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Canyons students perform with American West Symphony at Butler Middle School
Summary
Canyons School District’s youth orchestra joined the American West Symphony for a joint concert at Butler Middle School in Sandy, Utah. Fifty-three students from grades 4–9 performed under three conductors, with program selections that included an opera overture, Dvořák and Beethoven’s Egmont Overture.
Canyons School District’s youth orchestra performed alongside the American West Symphony at Butler Middle School in Sandy, Utah, in a collaboration introduced by JP Kentros, the district’s arts content specialist.
The Canyons Youth Symphony involves 53 students in grades 4 through 9 who were selected by audition and rehearse once a week beginning in September. Kentros said the students’ “ability to perform such challenging literature” reflects both the district’s music instruction and the leadership of the program’s three directors.
“This collaboration between musicians, both adult and student age, inspires you,” Kentros said, and he asked audience members to help spread the word about school music programs, saying “music programs change lives.” He also thanked Butler Middle School administration and Butler’s music teacher and one of the evening’s conductors, Enrique Telles, for hosting the concert.
Conductors for the youth ensemble listed in the program were Jenny Perkins, BJ Cox and Enrique Telles. The evening’s program paired student performers with the American West Symphony and included an overture identified in the transcript as “Mkhkavalovsky,” the overture to the opera Colas Brignon, a movement from Antonín Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony and Beethoven’s Egmont Overture.
A representative of the American West Symphony described the first work as an overture to an opera that “is one of the few parts of the opera that has survived in the concert hall today” and previewed the Dvořák movement, noting its solos for flute, trumpet, cello and bassoon. Organizers said the American West Symphony presents additional performances during the year at Good Shepherd’s Church in Sandy, Utah.
The concert featured both prepared program remarks and short informal moments from student performers during setup and transitions. The event provided student musicians the opportunity to play side-by-side with adult orchestra members and to hear professional-level repertoire in a community setting.
Future performances and specific dates were mentioned as available through the American West Symphony’s schedule at Good Shepherd’s Church, but exact upcoming dates were not specified in the transcript.
