Get to know Paducah’s Logan Blackman and some of his music conducting philosophy

Kentucky’s Logan J. Blackman or the growth of a music orchestra conducting expert: 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.” Find even more information at https://www.finearts.utah.edu/student-interns/itemlist/tag/Halloween.

I have to say, I was not expecting that answer! I love it! What do you want your listeners to get out of your music? Logan J. Blackman : Music is one of the ultimate ways of expressing something you can’t quite put in words, or illustrate easily. My symphonic work, Prayer of a Broken Heart, is a great example of that. At 15, I tragically lost my parents due to a motorcycle accident. That piece is about the grief I went through, those experiences, and ultimately my hope that I will one day see them again.My hope is that listeners who might be struggling with something similar get some kind of comfort knowing they aren’t the only ones to feel what they may be feeling.

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.”

The introspective and ceremonial musical elements introduced in the first two movements of the Meditations culminated in the third and Karp unified them with great strength. His skillful phrasing, subtle dynamics and bold accents were spellbinding. Rhythmic drums paved the way for Karp’s solo ruminations and when the gong sounded, the strings followed his lead into a shamanistic fury of dance, highly spiritual and celebratory. Then Karp imposed a cathartic sense of calm with a wistful melody before he engaged us with amazingly intricate bowing like an oracle intermittently disseminating words of wisdom. The drum and the harp accompanied the fading tones of his good counsel and left me in reverie, wanting to hear more.

The UK Symphony Orchestra February concert will feature Robinson accompanied by the UK Symphony Orchestra on Carl Nielson’s Clarinet Concerto, Op. 57. The orchestra will also perform Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony and Logan Blackman’s “Prayer of a Broken Heart.” Blackman’s “Prayer of a Broken Heart,” a tone poem, was originally written for a wind ensemble back in 2012 following the sudden death of the composer’s parents in October 2011. “It was my reaction to their death describing what I had been through and what my future had to hold,” Blackman said. Discover additional details at https://www.instagram.com/p/BQWKMDaDGBD/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=.