The source article for an item on yesterday’s Hub contained an error. The new work by Zhou Tian about the Transcontinental Railroad has been co-commissioned by ten orchestras, not the four reported in the December 16 Salt Lake Tribune. The orchestras are the Reno Philharmonic, the lead commissioning orchestra, plus Arapahoe Philharmonic, Boise Philharmonic, Central Wisconsin Symphony, Cheyenne Symphony, Evanston Symphony, Michigan State University Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera, and Utah Symphony | Utah Opera. A corrected story appears below.
“Utah Symphony | Utah Opera is adding its music and voices to next spring’s 150th-anniversary celebration of the Golden Spike, building the organization’s annual Cultural Festival around the theme of the Transcontinental Railroad,” writes Sean P. Means in Sunday’s (12/16) Salt Lake Tribune. “The festival will be tied to Utah’s Spike 150 celebrations, marking the sesquicentennial of the driving of the Golden Spike at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869, uniting the West and East coasts.” The orchestra’s May 17 and 18 performances led by Music Director Thierry Fischer “will include the previously announced world premiere of a commissioned work written by Chinese-born American composer Zhou Tian.” The Golden Spike work is co-commissioned by Arapahoe Philharmonic, Boise Philharmonic, Central Wisconsin Symphony, Cheyenne Symphony, Evanston Symphony, Michigan State University Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Reno Philharmonic, Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera, and Utah Symphony | Utah Opera. In addition, “For its part of the Cultural Festival, Utah Opera has selected four projects for its 10-minute Commissioned Operas program.” The Transcontinental Railroad-themed operas are Completing the Picture, by composer Michael Ching and librettist/researcher/choreographer Victoria Panella Bourns; The Stone, the Tree and the Bird, by composer Jacob Lee and librettist Christine McDonough; Burial, by composer Tony Solitro and librettist Paisley Rekdal; and No Ladies in the Lady’s Book, by composer Lisa Despain and librettist Rachel Peters.
Posted December 18, 2018
