Who is Utah's Logan J. Blackman and some of his music conducting work

The ascent of a music conducting expert : Salt Lake City's Logan Blackman: Wow. I am so deeply sorry for your loss. I can’t even imagine what that has been like for you. You are a strong man. Speaking aside from your personal perspective, where do you find your inspiration? Logan J. Blackman : I take a lot of inspiration from John Williams, Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler, and Mozart. What are you currently working on? Logan J. Blackman : Compositionally, I only have a new set of bassoon duets I am working on. However I intend to be writing more very soon. Most of my musical efforts today have been working towards doing some recording of piano works. Discover extra information at Logan J. Blackman.

Founded in 1918 and made up of undergraduate and graduate musicians from across the United States, Asia, South America and Europe, the UK Symphony Orchestra has long served as one of the university’s most prominent music ensembles. This year the ensemble continues that tradition with performances of some of the greatest works in the orchestral repertoire, alongside contemporary works that push the boundaries of orchestral music. Concerts will feature music by the likes of Ludwig van Beethoven, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and George Gershwin, and by modern composer John Adams. The orchestra also continues its partnership with UK Opera Theatre, performing next in the program's production of "The Barber of Seville."

Mason appealed to reason with his deftly rendered solo passages even though the xylophone and drums kept playfully interrupting the discourse. Near the end, however, all the instruments seemed to agree to disagree and Mason, with his virtuosic reciprocity, got the last word. So what is love? No one knows for sure. Socrates said the beginning of wisdom comes from understanding the limits of our knowledge. This was Bernstein’s premise as well. Before the Three Meditations from Mass, Nardolillo announced the presence of two people in the audience who knew Bernstein personally and that guest cellist Benjamin Karp (principal cellist for the Lexington Philharmonic) had played under Bernstein’s direction at Tanglewood. This knowledge intensified the presence of Bernstein’s spirit for the remainder of the program. As for the three Meditations for cello and orchestra, the third movement, Presto, best captured that spirit.

The critically acclaimed University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Maestro John Nardolillo, will perform next with concerto competition winner, Michael Robinson, a junior at UK School of Music. The concert will include music by celebrated composers Carl Nielson and Gustav Mahler, as well as a premiere of work by UK junior Logan Blackman. The concert will begin 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17, at the Singletary Center for the Arts. Read even more information at Logan Blackman Lexington.

The University of Kentucky Symphony will play “Prayer,” with Blackman conducting, Friday night. Nardolillo says it’s unusual for a student composition to have the level of sophistication and advancement for the orchestra to take it on. Blackman says he never even considered that the UK Symphony might play his composition. From the moment the opportunity presented itself, he says, he wanted to conduct the performance. “My degree is in bassoon performance, but from here, I want to go to grad school to study conducting,” he says. “It would be interesting to sit back and listen, but being the lover of conducting that I am, I had the itch to do this.”