“Tucson Symphony Orchestra conductor José Luis Gomez showed us a different side to his music-making on Friday night,” writes Cathalena E. Burch in Saturday’s (3/9) Arizona Daily Star (Tucson). “Sporting an untucked dress shirt instead of his suit coat and tie, and a violin instead of his baton, he joined a quartet of soloists—concertmaster Lauren Roth, principal violist Anne Weaver and principal double bass player James Karrer—to perform Mozart’s lively Serenade No. 6 in D major. In the vernacular of the handful of teens among the nearly full house at Catalina Foothills High School: Maestro got mad violin skills. But the object of his maiden solo venture with the orchestra was not so much to show us he can play the violin; he can, and quite proficiently. ‘Gomez Plays Mozart’ was a chance for us to see where he came from musically and how that informs his leadership of the orchestra…. It was exhilarating and inspired…. Friday night’s performance was the first time in 30 years that the orchestra has played Serenade No. 6, but it had never before Friday played Mozart’s Serenade No. 12 in C minor that opened the concert.”
Posted March 14, 2019
