Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Mitsuko Uchida, piano and director

Following her exquisite Cal Performances at Home recital in an all-Schubert program in March 2021, the magisterial pianist Mitsuko Uchida returns for an in-person concert with the dynamic Mahler Chamber Orchestra (MCO) that draws a line from Henry Purcell’s uniquely English form of Baroque music to Mozart’s Viennese masterworks.

Uchida, “one of the leading Mozarteans of our day” (Chicago Tribune), is a revered figure of the concert stage—who gained renown early in her career for her complete recorded cycles of Mozart’s concertos and sonatas. The program features two concertos composed in the winter of 1785–86, when Mozart was at the height of his genius: the A major concerto is best known for its magnificent slow movement; the C minor concerto for its bold inventiveness. Rounding out the program, the strings of the MCO are featured in a selection of fantasias by Purcell, brilliant compositions that cap an uncommonly fertile era of viol consort music.

“Few pianists are better exponents of the modern style in Mozart than Uchida, with her constantly alert phrasing and crystalline touch, while the responsiveness of the MCO, playing on mainly modern instruments but in a historically informed manner, was never less than absorbing” (The Guardian).

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