Lockhart to mark 10th season

Keith Lockhart kicks off his 10th season as the Utah Symphony's music director this coming weekend. The program he's chosen to mark the event doesn't hold any surprises, but it pairs up two immensely popular audience favorites — Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 ("Emperor") and Holst's "The Planets."

From his home in Boston, Lockhart acknowledged that programming "The Planets" on the opening-night concert was a conscious nod to his musical milestone. "I conducted it on my first concert as music director (of the Utah Symphony), and this is the first time we've done it since then."

Joining Lockhart and the orchestra for this concert will be the venerable American pianist Andre Watts, who makes a belated return visit to Salt Lake City. "It's high time we're bringing him back," Lockhart said. "He's a legend and wildly popular."

And while the opening-night concert features music from the popular classical repertoire, Lockhart said that the rest of the 2007-08 season will have something for everyone, even for those who want to hear works that aren't frequently played in the concert hall today. "We try for as much variety as possible. We try to explore as much as we can."

To that end, Lockhart cited the New Music@the Rose series, which began last season. This year, the two concerts in the series offer a lively mix of music, including works by Arvo Part, Leon Kirchner and George Crumb, along with a world premiere by Augusta Read Thomas. The concerts take place in the Jeanne Wagner Theatre in the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center on Oct. 18 and March 13, 2008.

Among other works cited by Lockhart that will be new to the Utah Symphony's repertoire are Christopher Rouse's Trombone Concerto (May 30-31), Shostakovich's Symphony No. 1 (Jan. 11-12) and Edvard Grieg's complete incidental music to "Peer Gynt" (Feb. 22-23). Larry Zalkind, the symphony's principal trombonist, will be the soloist in the Rouse. That concert will be conducted by former symphony music director Joseph Silverstein. Lockhart will conduct the other two concerts.

Lockhart continues his Mahler cycle on Nov. 2-3 with two works — the Adagio from the unfinished Symphony No. 10 and the "Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen" ("Songs of a Wayfarer"). Schubert's great Symphony No. 9 completes the program.

Dvorak and Vaughan Williams are two composers for whom Lockhart has an affinity, and both will be represented in the new season. Dvorak's Symphony No. 7 will be played on Jan. 4-5, in a concert conducted by Michael Christie, which will also feature Gyorgy Ligeti's "Concert Romanesque" and Aram Khachaturian's Violin Concerto. Karen Gomyo will be the soloist.