A joyful reunion of current and former Mount Vernon Virtuosi musicians, this program celebrates generations of artistry, mentorship, and lifelong friendship built over years of making music together. Familiar faces return to the stage alongside current members for an evening that's as much about connection as it is about performance.
Fittingly, the program turns to Felix Mendelssohn, a composer whose own life was shaped by mentorship and precocious musical friendship. His Octet in E-flat Major, written at just sixteen, remains one of the great miracles of youthful genius—eight string parts in vibrant conversation, its scherzo famously light enough to seem, in the composer's own words, barely touching the ground.
The evening continues with Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 7 for Strings, one of a dozen youthful symphonies he wrote for private performance among family and friends before he'd even reached his teens. Full of energy and formal assurance beyond his years, it's a work born from exactly the kind of musical community MVV celebrates tonight.
Two works from a composer who knew, better than most, the joy of making music among the people who shaped him—a fitting soundtrack for an evening of reunion.
Amit Peled, direction