Classical music lovers know full well that one has to take advantage of every opportunity to catch the gems of the repertoire when performances of them happen in a busy music scene. This past Sunday afternoon was one of these opportunities as the music of Mozart was the focus in two different concerts by two different organizations. The Knoxville Symphony Chamber Orchestra had, earlier in the afternoon, performed Mozart’s ‘Haffner’ Symphony in its Chamber Classics series at the Bijou. [Arts Knoxville review] Then later, a few miles to the west, the Amadeus Chamber Ensemble with Orchestra and Chorus dove into some choral pieces from the composer’s Salzburg years, including the ‘Coronation Mass’ (Mass in C Major, K. 317).
The Amadeus Chamber Ensemble was performing under the auspices of the Cathedral Concert Series at Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on Northshore. Under the direction and conductorship of Maestro Howard Skinner, ACE also had on its program Mozart’s earlier Regina Coeli K. 108, and a nod to the later Mozart via the sublime motet Ave Verum Corpus.
ACE had assembled a marvelous quartet of soloists for the afternoon, as well as a 33-member orchestra, some of whom had played earlier in the afternoon with the KSO downtown, and a 31-member chorus. Soloists were soprano Abigail Santos-Villalobos, alto Diana Salesky, tenor Kirk Dougherty, and bass RKC Armstrong. Dougherty and Santos-Villalobos were probably familiar to Knoxville audiences from noteworthy performances with Knoxville Opera. Concertmaster was Miroslav Hristov.
Upcoming performances in the Cathedral Concert series include “Music of Verdi with Choir and Orchestra” on October 23, and two November concerts with the Knoxville Choral Society and the Scruffy City Orchestra.
