The Midsummer Mozart Festival Returns with Two Concerts this Month

Following a one year hiatus, Midsummer Mozart returns for two concerts this summer. The Midsummer Mozart Festival will continue its tradition of presenting only music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The program begins with the K. 201 symphony in A major. This will be followed by the K. 251 divertimento in D major, which Mozart scored for two horns, one oboe, and the usual string section. The "grand finale" of the evening will be the K. 364 sinfonia concertante in E-flat major, with extended solo parts for violin and viola. Soloists are long-time veterans of Midsummer Mozart Festival concerts, Concertmaster Robin Hansen and violist Elizabeth Prior

Tickets are $50 for the San Francisco concert purchased through Eventbrite /www.eventbrite.com and for Buena Vista Winery concert tickets - $60 & $75 available at www.cellarpass.com / http://cellarpass.com/buena-vista-winery-presents-midsummer-mozart-festival-tickets-2515 For more information, www.midsummermozart.org

Robin Hansen, concertmaster of the Midsummer Mozart Festival for twenty years, is a native of Berkeley. Raised in a musical family, she started playing professionally with the San Francisco Ballet while in high school. She graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from U.C. Berkeley where she received Hertz fellowships to study in Los Angeles and Munich, Germany. She joined Michael Tilson Thomas' New World Symphony in Miami Beach, but returned to the Bay Area to play full-time with the Ballet. Robin has performed extensively in the contemporary genre with the SF Contemporary Chamber Players, Ear Play and Composer, Inc. She performs regularly with the San Francisco Opera and has been concertmaster at Stern Grove Festival for the SF Ballet Orchestra where she holds first violin position. In addition, she is a member of the Skywalker Symphony which records movie and video score projects at Skywalker Ranch in Marin County. She has toured Europe with the San Francisco Symphony and the United States with the Israel Philharmonic under the baton of Zubin Mehta.

An active Bay Area violist, Elizabeth Prior is the principal violist with the Santa Rosa Symphony and a member of the New Century Chamber Orchestra. Elizabeth is also a season substitute with the San Francisco Ballet and is the associate principal violist with the Marin Symphony. She performs regularly with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony. Other orchestral credits include Freiburg Philharmonic, Germany (Associate Principal) and Cape Town Symphony, South Africa. She has toured and worked with Sudwestfunk, Stuttgart Radio, Basel Symphony, and the Mannheim Opera Orchestras. A native of South Africa, she was a prizewinner in the International String Competition in Pretoria and gave her debut at Carnegie Hall with the Russian Chamber Orchestra. She tours regularly as a soloist with the Chamber Ensemble of Cologne in France and has toured with the New Century Chamber Orchestra. Other solo and chamber engagements include: Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival; Sun Valley Summer Symphony and 'Chamber Music San Francisco'. She is a member of the Farallon Quintet. She gave regular viola and piano recitals for 13 years with Maestro Donald Runnicles.

WHEN: Saturday, July 22nd - 6:30 pm

Monday, July 24th - 7:30 pm

WHERE: Buena Vista Winery, 18000 Old Winery Rd, Sonoma, CA 95476

Old St. Mary's Cathedral, 660 California Street, San Francisco, CA, 94108