and Curtis.
Many musicians in the group are even laureates of some of the world’s finest music competitions, including the Concours musical international de Montréal and the International Tchaikovsky Violin Competition.
My wife Linda and I attended their Spring Concert on Friday night at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, and we were simply blown away by the power, artistry and passion of these exceptional young artists.
Their program infused one of the great standards for chamber orchestra, Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings Op. 48, with works from all different eras of classical music, including Gabriela Lena Frank’s “Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout” and Ernest Bloch’s “In the Mountains.”
The program asked us to consider the word “landscape,” and how we appreciate the physical landscapes around us. It also delved into more serious topics, like how we can improve cultural landscapes, and preserve our environmental landscapes.
One thing that made it so remarkable was the subtle body language, communication and teamwork among the artists.
There were 12 musicians on Friday, six violins, three violas, two cellos and one double bass.
One thing that made it so remarkable was the subtle body language, communication and teamwork among the artists. This type of orchestra is “conductorless” so the players “manage and motivate” each other rather than taking unilateral commands from a conductor.
We attended their rehearsal three days before the performance and it was rare and wonderful to see each of them making suggestions, essentially brainstorming together both verbally and musically to get each phrase of each piece just like they wanted it. It was like a “players-only” practice in basketball where the team works out things among themselves rather than waiting for the coach to tell them what to do.
One of the violinists told us that this kind of conductorless chamber orchestra is a far cry from a large orchestra where the conductor calls all the shots and the best way for a musician not to get tenure is to make suggestions.
Another accomplished violinist, this one sitting in the audience with us, commented afterward that “this is every musician’s dream — to have a part in the direction as well as in the performing.” Other audience members’ comments after the performance were about how clearly one can feel their musical convictions and how much more intimate the concert experience was.
Essentially, chamber orchestras like this have the subtlety of a string quartet but the power of a full symphony. It is an experience!
Conductorless Chamber Orchestras are springing up in major cities across the U.S., and we are so very fortunate to have one taking root here.
Bree Fotheringham, originally from Davis County before her Colburn Conservatory years, is the founder of SLCO. She is committed, with her new husband — cellist Tate Zawadiuk currently in residence at Lincoln Center — to keep the orchestra here and to make it a permanent institution on the Salt Lake music scene. Their friends and colleagues, all of them noted soloists and global performers, fly in from all over the country to join Bree and Tate and other accomplished Utah artists.
Let me conclude by making clear that I love full orchestral music and our beloved Utah Symphony. Some Deseret News readers know that I ran the bond election that built Abravanel Hall fifty years ago and recently helped lead the fight to save the hall when it appeared that it might be threatened by the building of a sports mall.
But I am here to tell you that the smaller, more intimate SLCO deserves a place in our arts culture, and we are blessed to have this vibrant and exciting new group.
SLCO welcomes community support and can be reached at info@theslco.org, where you can also get more information on upcoming concerts and even on bringing string quartets into your home or community for private concerts.