It’s time for a little Amadeus.
Celebrating three works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the Waukegan Symphony Orchestra will present “Mozart Mania” at 4 p.m. Nov. 7 at Sign of the Dove Church in Waukegan.
“We came up with this ‘Mozart Mania’ program as we wanted to do a program suited for smaller orchestra, as we are, like every orchestra in the world, rebuilding back from depths of COVID-19,” said Music Director Alexander Platt.
“Being one of the great genius composers of the 18th century — what we call the Classical Age in music — you honestly never need an excuse to play Mozart, and truly, after all we’ve been through, it is this indescribably warm feeling to come back to the sunlight of his music.”
So, some sunny Mozart it is.
“As an all-orchestral program, we also get to shine a light on our new Concertmaster, Jaime Rukstales, who, following in the fine footsteps of Michael Kleinerman, is already doing a wonderful job,” Platt said. “I couldn’t be happier.”
Mixing things up, the orchestra will be playing a new venue as well.
“What’s also so exciting about this concert is that will mark our debut at one of Waukegan’s most beautiful historic structures, the old Slovenic Hall,” he said. “It’s the perfect space for the intimacy and charm of Mozart’s music.”
Completed in 1918, the hall was built by Slovenian immigrants as a cultural center. Now it’s home to the Sign of the Dove Church.
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“We’ll be presenting a simple, straightforward, 60-minute program, without an intermission, in which we’ll play three of Mozart’s enduring, immortal masterworks, written at three very different times of his life,” Platt said.
The program leads with “Symphony No. 25 in G Minor,” written in October 1773, when the composer was just 17.
“The so-called ‘Little G Minor’ is actually a big-boned, ambitious work that dates from Mozart’s late adolescence, when he was specializing in being the great musical ‘bad boy’ of his hometown of Salzburg in Austria,” Platt said.
Next is the overture to “The Magic Flute,” which premiered in 1791.
“The famous overture to his second-to-last opera, ‘The Magic Flute,’ dates from Mozart’s tragic, frenetic final years, when he continually suffered from bad health and bad debts,” Platt said.
Closing the concert is “Symphony No. 35.”
“To finish we’ll share in one of the great musical flowers of the springtime of his life: the so-called ‘Haffner Symphony,’ the ‘Symphony No. 35’ of 1782, written for one of his most devoted supporters, the Haffner family in Salzburg,” Platt said, “when he was enjoying success in his new home of Vienna, then the musical center of the world.”
This particular work resonates personally with Platt.
“This symphony means a lot to me, as I’ll never forget conducting the ‘Haffner Symphony’ with the Brooklyn Philharmonic to synchronized fireworks at the South Street Seaport in Lower Manhattan,” he said. “I’m sure that, in its own way, the Waukegan Symphony and I will give an equally memorable performance.”
Waukegan Symphony Orchestra’s ‘Mozart Mania’ Concert
When: 4 p.m. Nov. 7
Where: Sign of the Dove Church, 424 10th St., Waukegan
Tickets: $10-$20; Students 18 and under are free
Information: 847-360-4740; waukeganparks.org/wsocc/
Jen Banowetz is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.