January 10 • 2019 35
jn

T

he Ann Arbor Symphony 
Orchestra and Music Director 
Arie Lipsky will celebrate the 
annual Mozart Birthday Bash at 8 p.m. 
Jan. 12 at Hill Auditorium in Ann 
Arbor. 
The orchestra 
will open the eve-
ning with Mozart’
s 
Requiem in D 
Minor, the compos-
er’
s final work and 
will be joined by 
vocal soloists Louise 
Toppin, Sedona 
Libera, Charles 
Reid and Daniel 
Washington. The 
performance will 
also feature area 
choral ensembles 
including Measure 
for Measure, the 
Livingston County 
Women’
s Chorus, 
and the Huron, 
Pioneer and Skyline 
High School a cap-
pella choirs. 
To close the pro-
gram, the orchestra 
will be joined by 
celebrated pianist 
Alon Goldstein for 
a performance of 
Mozart’
s youthful 
and energetic Piano 
Concerto No. 9 in E-flat Major. To fur-
ther celebrate Mozart’
s legacy, audience 
members will enjoy Mozartkugeln, tra-
ditional candies from Austria. 
Mozart’
s Requiem has long been the 
most mysterious of the composer’
s 
works. He originally received a com-
mission to write the large-scale choral 
and orchestral masterpiece by a visitor 
in July of 1791. The man would not 
state his name and would not provide 
details about the person who wanted 
to fund the work. Mozart accepted the 
commission because of the generous 
paycheck promised at its completion. 
As Mozart continued to compose 
the Requiem, his health started to fail. 
Knowing his death was imminent, 
he stated to a friend, “Didn’
t I say 
before that I was writing this requiem 
for myself?” In December of 1791, 
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died, 

leaving his Requiem unfinished. Franz 
Xaver Süssmayr, a friend and close 
collaborator of Mozart’
s, accepted the 
challenge of completing the Requiem 
from sketches. 
The unknown 
commissioner was 
later discovered to be 
Count von Walsegg, 
who wanted the 
Requiem to serve as 
a memorial piece for 
his late wife. 
To counterbal-
ance the depth and 
drama of Mozart’
s 
final composition, 
the Ann Arbor 
Symphony Orchestra 
will play one of the 
most mature works 
from his youth: 
Piano Concerto No. 
9 in E-flat Major. 
Many musicologists 
have pegged this 
concerto as a major 
turning point in 
Mozart’
s composi-
tional development. 
This youthful and 
joyous concerto with 
a dark and brooding 
second movement 
will be performed 
by Goldstein, who 
returns to perform 
with the orchestra after high audience 
demand. 
Alon Goldstein is one of the most 
original and sensitive artists of his 
generation, admired for his musical 
intelligence and dynamic personality. 
His artistic vision and innovative pro-
gramming have made him a favorite 
with audiences and critics throughout 
the United States, Europe and Israel. 
He made his orchestral debut at age 18 
with the Israel Philharmonic under the 
baton of Zubin Mehta.
Goldstein is artistic director for 
The Distinguished Artists Concert & 
Lecture Series in Santa Cruz, Calif., 
and was recently named artistic direc-
tor for the Mt. Angel Abbey Bach 
Festival in Oregon, starting in 2019. 
A pre-concert talk about the Mozart 
works led by Goldstein and Lipsky is 
open to all ticket holders at 7 p.m. ■

Mozart Bash

Ann Arbor Symphony brings
pianist Alon Goldstein for concert.

JIYANG+CHEN

Pianist

Alon Goldstein 

details

Tickets are available online 

at a2so.com, by emailing 

tickets@a2so.com or by 

calling (734) 994-4801. This 

concert is made possible 

in part by a co-sponsorship 

from Rebecca Horvath. 

music