Salt Lake City’s Logan Blackman or the ascent of a music conducting expert: When Blackman got to the University of Kentucky, he started working on adapting “Prayer” into an orchestral work, at first simply transcribing it. But then, he started to do more, and the work attracted attention. “He joined the orchestra as an undergraduate bassoonist, and it soon became clear that his interests were wider than just playing the bassoon,” UK Symphony Orchestra director John Nardolillo says. “I knew he composed, and he asked me if I would look at the score to this piece he’d been working on. Then he asked if he could take some conducting lessons. So he was working on conducting and I looked at the score, and the score is interesting, and his level of commitment and involvement and interest in conducting, composition and performing is quite high. The story of the piece is compelling, and it seemed like we were in a position to help him with those things. See even more information at Logan Blackman.
At only 17 years old, Blackman founded and conducted the Blackman Wind Symphony—a semi-professional wind ensemble based in Paducah, Kentucky. In addition to conducting, Blackman is currently a freelance bassoonist, organist, pianist, and composer. He obtained his bachelor’s in bassoon performance and master’s in conducting from the University of Kentucky in 2018. Needless to say, Logan Blackman is one exceptionally talented individual. We recently sat down with Blackman to talk about his craft, his love of music, and what inspires him.
UK Symphony Orchestra is part of the UK School of Music at the UK College of Fine Arts. The school has garnered a national reputation for high-caliber education in opera, choral and instrumental music performance, as well as music education, composition, and theory and music history. To hear Robinson, Blackman and Maestro Nardolillo talk about the upcoming concert, visit WUKY’s “UK Perspectives” interview with them here: http://wuky.org/post/uk-symphony-orchestra-brings-tragedy-and-triumph-stage#stream/0.
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 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 more information at Logan Blackman Paducah.
