Spend a Night in Salzburg With Bach Collegium San Diego
Two composers, one city, and a working friendship that started when Mozart was 11 years old. Bach Collegium San Diego opens its season with Salzburg Connections, a program built around Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Michael Haydn, and it runs two nights on opposite ends of the city.
From Laudate Dominum to a Requiem in C Minor
Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore, K. 339, is where Laudate Dominum comes from, and that one movement explains why the piece keeps turning up on programs. It is bright, unhurried, and written for a soprano who can float a line.
Michael Haydn’s Requiem in C minor pulls hard in the other direction. Its full title, Missa pro defuncto Archiepiscopo Sigismundo, names the archbishop it was written to mourn, and the music carries that weight from the first bar.
The night ends on Ave verum corpus, K. 618. Short enough to look like a footnote on the program, and nothing like one in the room.
Mozart Was 11 When These Two Started Working Together
If the name Haydn sends you straight to string quartets and symphonies, that is Joseph, the older brother. Michael made his name in sacred vocal music, and this Requiem is the clearest case for it.
He and Mozart go back to 1767 and a collaboration on Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots. Years later, when Haydn fell ill and could not finish a commissioned set of six duets for violin and viola, Mozart wrote two of them so the set could be delivered on time.
Four Soloists and 23 Years of Bach Collegium
Soprano Sherezade Panthaki, mezzo-soprano Cecilia Duarte, tenor James Reese, and baritone Tyler Duncan take the solo lines, and the Laudate Dominum alone is reason enough to sit close.
Ruben Valenzuela founded Bach Collegium San Diego in 2003, and the ensemble has stayed with Renaissance, Baroque, and early Classical music ever since. The playing is historically informed, so expect clarity and balance over volume.
La Jolla on Saturday, Point Loma on Sunday
Saturday night is at The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center on Fay Avenue in La Jolla. Sunday afternoon moves to All Souls’ Episcopal Church on Catalina Boulevard in Point Loma.
Same program, same soloists, two rooms that will handle it differently. Either way you are out in one hour and 35 minutes including intermission, which leaves the rest of the night open.
See you there!
Grab a ticket for whichever night fits your weekend, then give yourself time before you head to the car. Music like this takes more than a minute to shake off.
📆 Saturday, October 17, 7 PM | Sunday, October 18, 4 PM
📍 7600 Fay Ave, La Jolla | 1475 Catalina Blvd, San Diego
🎟️ Lock in your spot here
ℹ️ See more of what’s in store for you here
See you there, San Diego!
