Experience American Classics: USU Symphony Orchestra Opens Season With 'Home Is Where the Heart Is'

LOGAN, Utah — Caine College of the Arts will present the USU Symphony Orchestra’s first concert of the season, “Home is Where the Heart Is.” The concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 16 in the Daryl Chase Fine Arts Center’s Daines Concert Hall.

The concert will feature members of the Department of Music wind and brass faculty in an all-American program featuring Samuel Barber's haunting “Knoxville: Summer of 1915” and Aaron Copland's iconic “Appalachian Spring” in its version for full orchestra. The concert will also feature Metropolitan Opera star soprano Janai Brugger performing as a guest artist.

USU Symphony Orchestra's new conductor, Daniel Alfred Wachs, will be conducting. Coming from Vienna, Austria, Wachs says he is excited to step back into the American spirit.

“Gustav Mahler's grave is mere steps from my apartment back in Vienna. If you look out the window, you can see Beethoven's favorite walking path. Schubert's birth house is on my tram line. It's hard to take a step in the Capital of Music without stepping upon something intrinsically linked to our art,” Wachs said. “However, I've missed American music, and, dare I say, America itself. This is, in part, why I have chosen an all-American program on my first concert with the USU Symphony Orchestra.”

“Home is Where the Heart Is” bridges the community with its historical and cultural legacy.

“American music is infused with optimism and pride, especially the works of Aaron Copland,” Wachs said. “There is also a feeling of newness to these works which I liken to the spirit of the pioneers and to the history of the Cache Valley itself."

Tickets are free for students and $10 for the public. Purchase tickets online or at the CCA Box Office in the Daryl Chase Fine Arts Center.