Organ Symphony Spotlight featuring Lyceum Philharmonic at American Heritage School

Information about the event

Experience the majesty of the historic Tabernacle Organ and award-winning Lyceum Philharmonic in Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 featuring Dr. Neil Harmon as well as young artist competition winners performing music by Glière, Debussy, and more.

Concert Program

• The Lord is My Shepherd - Howard Goodall, arr. Shane Mickelsen
• Concerto No. 5 in F Maj, Op. 103, III - Molto allegro - Camille Saint-Saëns, Marianne Barrus, piano
• Violin Concerto No. 1 - Spencer Lyle, featuring Spencer Lyle, violin
• Première Rhapsodie for Clarinet - Claude Debussy, Angeline Peng, clarinet
• Concerto for Horn in B-Flat Major, Op. 91, II – Andante - Reinhold Glière, Julianna Hollenbach, horn
• Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78 ‘Organ Symphony’ - Camille Saint-Saëns, Neil Harmon, organ

Special thanks to American Heritage School administrators Blaine Hunsaker, Chase Hale, and Grant Beckwith, Lyceum Orchestra Manager Lisa Jackson, music librarians Karin McMurtrey and Meekyong Taylor, personnel managers Mike Owens and Melodie Hawkes, volunteer coordinators Tami Madsen and Lorraine Davis, technical support Jay Clark and Dan Morgan, and an army of parents, teachers, and mentors without whom this would not be possible.

Musicians

Flute / Piccolo
Shelby Hawkes
Allison Jensen
Clara Hainsworth
Cydney Lee

Oboe / English Horn
Marissa Madsen
Lily Rowley
Rachel Johnson

Clarinet
Hazel Pak
Emily Shaw
Angeline Peng

Bassoon
Brayden Holdaway
Madison Sarahs

Horn
Julianna Hollenbach
Gabriel Coletti
Colin Carter
Maleah Masters

Trumpet
Caleb Leach
Casey Harris
Taj Singleton

Trombone/Tuba
Skyler Ragozzine
Audrey Clarke
Jaben Pederson
Jaxon Harris

Percussion
Timothy Petersen
Annika Southern
Nicholas Huntsman

Piano
Marianne Barrus

Harp
Eliza Fichialos

Violin I
Emily McMurtrey
Eliza Andersen
Spencer Lyle
Elise Chapman
Derek Blodgett
Mikayla Papenfuss
Laura Davis
Maya Dean
Jacie Kemp
Cynthia Jensen
Brooklyn Losee
Marianne Barrus
Julia Collings
Gwen Brown
Olivia Washburn
Ethan Williams
Isabelle Kim
McKenna Jenson

Violin II
Joshua Lewis
Charles Clawson
Elsa Saunders
Evelyn Jacobsen
Sarah Whitt
Emma Lamb
Clark Rowley
Katie Olsen
Morgan Perry
Amber Griffin
Michaela Jenson
Andrea West
Eva Harmon
Cambria Bybee
Kynda Cullimore
Cayman Quinn
Katherine Fisher
Molly McMurtrey

Viola
Abigail Flanders
Oliver Davis
Lauryn Lee
Adria Baker
Miri Randall
Makelle Ware
Tate Zdanowicz
Daniel Loveridge
Trevor Brown
Logan Brown

Cello
James Hart
Seth Winters
Alexander Taylor
Rebecca Gabbitas
Allison Whitt
James Elmer
Chloe Shoell
Eliza Mason
Caleb Hughes
Dallin Morgan
Cameron Rhodes
Charlie Quinn
Carter Owens

Bass
Ethan Newton
Tomas Isaak
Adam Peery

Biographies

Kayson Brown is a passionate music educator whose primary goal is to inspire audiences and the young musicians he directs. As the founder of the Lyceum Music Festival and director of the Lyceum Orchestras Program at American Heritage School, he oversees the largest youth orchestra program in the state of Utah and a nationally significant summer music festival. In all these endeavors, Kayson seeks to connect talented young musicians with their music industry counterparts and has succeeded in attracting a national audience to the meaningful music made by Utah’s talented youth.

Kayson has produced, conducted, orchestrated and arranged numerous albums both independently and with the Lyceum Philharmonic. He has been featured conducting on nationally televised PBS Specials with The Piano Guys, recorded for SONY Masterworks and has been recognized by Best of State Utah and American String Teachers Association as one of the leading music educators in the nation. His music and student musicians have been heard over 200 million times on YouTube and have reached the top of the Billboard Charts on three separate albums.

Kayson holds a Master’s Degree in Orchestral Conducting from Brigham Young University where he served as conducting and cello faculty. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Cello Performance from the University of Utah where he guest-directed their orchestras as an undergraduate. He has more than two decades of experience conducting more than 25 symphony orchestras including professional, university, community, and educational ensembles nationwide.

Neil Harmon joined the organ faculty at Brigham Young University in Fall 2018 and the organ faculty at Utah State University in January 2022. Prior to his appointment at BYU he worked as full-time Director of Music and Organist at Grace United Methodist Church in Wilmington, Delaware for 19 years, where he became known throughout the region for his fine choral conducting, organ playing, composing, and arranging. Since 1989 he has maintained a successful studio of private organ, piano, and conducting students.

A native of Midvale, Utah, Dr. Harmon received early organ training from Dorothy Bradford and Linda Wildman. He attended Utah State University for his Freshman year and, after a two-year mission, completed a Bachelor of Music at BYU studying with Parley Belnap, Richard Elliott, and Don Cook. Graduate studies were at The Eastman School of Music, where he earned a Master of Music and Doctorate of Musical Arts, studying with Russell Saunders, David Craighead, and Michael Farris. Working as the Eastman School’s Organ Teaching Assistant, Dr. Harmon trained non-major organ students at the undergraduate, masters, and doctorate levels for three years. He was on the faculty of the Eastman School’s Community Education Division for four years.

Acclaimed as “one of the finest products of the American organ school,” [La Nuova Venezia] Dr. Harmon has performed in Europe, South America, and the United States. Performance venues have included Longwood Gardens, The Salt Lake Tabernacle, New York City’s Carnegie Hall, and the Church of Saint Nicolo dei Mendicoli in Venice, Italy. He serves as a Guest Organist at the Salt Lake Tabernacle on Temple Square, a service he has rendered since 1991. He has adjudicated for regional, national, and international organ competitions. Active in the American Guild of Organists, Dr. Harmon has served as chapter Dean, Sub-dean, and twice as Co-director of the Delaware Pipe Organ Encounter.

An award-winning composer, Dr. Harmon is known nationally for his creative and accessible organ, handbell, and choral compositions. His Requiem, for SATB chorus, soprano, and orchestra, has garnered accolades from around the country.

Neil served a two-year volunteer mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in São Paulo, Brazil. He and his wife, Anese, are the parents of five children.

Lyceum Philharmonic at American Heritage School, led by Kayson Brown, has reached the top of the Billboard Charts on multiple albums, was featured on PBS with The Piano Guys, recorded for SONY Masterworks with Lexi Walker, and has been viewed over 200 million times on YouTube! These accomplished young musicians come from more than 30 schools across the state of Utah to participate in the after-school Lyceum Orchestras Program at American Heritage School in American Fork, Utah with expansion to downtown Salt Lake City expected in fall of 2022. They are part of a comprehensive program consisting of eight audition-only ensembles that inspire and mentor students ages 5 to 18.

They seek to: Inspire – nurture a love of elevated music, increased faith, and patriotism through purposeful events and media. Instruct – develop self-discipline, skills, and character through transformational teaching and professional-level experience and interaction. And Impact (Result of Inspiring and Instructing) – awaken individuals, families and communities to the power music has to change hearts and minds while fulfilling divine potential.

Steven Sharp Nelson of The Piano Guys said, “The Lyceum Orchestras Program is an incomparable combination of everything that music is meant to be — joy, refinement, belonging, and fun. It offers kids the kind of opportunities that make music exciting and cool. It provides an environment that isn’t blindly affixed upon purposeless perfection, but rather a more selfless pursuit of excellence. My favorite part of Lyceum is its inherent spirituality. There is a special feeling suggesting a profound development not only of the body and mind, but of the soul.”

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