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July 21, 2016
Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival 2016: Week 4 Highlights (August 15-21)
Mostly Mozart Festival
Contact: Eric M. Gewirtz
212.875.5049
LINCOLN CENTER’S 50th MOSTLY MOZART FESTIVAL
Week 4: August 15–August 21, 2016
Staged Concerts of Mozart’s Operas Così fan tutte and Idomeneo
With Freiburg Baroque Orchestra in Residence as Part of Festival’s Special Focus on Opera,
August 15 and 18
Matthew Halls Makes His New York Debut Leading Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra,
Joined by Joshua Bell, August 16–17
Mozart’s Choral Masterworks Conclude the Festival Orchestra’s David Geffen Hall Performances,
Four Singers Make Their Mostly Mozart Debuts, August 19–20
New York Premiere of Seven Responses, Featuring The Crossing, Quicksilver,
and the International Contemporary Ensemble, August 21
Arts-Focused Trivia Night Hosted by International Contemporary Ensemble, August 17
Presented by Mostly Mozart and The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
NEW YORK (July 21, 2016) — The fourth and penultimate week of the 50th anniversary season of Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival presents nine performances featuring the best of Mozart’s operatic and choral repertoire as well as a highly-anticipated New York premiere.
A major feature of the 50th Mostly Mozart Festival is a focus on Mozart’s operas. To celebrate Mozart’s operatic genius, the festival presents two staged concerts of the composer’s operas, which will be accompanied by the acclaimed period-instrument ensemble, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. The first program, on August 15, is the comic opera Così fan tutte, one of the famed trio of operas created by Mozart with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. One of Mozart’s best known works, Così fan tutte is about two men who decide to test the faithfulness of their lovers by dressing in disguise and attempting to woo each other’s women. This staged concert version will be conducted by Mostly Mozart’s Renée and Robert Belfer Music Director Louis Langrée and features a superb cast of festival debuts and returning singers. The concert is based on an original production presented in collaboration with the Festival of Aix-en-Provence 2016 in co-production with the Opera de Lille and Edinburgh International Festival.
Later in the week, on August 18, the festival presents a staged concert of Mozart’s Idomeneo, an epic opera that charts the path of Idomeneo, King of Crete, as he navigates literal and figurative stormy seas on his return from the Trojan War. The performance will be led by conductor René Jacobs in a rare New York appearance, with a cast featuring Jeremy Ovenden in the title role and soprano Sophie Karthäuser as Ilia. Nearly the entire cast will be making their festival debuts, including the Arnold Schoenberg Choir. Both Cosi fan tutte and Idomeneo will be performed at Alice Tully Hall, and each will offer a pre-concert lecture at 6:15 pm at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse.
The Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra presents four concerts, beginning with a performance featuring violinist Joshua Bell, a festival favorite, on August 16 and 17. Bell, who made his Mostly Mozart debut in 1987, will perform Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major, K.218. He will be joined by conductor Matthew Halls, who makes his New York debut as he conducts the Festival Orchestra. Also on the program is Mendelssohn’s Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 21, Beethoven’s Overture to Coriolan, Op. 62, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93. A pre-concert recital will be performed by violinist Alexi Kenney at 6:30 pm both evenings.
On August 19 and 20, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra concludes its David Geffen Hall dates with two of Mozart’s choral masterpieces, his Mass in C minor, K.427 and Requiem, K.626. The all-Mozart program will be led by named by Louis Langrée, alongside an all-American cast of singers with soprano Joélle Harvey, mezzo-soprano Cecelia Hall, tenor Alek Shrader, bass Christian Van Horn, and the Concert Chorale of New York (James Bagwell, director). All four vocal soloists are making their Mostly Mozart debuts with these performances. Prior to the concerts, Andrew Shenton will lead a lecture titled “Mostly Masterly: Mozart and the Collaborators” at 6:30 pm.
Closing the week is the New York premiere of Seven Responses, a series of new works by seven disparate and exciting composers inspired by and paired with Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri, an iconic German Baroque-era work consisting of seven sacred-text cantatas. The original Buxtehude cantatas are performed alongside the new works by composers Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, David T. Little, Santa Ratniece, Caroline Shaw, Lewis Spratlan, Hans Thomalla, and Anna Thorvaldsdottir, who were invited to collaborate with an author of their choice or to craft an original text. Seven Responses was commissioned and organized by the acclaimed Philadelphia-based vocal ensemble The Crossing, and is performed across two concerts on August 21, at 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm at Merkin Concert Hall. Joining The Crossing for these concerts are the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), and Quicksilver (Mostly Mozart debut), with conductor Donald Nally. A post-concert discussion with Donald Nally and Claire Chase, moderated by John Schaefer will follow the 7:00 pm performance.
In honor of its 50th anniversary, the festival holds its first Mostly Mozart trivia contest and concert on August 17 at 9:00 pm. Curators and archivists of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and musicians from Mostly Mozart come together for an imaginative, arts-focused trivia night. Hosted by ICE, the festival’s artists-in-residence, in the David Rubenstein Atrium, the free concert and trivia competition features live music, prizes, and the library’s unparalleled archive of composers’ manuscripts, choreographic notes, and costume designs. The event, presented jointly by Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival and The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, promises a fun-filled, competitive evening to test the audience’s knowledge of all things music and Mozart.
Throughout the festival, audiences can trace the history of one of the most celebrated classical music festivals in a free exhibition called Mozart Forever: Fifty Years of the Mostly Mozart Festival. The exhibition, at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, includes artwork, photographs, memorabilia, interviews, concert excerpts, and more, illuminating the path from its all-Mozart roots to its current ambitious, visionary place in the cultural landscape. Mozart Forever: Fifty Years of the Mostly Mozart Festival is on display now through August 27.
LOUIS LANGRÉE
Louis Langrée, music director of the Mostly Mozart Festival since December 2002, was named Renée and Robert Belfer Music Director in August 2006. Under his musical leadership, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra has received extensive critical acclaim, and its performances are an annual summertime highlight for classical music lovers in New York City.
Mr. Langrée is also music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Earlier this year they performed in New York as part of the 50th anniversary season of Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series, and future plans include a tour to Asia. Mr. Langrée will make his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in the fall, and in February he returns to the Metropolitan Opera for performances of Carmen. In Europe he will conduct the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig and the Orchestre National de France, the latter in Debussy’s opera and Schoenberg’s tone poem based on Maeterlinck’s Pelléas et Mélisande.
Mr. Langrée was chief conductor of Camerata Salzburg until this summer, and has appeared as guest conductor with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, Budapest Festival Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. His opera engagements include appearances with La Scala, Opéra Bastille, Vienna State Opera, and Royal Opera House–Covent Garden. Mr. Langrée was appointed Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2006 and Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur in 2014.
Mr. Langrée’s first recording with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra features commissioned works by Nico Muhly and David Lang, as well as Copland’s Lincoln Portrait narrated by Maya Angelou. His DVD of Verdi’s La traviata from the Aix-en-Provence Festival featuring Natalie Dessay and the London Symphony Orchestra was awarded a Diapason d’Or. His discography also includes recordings on the Universal and Virgin Classics labels.
JANE MOSS
Jane Moss is the Ehrenkranz Artistic Director of Lincoln Center, a position that includes her role as Artistic Director of the Mostly Mozart Festival. In that capacity, she has initiated and led the transformation and expansion of the festival into a multidisciplinary, multilayered, and far-reaching exploration of its namesake genius and his influence on succeeding generations. Ms. Moss also created several major new initiatives at Lincoln Center, including the international, multigenre Lincoln Center Festival, the New Visions series—which linked the worlds of the theater, dance, visual arts, and classical music—and Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series, which focuses on classic and contemporary expressions of American song. In 2010 she launched the multidisciplinary White Light Festival, focused on exploring how the performing arts illuminate our interior lives as expressed by a dynamic, international spectrum of distinctive musical, dance, and theater artists. The programming she has introduced and directs represents a continuing contribution to the vitality of New York’s cultural landscape. Ms. Moss also oversees Great Performers, Lincoln Center’s major season-long classical music series; Midsummer Night Swing; and the free Lincoln Center Out of Doors summer series. Ms. Moss has played an important role as an innovator in musical and music-based presentation and is a recipient of the French Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur.
Prior to joining Lincoln Center, Ms. Moss worked as an arts consultant, designing and developing projects and programming initiatives for a variety of foundations and arts organizations, including the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund and the Pew Charitable Trusts. As Executive Director of Meet the Composer, a national organization serving American composers, Ms. Moss created the country’s largest composer commissioning program, as well as a program supporting collaborations between composers and choreographers. In addition, she served as Executive Director of New York’s leading off-Broadway theater company, Playwrights Horizons, and Executive Director of the Alliance of Resident Theaters/New York.
ABOUT THE MOSTLY MOZART FESTIVAL
Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival—America’s first indoor summer music festival—was launched as an experiment in 1966. Called “Midsummer Serenades: A Mozart Festival” its first two seasons were devoted exclusively to the music of Mozart. The official title of Mostly Mozart was coined in 1970, and the festival has evolved over time to become a New York institution and a highlight of the city’s summer classical music season. Under the leadership of Ehrenkranz Artistic Director Jane Moss and Renée and Robert Belfer Music Director Louis Langrée, Mostly Mozart has broadened its focus beyond the music of Mozart to include works by his predecessors, contemporaries, and successors. In addition to concerts by the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Mostly Mozart now includes performances by the world’s outstanding period-instrument ensembles, chamber orchestras, and acclaimed soloists, as well as opera productions, dance, film, and late-night concerts. Contemporary music has become an essential part of the festival, embodied in annual artist and composer residencies that have included Osvaldo Golijov, John Adams, Kaija Saariaho, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, George Benjamin, and the International Contemporary Ensemble. Among the many artists and ensembles who have had long associations with the festival are Joshua Bell, Christian Tetzlaff, Itzhak Perlman, Emanuel Ax, Garrick Ohlsson, Stephen Hough, Osmo Vänskä, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Emerson String Quartet, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and the Mark Morris Dance Group. The festival’s popularity has been reflected in several cultural touchstones, including an Al Hirschfeld illustration, a Peanuts cartoon strip, beer cans, and a cover of The New Yorker magazine.
The Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra is the resident orchestra of the Mostly Mozart Festival, and is the only chamber orchestra in the U.S. dedicated to the music of the Classical period. Since 2002 Louis Langrée has been the Orchestra’s music director, and since 2005 the Orchestra’s David Geffen Hall home has been transformed each summer into an appropriately intimate venue for its performances. Over the years, the Orchestra has been the festival’s ambassador, touring to such notable festivals and venues as Ravinia, Great Woods, Tanglewood, Bunkamura in Tokyo, the Kennedy Center, and The White House. Conductors who made their New York debuts leading the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra include Michael Tilson Thomas, David Zinman, Jérémie Rhorer, Edward Gardner, Lionel Bringuier, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Charles Dutoit, Leonard Slatkin, Susanna Mälkki, and Edo de Waart. Mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli, flutist James Galway, soprano Elly Ameling, and pianist Mitsuko Uchida all made their U.S. debuts with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra.
ABOUT LINCOLN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) serves three primary roles: presenter of artistic programming, national leader in arts and education and community engagement, and manager of the Lincoln Center campus. A presenter of more than 3,000 free and ticketed events, performances, tours, and educational activities annually, LCPA offers 16 series, festivals, and programs, including American Songbook, Avery Fisher Career Grants and Artist program, David Rubenstein Atrium programming, Great Performers, Legends at Lincoln Center: The Performing Arts Hall of Fame, Lincoln Center at the Movies, Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Awards, Lincoln Center Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Lincoln Center Vera List Art Project, Midsummer Night Swing, Mostly Mozart Festival, White Light Festival, the Emmy Award–winning Live From Lincoln Center, which airs nationally on PBS, and Lincoln Center Education, which is celebrating 40 years enriching the lives of students, educators, and lifelong learners. As manager of the Lincoln Center campus, LCPA provides support and services for the Lincoln Center complex and the 11 resident organizations: The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Film Society of Lincoln Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Juilliard School, Lincoln Center Theater, The Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet, New York Philharmonic, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, School of American Ballet, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. For more information, visit LincolnCenter.org.
Lincoln Center is committed to providing and improving accessibility for people with disabilities. For information, call the Department of Programs and Services for People with Disabilities at 212.875.5375
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The Mostly Mozart Festival is made possible by Renée and Robert Belfer, Sarah Billinghurst Solomon and Howard Solomon, Rita E. and Gustave M. Hauser, Chris and Bruce Crawford, Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz, The Howard Gilman Foundation, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc., Charles E. Culpeper Foundation, S.H. and Helen R. Scheuer Family Foundation, and Friends of Mostly Mozart.
Public support is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts.
American Airlines is the Official Airline of Lincoln Center
Nespresso is the Official Coffee of Lincoln Center
NewYork-Presbyterian is the Official Hospital of Lincoln Center
MetLife is the National Sponsor of Lincoln Center
“Summer at Lincoln Center” is supported by Diet Pepsi
Media Partner WQXR
Artist catering provided by Zabar’s and Zabars.com
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INFORMATION AND UPDATES
Visit MostlyMozart.org for information about the festival and other updates.
PHONE NUMBERS/CONTACT INFORMATION
Lincoln Center general website: LincolnCenter.org
Mostly Mozart Festival website: MostlyMozart.org
Lincoln Center Customer Service: 212.875.5456
CenterCharge: 212.721.6500
VENUE LOCATIONS
Alice Tully Hall, 65th Street and Broadway
David Geffen Hall, 65th Street and Broadway
David Rubenstein Atrium, Broadway between 62nd and 63rd Streets
Merkin Concert Hall, Kaufman Music Center, 129 West 67th Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue)
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, between the Metropolitan Opera House and Lincoln Center Theater
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MOSTLY MOZART FESTIVAL 2016
WEEK FOUR
August 15–21
Monday, August 15, 2016 at 7:30 pm Alice Tully Hall
Pre-concert lecture, “Truth and beauty in Così fan tutte”
at 6:15 pm by Scott Burnham Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse
Freiburg Baroque Orchestra
Louis Langrée, conductor
Lenneke Ruiten, Fiordiligi M|M
Kate Lindsey, Dorabella
Sandrine Piau, Despina
Joel Prieto, Ferrando M|M
Nahuel Di Pierro, Guglielmo M|M
Rod Gilfry, Don Alfonso
Musica Sacra M|M
Kent Tritle, director
Mozart: Così fan tutte, K.588
Tuesday, August 16, 2016 at 7:30 pm David Geffen Hall
Wednesday, August 17, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Pre-concert recitals by Alexi Kenney, violin, at 6:30 pm David Geffen Hall
Matteis: Fantasia
Kaija Saariaho: Nocturne
Bach: Chaconne, from Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004
Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra
Matthew Halls, conductor M|M and New York debut
Joshua Bell, violin
Mendelssohn: Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 21
Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major, K.218
Beethoven: Overture to Coriolan, Op. 62
Beethoven: Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93
Wednesday, August 17, 2016, at 9:00 pm David Rubenstein Atrium
A New York Public Library/Lincoln Center Trivia Concert
Hosted by ICE
Presented in collaboration with the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Thursday, August 18, 2016 at 7:30 pm Alice Tully Hall
Pre-concert lecture, “Mozart Between Two Worlds”
at 6:15 pm by Peter A. Hoyt Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse
Freiburg Baroque Orchestra
René Jacobs, conductor
Jeremy Ovenden, Idomeneo M|M
Gaëlle Arquez, Idamante M|M
Sophie Karthäuser, Ilia
Alex Penda, Elettra M|M
Julien Behr, Arbace M|M
Nicolas Rivenq, High Priest of Neptune M|M
Christoph Seidl, La Voce M|M
Arnold Schoenberg Choir M|M
Mozart: Idomeneo, re di Creta, K.366
Friday, August 19, 2016 at 7:30 pm David Geffen Hall
Saturday, August 20, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Pre-concert lecture by Andrew Shenton at 6:15 Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse
Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra
Louis Langrée, conductor
Joélle Harvey, soprano M|M
Cecelia Hall, mezzo-soprano M|M
Alek Shrader, tenor M|M
Christian Van Horn, bass M|M
Concert Chorale of New York
James Bagwell, director
All-Mozart program
Mass in C minor, K.427
Requiem, K.626
Sunday, August 21, 2016 at 3:00 pm Merkin Concert Hall
Seven Responses, Part 1 (New York premiere)
The Crossing
International Contemporary Ensemble
Quicksilver M|M
Donald Nally, conductor
Buxtehude: Ad pedes (“To the feet”), from Membra Jesu nostri, BuxWV 75
David T. Little: dress in magic amulets, dark, from My feet
Buxtehude: Ad genua (“To the knees”), from Membra Jesu nostri, BuxWV 75
Anna Thorvaldsdottir: Ad Genua/To the knees
Buxtehude: Ad manus (“To the hands”), from Membra Jesu nostri, BuxWV 75
Caroline Shaw: To the Hands
Buxtehude: Ad latus (“To the sides”), from Membra Jesu nostri, BuxWV 75
Hans Thomalla: I come near you
Sunday, August 21, 2016 at 7:00 pm Merkin Concert Hall
Seven Responses, Part 2 (New York premiere)
The Crossing
International Contemporary Ensemble
Quicksilver M|M
Donald Nally, conductor
Buxtehude: Ad pectus (“To the breast”), from Membra Jesu nostri, BuxWV 75
Lewis Spratlan: Common Ground
Buxtehude: Ad cor (“To the heart”), from Membra Jesu nostri, BuxWV 75
Gudmundsen-Holmgreen: Ad cor
Buxtehude: Ad facem (“To the face”), from Membra Jesu nostri, BuxWV 75
Santa Ratniece: My soul will sink into you
Post-concert discussion with Donald Nally and Claire Chase, moderated by John Schaefer, at Merkin Concert Hall immediately following the 7:00 pm performance
M|M Mostly Mozart Festival debut
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