Utah’s Most Influential Women

Madeline is honored to have been named one of “Utah’s Most Influential Women” by Utah Business Magazine! Read here about the other honorees including Shauna Graves-Robertson, Utah’s first (and only) Black female judge, and Jerusha Hess, the writer of Napoleon Dynamite!

Summer 2024 Festival Schedule

Madeline performed and taught in Europe, Africa, and the US as part of her Summer 2024 Festival schedule. She returned as Guest Concertmaster of Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León as well as the Grand Teton Music Festival with Maestro Donald Runnicles. Highlights included a Gala performance with Yo-Yo Ma. She also made her seventh appearance at the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival in South Africa, performing on five evening concerts and teaching a masterclass, among many other educational activities.  Madeline was also a faculty coach for the third time with the National Youth Orchestra (NYO-USA) a program of Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute.

Performance Today!

Madeline is featured on the March 29th episode of Performance Today!  Scroll down to hour two to listen to Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben, recorded live in 2023 at the Grand Teton Music Festival, under the leadership of Sir Donald Runnicles.

Prokofiev’s 1st Violin Concerto

Madeline brought her “customary excellence” to three performances of Prokofiev’s 1st Violin Concerto, with Jun Märkl conducting the Utah Symphony. Utah Arts Review writes: “Prokofiev packs a prodigious number of notes into the concerto’s relatively brief 22 minutes—with most of them seemingly coming in the 4-minute virtuoso burst in the middle. Adkins didn’t appear to miss a single one, as she tackled the technical demands with clarity and verve.”

Guest Concertmaster of the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo

Madeline traveled to Brazil to perform as Guest Concertmaster of the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo for performances of Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie. Conducted by Baldur Brönnimann, and featuring renowned ondist Cynthia Millar and pianist Jason Hardink, the three performances took place at the aurally and visually stunning Sala São Paulo.

Summer 2023 Tour

In addition to her regular performances with the Utah Symphony, Madeline will be playing across the US and Europe this summer. Highlights include Ein Heldenleben with Maestro Donald Runnicles at the Grand Teton Music Festival, and a European tour and appearance at The Concertgebouw as Guest Concertmaster with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León. Madeline will also teach at NYO-USA and Brevard Music Center.

Recital Tour

Madeline embarks on a mini-tour of Utah with pianist Jason Hardink. Their wide-ranging program includes music by Camille Saint-Saëns, Shawn E. Okpebholo, Amanda Maier, Felix Mendelssohn, Olivier Messiaen, and William Grant Still.

1/31/23 @ 7:30pm: Russell Wanlass Performance Hall at Utah State University in Logan

2/6/23 @ 7:30 pm: Vieve Gore Concert Hall at Westminster College in Salt Lake City

2/8/23 @ 7:30pm: Recital Hall (1031) at Brigham Young University in Provo

Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy

Madeline performed Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy with the Utah Symphony at Abravanel Hall on January 6 and 7, 2023. From The Utah Review:

“Adkins’ articulation was immaculate as she dove through the intricate, rapid-fire fingerwork… With smooth, songful phrasing, the soloist also brought rich interpretive depth to the sweet double-stopped harmonies”.

Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben

The Utah Symphony opened its 2022-23 season with Richard Strauss’s epic tone poem Ein Heldenleben.

“Concertmaster Madeline Adkins gave a glorious performance, nailing the virtuosic passages with precision and panache and giving the lyrical passages a sweet lilt.”

The Maze on WETA

For any DC listeners, hear a broadcast of Madeline premiering “The Maze” in June 2021 with conductor Marin Alsop and the NOI Philharmonic. Broadcast at 9PM ET on WETA!

“Everything Conducting” Podcast

Madeline talks with John Gennaro Devlin and Enrico Lopez-Yañez from “Everything Conducting”. They discuss the unique concertmaster/conductor working relationship, and Madeline reveals just a few of her dos and don’ts for young conductors.

Messiaen at Zion NP

The Utah Symphony and Maestro Thierry Fischer performed Olivier Messiaen’s epic masterwork “From the Canyons to the Stars” at Zion National Park on June 2, 2022. 50 years ago, the French composer traveled to Utah and was in awe of the beauty of the landscape, especially Zion, Bryce and Cedar Breaks. He began sketching ideas that would become the massive 12-movement work, especially incorporating the beautiful birdsong that he heard. The audiences lucky enough to be present for this unique concert were able to hear this music in the very place that inspired it. The Utah Symphony then spent the following few days recording at Abravanel Hall in SLC for a release on Hyperion Records.

The Maze in SLC

The long-awaited performances of The Maze with the Utah Symphony took place January 27-29, 2022. (Originally scheduled March 2020…) From the Utah Arts Review: “Adkins established the violin’s presence with an intriguing solo passage evoking space and solitude...”

Conversation with Anthony Plog

Madeline chats with composer, conductor, and teacher Anthony Plog on his podcast.  They discuss all things Concertmaster and delve into some of what Madeline has learned in her 22 years sitting at the front of a major orchestra.

“The Maze” World Premiere!

After a pandemic cancellation in March 2020, Madeline’s commissioned new concerto “The Maze” was premiered on June 24, 2021! Marin Alsop conducted the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, in a special performance celebrating first responders and teachers. Learn more about The Maze and composer Nathan Lincoln de Cusatis here!

The Lark Ascending

“The Lark Ascending proved a perfect vehicle for Madeline Adkins. The work begins with a mini cadenza, which showcased Adkins’ effortless virtuosity. Throughout the piece, her interpretative gifts were wholly in the service of the musical narrative. The orchestra produced a rich, full sound over which her violin soared. The piece ends as it begins, with an extended solo and Adkins’s gradual decrescendo so held the audience’s attention that they sat spellbound for several seconds after the music had faded to silence.”

Dedication

Madeline dedicates her performances of Lark Ascending this weekend to her mom, who recently passed away. Alis Dickinson Adkins was a musicologist, organist, author, world traveler, and a mother of eight!

Slugmag Interview

“Exploring the Human Experience of Music with Madeline Adkins”

Suk and Biber

Madeline led the Utah Symphony strings in works by Suk and Biber on four subscription concerts November 12-14. “The third movement Adagio shone brightest. Under Adkins’ direction, the Symphony string players approached this balladic movement with a free-flowing concentration that turned Suk’s expressive ambiguity into pure poetry. 

“Women of Utah” Mural

Madeline is honored to be part of a new 5,000 square foot mural in downtown Salt Lake City that features 250+ past and present Utah women. The mural was unveiled on Women’s Equality Day, August 26, 2020 to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment and the 150th Anniversary of the 1870 election in which a Utah woman was the first to vote. The artist is Jann Haworth, who is best-known as the co-creator of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s album cover.