Anne-Sophie Mutter and Les Arts Florissants with William Christie lead star-studded wrap-up of music season – Knight Foundation
Arts

Anne-Sophie Mutter and Les Arts Florissants with William Christie lead star-studded wrap-up of music season

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William Christie

Long-awaited debuts and interesting programming are in store for fans as South Florida’s 2014-2015 music season draws to a close. First, Anne-Sophie Mutter is scheduled to perform with the New World Symphony, conducted by Founder and Artistic Director Michael Tilson Thomas, in the same program they will perform at Carnegie Hall a few days later. As part of her overdue debut in our city, the renowned German violinist will play Alban Berg’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, one of her warhorses, and the American première of Norbert Moret’s En rêve, a concerto for violin and chamber orchestra that the Swiss artist, who died in 1998, composed for Mutter in 1988. The concert ends with Debussy’s La mer and Schubert’s incidental music for Rosamunde. A season finale with all the bells and whistles, the show will be also be wallcast on Saturday, April 25, at 8 p.m.   At the same venue, four days later – April 29 – another equally anticipated (and belated) Miami debut takes place, no more and no less than that of Les Arts Florissants, under the direction of William Christie. Bringing to Miami one of the most outstanding Baroque music ensembles of recent decades was the dream of the late Kathy Gaubatz, the fondly remembered head of the Miami Bach Society. Her dream finally becomes reality in a must-see for musical Miamians, titled Songs of Love & Drinking Songs or 305-669-1376. William Christie. Not far behind is the opening of the 22nd season of the Mainly Mozart Festival with excellent programs of Mozart, Schumann, Brahms and Richard Strauss performed by, among others, Anna Elashvili, Richard O’Neill, Yves Dharamraj and Marina Radiushina, at the University of Miami’s Gusman Hall. The festival runs through June 21.   A special concert concludes the Miami Symphony Orchestra’s season on May 3 at the Adrienne Arsht Center: the world premiere of Mehmari’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, plus Mozart’s Concerto No. 7 for Three Pianos and Orchestra and Liszt’s Hexameron, for six pianos and orchestra. In addition to MISO Music Director and Conductor Eduardo Marturet, the stars of this piano marathon are scheduled to be Elisha Abas, Christopher O’Riley, André Mehmari, Roberto Berrocal, Ciro Fodere and Marina Radiushina.   For its part, the Florida Grand Opera closes its season with Menotti’s The Consul, a Seattle Opera production conducted by Andrew Bisantz (www.fgo.org), and the Frost Wind Ensemble tackles four world premières on April 26, conducted by Gary Green with special appearances by Santiago Rodríguez, Ross Harbaugh, Margaret Donahu and Dale Underwood. May 14 -17 the Miami International Piano Festival’s Discovery Series at the Colony Theater showcases Leonid Egorov, Rachel Cheung and Raluca Stirbat, among other distinguished participants. At the renovated Trinity Cathedral near the Arsht Center, on Saturday, April 25, the Master Chorale of South Florida, under the direction of Brett Karlin, presents a first-rate Baroque music concert with works by Bach, Kuhlau, Telemann and Graupner. Though the packed schedule is welcome, it should be noted that three of the top performances are scheduled to take place on the same day, Saturday, April 25. The juxtaposition of major events is something that sooner or later organizers will have to address with greater care.