A heavy drop of sweat dripped from the tip of my nose as I sang the second movement of Tarik O’Reagan’s Triptych: “In the beauty of autumn we remember them.” I couldn’t help but think to myself, “Couldn’t autumn possibly come a little sooner this year—perhaps within the next ten seconds?” Indeed, the first half of UCA’s collaboration with the Utah Symphony on July 28 as part of the Deer Valley Music Festival was hot—and I’m not just referring to the superb quality of our performance! The Triptych was followed by the choir’s rendition of Herbert Howells’ Requiem, which has become a UCA favorite and was well received by the audience.
After a brief stroll outdoors and airing out the building at intermission, the audience got cozy with an intimate performance by the Utah Symphony strings of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.3. The program concluded on a lighter note befitting the scenery and the season with the choir and full chamber orchestra together performing four of Barlow’s folk song arrangements: “Danny Boy,” “The Water is Wide,” “Sakura,” and the rollicking “What Shall we do with the Drunken Sailor?”
St. Mary’s of the Assumption proved to be a gorgeous venue with warm acoustics and a lovely view of the alpine landscape looking out toward the east. How fitting a scene it was for our performance of “Danny Boy”: A quaint church set on a hillside whereon a solitary cow grazed in the shadow of a lofty mountain peak. The church was filled near capacity and many new, satisfied-looking faces could be seen in the audience. Perhaps they’ll come back and hear us again when summer’s in the meadow or when the valley’s hushed and white with snow. ‘Tis we’ll be there in sunshine or in shadow, in blizzards, or, as was the case for this concert, in extreme heat and humidity. And should I pass out from heat exhaustion, please kneel and say an ‘Ave’ there for me!
