Huh? Golijov to Be Mostly Mozart Composer in Residence

[Ralph]

From The New York Times:

February 21, 2007
Something New for the Mostly Mozart Festival: A Composer in Residence
By DANIEL J. WAKIN

With the Mozart year of 2006 turned to dust, the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center has found a new composer to celebrate, and one very much alive.

The festival said on Tuesday that Osvaldo Golijov would be its first composer in residence, although he will not be writing much music for it.

Instead, Mr. Golijov, one of the most sought-after composers around, will be something of a programming guru for the 2007 version of the summer festival, which has a music director, Louis Langrée, and an artistic director, Jane S. Moss.

Mr. Golijov will make a new arrangement of “Azul,” his piece for cello and orchestra, which will be performed on opening night, the organizers said in announcing the season’s programs. Several other Golijov works will be played, including his setting of the St. Mark Passion, which was heard at Lincoln Center a year ago during a 10-concert celebration of his music.

Mr. Golijov said he was too busy at the moment to write a piece for the festival, which runs from July 31 to Aug. 25. He said he would attend at least its first and last weeks.

Mr. Golijov said he had a hand in 4 of the season’s 35 events. He picked the musicians for a “late-night Latin jam session,” as the festival called it, including his protégée, the brilliant Galician bagpiper Cristina Pato; programmed a concert of Schubert symphonies and another of Monteverdi’s “Vespers,” works by two composers important to him; and programmed the choral portion of the final concert.

Ms. Moss said that Mr. Golijov, with his composer’s perspective, would add “immeasurably to the mix of the festival.”

Mr. Golijov, whose opera “Ainadamar” just won two Grammys, draws on the pop, world music and classical realms.

During the Moss-Langrée era, Mostly Mozart has crept well past the boundaries of Mozart’s music, bringing in contemporary pieces, film, dance, multimedia installations and the works of a broad range of composers. This season marks another step in that direction, and not just by installing a composer in residence in another composer’s festival.

It has three themes this year: Latin America; Beethoven, including an opening week dedicated to him; and spirituality in music, including requiems by Mozart and Fauré and religious music by Rachmaninoff. There is, indeed, other Mozart, including the Serenade in B flat for winds (“Gran Partita”), several concertos and the Symphony No. 36, the “Linz.”

Ms. Moss said she had no intention of changing the festival’s name or phasing out Mozart’s music, despite the trend, and suggested that more of his music might be back in the future. “He is without question the starting point,” she said.

[karlhenning]

Ah, the juggernaut continues . . . .

[diegobueno]

Good for them. It must be abundantly clear that the saturation point for Mozart was reached long ago, and that it would be more productive to turn their attention elsewhere. They may have to change the name of the festival at some point.

And it's admirable that they're highlighting a contemporary composer rather than another of the standard dead guys.

[Corlyss_D]

Great idea! I love his stuff - it sounds so much like early music.

[jbuck919]

Great idea! I love his stuff - it sounds so much like early music.

Uh-oh.