Daniela Mack Replaces Sasha Cooke in Mostly Mozart Festival 2016 Opener

Lincoln Center announces an artist update for the 50th season's opening program on July 25 and 26. Due to pregnancy, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke has withdrawn from these performances and will be replaced by Daniela Mack, who makes her New York and Mostly Mozart Festival debuts.

In recent seasons, Mack has appeared with the San Francisco Opera and the Santa Fe Opera, and recently created the role of Jacqueline Kennedy in the world premiere of David T. Little and Royce Vavrek's JFK at the Fort Worth Opera. She also debuted with three orchestras under conductor Charles Dutoit: Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 2016-17, Mack will debut at the Royal Opera House-Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic, and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

The special opening program event on July 25 and 26 will see the transformation of David Geffen Hall into a theatrical environment for a specially commissioned evening with selections from Mozart's operas. Conceived by the visionary British director and video artist Netia Jones, The Illuminated Heart will feature a white-box theater, which frames the action and serves as backdrop for a series of imaginative projections and visual imagery. Louis Langrée will conduct the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra in this opening program that traverses the many dimensions of Mozart's opera oeuvre. The Illuminated Heart features an impressive range of singers, including sopranos Kiera Duffy (Mostly Mozart debut), Christine Goerke, Ana María Martínez (Mostly Mozart debut), and Nadine Sierra (Mostly Mozart debut); mezzo-sopranos Marianne Crebassa (Mostly Mozart debut); tenor Matthew Polenzani; and baritones Christopher Maltman (Mostly Mozart debut) and Peter Mattei (Mostly Mozart debut).

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival-America's first indoor summer music festival-was launched as an experiment in 1966. Called "Midsummer Serenades: A Mozart Festival" its first two seasons were devoted exclusively to the music of Mozart. The official title of Mostly Mozart was coined in 1970, and the festival has evolved over time to become a New York institution and a highlight of the city's summer classical music season. Over time, and through the leadership of Ehrenkranz Artistic Director Jane Moss and Renée and Robert Belfer Music Director Louis Langrée, Mostly Mozart has broadened its focus beyond the music of Mozart to include works by his predecessors, contemporaries, and successors. In addition to concerts by the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Mostly Mozart now includes performances by the world's outstanding period-instrument ensembles, chamber orchestras, and acclaimed soloists, as well as opera productions, dance, film, and late-night concerts. Contemporary music has become an essential part of the festival, embodied in annual artist and composer residencies that have included Osvaldo Golijov, John Adams, Kaija Saariaho, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, George Benjamin, and the International Contemporary Ensemble. Among the many artists and ensembles who have had long associations with the festival are Joshua Bell, Christian Tetzlaff, Itzhak Perlman, Emanuel Ax, Garrick Ohlsson, Stephen Hough, Osmo Vänskä, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Emerson String Quartet, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and the Mark Morris Dance Group. The festival's popularity has been reflected in several cultural touchstones, including an Al Hirschfeld illustration, a Peanuts cartoon strip, beer cans, and a cover of The New Yorker magazine.

The Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra is the resident orchestra of the Mostly Mozart Festival, and is the only chamber orchestra in the U.S. dedicated to the music of the Classical period. Since 2002 Louis Langrée has been the Orchestra's music director, and since 2005 the Orchestra's David Geffen Hall home has been transformed each summer into an appropriately intimate venue for its performances. Over the years, the Orchestra has been the festival's ambassador, touring to such notable festivals and venues as Ravinia, Great Woods, Tanglewood, Bunkamura in Tokyo, the Kennedy Center, and The White House. Conductors who made their New York debuts leading the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra include Michael Tilson Thomas, David Zinman, Jérémie Rhorer, Edward Gardner, Lionel Bringuier, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Charles Dutoit, Leonard Slatkin,Susanna Mälkki, and Edo de Waart. Mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli, flutist James Galway, soprano Elly Ameling, and pianist Mitsuko Uchida all made their U.S. debuts with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) serves three primary roles: presenter of artistic programming, national leader in arts and education and community engagement, and manager of the Lincoln Center campus. A presenter of more than 3,000 free and ticketed events, performances, tours, and educational activities annually, LCPA offers 16 series, festivals, and programs, including American Songbook, Avery Fisher Career Grants and Artist program, David Rubenstein Atrium programming, Great Performers, Legends at Lincoln Center: The Performing Arts Hall of Fame, Lincoln Center at the Movies, Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Awards, Lincoln Center Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Lincoln Center Vera List Art Project, Midsummer Night Swing, Mostly Mozart Festival, White Light Festival, the Emmy Award-winning Live From Lincoln Center, which airs nationally on PBS, and Lincoln Center Education, which is celebrating 40 years enriching the lives of students, educators, and lifelong learners. As manager of the Lincoln Center campus, LCPA provides support and services for the Lincoln Center complex and the 11 resident organizations: The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Film Society of Lincoln Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Juilliard School, Lincoln Center Theater, The Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet, New York Philharmonic, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, School of American Ballet, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. For more information, visit LincolnCenter.org.

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