UW Symphony to Perform in Sheridan April 3-4

Known for exciting performances and innovative repertoire, the University of Wyoming Symphony Orchestra (UWSO) will perform at Sheridan High School (SHS) Thursday, April 3, at 7 p.m. and also will share the stage with the SHS orchestra, conducted by Ryan Walker.

In addition, members of the UWSO will perform chamber music at Sheridan College Friday, April 4, at 1 p.m.

The orchestra concert will include the Rachmaninoff 2nd Piano concerto with soloist Jiwon Han, a UW Department of Music collaborative pianist,  and works by Shostakovich, Rossini and more. The overture to the opera “Omar” by Rhiannon Giddens, winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in music, will be part of the program. The UWSO and SHS musicians will play together with the overture to Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” and music from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera.”

At the age of 10, South Korea-born pianist Han’s debut performance drew attention when he appeared as a soloist with Korean Philharmonic Orchestra. In the same year, he gave his first solo recital at the Incheon Culture and Arts Center. He appeared in most of the major concert venues in Korea and continues to give extensive performances around the world, including Japan, France, Germany, Italy, England, Portugal and the U.S.

Han released two solo albums, “Debut” and “Romanticism,” and two collaborative albums, “Bach-Schubert” live performance with violinist Zia Shin and works by German composers with violinist Fangting Chen. Additionally, he has shown his musical abilities by making television programs for live performances, broadcasting as a producer for years at Korean Broadcasting System.

He holds his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Michigan State University; an artist diploma from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he was a recipient of an Art of the Piano Foundation Award Scholarship; and master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Korea National University of Arts.

Now in his 36th year as conductor of the UWSO, Michael Griffith has conducted concerts in such far-flung locales as Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai, La Paz, New York’s Times Square and Goiânia, Brazil. Closer to home, he’s led the Fort Collins Symphony, Cheyenne Symphony, Opera Fort Collins, Denver’s Mercury Ensemble, Boulder’s Colorado Music Festival and the Powder River Symphony.

Next month, he will conduct Strauss’s operetta “Die Fledermaus” for Opera Wyoming in Casper. He 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.

Orchestra tours are funded by the Symphony Association for UW, private donors and host communities.

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