Mainly Mozart Festival: Defender of the Universe

Tis the Mainly Mozart season. For two weeks the glory of the Mozart shall shine upon us as the Voltron of orchestras assembles. You don’t know Voltron: Defender of the Universe?

There was Lion Force Voltron (Voltron of the far universe), Vehicle Force Voltron (Voltron of the near universe), and Gladiator Voltron (Voltron of the middle universe). I speak of Vehicle Force Voltron.

Whereas vehicles unite to create a super robot (Voltron), musicians from across the country unite to form a super orchestra. The Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra: Defender of the Universe.

If you’ve never been to hear the festival orchestra then you’re missing out on one of the greatest musical experiences available — anywhere. It has been said that during these two weeks this group of musicians could be counted among the best orchestras in the world.

The 2016 season is the first of a six-year journey exploring the progression of Mozart as a composer and artist. The programming is based on the idea of the prodigy.

Works of other prodigies such as Schubert, Saint Saens, and Mendelssohn will round out the festival program. The festival will open on Saturday, June 4, at 7:30 p.m. The venue is the Balboa Theatre in Horton Plaza.

The opening concert features the festival’s first foray into opera with Mozart’s one-act comedy Bastien und Bastienne. The performance will be in German with English supertitles. Also in the opening concert is Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Mozart’s Gallimathias musicum.

Bastien und Bastienne will be “semi-staged” but this is a concert, not a fully staged production. The singers are all Juilliard students and emerging artists. There is an open rehearsal at the Balboa on Saturday, June 4, at 10:30 a.m.