Our Mozart Festival opens with the "Prague" Symphony No. 38, composed on the heels of The Marriage of Figaro's tremendous success. Rich in complex subtleties and lyrical sophistication, it spans a full spectrum of emotion. Mozart's unfinished "Great" Mass in C minor—his most exalted and personal work—was deeply influenced by the Baroque traditions of Bach and Handel. Its original movements journey from somber to soaring, with later 20th-century revisions completing the piece.

Continuing our Mozart Festival, enjoy works by two peers: Joseph Bologne's jaunty Symphony No. 2 and Maria Theresia von Paradis's Overture to The School Candidate, her sole surviving orchestral piece, in commedia dell'arte form. Mozart's five violin concertos, composed in 1775, culminate in a Fifth that is imaginative and technically challenging. The fiery "Haffner" Symphony, honoring a former Salzburg patron, is bold and regal.

Composed to acknowledge an honorary degree despite not attending university, a mischievous Brahms penned the tongue-in-cheek Academic Festival Overture, featuring boisterous student drinking songs. Reinecke's Concerto in E minor spotlights the harp in a virtuosic display of shimmering arpeggios and rhythmic optimism. The forced optimism of Symphony No. 5, glorifying Stalin's regime, proved both career- and lifesaving for Shostakovich.