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Opera And Its Voices In Utah With Walter B. Rudolph On Thursday's Access Utah

USU Libraries

Opera comes in all shapes and sizes. Considered an elitist art form by many, it is capable of touching souls from pioneers and farmers to apostles and politicians. While it may be an acquired taste, we are lured to it via recitals, concerts, oratorios, and even Broadway musicals and anecdotal tales. 

There is no written history of “Opera in Utah,” and while references are random, they are consistently found when sought. The list of visiting operatic artists to the Beehive state is imposing, even extraordinary. Equally unexpected is the diversity of standard repertoire, and those works unique to, or composed about Utah. In turn, Utah’s operatic assets have given to the world’s arsenal of singers, and created an audience of unique proportions. And in the midst of these “voices” is another facet to the life of Leonard J. Arrington.
 
Walter B. Rudolph earned a bachelor’s in music and a master’s in musicology from BYU. He started a career in performance and teaching in the mid 1970s before turning to public radio. With Walter as the program director, KBYU-FM became the noted source of classical music and arts support to the Wasatch front communities

Tom Williams worked as a part-time UPR announcer for a few years and joined Utah Public Radio full-time in 1996. He is a proud graduate of Uintah High School in Vernal and Utah State University (B. A. in Liberal Arts and Master of Business Administration.) He grew up in a family that regularly discussed everything from opera to religion to politics. He is interested in just about everything and loves to engage people in conversation, so you could say he has found the perfect job as host “Access Utah.” He and his wife Becky, live in Logan.