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This project is made possible, in part, with public funds from the
New York State Council on the Arts’ Decentralization Program
administered by Arts in Orange.
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The Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra
presents
Two Young Men:
MOZART & SCHUBERT
Starring YUNAH LEE, Soprano
SAT., MARCH 10, 2012 at 3 p.m.
Newburgh Free Academy, 201 Fullerton Ave., Newburgh, NY
Woomyung Choe and the Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra will warm your winter with MOZART & SCHUBERT and the glamorous, prize winning guest soprano Yunah Lee on Saturday, March 10, 2012 at 3:00 p.m., Newburgh Free Academy High School Auditorium, 201 Fullerton Avenue, Newburgh, NY. The three selections by Mozart are among his most beautiful and melodic compositions, and Schubert's majestic Symphony No. 9 in C Major," The Great," is much like a satisfying epic romance novel. [In case of snow, the concert will be on Saturday, March 17 at 3:00 p.m.]
Wolfgang Amadé Mozart (1756-1791), who showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works in his short life and is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers. His influence on subsequent Western art music is profound. Beethoven wrote his own early compositions in the shadow of Mozart, and Joseph Haydn wrote that "posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years." Now that Mozart has had another birthday on January 27th, some might say that Haydn should have said 256 years.
The concert begins with Idomeneo Overture, K. 366 from the opera based on Homer's tale of King Idomeneo of Crete, shipwrecked on his journey home from the Trojan Wars. The concise overture is richly orchestrated, of extraordinary melodic beauty, and introduces the grand tragic struggle of the whole opera. The opera was described by Albert Einstein as "one of those works that even a genius like Mozart could write only once in his life." It is one of most astonishing achievements of an altogether astonishing career. Though Mozart wrote masterpieces in every genre, his greatest love was opera.
Lyric soprano Yunah Lee has thrilled audiences and garnered rave reviews in the U.S., Europe and Asia in leading operatic roles and as a concert singer. And she is going to thrill this audience in the
two Mozart selections to follow. Recent performances in the title role of Cio Cio San in Madama
Butterfly were met with high praise. It has been said that that opera belongs to Lee. Other roles have included Mimi in La Bohème and Micaëla in Carmen at the New York City Opera. Her concert repertoire is vast, and a few of her many appearances have been with the Pablo Picasso Orchestra in Malaga, the Beijing National Symphony, and the New York Oratorio Society at Carnegie Hall.
Sacred music occupied a good deal of the young Mozart's attention. His motets are mostly bright, extroverted works, expressing a resplendent effervescence rather than an intense personal faith. Undoubtedly the most well-known sacred piece from his early years is the solo motet Exsultate Jubilate, K. 165, written when he was just 17. This exuberant work was not for a female singer, but for the famous Roman castrato, Venanzio Rauzzini. In modern times, the motet is usually sung by a soprano. The finale, the brilliant "Alleluja," is a favorite of sopranos, concertgoers, and worshipers the world over.
"Et Incarnatu est," K. 417 from Mozart's Great Mass in C minor, K. 427 may be one of the most lovely soprano arias ever, pure and purely Mozart. The mass, a large-scale work, remained unfinished. It is to posterity's lasting disappointment that Mozart did not complete his two greatest liturgical works, the Requiem and the C minor Mass. The former, of course, was left incomplete because of the composer's death, but the C minor Mass seems to have been the victim of the upheaval in Mozart's life caused by his resignation from the service of the Archbishop of Salzburg and his marriage (against his father's wishes) to soprano Constanze Weber.
Another prolific composer who succumbed to an early death was Franz Schubert (1797-1828). Admired as one of the leading exponents of the early Romantic era, he is one of the most frequently performed composers. Sadly, he never heard his masterpiece, Symphony No. 9 in C Major, D. 94, "The Great," performed. When his epic romance novel of a symphony finally made it into the concert hall in 1839, championed by Robert Schumann and conducted by Felix Mendelssohn, the
musicians declared it unsuitable to perform. Today, its length and the musical hurdles it poses for musicians are no longer novel, but it still remains immensely challenging.
The Shacklett Preview at 2:00 p.m. is a pre-concert introduction to the music by Gordon Shacklett. Ticket prices are $25 for reserved seating, $20 for general admission, $15 for seniors, $10 for students, and children under seven are admitted free of charge. Tickets may be purchased at the door or reserved. (845) 913-7157 or www.newburghsymphony.org.
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