LOGAN – As the finale of its 2023-24 season, the American Festival Chorus & Orchestra has slated two performances of the renowned oratorio The Restoration by composer Merrill Bradshaw.
The first of those performances will be offered at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 27 in the Daines Concert Hall on the campus of Utah State University.
The second performance of The Restoration will be held on Sunday, April 28 in the Tabernacle at Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City.
Those performances will commemorate the premier of The Restoration five decades ago, with Dr. Craig Jessop as a baritone soloist.
Four soloists will join the chorus and orchestra to perform the celebrated oratorio. They are Melissa Heath, a mezzo soprano from Utah Valley University; Tamara Mumford, a mezzo soprano and a veteran of the New York Metropolitan Opera; Thomas Glenn, a Grammy Award-winning tenor from Utah State University; and Darrell Babidge, a bass soloist and chair of the voice faculty at The Juilliard School.
Merrill Bradshaw was prolific composer, a professor of music and composer-in-residence at Brigham Young University. He taught for thirty-seven years at BYU and was the John R. Halliday Professor of Music there from 1985 to 1994.
He composed over two hundred musical works, ranging from simple piano pieces and songs to symphonies, concertos, oratorios and pageants. His best-known work is The Restoration oratorio.
From 1972 to 1977, Bradshaw headed a committee that worked to produce a new hymnbook for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which was published in 1985.
He was executive director of the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition (1983–1999); directed the Barlow International Competitions; and served for a time on the board of directors for the American Composer’s Forum. He was also one of the founders of the Arts Council of Central Utah.
After his retirement in 1994, Bradshaw occupied his time by fostering the work of other composers.
Tickets for the April 27 performance of The Restoration at USU, which range from $15 to $35, can be reserved by going online to https://utahstateaggies.evenue.net/list/CCA.
No tickets are required for the oratorio performance at Temple Square on April 28.
The Daines Concert Hall is located in the Chase Fine Arts Center on the USU campus.
Founded in 2028 by Dr. Craig Jessop, the AFCO’s mission is to edify, enrich, entertain and educate diverse performers and audiences through its culture of musical and choral excellence.