A national conference to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth, on Friday, March 24, through Sunday, March 26 will be held at Scripps College. The conference will include lectures, an exhibition, and concerts to celebrate the brilliant and prolific career of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. All musical performances are free and open to the public. For registration information for other conference events, please contact the Scripps College Department of Music at (909) 621-8280.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (January 27, 1756 – December 5, 1791) is among history’s greatest European classical music composers. A child prodigy, Mozart began playing keyboard instruments at age three and composing minuets at age five. He was educated by his father, Leopold Mozart, who was concertmaster in the court orchestra of the archbishop of Salzburg, Austria, and a celebrated violinist, composer, and author. By the age of six, Mozart had become an accomplished performer on the clavier, violin, and organ and was highly skilled in sight reading and improvisation. Five piano pieces composed by Mozart when he was six years old are still frequently played. In 1762, Leopold took Mozart on the first of many successful concert tours through the courts of Europe. During this tour he played for King Louis XV of France in Versailles and King George III of Great Britain and Ireland in London.
A prolific musician, Mozart wrote in almost every major genre, including symphony, opera, the solo concerto, the keyboard sonata, and choral repertoire. His more than 600 works epitomize the classical style of the 18th and 19th centuries and make him one of the defining figures of the music of Western Europe.
The conference will include a keynote address, “Mozart’s Borrowings,” by world-renowned Mozart scholar Dr. Neal Zaslaw, Herbert Gussman Professor of Music at Cornell University. Other conference events include: an exhibit on Mozart’s life on loan from the Austrian Consulate in Los Angeles, a presentation of papers by leading scholars from universities across the United States, a tour of the Kenneth G. Fiske Collection of Musical Instruments of The Claremont Colleges, performances on period instruments by Con Gioia Early Music Ensemble and the Novello Quartet, and a performance of one of Mozart’s religious works at the Claremont United Church of Christ.
On Friday, March 24, at 7:30 p.m., in the Garrison Theater of the Scripps College Performing Arts Center, Con Gioia Early Music Ensemble will be joined by members of the Novello Quartet for an evening performance of several works by Mozart. Con Gioia musical director and fortepianist, Preethi de Silva, Novello Quartet’s violinists Tekla Cunningham and Cynthia Freivogel, violist Alison Edberg, and violoncellist Elizabeth Reed will perform Mozart’s Duo for Violin and Viola in B-flat Major, K. 424; Piano Concerto in A Major, K. 414; String Quartet in C Major, Dissonance, K. 465; Piano Quartet in G minor, K. 478; and the renowned contemporary Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s Mozart Adagio.
Saturday, March 25, at 4 p.m. Novello Quartet will perform Mozart’s String Quartet in B-flat Major, K. 589 in the Garrison Theater. Sunday, March 26, at 10 a.m. the church service at the Claremont United Church of Christ will include a performance of the Coronation Mass, K. 317 by the Chancel Choir and Orchestra of Claremont.
Based in Claremont, Con Gioia has performed in the Los Angeles area since 1982. Founder and director Preethi de Silva is professor of music at Scripps College and an internationally acclaimed concert and recording artist. Her performances of works by Mozart, J.S., and C.P.E. Bach on period instruments have earned critical acclaim in the United States and abroad. Recently she was featured as a guest artist at Hamburg’s Museum fuer Kunst und Gewerbe—a showcase for one of the world’s best collections of rare antique keyboard instruments.
The Novello Quartet was founded in the winter of 2002 and has continued to support the artistic partnership among four of America’s leading early music artists. The members of the Novello Quartet, Tekla Cunningham, Cynthia Miller Freivogal, Alison Edberg, and Elisabeth Reed are members of some of America’s most prominent early music groups, including Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, Apollo’s Fire Orchestra in Cleveland, Musica Angelica in Los Angeles, Santa Fe Pro Musica, Portland Baroque Orchestra, and the San Francisco Bach Choir.
The conference is funded by a Mellon Faculty Career Enrichment grant awarded to Preethi de Silva. Additional support is provided by the Scripps College Department of Music, Harper Lecture Fund, Scripps College Elizabeth Hubert Malott Commons, and Austrian Consulate General in Los Angeles.