WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART / EDITH MATHIS • GRACE BUMBRY • GEORGE SHIRLEY • MARIUS RINTZLER / NEW PHILHARMONIA CHORUS / NEW PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA / RAFAEL FRÜHBECK DE BURGOS - REQUIEM

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition resulted in more than 800 works of virtually every Western classical genre of his time. Many of these compositions are acknowledged as pinnacles of the symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral repertoire. Mozart is widely regarded as among the greatest composers in the history of Western music, with his music admired for its "melodic beauty, its formal elegance and its richness of harmony and texture". Born in Salzburg, then in the Holy Roman Empire and currently in Austria, Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. His father took him on a grand tour of Europe and then three trips to Italy. At 17, he was a musician at the Salzburg court but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position. While visiting Vienna in 1781, Mozart was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He stayed in Vienna, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years there, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas. His Requiem was largely unfinished by the time of his death at the age of 35, the circumstances of which are uncertain and much mythologized. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

There are several orchestras with this name: 1.) the 1964-1977 incarnation of the Philharmonia Orchestra London 2.) the New Philharmonia Orchestra of Massachusetts -- 2.) The New Philharmonia Orchestra of MA, Inc. (New Phil), founded in 1995, is a 75 member non-professional regional orchestra based in Newton and presenting performances in Wellesley, Newton, Natick and from time to time in Framingham and Boston. “Music of, by and for the people” [The Boston Globe] encapsulates the spirit of the organization. From the outset New Phil’s motto, MUSIC FOR ALL, has been our mission. The orchestra advances its mission by presenting programs of diverse repertoire of classical and light classical music for the enjoyment of audiences of all ages and experiences from a variety of urban and suburban communities. At the same time the orchestra strives to provide its non-professional players the opportunity to achieve a high level of ensemble performance not otherwise available. The New Philharmonia Orchestra is a member of the League of American Orchestras and the New England Orchestra Consortium. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (born Rafael Frühbeck Frühbeck, 15 September 1933, Burgos) is a Spanish conductor and composer. Frühbeck studied violin, piano, and composition at the conservatories of Bilbao and Madrid. He graduated summa cum laude from the Hochschule für Musik in Munich in conducting and won the Richard Strauss Prize. Frühbeck has served as music director of the Rundfunkorchester Berlin, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, artistic director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor of the Bilbao Orchestra and the Vienna Symphony, as well as being principal guest conductor for numerous orchestras in Europe, the United States, and Japan. He made his American debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra. From 1980 to 1983 he was principal conductor of Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo, of which he is now an honorary conductor. From 2001 to 2007, Frühbeck was principal conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra. He became music director of the Dresden Philharmonic in 2004. In January 2011, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra announced the appointment of Frühbeck as the Creative Director of its Masterworks Series of concerts, starting with the 2011-2012 season. In February 2011, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra announced the appointment of Frühbeck as its next principal conductor, as of the 2012-2013 season, with an initial contract of 3 years through 2015. Frühbeck has recorded on a number of labels. Especially noteworthy are his performances of Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah, the Mozart Requiem, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, Georges Bizet's Carmen, and - from his native Spanish repertoire - the complete works of Manuel de Falla, as well a classic series of complete zarzuela recordings. Frühbeck has orchestrated a suite from Isaac Albéniz's Suite española and conducted the New Philharmonia Orchestra in a commercial recording of this arrangement. His work in contemporary music has included conducting the world premiere production of Gian Carlo Menotti's opera Goya. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.