In Friday’s (3/30) Salt Lake Tribune, Robert Coleman writes, “It would be rare to find an amateur musician who hasn’t wondered what it would be like to perform with a professional orchestra. So the Utah Symphony Orchestra and its new assistant conductor Vladimir Kulenovic decided to make that dream come true for 51 local musicians, holding the first Pro-Am on Thursday evening at Abravanel Hall. The idea was brought to the attention of symphony management by principal timpanist George Brown a few years ago, after he read about a similar event started by the Baltimore Symphony. The Utah Symphony hopes to do this every year. Loosely following Baltimore’s pattern, the Utah Symphony selected amateur musicians through an application process to participate in a rehearsal followed by a performance of the final movement from Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. Of 112 applicants, 51 were selected, and each sat next to a symphony member, experiencing up close how the pros do it. A small, invited audience of family members, friends and media were on hand to witness the rehearsal and ensuing brief performance. The entire experience lasted just more than an hour, but in that time, the orchestra coalesced into an intense, precise and musically passionate unit under Kulenovic’s guidance.”
Posted April 2, 2012
