LINCOLN CENTER

Mostly Mozart Festival
The Singing Heart

"This year’s festival opens with an exuberant evening of symphony and song, pairing Mozart’s delightful “Haffner” symphony with a colorful collection of folk songs and spirituals from the same era. Together they offer a rare portrait of humanity in the time of Mozart. The program concludes with Beethoven’s deeply hopeful Choral Fantasy."

Mozart - Kyrie, K.90
Mozart - Symphony No. 35 in D major ("Haffner") 
Traditional and indigenous songs: Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal; Três Cantos Nativos dos Indios Kraó; Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel; Ah vous dirai-je, maman
Beethoven - Fantasia for Piano, Chorus, and Orchestra ("Choral Fantasy")

“A superb ensemble of young voices largely representative of the city's mix of cultures and socio-economic levels.”– Choir and Organ (U.K.) on the Young People's Chorus of New York City

“Unquestionably a phenomenon.”– New York Times on Kit Armstrong

"This evening’s program, The Singing Heart, celebrates the new sense of optimism that emerged in the 18th century. Whereas philosophers and theologians had previously portrayed mankind as in decline, the scientists, political theorists, and artists of the Enlightenment began to envision a society capable of previously unimagined progress. A valuable freedom from conventional modes of thought was found—rather surprisingly—in the child. Youth ceased to be regarded as a mere prelude to adulthood; instead, writ- ers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed children could intuit possi- bilities that escape fully integrated members of society. In tonight’s program, this enormous potential is heard not only in the music of a prodigy such as Mozart (who composed the Kyrie, K.90, while a teenager), but also in the voices of youth united in song. The move- ments of Mozart’s “Haffner” Symphony are spread across the course of the concert, a common practice in his time.

The 18th century also began to recognize “folk song” and to treat it as having an integrity of its own, even if it did not employ the sophis- ticated procedures of Europe’s highly trained composers. The folk songs featured this evening come from three continents, and their origins (like much art that belongs to oral tradition) are now obscure, but their preservation is largely due to the respectful attitude that first emerged in the age of Mozart and Beethoven. The symphonic and choral works that make up The Singing Heart mirror the univer- sal qualities of folk music and evoke its youthful and optimistic spirit."