Toronto Orchestra Presents Mozart Festival

This January, Mozart from around the world comes to Toronto as artists from four continents descend upon Roy Thomson Hall (with one special concert at the George Weston Recital Hall) for the AIM TRIMARK MOZART@252 FESTIVAL, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's annual celebration of the great composer.

North American soprano Karina Gauvin from Quebec , South American pianist Ingrid Fliter from Argentina , Australian/Oceanian bass Jonathan Lemalu from Samoa , and Asian pianist Ji Yong from Korea will perform Mozart masterpieces with TSO Music Director Peter Oundjian and the TSO over the course of the ten day festival, January 17 - 27, 2008 .

Considered one of the most fascinating lyric sopranos of our time, Juno Award-winning Karina Gauvin opens MOZART@252 with a selection of beautiful and touching operatic arias. She will be joined by young Canadian violinist Andrew Wan who, among his many other impressive credits, is a rotating concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra. Maestro Oundjian will also lead the TSO in Mozart's Overture to Magic Flute, Adagio in E Major for Violin and Orchestra,K. 261, Rondo for Violin and Orchestra from Serenade No. 7 “Haffner”, K. 250 and the dark and restless Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550 "The Great".
MOZART: THE PIANO: January 23 & 24

34-year old Argentinean piano sensation Ingrid Fliter has been embraced with open arms at concert halls worldwide! Winner of the prestigious Gilmore Artist Award in 2006 and praised by The New York Times for her "exciting technique and keen intelligence animated by an impetuous temperament", Fliter makes her TSO debut with Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23, K. 488 and Piano Quintet, K. 452. Also on the bill will be Symphony No. 35, K. 385 "Haffner", considered to be one of the finest works of Mozart's early career.
MOZART LINZ SYMPHONY: January 26 & 27

MOZART@252 concludes on January 27th, Mozart's actual birthday! Basses of all types will rule this eclectic evening, as Samoan bass Jonathan Lemalu joins TSO principal double bass Jeffrey Beecher for the captivating aria Per questa bella mano for Double Bass and Bass, K. 612. Also on the programme is Mozart's robust Symphony No. 36, K. 425 "Linz", Don Giovanni Overture, K. 527, and Piano Concerto No. 12, K. 414, performed by the astonishing young Korean-American pianist Ji-Yong. In 2001, at only 10 years-old, Ji-Yong became the youngest pianist ever to win the New York Philharmonic Young Artists Competition, subsequently making his solo debut with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Kurt Masur. -- www.tso.ca