North American Tour 2006 Celebrates Mozart’s 250^th Birthday!

Vienna Mozart Orchestra

All-Mozart Program of Beloved Operatic Arias and Symphonic Favourites

Wednesday, March 29, 2006, 8:00 p.m.
at Roy Thomson Hall

Tickets:
$45.00 to $85.00

Call 416-872-4255 or visit the Roy Thomson Hall Box Office

Toronto - Austria’s renowned Vienna Mozart Orchestra brings 18th century elegance to Roy Thomson Hall on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 at 8:00 p.m. with a Viennese-style Mozart concert in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth. The event is the final stop on the orchestra’s two-week, 11-city North American tour which includes appearances in Montreal, Ottawa, New York, Boston and Philadelphia.

The Vienna Mozart Orchestra was founded in 1986 by musicians from various Viennese orchestras and ensembles with the purpose of preserving the musical tradition and cultural heritage of the Viennese classical period. As its name implies, the 30-member orchestra devotes itself exclusively to performing the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), the most significant composer of that period. The musicians wear magnificent historical costumes and evoke the enchantment of 18^th century "musical academies," as concerts were then called. The baroque-style programs feature single movements of symphonies and excerpts of concertos alternating with operatic selections from the composer’s most famous works.

Today, the concerts by the Vienna Mozart Orchestra represent an important part of the cultural and artistic life of the Austrian capital. The orchestra performs regularly in Vienna’s most famous concert halls, including the Golden Hall of the Musikverein, in the Wiener Konzerthaus and in the Great Hall of the Hofburg (Imperial Palace). During the winter months, the orchestra tours worldwide to Japan, Germany, Italy, Korea, Taiwan and many other countries.

Maestro Hernández Silva, the leading conductor for the Mozart Vienna Orchestra since 1988, is joined by three leading European soloists: soprano Claudia Emà Camie, baritone Sokolin Asllani and violinist Esther Haffner. The program of Mozart favourites features a selection of overtures, operatic arias and duets from Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute, excerpts from Eine klein Nachtmusik, Symphony No. 40 "Jupiter," Violin Concerto No. 5, and much more.