This past weekend, our family had the pleasure of attending the Deer Valley Music Festival’s opening night at the beautiful Snow Park Amphitheater.  The Utah Symphony launched the festival’s 10^th anniversary season with a patriotic celebration that included Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture.” As usual, the performance was excellent, and the concert was extremely well attended, despite the unusually warm weather (although, once the sun went down, the evening was quite pleasant).

The concert began with “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which is traditional for the patriotic concert, and was followed by the overture to Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story.”  The Utah Symphony then paid its respect to the Armed Forces by performing the themes for the Air Force, the Army, the Marines, the Navy and the Coast Guard.  During this segment, present and former members of the military were honored by being called to stand up.

The Utah Symphony also performed familiar selections by John Philip Sousa, George Cohan, and Leroy Anderson.  The ever-popular “1812 Overture” concluded the evening, and adhering to past traditions, the piece was highlighted by the thunder of cannons provided by the Cannoneers of the Wasatch.

The concert was originally supposed to be led by Utah Symphony Associate Conductor Vladimir Kulenovic.  However, while on vacation, Kulenovic was injured in an accident, and will not be able to conduct until later this month.  Fortunately, guest conductor Thomas Hong was able to fill in quite masterfully.  Hong, the newly appointed music director of the Mansfield Symphony Orchestra in Ohio, is a full-time faculty member of Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston.

With such a fantastic beginning, we’re looking forward to a great summer music season at Deer Valley Resort.

On a side note, Deer Valley was listed among the country’s “Eight Amazing Outdoor Music Venues” by CNN Travel.  To read the article, please click here.