National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu has approved more than $82 million to fund local arts projects and partnerships in the NEA’s second major funding announcement for fiscal year 2016. Included in this announcement is an Art Works award of $10,000 to Festival Mozaic to support the Notable Encounter series of its 2016 Summer Music Festival, July 13-24, 2016. The Art Works category supports the creation of work and presentation of both new and existing work, lifelong learning in the arts, and public engagement with the arts through 13 arts disciplines or fields.
“The arts are all around us, enhancing our lives in ways both subtle and obvious, expected and unexpected,” said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. “Supporting projects like the one from Festival Mozaic offers more opportunities to engage in the arts every day.”
NEA funds will support the Festival’s Notable Encounter Series, an educational program. The series is an integral part of Festival Mozaic’s year-round offerings, including its summer music festival. Notable Encounters are lightly-scripted performances that include musical examples along with biographical and historical information about the composers and the work performed by the Festival’s elite musicians, visiting from top ensembles around the United States.
“This is a huge honor,” said Festival Mozaic Executive Director Bettina Swigger. “Under the direction of Music Director Scott Yoo, the artistic level of our Festival has flourished. We are very proud to be creating artistic experiences that are recognized at the national level and we are eager to share them with a broad and diverse public.”
“Our Festival is a highly sought-after destination for top level musicians,” said Music Director Scott Yoo. “Since their inception, the Notable Encounter series has become the raison d’être of the Festival. Through these programs, we are introducing new audiences to the art form of classical music and attracting national and international attention.”
Repertoire will include chamber works by Arnold Schoenberg, Sergei Prokofiev, Franz Schubert and Carl Nielsen. The festival will culminate in a Notable Encounter program that will explore Mahler’s “Symphony No. 4,” with Music Director Scott Yoo leading the all-star professional Festival Mozaic Orchestra, and featuring boy soprano Bobby Hill as soloist. Audio recordings from the Notable Encounters will be broadcast on public radio station KCBX.
2016 Notable Encounters – Summer Festival
July 13 – Notable Encounter Dinner: Transfigured Night features Verklärte Nacht, op. 4 by Arnold Schoenberg at a private home (open to the public)
July 17 – Notable Encounter Dinner: Dueling Violins features Sonata for Two Violins by Sergei Prokofiev at Allegretto Vineyard Resort
July 21 – Notable Encounter: On Stage with Schubert features Franz Schubert’s Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667 “Trout” at Cuesta Cultural and Performing Arts Center
July 23 – Notable Encounter: Mahler in Perspective with the Festival Mozaic Orchestra, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 in G major at San Luis Obispo Performing Arts Center
July 24 – Notable Encounter Brunch: Winds in the Valley features Carl Nielsen’s Wind Quintet, op. 43 at a private home (open to the public)
Festival Mozaic celebrates its 46th annual Summer Music Festival July 13-24, 2016. 2016 marks the first NEA grant in 21 years to the organization, originally founded in 1971 as the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival.
For more information about Festival Mozaic, visit FestivalMozaic.com. To view videos of past Festival Mozaic Notable Encounters, visit www.YouTube.com/FestivalMozaic.