Mostly Mozart Festival

The Mostly Mozart Festival is an American classical music festival based in New York City. The festival presents concerts with its resident ensemble, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, principally at David Geffen Hall of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Other festival concerts occur at such venues as:

Mostly Mozart Festival
StatusActive
GenreClassical music festival
Beginsmid-July
Endsmid-August
FrequencyAnnually
VenueLincoln Center for the Performing Arts and others
Location(s)New York City
CountryUnited States
Years active54
FoundersJay K. Hoffman and William Lockwood
Organised byLincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Websitewww.lincolncenter.org/mostly-mozart-festival/

The current artistic director of the festival is Jane Moss. Louis Langrée is the festival's current music director.

History

Jay K. Hoffman, William W. Lockwood Jr., Schuyler G. Chapin and George F. Schutz jointly founded the initial version of the festival in 1966. The festival's first season occurred under the title 'Midsummer Serenades – A Mozart Festival', on August 1, 1966.[1] As advised by the then-president of Lincoln Center, William Schuman, the festival assisted in providing summer employment for freelance classical musicians in New York City.[2]

The Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, the resident orchestra of the festival, is a freelance orchestra with a roster of tenured players who return each season. It features musicians from diverse American orchestras, including the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New York City Ballet Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, among others.

Gerard Schwarz became the festival's music director in 1984. During his tenure, visiting ensembles joined the festival roster, and the repertoire widened beyond Mozart to other composers of the classical era, as well as neoclassical works from later eras. A chamber music series was initiated during that period.[3] Schwarz concluded his music directorship of the festival in August 2001.[4] In July 2002, last-minute industrial action just before the start of that summer's festival by the festival orchestra musicians led to the cancellation of 20 concerts, over a dispute regarding the authority of the festival's music director over personnel.[5][6]

In December 2002, Louis Langrée was named the festival's next music director,[7] and formally took up the post in the summer of 2003. In March 2005, his initial contract with Mostly Mozart was extended to 2008.[8] His contract was further extended in April 2014 through 2017.[9] In April 2017, the festival further extended Langrée's contract through 2020.[10]

Music directors
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References
  1. Allan Kozinn (1991-07-16). "A Founder of Mostly Mozart to Resign at Lincoln Center". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-04-25.
  2. Jay K. Hoffman (1991-08-11). "Mostly Mozart: How the Baby Was Born (Letter to the Editor)". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-04-25.
  3. Anthony Tommasini (2003-07-26). "Mostly Mozart, Mostly Improved". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-04-25.
  4. Martin Steinberg (2001-08-17). "A Time for Mostly Moving On". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  5. Jesse McKinley (2002-07-30). "Most of Mostly Mozart Festival Is Canceled by Orchestra Strike". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-04-25.
  6. Anthony Tommasini (2002-08-01). "Critic's Notebook: Mozart Players Inching Farther Out on a Limb". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-04-25.
  7. Robin Pogrebin (2002-12-11). "Mostly Mozart Appoints Music Director". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-04-25.
  8. Ben Mattison (2005-03-17). "Mostly Mozart Announces 2005 Season Plans, Extends Contract of Music Director Louis Langrée". Playbill Arts. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
  9. Kozinn, Allan (July 29, 2014). "Langrée Signs On for More Mostly Mozart".
  10. Michael Cooper (2017-04-19). "This Summer Brings Mostly Mozart, With a Side of Schubert". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-04-25.
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