Cellist 'comes home' to festival

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."

Ballantyne left Utah to attend Juilliard, where he studied with renowned cellist Leonard Rose. "He was a fantastic cellist, an amazing teacher and a wonderful man. I loved him. I could talk for hours about him."

Since his concert schedule precluded him from spending too much time at Juilliard, Rose would condense several lessons into one, Ballantyne said. "He would compress into one lesson what others would do over 10 lessons. It was a lot, and not all of his students could handle so much at one time."

Today, Ballantyne has a full concert calendar that takes him throughout the world. "I average 30 concerts a year. The last two or three years, my schedule has been more weighted towards concertos, but I also do recitals. What I don't get to do a lot is play chamber music. I would love to do more of that."

In September 2004, Ballantyne recorded Frank Ezra Levy's Cello Concerto No. 2, which was written for him and which Naxos released last year. "I'm a great believer in Levy's music. His music is very lyrical, and he is a lovely orchestrator."

Levy's music isn't unknown to longtime Park City festivalgoers. "While the Leonore Trio was active, we played two of his trios at the festival," said Ballantyne, who was a founding member of the ensemble.

If you go

What: Park City and Salt Lake City Music Festival

Where: Libby Gardner Concert Hall, University of Utah; St. Mary's Catholic Church, Park City; Park City Community Church

When: various days through July 23, 8 p.m.

How much: $20, general admission;

$15, senior citizens and students;

10-concert punch card, $150/$100;

six-concert punch card $90/$66

Phone: 801-943-0169 or 435-649-5309

Web: www.pcmusicfestival.com

Park City and Salt Lake City Music Festival schedule

Here are this week's concerts for the Park City and Salt Lake City Music Festival; each begins at 8 p.m.:

Sunday, Park City Community Church, U-224 at Bear Hollow Drive: Quantz, Quartet for Flute and Strings; Debussy, "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun" for Flute, Clarinet and Piano; Glazunov, String Quintet; Bruch, Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Cello and Piano

Thursday, St. Mary's Catholic Church, U-224 at White Pine Canyon Road: Solo piano music by Albeniz; cello and piano pieces by Anton Rubenstein, Dvorak and Rachmaninoff; Brahms, Piano Quartet in G minor, op. 26

Friday, Libby Gardner Concert Hall, University of Utah: Solo piano music by Albeniz; Janacek, "Pohadka" for Cello and Piano; Brahms, Piano Quartet in G minor, op. 26

July 23, Park City Community Church: Janacek, "Pohadka" for Cello and Piano; Reicha, Quintet for Clarinet and Strings; Turina, Quartet for Piano and Strings

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E-mail: ereichel@desnews.com