The Utah Chamber Artists and their director, Barlow Bradford, have commissioned a number of composers to write works for them over the years. Their most recently commissioned piece, Tarik O’Regan’s After Rain (Petrichor), will be premiered at their final concert of the season on Monday.

Tarik O'Regan

The London-born O’Regan is a 34-year-old composer who has been enjoying tremendous success in Europe and now also in the United States. He has been commissioned to write works for a number of organizations, including the Australian Chamber Orchestra. He will be coming to Salt Lake City for the concert and to talk about his music prior to the performance.

Bradford told Reichel Recommends that he is a big fan of O’Regan’s. “He may be my favorite right now among younger composers.” He also said that O’Regan’s personality is evident in his new piece. “He is very kind and an enjoy-life-right-now kind of person, and that comes through in his piece. That’s one of the things I like about it. It’s bright and honest without being overly tragic or too serious, and it has some tremendous effects.”

The 12-minute piece, with words by the World War I era poet Edward Thomas, is in three large sections with a short introduction. “It’s a fun piece to sing, but it’s not easy,” Bradford said. “The choral writing is almost instrumental in the manner you find it in Bach. It places a lot of demands on the singers, but the Chamber Artists are absolutely capable of pulling it off.”

As one might guess from the title, the piece is about rain. “But it’s treated in such an inventive way,” Bradford said. It starts out with the women singing in unison, and the up and down motion of the vocal line suggests a wave. “It’s so smart and really interesting. And this thematic element becomes the accompaniment later on.”

After Rain is scored for mixed choir, strings, harp, percussion and solo clarinet, who is to be placed somewhere other than near the other instruments. “I haven’t decided where to put the clarinet, yet,” Bradford said. “Maybe I’ll have him in the hall.”

Barlow Bradford

The Chamber Artists will also be playing another piece by O’Regan, the instrumental Raï, which will receive its United States premiere at Monday’s concert. Scored for string quartet, flute, clarinet, harp and percussion, the piece places considerable demands on the performers. “It’s hard and tricky, but it’s a really fun piece,” Bradford said. “This is a talent intensive concert, but we have the talent among our players to do it.”

Rounding out the program will be selections from J.A.C. Redford’s Night Pieces, with words by William Wordsworth; Robert Cundick’s The West Wind, on a poem by John Masefield; John Rutter’s When Daisies Pied, set to words by William Shakespeare; and Bernell Hales’ arrangement of April in Paris.

“The whole concert is bright and a nice relief from the heavier programs we did this season,” Bradford said.

CONCERT INFO:

• What: Utah Chamber Artists, Barlow Bradford, conductor
• Venue: Libby Gardner Concert Hall
• Time and Date: 7:30 p.m. April 30
• Tickets: $17.50 general, $12 students
• Phone: 801-581-7100
• Web: www.kingsburyhall.org

ALSO: Pre-concert lecture by Tarik O’Regan, Room 270 (Choral Rehearsal Room), David Gardner Hall, 6 p.m. April 30, free.