National Philharmonic and More Perform Mozart's Requiem and Clarinet Concerto

Hear the last two works composed by Mozart, Requiem and Clarinet Concerto, as Piotr Gajewski conducts The National Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorale on Saturday, March 21, at 8 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore. Special guests include clarinetist Jon Manasse, who The New York Times calls "an absolutely first-rate clarinet soloist". He was the youngest winner of the International Clarinet Society Competition.

"Mozart's Clarinet Concerto is widely regarded as the greatest clarinet concerto ever written and his last instrumental work. It was completed in October 1791, less than two months before his death at the age of 35.," said Gajewski, Music Director and Conductor of The National Philharmonic Orchestra. "Mozart was an amazing talent and there was the ease with which he wrote music; it is said he could compose in a pool hall on napkins. His scores are unmarked - as if the music came to him in one fell swoop, without needing to be revised."

The Requim in D Minor was commissioned by the eccentric Count Franz von Walsegg, an amateur composer who was in the habit of commissioning works from famous composers in order to pass them off as his own. It was of Mozart's most widely performed works and remained unfinished at the time of his death in 1791.

Special guests at the performance also include soprano Suzanne Karpov, mezzo-soprano Magdalena Wór, tenor Norman Shankle and bass Kevin Deas. There will be a members-only encore question-and-answer after the concert. Ticket prices are $29-$89, free for young people 7-17, and $10 for college students. There is a new 25% discount for military and veterans. Strathmore is located at 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit nationalphilharmonic.org or call 301.581.5100.