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For Immediate Release
MEDIA RELEASE
April 2, 2015
The VSO’s 2015 Spring Festival Begins Next Week: Mozart Plus!
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VANCOUVER BC – The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra opens the month of April with its second annual
VSO Spring Festival featuring five exciting concerts focused on the life and compositions of the one and
only Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. CONCERT DATES AND LISTINGS BELOW.
The 2015 Spring Festival opens with the acclaimed movie Amadeus.
Winner of 8 Academy Awards® (including Best Picture), Milos
Forman’s film Amadeus chronicles the imagined story of Mozart
and Salieri. Note: Amadeus will be played in its original form and
does not include orchestral accompaniment.
The second concert also focuses on the infamous rivalry between
Mozart and his contemporary, Salieri, in a very different way than
the movie Amadeus. Rimsky-Korsakov’s one-act, two-scene opera Mozart & Salieri follows the (almost
certainly untrue) legend that Salieri poisoned Mozart (also the subject of the film Amadeus), with
glorious music that quotes Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Requiem throughout the score. This is followed
by the first of Mozart’s illustrious three final symphonies, written in an extraordinary three-month burst
of creativity in 1788.
The third concert takes its inspiration from one of Mozart’s most famous works: his opera Don Giovanni.
The legendary lover Don Juan (Don Giovanni) has been the subject of many musical portrayals, but none
so powerful as Mozart’s opera, and the epic tone poem Don Juan by the late Romantic-era composer
Richard Strauss; a composer who worshipped Mozart as a compositional god, and whose music was
greatly influenced by him as well. Mozart’s great G minor Symphony brings this concert to an emotional
close.
The fourth concert of this year’s Spring Festival centers around Mozart’s magical Symphony No. 41—his
“Jupiter” Symphony. This was his last and greatest symphony which is a thrilling, uplifting statement of
sheer joy and musical perfection. To juxtapose Mozart’s ultimate symphony, this concert will also
feature Mozart’s First Symphony which he penned at the tender age of 8 years old.
Closing out our 2015 Spring Festival is a performance of arguably the
most recognizable and adored work in Mozart’s entire catalogue, the
last work he ever wrote, and certainly one of the greatest choral
works ever written: his magnificent and timeless Requiem. Left
uncompleted at the time of his death, this Requiem with its
mysterious commissioner ultimately became a requiem for Mozart
himself, and brings the Spring Festival journey to a fitting and
emotional conclusion. The VSO welcomes four star soloists and the
UBC Opera Ensemble to the Orpheum Theatre stage to bring this
incredible work to life. Maestro Bramwell Tovey conducts and hosts
the entirety of the Spring Festival.
As a fun and exciting way to introduce children to the music of Mozart, Maestro Bramwell Tovey will
lead the next presentation of our Kids’ Koncerts entitled Inspector Tovey Meets Mozart. The intrepid
and always-popular Inspector Tovey explores The Mozart Effect through a time-traveling meeting with
the greatest composer who ever lived, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart! SUNDAY, APRIL 19, 2PM, Orpheum
Theatre.
FESTIVAL INFORMATION:
VSO SpringFest: Mozart Plus!
All concerts at the Orpheum Theatre
· Concert 1
FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 7:30PM
MOVIE: Amadeus!
· Concert 2
SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 8PM
Mozart and Salieri
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Bramwell Tovey conductor
Michael Colvin tenor*
James Westman baritone*
Dean Paul Gibson stage director
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Mozart & Salieri*
MOZART Symphony No. 39 in E-flat Major
· Concert 3
MONDAY, APRIL 13, 8PM
The Legend of Don Juan
Bramwell Tovey conductor
James Westman baritone*
CANADIAN WESTERN BANK Concert Sponsor
MOZART Serenade No. 6 in D Major, Serenata notturna
MOZART Don Giovanni: Deh, vieni alla finestra*
R. STRAUSS Don Juan
MOZART Symphony No. 40 in G minor
· Concert 4
THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 8PM
Jupiter!
Bramwell Tovey conductor
HAYDN March for the Royal Society of Musicians
MOZART Symphony No. 1 in E-flat Major
BRAHMS Variations on a Theme of Joseph Haydn
MOZART Symphony No. 41 in C Major, Jupiter
· Concert 5
SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 8PM
Mozart’s Great Requiem
Bramwell Tovey conductor
Melanie Krueger soprano*
Marion Newman mezzo-soprano*
Colin Ainsworth tenor*
Stephen Hegedus baritone*
UBC Opera Ensemble*
MOZART Masonic Funeral Music
TCHAIKOVSKY Suite No. 4 in G Major, Mozartiana
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MOZART Requiem*
TICKET INFORMATION:
Full Festival Passes: $105 - $267 (senior, student, and subscriber discounts available)
Tickets: $25-$90 (senior, student, and subscriber discounts available)
Tickets available online at www.vancouversymphony.ca or by calling VSO Customer Service at
604.876.3434
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· Concert 6
KIDS’ KONCERTS
Inspector Tovey Meets Mozart
SUNDAY, APRIL 19
2PM, Orpheum Theatre
TELUS Premier Education Partner
ODLUM BROWN LIMITED Concert Sponsor
The VSO's Kids’ Koncerts have been endowed by a generous gift from the William and Irene McEwen
Fund.
Bramwell Tovey conductor
Orpheum Voices Kevin Zakresky, Director
TICKET INFORMATION:
Tickets: $28 Adult, $19 Child (senior and student discounts available)
Tickets available online at www.vancouversymphony.ca or by calling VSO Customer Service at
604.876.3434
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Want to know more about the life of this fascinating composer?
Join us for Mozart Unveiled: Meet the Master of Classicism on Saturday Apr 11, 4:00–6:30 pm at the
VSO School of Music!
Fee: $57 (A 25% discount on a VSO SpringFest Mozart concert is included.)
Register here!
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For media inquires or questions please contact the VSO’s PR Associate, Caroline Márkos at 604.684.9100
x266 or email at caroline@vancouversymphony.ca
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