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Gladys Gladstone had such a profound effect on music in Utah that the late Utah Symphony conductor Maurice Abravanel used to measure time in B.G. and A.G. - "Before Gladys" and "After Gladys."

Gladstone was a frequent soloist with the Utah Symphony, helped grow the piano program at the University of Utah during her half-century tenure, and produced high-quality pianists who have fanned out across the country.

"She was an amazing woman," said Susan Duehlmeier, who studied with Gladstone at the U. and now is the piano-area coordinator for the university's School of Music. Gladstone and Abravanel "built the musical scene in Utah together."

This week, Duehlmeier will join four other former Gladstone students for a concert to raise funds for a scholarship in her name. Three 9-foot pianos will line the concert stage as the women perform two Mozart concertos for "Amadeus x 5," the latest concert in the U.'s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the composer's birth.

"This is a nice coming full circle," said Gladstone's son Joel Rosenberg, conductor of the Orchestra and Chorus of Sandy City. In 1956, Gladstone performed at least one Mozart concerto with the Utah Symphony when the orchestra celebrated his 200th birthday.

This week's concert will feature a chamber orchestra made up mostly of musicians from the Utah Symphony who knew and played with Gladstone. Featured pianists will be Duehlmeier, Bonnie Gritton, Lenora Brown, Sally Brinton and Merla Little.

"I feel her influence every day of my life, in my playing and in my teaching," said Brown, who also teaches at the U. She said Gladstone was more than a teacher. "She was a second mom to me. She was very caring and compassionate, but at the same time, she was able to maintain a professional level. You knew there was a line that you didn't cross," she said.

Gladstone was born in upstate New York and at age 16 moved to New York City, where she studied with Artur Schnabel, one of the foremost pianists of the time. She met her husband, Harold Rosenberg, during a performance in New Jersey. After World War II, the couple moved to Salt Lake City, where Harold practiced medicine at the VA Hospital, said Joel Rosenberg.

In Utah, Gladstone helped found the Chamber Music Society of Salt Lake City and received the University of Utah's Distinguished Teaching Award and the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts. She died in 2002 at age 88.

Students who benefit from the Gladys Gladstone Scholarship Fund at the U. would be lucky to be inspired the way Gladstone's students were.

"I didn't care if I had practiced 50 hours that week, I always worried it wouldn't be enough," said Brown, who was moved to tears while talking about her mentor. "I would do anything to please her. I would stand on my head!"

Party of five

* The "Amadeus x 5" concert is Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in Libby Gardner Hall on the University of Utah campus, 1375 Presidents Circle, Salt Lake City. Tickets are $7, $3 for students and seniors, available at the box office or by calling 801-581-7100. Contributions to the Gladys Gladstone Scholarship Fund are welcome. Lenora Brown, Sally Brinton and Merla Little will perform the Mozart Concerto for Three Pianos and Orchestra in F Major. Bonnie Gritton and Susan Duehlmeier will perform the Mozart Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra in E-flat Major.