mike and ruth

When Richard Elliott was announced as a guest artist at the Utah Symphony concerts on May 6 and 7, Grandpa was very interested and we decided to go together as a family (me and my brothers and sisters and spouses and grandpa) to hear him play with the Orchestra. We went on Friday evening, May 6. Eli got us reservations, so before the evening’s concert we went together for dinner at Bucca di Beppo downtown. It was a nice place with much authentic Italian food and a relaxed but very nice atmosphere. We had a nice time visiting with each other during dinner, and then walked to the concert afterwards in the cool spring evening. There was no snow or rain, which was a welcome relief for this extraordinarily wet late winter and spring.
We arrived in good time at Abravanel Hall and met each other there to take our seats at the rear of the concert hall on the third tier. They were all together in the first two rows. It was nice to visit the hall again, I used to work there recording concerts of the Symphony twice a week for seven years, and so I have many memories of the place.
The music included the Stravinsky Scherzo Fantastique, the Poulenc Concerto in g minor for Organ, Strings, and Tympani, and the Saint-Saens Symphony No. 3 “Organ”. The orchestra had a new Rodgers Organ shipped from Hillsboro Oregon and installed on the stage. It was a three-manual digital organ which was next to the conductor’s podium stage right for the concerto, and at the back of the first violins on stage right for the Symphony. The playing was wonderful on everyone’s part. I especially enjoyed the outstanding brass players of the orchestra with the sonority of the organ in the Symphony, and the strings were bright and shimmery at the appropriate times for the Poulenc Concerto. The colors of the Stravinsky made it a welcome addition to the beginning of the concert, a kind of 20th century musical watercolor that was easy to listen to as well as very cheerful in its demeanor most of the way through. Bravo Rick! We loved the concert and your collaboration with the orchestra was brilliant!