Preview: ‘Pasadena Symphony Welcomes New Music Director with Mozart’s Jupiter and Price Concerto’

Brett Mitchell to lead program featuring 2024 Grammy winner Montgomery's 'Starburst' in January performances (Photo credit: Roger Mastroianni)

PASADENA — Pasadena Now has published a preview of Brett Mitchell’s third subscription weekend as Music Director of the Pasadena Symphony:

The Pasadena Symphony will present its [third weekend of] concerts under newly appointed Music Director Brett Mitchell, featuring Mozart’s final symphony alongside works by Florence Price and Jessie Montgomery, at the Ambassador Auditorium.

Mitchell, who was named to the position in March 2024, will conduct two performances on Saturday, Jan. 25, at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., marking the beginning of his five-year term with the orchestra.

The program opens with “Starburst” by Jessie Montgomery, a 2024 Grammy Award-winning composer, violinist, and educator whose music has been praised by The Washington Post as “turbulent, wildly colorful and exploding with life.”

Montgomery, recipient of the Leonard Bernstein Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Foundation, creates music that interweaves classical traditions with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, language, and social justice.

Acclaimed pianist Inon Barnatan, described by The New York Times as “one of the most admired pianists of his generation,” will perform Florence Price’s soul-stirring Concerto for Piano in One Movement.

The New Yorker has praised Barnatan’s “uncommon sensitivity,” while Le Figaro celebrated his “impeccable musicality and phrasing.” The Evening Standard characterized him as “a true poet of the keyboard: refined, searching, unfailingly communicative.”

Mitchell, who also serves as Artistic Director and Conductor of Oregon’s Sunriver Music Festival, has developed a reputation for presenting engaging, in-depth explorations of thoughtfully curated programs.

The performances will conclude with Mozart’s incomparable Symphony No. 41, known as the “Jupiter” symphony, completing a program that promises pure exhilaration in heralding the New Year.

To read the complete preview, please click here.