A music extravaganza dedicated to the 250th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s birth and his contributions toward many film scores will be celebrated by the Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra in concert at Laredo Community College Sunday, Feb. 26.
“Mozart Goes to the Movies” is the theme for the third concert of the LPO’s 26th season, led by music director/conductor Brendan Townsend. Yu Mei Huang is the concertmaster.
The concert starts at 4 p.m. in the Guadalupe and Lilia Martinez Fine Arts Center theater.
The LPO will begin with its performance of one of Mozart's most successful works, “Le Nozze di Figaro” (The Marriage of Figaro), commonly regarded now as a cornerstone of the standard operatic repertoire.
Townsend explained that the comic opera, the first collaboration between Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte, is based on the play by the same name by Beaumarchais. Following a successful opening in Vienna in 1786, the work became even more popular in Prague.
“The hilarious plot is full of mistaken identities, farce, girls dressing as men and ending up in compromising circumstances,” Townsend explained. “Perhaps because of the frivolous nature of the music, the overture has been used in comic movies such as ‘Trading Places.’”
The program will continue with “Piano Concerto in C Major No. 21, KV 467.” Dr. Susan Liu, a piano instructor at LCC and internationally acclaimed pianist, will be featured as soloist.
Townsend said the concerto, first performed on March 11, 1785, offers many more similarities in its style of composition to opera—particularly opera buffa or comic opera—than to the traditional forms used in concerto composition.
“There are three movements that go from fast to slow and back to fast. The theme from the second movement was used liberally in the 1969 movie, ‘Elvira Madison,’” he said.
After a brief intermission, the LPO returns to the stage to perform “Symphony No. 25 in G minor, KV 183.”
Townsend said that this composition is derived from a much earlier period of Mozart’s life before he wrote the comic operas.
“The short symphony is intense and dramatic at times, while owing a lot to the study of other composers, such as Hadyn and Bach, which the young Wolfgang was engaged in at this point in his compositional development,” Townsend noted.
The drama of the piece became an obvious choice for the makers of the movie “Amadeus” to depict the attempted suicide by Salieri at the beginning of the film.
The program moves along with the performance of “Ave Verum Corpus KV 618.” The Laredo Philharmonic Chorale will join the LPO in this performance.
Townsend said that the piece is a short and yet profound hymn where the text is underlined by luxurious harmonies.
“This piece served as a wonderful climax for the movie ‘Lorenzo’s Oil,’” Townsend added.
The Laredo Philharmonic Chorale will remain on the stage to perform with the LPO excerpts from “Requiem in D minor KV 626.”
“The orchestra and chorale will perform the ‘Confutatis’ and ‘Lacrimosa’ sections of the requiem used strikingly in the movie ‘Amadeus’ during the famous scene where Mozart is lying on his deathbed dictating the music and orchestration to his young apprentice Sussamayer,” Townsend explained.
The program concludes with the performance of the “Don Giovanni” overture, one of Mozart’s crowning successes.
“This opera was another collaboration between Mozart and Da Ponte,” Townsend said. “The style of the overture shares much of the characteristics of the ‘Marriage of Figaro’ overture.”
He added that the overture was featured in the movie “Torrents of Spring” with Timothy Hutton and Nastassja Kinski.
Tickets for the LPO concert are $20 for adults and $12 for senior adults, and can be purchased at the door. Admission is free for those with a validated student ID card.
For more information, contact Townsend at 721-5258 or 326-3039.
Dr. Susan Liu will be featured as a soloist in the “Piano Concerto in C Major No. 21, KV 467” during a concert of the Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra in honor of master composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The concert is on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 4 p.m. at Laredo Community College in the Martinez Fine Arts Center theater.
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