I purchased a ticket for the full program with recital and lecture hosted by Mozart Week (Mozartwoche) Artistic Director Rolando Villazón and Dr. Ulrich Leisinger, Director of the Research Department at the Mozarteum University Salzburg (Universität Mozarteum Salzburg) and performed by Seong-Jin Cho. To gather for a watch party with others from all over the world to celebrate the Maestro with a premiere in 2021? What a rare and precious opportunity. 

If you missed the premiere, watch this exclusive excerpt! 

When gazing upon my virtual ticket, I thought of an artifact from Sotheby's that emerged at auction in 2011: one of the only known surviving tickets from Mozart's academy concerts in Vienna that bears his own validating stamp on the corner. How these receipts of his music stand in stark, yet remarkable contrast. 

The premiere is a part of the reimagined Digital Mozartwoche (January 27-31) with a schedule of performances available on-demand from DG Stage, Fidelio, Mezzo and Medici.tv. Audiences, particularly those demographics we need to reach to create further awareness and accessibility, are mostly unaware of the availability of this programming, so as with every effort in which I invest, I hope that my platform can act as a conduit, particularly for viewers in North America.

Experiencing this new music today, I felt joy and excitement for the future. For a moment, it made me forget about the pandemic, my industry's collapse and cancelled contracts. It's exactly what my heart needed, personally and professionally. To feel empowered to rise above. And I think it's what we all need collectively. I hope others feel that energy when they hear these previously unknown measures, for this is the Maestro's eternal flourish, his evergreen gift to us. 

Mozart's music continues to illuminate the human condition and the heights to which we aspire artistically, creatively, morally, spiritually. His melodic contours are timeless in message and delivery. With approximately 50 to 100 compositions still unaccounted for, Mozart remains an elusive figure that we seemingly know so well, yet can't quite seem to capture. He keeps us in a state of befriended wonderment. That is his craft, his magic. And it is this relationship with his audience that sustains him. My task is to safeguard and nurture this relationship, a beloved responsibility and promise.