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The Salt Lake Symphony, led by Dr. Robert Baldwin, is teaming up with the U of U Lyric Opera Ensemble to present a concert titled, "We Three Kings."
It is billed as a unique take on a holiday program, which the orchestra is becoming known for in recent years — last year was the Red Rock Rondo "Secret Gift" program.
This year, the musicians will be taking a musical look at the Three Wise Men of the nativity story.
From the press release:
Respighi's Three Botticelli Pictures is a beautiful and tender three-movement work. Though not originally intended as a holiday work, one of the movements sonically describes Botticelli's masterpiece, The Adoration of the Magi. Switching gears, we will also present Duke Ellington's Three Black Kings (Les Trois Rois Noirs). Designed as an homage to civil right's leader, Martin Luther King, the first movement depicts Balthazar, one of the three wise men. Other movements depict King Solomon and Martin Luther King himself. After intermission, we reset the stage for a re-imagining of the Magi story in Giancarlo Menotti's classic short opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors. We are please to collaborate with the University of Utah Lyric Opera Ensemble for this special performance of a holiday classic, under the stage direction of Dr. Robert Breault.
The program will be Saturday, Dec. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at Libby Gardner Hall.
Tickets are $10 (with students and seniors $5) and available at the door.