J Kat Photo

The Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra is mowing down masterpieces left and right as the festival tumbles toward its conclusion on Saturday, June 29. Mozart, Beethoven, Maurice Faure, Camille Saint Saens, Richard Strauss, Benjamin Britten, and Pytor Tchaikovsky can all rest easy because their music is the most capable of hands.

For the concert on Saturday, June 22, Mainly Mozart Music Director Michael Francis programmed a timely concert. Mozart’s Paris Symphony had its public premiere on June 18, 1778. It was a huge success for the 22-year-old. On July 3, 1778, Mozart’s mother died.

Maestro Francis took these two events and programmed a beautiful and exciting program around them. Mozart’s symphony was on the program with Danse Macabre by Saint Saens, and Faure’s Requiem.

There was a surprise piece by a composer named Max Richter. The piece, entitled On the Nature of Daylight was stunningly beautiful.

The Faure Requiem was well-executed by The San Diego Master Chorale. The peak of the performance was soprano Erica Petrocelli singing the famous “Pie Jesu”. There is a temptation for sopranos to overly sweeten the tone on this piece but it is more effective when a singer maintains a full tone. That is exactly what Petrocelli did and the effect was messmerizing.

On Sunday, June 23, the winds of the festival orchestra performed Richard Strauss’s Serenade for 13 Winds and Mozart’s Gran Partita Serenade indoors at The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center.  Both pieces were spectacular but the Mozart is simply one of the greatest creations in the history of humanity.

The almighty accuracy of the ensemble crystallized just how potent Mozart’s Gran Partita is. They performed without a conductor, as is appropriate. This was one of the top three concerts I’ve seen this year.

The concert on Tuesday, June 25, also at The Conrad, was not just the best concert I’ve seen this year, it was the best concert I’ve seen in years. The program was Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge by Benjamin Britten, and Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings.

The festival orchestra string section was legendary before this concert. It has now leveled up to the demi-god tier. In this performance, the violin sections were on fire but what stood out was the sound quality of the viola, cello, and bass sections. The Conrad acoustics mixed the tone of these sections into a thick and rich foundation upon which the violins based their brilliance.

I was struggling to comprehend the effect of the performance. It was played with something more than confidence. Each phrase was played with something more than certainty. The correct word was inevitable. Each and every note was inevitable because of the combined skill and intelligence of the players.