Sung directs ESO in bright, varied spring Mozart program

What better way to celebrate spring than with Mozart, classical music's genius of geniuses?

The Elgin Symphony Orchestra is offering an all-Mozart program for its April Classics Series concerts at Hemmens Theatre, which opened with matinee and evening performances Friday.

An orchestral concert devoted to several pieces by the same composer is uncommon because of a sense of sameness to the music. That's not true with Mozart, who packed more than 600 works into his brief 35 years. Each piece has its own special quality, as anyone attending Mozart's "The Abduction from the Seraglio" that recently wrapped up Lyric Opera's season, can attest.

The ESO welcomes guest conductor Shi-Yeon Sung to its podium this weekend in a wide-ranging program of Mozart works, familiar and unfamiliar. A native of South Korea and winner of numerous international conducting prizes, including the Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition in 2006 (the first woman to win that honor), Ms. Sung is assistant conductor to music director James Levine at the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Soprano Arianna Zukerman, daughter of famed violinist-conductor Pinchas Zukerman, is the guest soloist this weekend for two works, including "Exsultate jubilate," a well-known motet for soprano and chamber orchestra. This piece demonstrates Mozart's genius, the 17-year-old composing it in a matter of hours while attending performances of one of his early operas in Milan, Italy, in 1773. Ms. Zukerman, whose accomplishments as a Mozart interpreter are gaining widespread attention, gave a joyful interpretation of this great work, with its ecstatic "Alleluia" finale.

Following intermission, Ms. Zukerman offered an equally fine performance of the less-familiar aria "L'amero saro costante" from an early Mozart stage work, "The Shepherd King."

Friday afternoon's concert opened with the well-known serenade "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" ("A Little Night Music") and concluded with a thoughtful, yet dramatic, performance of the "Great G Minor" Symphony (No. 40). Throughout this late, great symphony, Shi-Yeon Sung demonstrated total mastery of Mozart's musical language, controlling the dynamics and phrasing with nuance and sensitivity. The players of the ESO joined in applause for Ms. Sung at the concert's conclusion.

Elgin Symphony Orchestra

What: Shi-Yeon Sung conducts an all-Mozart program, including the serenade "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" and Symphony No. 40 in G Minor. Soprano Arianna Zukerman is the soloist for the motet "Exsultate jubilate"

Where: Hemmens Theatre, 45 Symphony Way, Elgin

When: 8 p.m. Saturday, 3:30 p.m. Sunday

Tickets: $25-$63. Call (847) 888-4000, or visit elginsymphony.org.