Program Notes: Beyond the Score®: Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 27

PROGRAM Beyond the Score®: Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 27 Elusive Simplicity?

Beyond the Score® is a production of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Gerard McBurney, Creative Director for Beyond the Score®

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-flat Major, K. 595 Allegro WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

Larghetto Allegro

Sunday, April 15 | 2PM

Jeffrey Kahane, piano

BEYOND THE SCORE®: MOZART’S PIANO CONCERTO NO. 27 ELUSIVE SIMPLICITY? A Jacobs Masterworks Concert conductor and piano Jeffrey Kahane narrator Nuvi Mehta soprano Tasha Koontz mime Jerry Hager See page 19 for Jeffrey Kahane biography

Performance at the Jacobs Music Center's Copley Symphony Hall

This concert is made possible, in part, through the generosity of an Anonymous Donor.

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The approximate running time for this program, including intermission, is one hour and fifty minutes.

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PROGRAM NOTES | BEYOND THE SCORE®: MOZART'S PIANO CONCERTO NO. 27 – APRIL 15

ABOUT THE ARTISTS For newcomers to classical music and longtime aficionados alike, each BEYOND THE SCORE® presentation is a dramatic exploration of a composer’s music. Through live actors, stunning visual projections and virtuosic fragments of live music performed by members of the CSO, the compelling story of the composer’s life and art unfolds, illuminating the world that shaped the music’s creation. Under creative director Gerard McBurney’s leadership, each of the 30 Beyond the Score® presentations weave together theater, music and design to draw audiences into the concert hall and into a work’s spirit.

Initially conceived in 2005 by Martha Gilmer (now CEO of the San Diego Symphony), Beyond the Score® has become one of the most successful and original audience development tools in the field of classical music. The program seeks to open the door to the symphonic repertoire for first-time concertgoers as well as to encourage an active, more fulfilling way of listening for seasoned audiences. At its core is the live format of musical extracts, spoken clarification, theatrical narrative and hand-paced projections on large central surfaces, performed in close synchrony. After each program, audiences return from intermission to experience the resulting work performed in a regular concert setting, equipped with a new understanding of its style and genesis.

Beyond the Score® was quickly recognized by orchestras in the United States and abroad; and its expanded licensing program has since brought performances to live audiences throughout the United States and the world. In addition, selected performances are also available for online viewing at www.beyondthescore.org. n

NAVROJ (NUVI) MEHTA serves the San Diego Symphony as pre-concert lecturer, multi-media presenter and community outreach speaker. Nuvi Mehta joined the Ventura Music Festival in 2004 as Artistic Director, and was formerly conductor for the International Russian Music Piano Competition, as well as Music Director of the Marquette Symphony Orchestra and the Nova Vista Symphony. Mr. Mehta has also been Assistant Conductor and Director of Outreach Programs with the San Diego Chamber Orchestra, and he served as apprentice conductor with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. Nuvi Mehta previously hosted San Diego Symphony appearances on XLNC 104.9FM and KPBS 89.5FM, and he served as host of the Symphony's "Classical Edge" concert series.

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As a violinist, Nuvi Mehta served as concertmaster with the New World Symphony in Miami and performed for several seasons with the San Diego Symphony. A graduate with honors of Indiana University (BA in Music) and Juilliard (MA in Music), he studied conducting with Charles Bruck and attended conducting seminars with Leonard Bernstein. Nuvi Mehta comes from a long musical tradition. His father, Dady Mehta, studied piano at the Vienna Academy. Simultaneously, Nuvi Mehta's mother had begun her voice training and his father's cousin, Zubin Mehta, was studying conducting. Nuvi Mehta's brother, Bejun Mehta, is a countertenor who has sung with the Metropolitan Opera. n

Recognized for her sumptuous and expressive voice, soprano TASHA KOONTZ is an artist garnering attention from coast to coast. Ms. Koontz was recently honored to be named a Finalist in the Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition in New York City and is the Third Prize All-Around Winner in the Musical Merit Foundation of Greater San Diego Competition, recognizing the best talent in the categories of winds, strings, piano, pipe organ and voice.

Ms. Koontz lends her unique combination of nuanced and vocally exciting performances to a gallery of leading ladies in her repertoire, including Violetta in La traviata and Mimi in La bohème with Opera on the Avalon, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Bay View Music Festival, Alice Ford in Falstaff with Indiana University Opera Theater and with /kor/ Productions and the Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro with Northwestern University. This spring she made her San Diego Opera debut as Annina in La traviata conducted

by David Agler and directed by Marta Domingo. Reviewing the performance, Opera Today declared, “Tasha Koontz sang beautifully as Annina.” She will return to San Diego Opera in October for the season opener of Pirates of Penzance as Edith as well as elsewhere in the 2018-19 Season.

As this year’s First Place Winner in the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus Young Artist Competition, Ms. Koontz appears as soloist in their 2017-18 performances of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and Carl Orff’s Carmina burana. She has appeared with the Chicago Arts Orchestra, Newfoundland Orchestra, Coeur d’Alene Symphony Orchestra, Spokane Symphony Orchestra and the Northwestern University Orchestra.

Tasha Koontz is a recent Master of Music graduate of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University and received her Bachelor of Music from Northwestern University. n

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