August 10, 2020
Mostly Mozart Festival is Back and Better than Ever
Lincoln Center’s iconic Mostly Mozart Festival has been re-imagined for our times. This year’s summer festival, which runs August 10 – August 16 is presented virtually in partnership with WQXR.
The multi-media festival explores the meaning of Mozart’s work and how it continues to speak to and influence generations of diverse listeners and performers. Below are just a few highlights of this year’s offerings.
Mostly Mozart Across the Boroughs – August 10
The festival kicks off with five live pop-up performances – each in an outdoor venue from every borough of New York. Anyone can join online to hear them live. (details here)
- Curtis J Stewart:
Manhattan, 10:00 am - Anthony McGill:
The Bronx, 12:00 pm - Sugar Vendil:
Queens, 3:00 pm - Mazz Swift:
Brooklyn, 5:30 pm - Ernesto and Alberto Villalobos:
Staten Island, 8:00 pm
Opening Night Mash-up: Mozart and Arvo Pärt – August 10, 8 pm – 10 pm
The festival opens with a broadcast that mashes up Mozart’s Requiem and Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten, Te Deum, and Mozart-Adagio. The program, hosted by Terrence McKnight, centers on communal rites of passage.
Joseph Boulogne: The Chevalier of Music and Revolution – August 12, 8:00 pm
The story and work of African-French composer and violinist Joseph Boulogne (“Chevalier de Saint-Georges”) is too often untold. This retrospective highlights Boulogne’s artistic excellence and virtuosity, which rivals his contemporaries, among them, Haydn and Mozart.
Black Experience in the Concert Hall: The Mozart Effect – August 13, 7 pm
This year, Terrence McKnight hosts a conversation on the Black experience in the concert hall. The programs explore the unique challenges people of color face in the classical music world. The conversation includes Bobby McFerrin (vocalist and conductor), Sanford Allen (violinist), Julia Bullock (vocalist), Lawrence Brownlee (tenor), and Alvin McCall (cellist).
Closing Night Broadcast: Beethoven Akademie 1808 – August 16, 5:00 pm
The closing night broadcast presents a recreation of Beethoven’s legendary 1808 Akademie concert. The program includes
- Beethoven’s Fifth and Sixth Symphonies
- Choral Fantasy
- Fourth Piano Concerto
- Three movements from Beethoven’s Mass in C
- Ah! Perfido concert aria
- An improvised Fantasia
The performance features pianist Inon Barnatan, soprano Dorothea Röschmann, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, led by Conductor, Louis Langrée.
Lincoln Center and WQXR invite audiences to join them for specially curated musical broadcasts, live events, digital content, and a range of programming that illuminates how racism and inequality have shaped classical music, past and present.
There are many more events planned, including performances from Broadway to Opera. For full programming details, click here. Listen to the Mostly Mozart Festival on WQXR or at 105.9 fm.
Enjoy this New York summertime tradition as the Mostly Mozart Festival reflects on the meaning of Mozart’s work and reminds audiences of the power of music to bring communities together.