| OCR Text |
Show 'Maestro' third in series of video lectures set for 21st "Maestro," the third in a series of six videoslectures partially funded through a grant from the Utah Endowment for the Humani-;: Humani-;: ties, will be conducted at the Boun-:: Boun-:: tifulDavis Art Center on Sunday, I May 21, beginning af 4 p.m. : The videolecture will be ; presented by Ardean Walton Watts and will focus on the works of Maurice Abravanel, music director : of the Utah Symphony from 1947-79. 1947-79. Watts holds a BA in music theory from Brigham Young University ' and an MM in performance from ; the University of Utah. He has ; served as an associate conductor . : and a piano soloist with the Utah ; i Symphony Orchestra during j Abravanel's tenure with the Sym-: Sym-: phony. Watts also has been the j musical director, principal conduc-. tor, resident conductor, andor guest conductor for Ballet West in- eluding tours in Europe and throughout the US A. j His 1962 conducting'of the Uni-i Uni-i versity"ofUtah Chorus "for the " j Vanguard recording of King David : with the Utah Symphony, earned a I Grammy nomination for best i classical performance. i Watts recently chaired the ballet j department at the University of Utah, supervised the establishment ducted at the age of 16. In 1936, after debuts in Europe at renowned houses such as the Berlin State Opera and Paris Opera, Abravanel was the youngest conductor ever to step to the podium of the Metropolitan Opera. : - ' During his tenure with the Utah Symphony, the Utah Symphony grew from a part-time, cranmuniry ensemble into one of the finest and most respected orchestras in the country. Abravanel is credited as being one of the outstanding interpreters of Mahler and Bruckner, champion ing their works in this country at a time when few others believed in ' their now-indisputable compositional composi-tional genius. His recordings of all the Mahler symphonies are regarded regard-ed as classics, as are many of his other Utah Symphony recordings on labels including Vanguard, Vox, Angel, and CBS. "Maestro" is the third of a six part videolecture. series. Other videolectures to be presented are: , 'Dancing Through the '. Magic Eyes," May28; "Realist" June 4; -"Landscape Painter," June 11. ' These videos are part of a series of films, , produced by Claudia Sisemore, on Utah artists. For more information, contact ; the BountifulDavis Boun-tifulDavis Art Center at 292-0367. - ! oi tne music department laboratory j for computer instruction, and in- : traduced computer software to ' music theory I and n students. He is I currently the chair of the Music Technology Committee at die Uni- versityofUtah. The videolecture will focus on : such topics as the role Abravanel ' played in creating and perpetuating : musical tradition, Abravanel's per- sonal qualities beside his musical : genius which allowed him to build i an orchestra in Salt Lake City une- ; quailed between the Sierra Nevadas ; and the Mississippi, and the in- i fluence of Utah's culture and I history on the orchestra's success. Maurice Abravanel was bdm in i Greece of Spanish and Portuguese j parents. He was raised in Lausanne, j Switzerland, where he first con- |
