Young performers shine at Salute to Youth concert

Tuesday evening, six youthful artists appeared with the orchestra and music director Keith Lockhart at the 49th annual Salute to Youth held in Abravanel Hall. Ranging in age from 10 to 19, they displayed wonderful musicianship and impressive technical mastery of their respective instruments.

Starting the concert was 13-year-old Jim Lu playing Franz Liszt's dramatic "Totentanz" ("Dance of Death"). The young pianist played the bold outer sections of the piece with conviction while bringing a fine sense of expressiveness to the lyrical middle section.

Lu was followed by Catherine Winters, 12. She played the first movement from the Concertino for Flute and Orchestra by the contemporary Georgian composer Otar Gordeli. Winters captured the charming melodicism of the music with her lyrical reading. The level of her playing and her stage presence belied her age as she brought polish and finesse to her interpretation.

Closing out the first half was 17-year-old Deborah Ferry. She dazzled the audience with the first movement from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D major. A student of Utah Symphony concertmaster Ralph Matson, Ferry, for whom this is her third appearance at a Salute to Youth concert, gave a commanding reading of one of violin literature's most challenging and famous works. She made short work of the many bravura passages while displaying her musicality and technique to the fullest.

The second half opened with 18-year-old Alexander Willey, who played Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf's Concerto for Double Bass in E major. While most people don't associate it as a solo instrument, the double bass is in fact a very lyrical instrument, and Willey gave a wonderfully melodic performance of this unassuming and unprepossessing piece.

Ten-year-old Shenae Anderson, the evening's youngest soloist, followed next. Displaying her talent on the violin, she stole the audience's heart with her delightful performance of "Summer" from Antonio Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons."

Michael Stewart, 19, ended the concert with the first movement of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor. While this work doesn't have the memorable melodies of the Second and Third Concertos, it is still a notable work. And Stewart made the most of it. Playing with bold lines and sweeping gestures, he captured the scope and breadth of the music convincingly. The piece is a wonderful showpiece for him in terms of technique and musicianship, and he acquitted himself superbly.

E-mail: ereichel@desnews.com

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