Utah Symphony Performs Florence Price's Exquisite Piano Concerto at USU

LOGAN — The Utah Symphony, conducted by Tito Muñoz, performs at 8 p.m. April 6 in the Daines Concert Hall. Renowned pianist Michelle Cann will accompany the symphony on Florence Price’s “Piano Concerto in One Movement.” The program opens with Gabriela Lena Frank’s “Elegia Andina”and concludes with Shostakovich’s “Symphony No. 10.”

Praised for his versatility, technical clarity and keen musical insight, Tito Muñoz is internationally recognized as one of the most gifted conductors on the podium today. Now in his ninth season as?the Virginia G. Piper Music Director of The Phoenix Symphony, Muñoz previously served as music director of the Opéra National de Lorraine in France, as well as assistant conductor with the Cleveland Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and the Aspen Music Festival.

A passionate educator, Tito regularly visits North America’s leading conservatories, universities, summer music festivals and youth orchestras. As a proponent of new music, Tito champions the composers of our time through expanded programming, commissions, premieres and recordings.

Lauded as “technically fearless with … an enormous, rich sound” (La Scena Musicale), pianist Michelle Cann made her orchestral debut at age 14 and has performed with many prominent orchestras. A champion of the music of Florence Price, Cann performed the New York City premiere of the Piano Concerto in One Movement with the Dream Unfinished Orchestra in July 2016 and the Philadelphia premiere in February 2021. Cann is the recipient of the 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence and embraces a dual role as performer and pedagogue, frequently teaching masterclasses and leading residencies.

The Caine College of the Arts also has close ties to composer Gabriela Lena Frank, who is serving a four-year residency in the college, funded by differential tuition from CCA students and the Visiting Artists and Scholars Series. Frank has worked directly with music composition students, led discussions on gender, race and environmental activism in the arts, and has lent her expertise to mentoring student creative projects.

“Bringing the Utah Symphony to our community is something we try to do every year,” said Nicholas Morrison, interim dean of the Caine College of the Arts. “The opportunity for our students to hear an orchestra of national stature on the same stage on which they perform and to work with orchestra musicians in master classes is important for their own development as professionals.”

The concert is at 8 p.m. April 6 in the Daines Concert Hall. Tickets are $15-30 for adults and $5 for students with ID. For more information and tickets, contact the CCA Box Office in room L101 of the Chase Fine Arts Center on USU’s campus, call 435-797-8022, or go online to cca.usu.edu.