The Southern Utah University Symphony Orchestra — under the baton of its new visiting music director, Dr. Canés Nicolas — will open its new season Oct 31 at 7:30 p.m. in the Cedar City Heritage Center Theatre. The season begins with a program featuring pieces by Albinoni, Beethoven, Grieg, Klaus Badelt, and Haitian composer Ludovic Lamothe.
The orchestra will open the evening’s performance with Albinoni’s Sinfonia in G, featuring the string section of the orchestra. This will be followed by the second movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, Grieg’s “Peer Gynt Suite No. 1,” and the Utah premiere of “Danza 4” by Lamothe, and Badelt’s “Pirates of the Caribbean.”
Canés Nicolas was born and raised in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He received his first musical training at L’Ecole de Musique Sainte Trinité (Holy Trinity Music School). Dr. Nicolas began learning the violin at age 8 with violinist Guerlyn Esperance.
In 2002, Nicolas joined l’Orchestre Philharmonique Sainte Trinité. The following year, he began teaching violin in the Suzuki program. Nicolas came to the United States when he was offered a scholarship to the University of Minnesota where he received the Chancellor’s String Quartet Scholarship, the Cecilian Society Scholarship, the UMD Orchestra Music Scholarship, the Omnibus Scholarship, and the Orchestra Award. While Nicolas was at Ohio University to complete his masters degree, he was the assistant conductor of the Ohio University Symphony and Campus Orchestras. He also served as the assistant conductor of the orchestras at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, where he received his doctorate in music.
Nicolas has studied conducting with Dumitru Goia, Steven Huang, Keith Lockhart, and Markand Thakar. Prior to joining the faculty at SUU, Dr. Nicolas taught at Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska.
Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for retired faculty and alumni, and $5 for youth. SUU faculty, staff, and students get in free with a valid ID card. For more information, visit suu.edu/pva/music.
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