Mozart your way to 2009 

Curtis Pendleton, Festival Mozaic’s executive director, has a few words for all you Mozart lovers out there:

“Since our closing concert in July, Festival Mozaic music director Scott Yoo has had several busy months of conducting and playing around the world, making the six weeks he spends in SLO each year the longest period of time he spends in any one place, including at home in his New York City apartment.
 
“Performances at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival immediately followed Festival Mozaic’s summer concerts, and then Scott participated in the first of two residencies with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, where he is a frequent guest. This fall featured concerts with superstar soprano Dawn Upshaw. Scott then crisscrossed back West to lead the San Antonio and Colorado symphony orchestras.
 
“In November, our Maestro completed recording sessions of two Mozart piano concertos with the young Russian pianist, Vassily Primakov, and the Odense Symfoniorkester in Denmark. In December, he headed south to the Mexico City Symphony to conduct works by Beethoven and Mozart and to join the orchestra as soloist in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. Most of January will be spent in South America, leading the City of London Sinfonietta in six different programs at the Cartagena Festival in Columbia.”
 
In other news…

“Art demands that we should not stand still!” thundered Beethoven, and Festival Mozaic’s board of directors has taken that directive to heart by launching an aggressive fundraising campaign to raise $300,000 for the 2009 season. Counting on music lovers to support the local institutions they have always cherished and nurtured, the festival has designed new benefits for supporters to bring them closer to the music and the musicians. With a minimal corporate base in SLO County, the festival relies on individual giving for over one-third of its operating budget. Even though markets are rocky and the economy uncertain, the festival leadership has already raised  over 15% of the goal.
 
Pendleton further comments, “If composers stopped composing and musicians stopped playing in times of war, turmoil, and economic upset, we would be without masterpieces from Bach to Bob Dylan.” Directors are counting on music lovers to “hear the call” and support the ongoing human need for great performing art.

WinterMezzo concerts take place Jan. 30-31 and a summer festival happens in July. Info: 781-3009 or festivalmozaic.com.

—Christy Heron