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Bravo! Celebrates Mozart’s 250th anniversary on July 2

Daily Staff Report
Special to the DailyThe Rochester Philharmonic will tribute Mozart Sunday at the Ford Amphitheater as part of the Bravo! festival.
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VAIL – In honor of Mozart’s 250th anniversary, the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival is paying tribute to him with a performance of his final, but uncompleted work – “Requiem.” On July 2, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Music Director Christopher Seaman, will perform Mozart’s “Symphony No. 41,” “Jupiter,” and will then be joined by the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra Chorus and soloists for a production of Mozart’s “Requiem,” one of his most recognized works. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart summons up visions of powdered wigs, aristocrats, concert halls and opera houses. But the music of this 18th century genius pervades our society – movies, ballets, advertisements and just about anywhere there is music.

Few tales in music are as convoluted, or as fascinating, as that of Mozart’s final, incomplete work. Mozart received a visitor – described in old biographies as a “mysterious, gaunt-looking stranger, tall, dark, and dressed all in gray”- who offered him a generous sum to commission a requiem. Actually the messenger was an emissary for Count Franz von Walsegg Stuppach, a Viennese nobleman, who demanded secrecy because he intended to perform the “Requiem” in memory of his wife and to pass it off as his own creation. The story goes that Mozart was unnerved by the encounter, and came to believe that he had been approached by “Death” himself, and was writing his own requiem. In fact, Mozart died at 35, before completing much more than half of the work. It has become, for posterity, the requiem both for, and by, Mozart. Albert Einstein said of the Requiem, “we know definitely Mozart’s intention, his attitude towards death . . . Death is not a terrible vision but a friend.”Bravo! offers another season of music featuring the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic through Aug. 3. For complete program details, visit http://www.vailmusicfestival.org or call 877-812-5700.

Happy birthday, MozartWhat: Tribute to MozartWhen: 6:30 p.m. Sunday



Where: Ford AmphitheaterInformation: Visit http://www.vailmusicfestival.org or call 877-812-5700.Vail, Colorado


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