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The Utah Symphony is ready to start spreading the news. The orchestra will cap its 75th-anniversary celebration on Friday, April 29, with a performance in Carnegie Hall — the first time it has played in the prestigious New York City venue since 1975.

"It's been 41 years — that, to me, is mind-blowing, but it makes it even more exciting," said principal trumpeter Travis Peterson, who joined the Utah Symphony in 2013. "The orchestra is really sounding fantastic, and we're eager to share it on such an international stage so people can see what is happening here in Salt Lake."

Music director Thierry Fischer believes his orchestra is well-prepared for the Carnegie spotlight. "It doesn't happen like a car crash — there's no way we're suddenly good because we are in Carnegie Hall," he said. "It should be a reflection of what we have been doing."

Accordingly, he has chosen music that he believes will play to the Utah Symphony's strengths. The top priority was presenting one of the three works the orchestra has commissioned from American composers in the past two seasons; Andrew Norman's "Switch" got the spot because it involves a soloist, superstar percussionist Colin Currie. Fischer also wanted to include a Haydn symphony to show off the orchestra's mastery of Classical-era repertoire; Symphony No. 96, nicknamed "Miracle," seemed fitting. "We'll end with [Bartók's ballet suite] 'The Miraculous Mandarin' because it's very symbolic — not that it is a miracle we are playing there, but to frame the concert with two miracles: one with beauty and simplicity and humor, then a more dramatic one at the end," Fischer said. A more well-known piece of ballet music, Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet," rounds out the program; Fischer has chosen five of the most popular movements from the score.

Utah Symphony | Utah Opera board member Kem Gardner, one of the driving forces behind the Campaign for Perpetual Motion initiative that includes the New York tour, is delighted with Fischer's programming choices and the statement they make. He expects "Switch," in particular, to generate some excitement. Orchestra members share his enthusiasm for the piece; Peterson called its energy "perfect for a city like New York," while violinist LoiAnne Eyring, who's in her 54th season with the Utah Symphony (she joined at age 16) and has played at each of its three previous visits to Carnegie Hall, said it's "as much fun to watch as it is interesting to listen to."

Eyring added that she's excited for her younger colleagues who will be playing at Carnegie for the first time. "What a tremendous thing to be a part of."

Several dignitaries and business leaders, including Gov. Gary Herbert, are traveling to New York for the concert. "It's quite an opportunity for the Utah Symphony, and for us, to showcase the symphony to New York and to the world," the governor said.

Zions Bank president and CEO Scott Anderson will be there with his wife, US | UO board member Jesselie Anderson. Events such as this one present a good opportunity to court businesses to the state, he said. "It gives them a taste of our cultural heritage," he said. "Hopefully, they'll be blown away. The music will show the orchestra well."

US | UO board member Diane Stewart, owner of Modern West Fine Art in Salt Lake City and a sponsor of the Carnegie concert, will be among the Utahns and former Utahns throwing parties and receptions at their New York residences. She says the Utah Symphony can hold its own with the world's top orchestras and is pleased to note that advance ticket sales have been strong. (A week ahead of Friday's concert, Carnegie's balcony, dress circle and first tier were sold out, with a couple of hundred seats remaining on the orchestra level and in the second tier of the 2,800-seat hall.) "I think the word is spreading organically," Stewart said.

The tour also includes a stop at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where the orchestra will play the same program on Wednesday, April 27. Might there be more tours to U.S. cities in the Utah Symphony's future? "I very much hope so," Fischer said.

"Every concert for me is as important as any other — a concert is a concert, and we are giving our absolute best," the conductor said. "I'll be no different onstage at Carnegie than at Abravanel Hall." Still, "I cannot hide the excitement about playing in New York." —

Practice, practice, practice

The Utah Symphony will take music of Joseph Haydn, Andrew Norman, Béla Bartók and Sergei Prokofiev on the road.

With • Conductor Thierry Fischer and percussionist Colin Currie

When • Friday, April 29, 8 p.m.

Where • Carnegie Hall, 57th Street and Seventh Avenue, New York City

Tickets • $20-$65; carnegiehall.org

Also • Wednesday, April 27, 7:30 p.m.; Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, 500 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, Ill.; $15-$55; krannertcenter.com —

On the record

The Utah Symphony and music director Thierry Fischer released a new album, "Dawn to Dust," earlier this month to coincide with the Carnegie Hall performance. On it are three world-premiere performances, recorded live in Abravanel Hall over three weekends in 2015, of music the orchestra commissioned from American composers: "EOS (Goddess of the Dawn), a Ballet for Orchestra" by Augusta Read Thomas; "Control (Five Landscapes for Orchestra)" by Nico Muhly; and "Switch," a percussion concerto by Andrew Norman featuring soloist Colin Currie.

The repertoire and the performances are fresh and engaging, even fun. They all feel decidedly contemporary and paint vivid sound pictures, but each has a distinctive musical language. Thomas' piece shimmers with color, with a slight jazzy streak reminiscent of Stravinsky. Muhly spent the most time with the Utah Symphony before writing his five-movement suite, and the result is an abundance of solo moments in which individual members shine. And Norman's concerto, inventively structured to suggest the rapid changing of musical channels, is a tour de force for the orchestra and the energetic Currie.

The recording, on the Reference label, is available at the Utah Symphony Guild store in Abravanel Hall, as well as through Amazon.com and iTunes.