The Oregon Mozart Players send off a long-time musician and conductor with one last performance
Leaving a lasting legacy, Kelly Kuo’s 12th season and final performance as artistic director will conclude with Oregon Mozart Players Legacy this Saturday, May 11 at Beall Concert Hall. A few of the winners from the senior and junior divisions in the Young Soloists Competition will be performing alongside OMP. “Legacy, it’s part of what I leave behind to the organization, this competition and its winners, but also a dedication to promoting music written by historically underrepresented musicians and composers,” Kuo says. The opening piece Primal Message, written by Kuo’s friend, professional violist Nokuthula Ngwenyama, contains a message of intellect and emotional beauty. Kuo’s former University of Oregon piano teacher and piano soloist in Kuo’s audition for OMP, Dean Kramer, will perform Beethoven’s “Emperor” concerto No. 5. Kramer was the first OMP soloist that Kuo worked with, “and I thought it was fitting to have him be also the last,” he says. The audience members should experience a portrayal of both pride and hope. Pride because “the music that has been composed in the past and right in the community,” Kuo says, allows musicians “to leave a legacy literally behind them as we go forward.”