Cellist 'comes home' to festival

Cellist Scott Ballantyne says that whenever he comes to Utah to perform at the Park City and Salt Lake City Music Festival, it feels like a homecoming. That's because Ballantyne was raised in Salt Lake City.

Although not a native of the Beehive State, he spent his childhood here. "I was born in Los Angeles but grew up in Utah," Ballantyne said by phone from his New York residence, "and I consider Utah to be home."

Ballantyne is once again in Utah to take part in the Park City festival, where he has been a staple for the past half-dozen years. During the last week of the festival, he'll be collaborating on music by Quantz, Glazunov, Brahms and Janacek. "I always look forward to come. It's a fantastic opportunity, and the quality of people that (festival directors Leslie and Russell Harlow) bring in is amazing. I've made so many enduring friendships with the other musicians, most of whom I've stayed in contact with."

When he reflects on his childhood in Utah, Ballantyne has nothing but fond memories. As a young cellist, he was already proficient enough on his instrument to be chosen to solo with the Utah Symphony on one of its Salute to Youth concerts. And while still a teenager, he became one of the youngest members of a major orchestra when then-music director Maurice Abravanel picked him to join the Utah Symphony.

"I was 15 and last chair," Ballantyne said.

He stayed with the Utah Symphony for only a couple of years, but during that time Abravanel frequently asked him to play solos. "Abravanel liked my playing, and he would use me here and there." Whenever the orchestra traveled around Utah or to nearby states, Abravanel would always ask him if he knew a certain piece that he wanted to program. "I always told him I did, even if I didn't." And then, in the days leading up to a concert, he would feverishly learn the pieces he didn't know.

Abravanel was a tremendous inspiration, Ballantyne said. "He was a great musician and a wonderful man. What a force he was in Utah. Without him, there would be no Utah Symphony."

Even though the subscription season back in the 1970s, when Ballantyne played with the orchestra, was short and there were no summer concerts, there wasn't much time off for the musicians. "We did so much touring, it was exhausting. Abravanel viewed the Utah Symphony not only as the orchestra of Utah but of the West, and so we would play every tiny town in Idaho and southern Utah."

There would always be a huge turnout for the concerts, most of which took place in high school auditoriums. And afterward, people would come up to the musicians telling them how much they enjoyed the music. "For most of them, this was the only concert in their town for a year. It was extraordinary."