University of Utah conductor preps for 2 big concerts

Brady Allred has two big concerts looming on the horizon.

The first is the University of Utah Singers' Bon Voyage concert on May 10, which will give the audience a good sampling of the works that Allred and the chorus will take with them on their upcoming trip to Israel. "It's a mixture of all the programs we're doing," Allred said. That will include music by J.S. Bach, Johannes Brahms, Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler and selections from Sergei Rachmaninoff's "All-Night Vigil." "We're also going to sing American spirituals, gospel and some other things."

After taking first prize at the International Chamber Choir Competition in Marktoberdorf, Germany, last year, Allred planned on taking this year off from a major international tour.

But the University Singers were invited to participate in the prestigious Abu Ghosh Festival in Israel this spring. It was an offer that Allred couldn't pass up. "They hold this festival two times each year," he said. "They bring in the top choral ensembles from around the world, and we're thrilled to have been invited."

The U. department of music has been gaining a solid reputation around the world, thanks to its faculty and its student performers. And its reputation has spread beyond Europe to Israel. Originally scheduled to perform two concerts at the festival, which is held in the town of Abu Ghosh a few miles outside of Jerusalem, the Singers have had to add a third concert. "The first two sold out, and they wanted us to add one more concert," Allred said.

The group leaves Salt Lake City on May 16 for its two-week tour to Israel. Besides the concerts at the festival, the Singers will also give concerts in Nazareth, Tel Aviv and in the Bell Cave in Beit Guvrin, which is about 35 miles south of Jerusalem. They will also perform at the BYU Jerusalem Center. Allred and his wife, soprano Carol Ann Allred, will also do a program of songs by Franz Schubert.

Allred's other concert before he leaves for Israel is with the Salt Lake Choral Artists, who will round out their current season on May 15 with a program featuring two works: Morten Lauridsen's well known "Lux Aeterna" ("Eternal Light") and Ray Shattenkirk's "One Light," a piece commissioned by SLCA that will receive its world premiere at this concert. They will be joined by a chamber orchestra of area freelancers.

"It's hard finding a companion piece for 'Lux Aeterna,'" Allred said. "I premiered one of Ray's pieces in Pittsburgh, so I contacted him and threw out the idea of doing a piece on the subject of light."