Mozart & Tchaikovsky

6:30PM FREE PRE-CONCERT CONVERSATIONS
Join the CSO in the hall before the show to hear more about the music!

The stars of the Charleston Symphony will shine in the season’s opening weekend! Concertmaster and Artistic Director Yuriy Bekker returns to the podium to conduct. Principal Oboe Kelly Mozeik will take center stage with Mozart’s Concerto for Oboe. The program, featuring works by Saint-Georges, Rossini, and Tchaikovsky, promises to delight audiences as the 2024-2025 season kicks off. 

Mozart & Tchaikovsky – Bekker Conducts Opening Weekend

Appointed as Principal Oboe in 2022, Kelly Mozeik has played with several prominent American orchestras, performed at Carnegie Hall, and presented internationally with The Orchestra Now. At 21 years old, when he wrote his only oboe concerto, Mozart had already mastered operatic works and often alluded to similar dramatic stylings in his instrumental compositions for soloists. This concerto, a long-cherished piece in the oboe repertoire, is no different; it is a delightful listen made even more superior with the virtuosity in live performance with Kelly Mozeik and your Charleston Symphony.

MORE ON THE MUSIC & ARTISTS:

• The Chevalier de Saint-Georges (also known as Joseph Bologne), son of a French nobleman and enslaved Black woman, was a remarkable presence in music and a contemporary of Mozart. His L’Amant Anonyme (The Anonymous Lover) is a comedic opera with ballet.
• Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, especially its “love theme,” can be heard in numerous films and television shows. The overture successfully distills Shakespeare’s tragic love story into a 20-minute musical interpretation and has become an audience favorite concert piece.
• “This overture [Rossini’s Thieving Magpie] is a perennial highlight, featuring a startling opening snare drum just to make sure that everyone is awake.” — ClassicalFM

PROGRAM

Joseph Bologne, The Chevalier de Saint-Georges
“Overture” from L’Amant Anonyme (The Anonymous Lover)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Concerto for Oboe in C Major

INTERMISSION

Gioachino Rossini
Overture to La Gazza Ladra (The Thieving Magpie)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Capriccio Italien, Op. 45

ARTISTS

Yuriy Bekker, conductor
Kelly Mozeik, oboe