Orchestra of Southern Utah welcomes young artists for Roy L. Halversen Concert
By Tanisa Crosby
The Orchestra of Southern Utah’s R.L. Halversen Concert is set to take place April 11 at 7:30 p.m, at the Heritage Center in Cedar City. Every other year, OSU invites local youth to audition for a chance to perform with the orchestra. The Roy L. Halversen concert was started to honor a beloved teacher who truly impacted the music and arts in Cedar City. Students prepare a solo piece that they recorded and submitted. After the initial round, students were selected to a live audition.
Aubrey Aikele a junior at Moapa Valley High School, will perform “Larghetto Calmato” from MacDowell’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Aikele is a two-time soloist with the Southwest Symphony (2016, 2019) and will also solo with the Henderson Nevada Symphony in 2020. She has been studying the piano since she was four and has received superior ratings at the SUPAF Festival and Clark County Solo & Ensemble Festival. She’s been named the Most Outstanding Pianist at Castle Rock Music Clinic and studies with Brandon Lee of St. George while also maintaining a private piano studio and serving as a staff accompanist.
The orchestra will perform an original composition by Robby DeBry, a current composition and jazz trombonist currently studying at SUU, entitled “Ashtoreth.” DeBry has studied composition from Keith Bradshaw and Douglas Ipson while attending SUU and has composed and premiered several of his pieces at SUU, including a debut work for wind symphony, “Nyx and Erebus” (2018). “Ashtoreth” will be a premiere performance as well and his first work for orchestra.
Aria Williams, a sophomore student from SUU, will perform “Suite for Tuba” by Don Haddad. Williams has performed in Honor Band and All-State Band in Arizona and Nevada and currently participates in many ensembles at SUU including SUU Wind Symphony, Jazz Band, and Brass Ensemble as well as in OSU. She aims to further her education in hopes of teaching music to future students. Her piece will feature the winds and brass of the orchestra as it accompanies her for the evening.
The Orchestra of Southern Utah will also perform the first, fourth, and fifth movements of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. Mahler was considered to be a composer ahead of his time. While living through the Romantic Era, his music is considered to be a forebear for 20th Century music. His symphonies are some of his most memorable works. In Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, colors and textures, weights and balances, and degrees of light and shade shift from moment to moment. It features the brass in both a trumpet solo and a brass chorale as well as the strings and harp.
Tickets cost $12 for adults and $6 for students. Children age 6 and older are welcome to attend with adult supervision. No babies are allowed as concerts are recorded. For more information, contact OSU manager Rebekah Hughes at (435) 592-6051 or osucedarcity@gmail.com.
Articles related to “Orchestra of Southern Utah welcomes young artists for Roy L. Halversen Concert”
SUU Jazz Ensemble performs Pat Metheny Group’s “First Circle”
Utah Legislature approves three-year bachelor degree program at SUU
