Concert Information

Musical ideas have been exchanged between the Eastern and Western worlds since the days of the Silk Road, when music, instruments, and ideas traveled along with traded goods between China, India, Europe, and the Middle East. In this program, we will uncover ancient connections between very different musical styles and create new ones.

Joining forces with Hindustani raga musicians, we will place European Medieval songs side by side with North Indian classical ragas, with musicians from both traditions working together on new collaborations. Our musical pairings will be based on similarities of musical scale or emotional tone, with creative improvisation. These two musical styles go together surprisingly well: both styles are rooted in melodic line and drone (instead of chords), both styles use unusual musical scales, and both were heavily influenced by Persian music. Raga singer Soma Sarkar Preciado and tabla player Debanjan Bhattacharya will perform with soprano Emily Nelson and visiting artists, Medieval fiddle player Niccolo Seligmann and Persian flute specialist Kelariz Keshavarz.

This concert is made possible in part by a generous grant from The Salt Lake City Arts Council.

Saturday, October 14, 7:30 PM     Cathedral Church of St. Mark

Sunday, October 15, 5:00 PM   231 E 100 S, Salt Lake City

Admission: Pay as able (suggested $20 general / $15 senior / $15 student)

(Donations accepted at the door; this is a non-ticketed event)

Emily Nelson, soprano  •  Soma Sarkar Preciado, voice & tanpura

Niccolo Seligmann, vielle • Kelariz Keshavarz, flute • Debanjan Bhattacharjee, tabla

Utopia celebrates the holidays by bringing back our Celtic favorites! The program features songs and instrumentals in a solstice mode from Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, the Isle of Man, and Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Fiddlers, harp, bodhrán and flute join a vocal quartet to span the full range of the season, from festive reels to winter lullabies. Hear Medieval chant, songs from Renaissance Scotland, Irish and Welsh carols, and rollicking jigs and reels. 

Friday, December 15, 7:30 PM                                                            

Saturday, December 16, 7:30 PM     Cathedral Church of St. Mark

Sunday, December 17, 5:00 PM   231 E 100 S, Salt Lake City

Admission: Pay as able (suggested $20 general / $15 senior / $15 student)

(Donations accepted at the door; this is a non-ticketed event)

Emily Nelson, soprano  • Monica Hyman, alto  •  Christopher LeCluyse, tenor  • Ricky Parkinson, bass 

Bronwen Beecher, fiddle •  Ben Spigle, Irish flute

Therese Honey, Celtic harp  • Eleanor Christman Cox, cello  •  Cindy Spigle, bodhrán

There is no shortage of creatures that slither, swoop, and pad through the pages of ancient music! Gothic harp, recorder, and Medieval hurdy-gurdy join a vocal quartet to celebrate the gentle lamb, the loyal hound, the glorious phoenix, and the industrious silkworm, to name a few. With Medieval chant and trouvère song, jolly Renaissance madrigals, and delicate ars subtilior textures, our concert will revel in the chirps, bahs and rustlings of the animal world.

Saturday, February 10, 7:30 PM     Cathedral Church of St. Mark

Sunday, February 11, 5:00 PM   231 E 100 S, Salt Lake City

Admission: Pay as able (suggested $20 general / $15 senior / $15 student)

(Donations accepted at the door; this is a non-ticketed event)

Emily Nelson, soprano  •  Elijah Hancock, tenor  •  Yvette Gilgen, bass

Lisa Chaufty, Baroque flute  •  Haruhito Miyagi, Medieval hurdy-gurdy

Therese Honey, Gothic harp

In collaboration with Renaissance violinist Shulamit Kleinermann, our concert highlights composer Salamone Rossi, whose Jewish faith gives us a fascinating glimpse of how religious life dictated professional and social mobility in Baroque Italy. A quartet of voices, two violins, theorbo, and cello complete this evening of brilliant works by Rossi and his contemporaries. The concert will include primary source readings and descriptions about what life was like for a minority-culture composer working in Italy at the dawn of the Baroque era.

Saturday, April 6, 7:30 PM   Cathedral Church of St. Mark

Sunday, April 7, 5:00 PM 231 E 100 S, Salt Lake City

Admission: Pay as able (suggested $20 general / $15 senior / $15 student)

(Donations accepted at the door; this is a non-ticketed event)

Emily Nelson, soprano  •  Monica Hymas, alto  •  Christopher LeCluyse, tenor 

Shulamit Kleinerman, violin  • Micah Fleming, violin

Bill Simms, theorbo  • Eleanor Christman Cox, baroque cello