UW Symphony Orchestra to Perform in Casper, Pinedale and Teton Village in April

Known for exciting performances and innovative repertoire, the University of Wyoming Symphony Orchestra (UWSO) will perform in three Wyoming communities this month.

The free public performances -- all at 7 p.m. -- are scheduled for:

Casper -- Wednesday, April 12, Kelly Walsh High School.

Pinedale -- Thursday, April 13, Pinedale High School.

Teton Village -- Friday, April 14, Walk Festival Hall, home of the Grand Teton Music Festival.

The performances will include all four movements of what was previously called Schubert’s “Unfinished Symphony” and Valentin Silvestrov’s “Prayer for Ukraine.” The concert will begin with Sibelius’ familiar “Finlandia.”

“Three of UW’s finest student musicians will be soloists with the UWSO,” says Professor Michael Griffith, director of orchestral activities at UW who will be on the podium for the three concerts. “All were finalists in the recent Jacoby Competition with the UWSO.”

The Jacoby Competition, for UW Department of Music students, is named after Dorothy Jacoby, a founding member of the UW Symphony Association and a longtime supporter of classical music in Laramie.

Violinist Brittany Kubiak, a graduate student from Cleveland, Ohio, will play Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending.” Pianist Henrique Rabelo, a graduate student from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, who won the recent Jacoby Competition, will perform the opening movement of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Mezzo-soprano Amanda Silva, a graduate student from São Paulo, Brazil, will sing Bizet’s “Habanera” from “Carmen.”

Now in his 34th year leading the UWSO, Griffith has conducted concerts in such locations as Goiânia and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Shanghai, China; La Paz, Bolivia; and New York City’s Times Square. He has led the Fort Collins (Colo.) Symphony; the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra; Opera Fort Collins; Casper’s Opera Wyoming; Denver’s Mercury Ensemble; the Colorado Music Festival; and the Powder River Symphony.

Griffith was a visiting professor at Finland’s Sibelius Academy; was twice elected a Top 10 Teacher by UW graduating classes; and has taught UW’s London Semester. A past president of the International Conductors Guild, he has won numerous awards, including an American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Adventurous Programming Award.

The UW Symphony Association, private donors and host communities fund UWSO tours.

For more information, email Griffith at symph@uwyo.edu.