Maui Chamber Orchestra Presents Mozart at ʻĪao Theater

Maui Chamber Orchestra and Maestro Robert E. Wills. Courtesy photo Jack Grace.

By Maui Now Staff

The Maui Chamber Orchestra will present an all-Mozart concert at ʻĪao Theater in Wailuku on Friday, March 27, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 29, at 3 p.m. The show will feature Lotus Dancer performing Piano Concerto #20 in D minor. Maestro Robert E. Wills will host a pre-concert discussion of the Mozart piece on March 29 at 1:30 p.m.

Lotus Dancer, originally born on Oʻahu, has been performing and playing on Maui for 15 years and has been teaching for 50 years.

“I have literally been transformed while working on the D minor, and my interpretation is  more ʻromanticʻ in character than other Mozart piano works up to this time—1785,” said Dancer.

“Mozart rarely expressed such uncharacteristic emotional complexity as in the D minor concerto,” commented Maestro Wills. “The opening, lyrical melody sings almost like a tragic aria. And this only paves the way for the remaining three movements ranging from defiance through serenity; clearly opening the gateway for 19th century expressionism.”

The concert will open with the Overture to the opera La Clemenza di Tito  (The Clemency of Titus).

Tickets are available online or at the ʻĪao Theater Box Office by calling (808) 242-6969 on Monday, Wednesday or Friday between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.