Mozart’s Coronation Mass to Be Featured in E.C. Chamber Orchestra Concert
former music director Watkins will return as guest conductor
The Symphonic Choir of the UW-Eau Claire will join the Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra for a performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Mass in C, also known as the Coronation Mass, at 7:30pm Saturday, Nov. 16, in the RCU Theatre of the Pablo Center at the Confluence, 128 Graham Ave.
ECCO is excited to welcome back to the podium former music director Dr. Frank A. Watkins as the guest conductor of the symphony for this concert. Dr. Watkins, an associate professor of music and director of choral studies at UWEC, served as music director for the past eight seasons. He is excited to be with the orchestra once again. Dr. Christopher G. McGinley, assistant professor of music and associate director of choral activities at UWEC, will conduct the Coronation Mass, which will feature soloists Emily Sternfeld-Dunn, soprano; Christine Amon, mezzo-soprano; Mark Mowry, tenor; and Kenneth Pereira, baritone.
Mozart’s Coronation Mass in C Major is one of his most well-known sacred compositions. In 1779, Mozart returned from a disastrous trip to Paris. Partly out of material necessity, and to please his father, he took a position in the service of the Archbishop in Salzburg, Austria. Mozart was to “unbegrudgingly and with great diligence discharge his duties both in the cathedral and at court and in the chapel house, and as occasion presents, to provide the court and church with new compositions of his creation.” Mozart fulfilled this demand by composing this mass for the Easter Day service on April 4, 1779.
Mozart’s Symphony No. 40, known as the Great G minor symphony and composed in 1788, will also be performed. For tickets, visit pablocenter.org.
