Join us at the School of Music’s biggest event of year on Nov. 22 at Libby Gardner Concert Hall. The Camerata Awards Concert Gala celebrates School of Music’s talented students, outstanding faculty and generous supporters that ensure its success.

The concert will feature performances from the Graduate Brass Quintet, Graduate Vocal Quartet, Daniel Tseylakov (piano), Jazz Ensemble, Chamber Choir, A Cappella Choir, and the Wind Ensemble. Students will perform works by John Williams, Gluseppe Verdi, Franz Liszt, Thad Jones, Vytautas Miškinis, and Mack Wilberg.

This concert is free and open to the public. A dessert reception will follow. Concert starts at 8 p.m. doors open at 7:15 p.m., no tickets necessary.

About the honorees

Bruce W. Bastian

Bruce Bastian’s $1.3 million gift for 55 Steinway pianos in 2000 transformed music at the University of Utah. With the $20 M renovation and addition to David P. Gardner newly completed, for perhaps the first time in the music department’s 100-year history, its students and faculty had not only first-rate facilities but outstanding instruments.

A music educator, computer software pioneer, and philanthropist, Bastian understands the power of his investment in young musicians. During high school and college, music provided for Bastian solace, acceptance, and success earned through skill and effort.

Bastian’s music education at BYU helped build the skills he later relied on computer science: precision, discipline and an understanding of rule-based logic. His five years directing the BYU marching band led to him developing a software program to help choreograph marching band performances for his master’s thesis. He went on to start the revolutionary word processing software company, WordPerfect, with his thesis adviser Alan Ashton.

A compassionate humanitarian, Bastian focuses his philanthropy on human rights, equality, and justice. He supports the arts for its potential to foster acceptance of ourselves and others. By creating a bridge between the mind and the heart, music opens up the soul and being.

At the University of Utah, Bastian also made a $1.7 million gift to renovate Kingsbury Hall in 1997 and funds annually the LGBT Resource Center and U Pride, as well as programming that promotes diversity and inclusion. He serves on the national Human Rights Campaign board. He and his husband, Clint Ford, remain vocal champions of human rights, especially for the LGBTQ community.

Loel T. Hepworth* and Connie Jo M. Hepworth-Woolston

From small-town roots, Loel Hepworth and Connie Jo M. Hepworth-Woolston went on to impact the arts not only across our state but even the nation. High school sweethearts, both came to the U as undergraduates, later returning for masters degrees, with Hepworth continuing for a doctorate

As educators, artists, and advocates they positively impacted tens of thousands of people. They fully and generously shared their talents in music and dance for more than three decades.

Before even completing his undergraduate music degree, Hepworth started playing in the Utah Symphony and teaching and conducting at the U. A gifted musician, he played the clarinet, bass clarinet and saxophone in almost every type of ensemble—from classical, to jazz, to popular.

Connie Jo started teaching dance in high school—tap, modern and ballet. East High School hired her in 1958 straight out of the U and over the next 28 years she built one of the most outstanding high school dance programs in the country. She was lauded as a modern dancer and choreographer.

Hard-working, committed art practitioners and dedicated teachers, Hepworth and Hepworth-Woolston were deeply respected by their students, colleagues, and audiences. Both naturally rose to leadership, including Hepworth with the Utah Symphony musicians’ union and Hepworth-Woolston with the Utah Arts Council.

Their artistic legacy lives on through the thousands of students who grew to love the arts under their guidance. Today Hepworth-Woolston and her husband Art Woolston, give generously to support musicians and dancers, including to the Loel T. Hepworth, Ph.D. Memorial Scholarship Endowment.

*award given posthumously