Utah Symphony timpanist to perform world premiere

Welcher said that "Prairie Light" is stylistically different from the timpani concerto. "It's more impressionistic. It has gentle washes of color." The composer said that the work's three movements are intended to convey a sense of being in one place for 24 hours. "It goes from sunrise in the first movement, to the heat of the day in the second movement, to the sun going down and the beginning of evening and the first stars in the sky."

Next weekend's concerts will also feature another member of the Utah Symphony in the soloist's spotlight, associate concertmaster Leonard Braus. He'll play Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2. "It's such a beautiful piece," Braus said. "Of the two violin concertos Prokofiev wrote, the Second is the romantic one, and that's what I'll be stressing."

Braus said the Second isn't performed very often in the concert hall, although it's one of the composer's most melodic works in any genre. "It's a lyrical piece, written in his lyrical period."

The Second Concerto stems from a period in the mid-1930s around the same time Prokofiev wrote the scores for the ballet "Romeo and Juliet" and for the film "Lt. Kije." It's been eight years since Braus played a concerto with the Utah Symphony.

It's difficult for members of the orchestra to do much solo work, Braus said, because of their busy symphony schedule. But everyone jumps at the opportunity of doing so. "It's difficult for us, but we have to keep up our standards. So we force ourselves to play. It ruins half our summer, but we want to do it."

Braus has been associate concertmaster of the Utah Symphony for 22 years. And for the past 10 years, he's also been the concertmaster of the L.A. East Recording Orchestra, which includes a number of other musicians from the symphony. (Before coming to Salt Lake City, Braus was concertmaster of the Tulsa Philharmonic and also taught at DePauw University.)

The Utah Symphony's former concertmaster, Bill Preucil, was the reason Braus came to Utah. "I wanted to come here because my friend Bill was here. But shortly after I came, he left for Cleveland." There will be one other work on next weekend's concerts, Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet" Overture. Music director Keith Lockhart will conduct.

If you go

What: George Brown, Leonard Braus, Keith Lockhart, Utah Symphony

Where: Abravanel Hall

When: Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m.

How much: $12-$47

Phone: 355-2787 or 1-888-451-2787

Web: www.utahsymphonyopera.org

Also . . .

Where: Val A. Browning Center, Ogden

How much: $9-$29

When: Thursday, 7:30 p.m.

Phone: 801-399-9214

Web: www.utahsymphonyopera.org

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E-mail: ereichel@desnews.com