LINCOLN CENTER'S MOSTLY MOZART FESTIVAL
We produce "A Little Night Music," a popular late night slate of world-class artists and adventurous programming in a jewelbox space perched above the city. A series of "uncommon intimacy and frequently offbeat repertoire" (The New Yorker).
2019 FESTIVAL
Kian Soltani, cello (MMF debut); Julio Elizalde, piano (MMF debut)
The principal cellist in Daniel Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Kian Soltani is an in-demand concert soloist. He is joined by American pianist Julio Elizalde, performing traditional repertoire as well as selections celebrating Soltani’s Persian heritage.
Michael Brown, piano (MMF debut)
A 2015 recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant and a winner in 2018 of Lincoln Center’s Emerging Artist Award, Michael Brown’s program includes Beethoven and Mendelssohn. Brown, also an accomplished composer, completes the program with a set of his own variations on folk tunes.
Nora Fischer, vocals (MMF debut)
Marnix Dorrestein, electric guitar and vocals (MMF debut)
Vocalist Nora Fischer is equally at home in the Baroque scene and the world of pop. On her debut album, HUSH, she and electric guitarist Marnix Dorrestein put together an unorthodox yet utterly gorgeous set of arrangements of 17th-century songs and arias. This evening features works from the release by Monteverdi, Scarlatti, and Purcell, along with songs by Ravel and Mozart.
Pekka Kuusisto, violin; Knut Erik Sundquist, bass
Maverick violinist Pekka Kuusisto and his kindred spirit, double bassist Knut Erik Sundquist bring their improvisatory flair across the plaza for an after-hours recital, bringing together the beauty of Bach with Scandinavian folk music.
Susanna Phillips, soprano; Myra Huang, piano (MMF debut)
A late-night recital of soprano Susanna Phillips, a frequent presence at the Metropolitan Opera, accompanied by Myra Huang, celebrating the works of female composers: Fanny Hensel (a.k.a. Felix Mendelssohn’s older sister), Alma Mahler (Gustav’s wife), and Clara Schumann (Robert’s wife), legitimate artists of their own accord who lived largely in the shadows of the famous men in their lives.
Martin Helmchen, piano
Martin Helmchen switches gears following his performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 earlier in the evening to an intimate recital of solo works penned by composers whose profound faith influenced their secular works (Bach, Liszt, Franck).
Lucas and Arthur Jussen, piano (New York debut)
National figures in the Netherlands since their childhood, the brothers Lucas and Arthur Jussen make their New York debut in this after-hours recital that nods to Mozart’s own childhood and captures the Slavic mood set earlier in the evening by the Festival Orchestra.
Brooklyn Rider (MMF debut)
Brooklyn Rider has a long association with and affinity for Philip Glass, having recorded his core works for string quartet (and, most recently, his eighth), and in this eclectic program they place it alongside Reena Esmail’s Zeher (Poison), a work that combines both Hindustani and Western classical music traditions.
Steven Osborne, piano
British pianist Steven Osborne, known for his insightful and idiomatic interpretations of diverse repertoire, is known for bringing fresh perspective to the repertoire through fastidious attention to details in the score. In this, the final late-night concert of the summer, Osborne performs Schubert’s final piano sonata.
Nora Fischer @ MMF 2019 by Kevin Yatarola
Emanuel Ax, piano
Friedrich Heinrich Kern, glass harmonica
Philipp Marguerre, glass harmonica
A special, intimate performance expanding on the exchange of ideas between France and the United States. Glass harmonica specialists Friedrich Heinrich Kern and Philipp Marguerre, join Ax for this illuminating evening.
Virtuoso Vivaldi; Helicon Ensemble
Lauded for its novel and imaginative chamber music performances presented within a historical context, the Helicon Ensemble turns its innovative eye to the work of Vivaldi and his contemporaries.
Daniel Lozakovich, violin (New York debut); George Li, piano
A pair of thrilling young musicians, 16-year-old violinist Daniel Lozakovich and 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant winner George Li, make their New York and Mostly Mozart Festival debuts, respectively, in an electrifying program.
Pražák Quartet
Founded in 1972 at the Prague Conservatory, the Pražák Quartet has been at home on music stages worldwide for more than thirty years. For this special performance, the ensemble juxtaposes works by Mozart with the U.S. premiere of the String Quartet in A major by Czech composer František Xaver Dušek,
Paul Lewis, piano
Internationally regarded as a leading musician of his generation, Paul Lewis is one of the world’s foremost interpreters of the central European Classical-period repertoire. Having already completed cycles of core piano works by Beethoven and Schubert, Lewis turns his attention to another titan of the era: Haydn.
New York Festival of Song
Lyrics by Shakespeare
In their first appearance at the Mostly Mozart Festival, the New York Festival of Song and its Artistic Director Steven Blier explore the breadth of influence and inspiration of Shakespeare’s words on composers from diverse cultures and eras. Naomi Louisa O’Connell and Matt Boehler, two exciting young singers, join Obie Award– winning actor Kathleen Chalfant in celebrating the musical legacy of the Bard.
Stephen Hough, piano
Imani Winds (Mostly Mozart Festival debut)
An exceptionally insightful concert pianist, as well as a writer and composer, Stephen Hough is joined by acclaimed woodwind quintet Imani Winds. Opening with Debussy’s beloved Clair de lune, marking the 100th anniversary of the composer’s death, the program then juxtaposes Mozart’s beloved chamber composition for piano and woodwinds with one written by Poulenc nearly 150 years later.
2018 FESTIVAL
Glass Harmonicas - photo courtesy Lincoln Center
2017 FESTIVAL
Joshua Bell by Richard Termine
So Percussion
This cutting edge ensemble performs an inventive program of instruments (including water glasses!), with contemporary works by John Cage, Viet Cuong, and Caroline Shaw
Ksenija Sidorova, Accordion
Latvian artist Sidorova has brought her instrument, solo accordion, to the highest reaches of musical achievement and the most hallowed halls of performance, unearthing brilliant repertoire, and recontextualizing classical material, here performing works by Piazzola, contemporary composers, and of course, Mozart.
Joshua Bell, Violin; Steven Isserlis, Cello; Ana Maria Vera, Piano
Classical music superstars in a rare, up-close-and-personal, intimate performance of Schumann and Mendelssohn trios.
Danish String Quartet
The exceptional, Grammy-nominated quartet performs a wildly unorthodox program of rollicking folk music from the Nordic countries.
Haydn Dialogues with Pedja Muzijevic, piano
Cerebral pianist Muzijevic pairs Haydn with modern works in an evening of musical surprises and unexpected connections. Mr. Muzijevic alternated vibrant accounts of four Haydn sonatas with contemporary works by Jonathan Berger, George Crumb and Morton Feldman.
Vikingur Olafsson, piano (NY debut)
Icelandic pianist Olafsson brings his stunning pairings of Bach and Phillip Glass works into quiet, intimate dialogue in this evening of late night contemplation. The new York TImes raved that this performance was "Spacious, unpredictable, riveting."
Trio Solosti: Schubert Piano Trio
The group called America's most exciting piano trio by the New Yorker presents a concert of an elegant, single work: Schubert's intimate yet virtuosic trio in B-flat
Kirill Gerstein, piano
In the last of the festival’s intimate late-night concerts, Kirill Gerstein plays chorale preludes by Brahms as arranged by Busoni, Brahms’s Piano Sonata No. 2 in F-Sharp Minor, and Clara Schumann’s own tribute to her husband, “Variations on a Theme of Schumann,” Op. 20.
2016 FESTIVAL
Tyshawn Sorey, Julia Bullock and ICE at Kaplan Penthouse by Richard Termine
Emerson String Quartet and Emanuel Ax, piano
The beloved Emersons and Emanuel Ax share an intimate late-night program of Schubert, Mozart, and Beethoven.
Paul Lewis, piano
Known for poetic displays of “pianistic depth” (Guardian, U.K.), Paul Lewis’s late-night recitals have become Mostly Mozart legends.
Mahan Esfahani, harpsichord
In his festival debut, the charismatic harpsichord champion brings his revelatory vision to music by and inspired by Bach.
Martin Fröst, clarinet
Roland Pöntinen, piano
With “a virtuosity and a musicianship unsurpassed by any clarinetist” (New York Times), Martin Fröst delights in dances at this after-hours performance.
Inon Barnatan, piano
A time-traveling musical tale from a “player of uncommon sensitivity” (New Yorker).
International Contemporary Ensemble
Improvisations
Master improvisers Cory Smythe and Craig Taborn anchor a genre-surfing program bridging the worlds of classic and modern jazz.
International Contemporary Ensemble
Perle Noire: Meditations for Joséphine
The iconic singer’s artistic and activist legacy lives on in this 21st-century creation by celebrated composer Tyshawn Sorey, starring soprano Julia Bullock.