Palm Beach Symphony to Present 'Mozart's Last Year'

Palm Beach Symphony will present an extraordinary night of music by one of the great masters of all time with Mozart's Last Year featuring guest artist Jon Manasse at the Kravis Center on Thursday, December 2 at 7:30 p.m. Music Director Gerard Schwarz, who recently received the eighth and ninth Emmy® Awards of his distinguished career, will be at the podium.

Books, plays and movies have mined the drama of Mozart's final year including his Requiem in D minor serving as the haunting inspiration for the blockbuster Amadeus. Audiences are eager to enjoy this highly anticipated concert which was postponed from last season due to safety precautions at the time regarding performing choral works during the pandemic.

"Mozart didn't live past his 36th birthday and yet he wrote 600 magnificent works," Maestro Schwarz said. "In focusing on the works he wrote in his last year, we felt we must include the terrific Clarinet Concerto with soloist Jon Manasse, a phenomonal clarinetist. The Symphony will also perform the overture to The Magic Flute, Mozart's last opera; and Ave Verum Corpus, the simply gorgeous choral work in which we have the pleasure of being joined by the Master Chorale of South Florida and several wonderful soloists. And, of course, we could not do justice to Mozart's genius without his Requiem, his spectacular unfinished work which has captivated listeners through the centuries."

As one of the nation's most highly sought-after wind players, Manasse is internationally recognized for his uniquely glorious sound and charismatic performing style and will be performing the work with which he made his London debut in a Barbican Centre performance with Maestro Schwarz and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Principal clarinetist of the American Ballet Theater Orchestra and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Manasse was also appointed in 2008 principal clarinetist and Ensemble Member of the Orchestra of St. Luke's in New York City. In addition to the premiere performances of Lowell Liebermann's Clarinet Concerto, which was commissioned for him, Manasse has also presented the world premieres of James Cohn's Concerto for Clarinet & Strings and Steven R. Gerber's Clarinet Concerto. With pianist Jon Nakamatsu, he continues to tour throughout the United States as half of the acclaimed Manasse/Nakamatsu Duo whose activities include the world premiere performances of Paquito D'Rivera's The Cape Cod Concerto with Symphony Silicon Valley.

American Record Guide reported, "Jon Manasse is a wonderful clarinetist. He is almost unbelievably fluent, has a gorgeous tone, and imparts genuine feeling into all of this music. If there is a better clarinetist around, I have not heard him."

Last month, Maestro Schwarz received two Emmy® Awards at the 64th Annual New York Emmy Awards Ceremony of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for From Italy and Hungary with Love with the All-Star Orchestra, of which he is the founder and music director. He has also been recognized with 14 GRAMMY nominations from the Recording Academy and its first "IMPACT" lifetime achievement award, in addition to eight ASCAP Awards including its Concert Music Award. Schwarz was the first American named Conductor of the Year by Musical America.

In South Florida, Maestro Schwarz is the Distinguished Professor of Music, Conducting and Orchestral Studies at University of Miami's Frost School of Music and Music Director of the Frost Symphony Orchestra. He is also the Music Director of the Eastern Music Festival and Mozart Orchestra of New York. His extensive catalogue of more than 350 recordings includes The Gerard Schwarz Collection, a 30-CD box set, and a recently released recording of Schubert's Symphony No. 9 with the New York Chamber Symphony. His memoir, Gerard Schwarz: Behind the Baton, was published by Hal Leonard Performing Arts Publishing Group in 2017.

To perform the Requiem in D minor, the Symphony is joined by soprano Robyn Marie Lamp, mezzo-soprano Robynne Redmon, tenor Jason Ferrante, bass Richard Ollarsaba and The Master Chorale of South Florida.

The season continues with guest pianist Yefim Bronfman ringing in the New Year with an all-Russian program (Jan. 10), followed by virtuoso pianist Maria João Pires in an evening of Beethoven and Mahler and culminating with recent Kennedy Center Honor Awardee for Lifetime Artistic Achievement Midori in a season finale of three Palm Beach Symphony premieres (April 10).

Peter M. Gottsegen, The Lachman Family Foundation, Patrick and Milly Park, Felicia Taylor/The Mary Hilem Taylor Foundation, DeLuca Foundation, Leonard and Norma Klorfine Foundation, Charles and Ann Johnson/The C and A Johnson Family Foundation, Patricia Lambrecht, Dodie and Manley Thaler and the Thaler/Howell Foundation, NetJets, Lugano Diamonds, Findlay Galleries, HSS Florida, PNC Private Bank, The Colony Hotel, Related Companies, Provident Jewelry, IYC, Palm Beach Design Masters, Braman Motorcars, and Gent Row LLC are proud sponsors of Palm Beach Symphony. Programs are also sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.

Tickets are $25-$95 and are available online at www.palmbeachsymphony.org; by phone at (561) 281-0145; or by visiting the Palm Beach Symphony Box Office, Monday-Friday from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The Kravis Center is located at 701 Okeechobee Blvd in West Palm Beach.