The San Diego Symphony will present Mozart’s "Violin Concerto No. 5 (Turkish)" and Bruckner's "Symphony No. 4" twice this week. During his prolific career, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed twenty-seven piano concertos. Despite being an accomplished violin player, he wrote only five violin concertos, all written in 1775 when Mozart was nineteen years old. The fifth and final violin concerto, written a month before he turned 20, has become his most popular. It was influenced by a cultural fascination with all things Turkish, considered at the time to be both exotic and somewhat dangerous. Because of these musical undertones, the concerto is often nicknamed “Turkish.”
The program will feature the San Diego début of Augustin Hadelich, a rising star in the violin world. Born in Italy to German parents in 1984, Hadelich studied at Juilliard under Joel Smirnoff. He has achieved much critical acclaim and his débuts have been well-received internationally. He will be playing on the 1723 “Ex-Kiesewetter” Stradivari violin, on loan from Clement and Karen Arrison. Jahja Ling, San Diego Symphony Music Director, will be conducting.
A special Jacobs Masterwork weekday performance will be held Thursday, March 15th at 7:30 PM. A second performance will be held Saturday, March 17th at 8:00 PM. Members of the audience are welcome to stay after Saturday’s concert for a special onstage “Dialogue with Jahja,” which will be a question and answer session with Augustin Hadelich. Tickets for either night maybe be purchased by visiting the San Diego Symphony’s website. Seat prices range from $20.00 to $96.00.