Orchestra Mozart

The Orchestra Mozart was founded in 2004 as a special project of the Regia Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna and represents the latest orchestral project inaugurated by Claudio Abbado. It consists of young musicians from all over Europe who collaborate with such soloists and principals from internationally acclaimed ensembles as Alessio Allegrini, Alessandro Carbonare, Wolfram Christ, Reinhold Friedrich, Lucas Macías Navarro, and Jacques Zoon. Together with Abbado as Artistic Director, the young Venezuelan maestro Diego Matheuz was named Principal Guest Conductor in 2010. In future the Orchestra Mozart will perform regularly at LUCERNE FESTIVAL at Easter, and the ensemble also has close ties to the Musikverein in Vienna, the Salle Pleyel in Paris, and the Salzburg Festival. Other appearances in the 2012-13 season have included a Bach program in Frankfurt, Baden-Baden, Munich, Genoa, and Palermo. Such renowned soloists as Martha Argerich, Natalia Gutman, Radu Lupu, Jonas Kaufmann, Anna Netrebko, René Pape, and Yuja Wang regularly perform with the Orchestra Mozart. In 2011 the musicians performed piano concertos by Mozart with Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires and the Beethoven and Berg violin concertos with violinist Isabelle Faust; their recording of the latter was awarded the Diapason d’Or, the ECHO Klassik, and the German Record Critics’ Prize in 2012. Their most recent recording is of Schumann and will be released to mark the occasion of Abbado’s 80th birthday. The Orchestra’s artistic mission also involves such socially engaged activities as the “Progetto Tamino,” which is a music therapy project, and the “Progetto Papageno,” a workshop for prisoners. The Orchestra Mozart receives generous support from the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna.

LUCERNE FESTIVAL debut on 24 March 2012, in works by Mozart and Schumann conducted by Claudio Abbado.

February 2013