Symphony to perform 'Four Seasons'

David Cho has become the Utah Symphony's resident baroque expert. At least that's the trend the orchestra's assistant conductor has been setting recently.

Last season, Cho led members of the symphony in wonderfully musical readings of J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. And this coming Thursday, Cho will once again direct the chamber ensemble in a baroque concert — this time with Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" on the program.

"They are almost always performed together as a group, but these are basically four very different concertos, each with three movements," Cho told the Deseret News by phone.

Violin soloist will be the symphony's longtime concertmaster Ralph Matson. "Ralph is a fantastic violinist," Cho said. "He is so refined both as a musician and a person."

Utah Symphony keyboardist Jason Hardink will be playing the harpsichord at the concert. He and Cho have a history together that goes back to their early college days.

They were classmates at Oberlin, where Cho and Hardink were piano majors. They continued their schooling together, not by plan but coincidentally, at Rice University. It was there that Cho decided to switch to conducting, while Hardink continued with piano. Cho's teacher at Rice was Larry Rachleff, who has led the Utah Symphony on two occasions the past two seasons.

"Larry was a wonderful teacher," Cho said. "He was my mentor for over seven years, and we still keep in touch. I talk to him by phone about once a week."

Cho hopes Thursday's concert will?be informal. "There won't be an intermission," he said.

"Ralph and I will be speaking about the music, and I would like it to be a casual and intimate setting. And I think Abravanel Hall is very versatile and will provide us the opportunity to present this program in a relaxed atmosphere."

Opening the concert will be Handel's Concerto Grosso in B flat major, op. 3, no. 2.

If you go

What: Utah Symphony Chamber Orchestra, David Cho, conductor

Where: Abravanel Hall

When: Thursday, 8 p.m.

How much: $30-$42

Phone: 355-2787 or 888-451-2787

Web: utahsymphony.org

E-mail: ereichel@desnews.com