“David Porter’s experiment paid off,” writes Catherine Reece Newton in Monday’s (12/7) Salt Lake Tribune. “Last November, the violinist rounded up several of his Utah Symphony colleagues for a postconcert performance in the downtown Salt Lake City bar O’Shucks. That event and a subsequent one at the Red Door had lines going out the door to hear short pieces by composers like Steve Reich, Antonín Dvorák and Dmitri Shostakovich in a more relaxed setting than the orchestra’s usual digs at Abravanel Hall. ‘People were really listening,’ Porter reported. ‘They were still having a good time, having a drink, but they were engaged in the music.… It reinforced my opinion that classical music really resonates with people, especially if it’s in an environment in which they’re comfortable.’ Now Porter is making MOTUS After Dark (MOTUS stands for Musicians of the Utah Symphony) a full-fledged series, with four events this season in Salt Lake City and Park City. The first is Friday at Under Current, with music of Nico Muhly, Mozart, Schubert, Paganini and other composers. The music will be organized in sets, roughly 20 minutes long.”
Posted December 11, 2015
Pictured: Musicians of the Utah Symphony at Salt Lake City club Under Current: cellist Joyce Yang, violinists Kathryn Eberle and David Porter, violist Brant Bayless, and cellist Rainer Eudeikis. Photo by Francisco Kjolseth / Salt Lake Tribune
