Ami Porat

Thriving, extending its influence and still looking for a permanent home, the Orange County-based Mozart Camerata has entered the 1990s in an aura of promise. Some of that promise was delivered on at the ensemble's latest Mozart birthday concert Friday night (the birthday was Saturday) in the squarish but acoustically pleasing sanctuary at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach.

The charming thing about Ami Porat's Mozart Classical Orchestra is its focus and simplicity. This is an ensemble that has a mission and performs it without frills or marketing tricks. At the Irvine Barclay Theatre on Friday, the Orange County-based chamber orchestra offered a megadose of Mozart--a classically balanced program of overture, concerto and symphony--with characteristically solid, pleasing performances. The best music of the night was in the second half: Mozart's Symphony No.

During this 200th birthday anniversary of Franz Schubert, the wonderful Third Symphony is hardly about to be forgotten. Yet the clean, lithe and fluent performance achieved by the Mozart Camerata orchestra of Orange County, closing the ensemble's 11th season, still seemed special. Conducted with both mellowness and urgency by Ami Porat, the Third reiterated all its charms at the orchestra's performance Sunday in St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church.

During this 200th birthday anniversary of Franz Schubert, the wonderful Third Symphony is hardly about to be forgotten. Yet the clean, lithe and fluent performance achieved by the Mozart Camerata orchestra of Orange County, closing the ensemble's 11th season, still seemed special. Conducted with both mellowness and urgency by Ami Porat, the Third reiterated all its charms at the orchestra's performance Sunday in St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church.

For a small chamber group operating on a financial shoestring, the Mozart Camerata continues to generate--along with some well-received music--a good deal of controversy. On Wednesday, Camerata founder Ami Porat found himself embroiled in two more motions filed in Orange County Superior Court, the latest chapter in a tangled tale of jilted lovers, litigation, debts and a musical mutiny over the conductor's artistic competence.

At least eight musicians, including concertmaster Endre Granat, have resigned from the Mozart Camerata chamber orchestra, alleging inept musical leadership from music director Ami Porat, consistently late salary payments and other violations of Musicians' Union regulations. Porat, founder of the Camerata, which is one of two Orange County chamber ensembles, strongly denied the allegations. "There have been no late payments. Absolutely not," Porat said Tuesday. "I'm sure that in the past there were some errors in some calculations, but they were all made good."

A suit by a conductor who alleged he was slandered by former members of his orchestra was dismissed Friday in Orange County Superior Court when, for the second time, the conductor and his attorney failed to appear for a hearing. Mozart Camerata Music Director Ami Porat filed the suit in June against violinists Endre Granat and Alexander Horvath and other unnamed parties, accusing them of "slander, interference with contract, interference with economic relationship and conspiracy."

The founder of the Irvine-based Mozart Camerata chamber orchestra and the woman who had charged him with physical assault settled out of court Thursday. Ami Porat and his ex-fiancee, Karen Shenker, filed a request for dismissal of the assault and battery suit Shenker had filed against Porat in Orange County Superior Court, according to Shenker's attorney, F. Thomas Eck IV of Irvine. Terms of the settlement were not made public.

Mendelssohn's E-minor violin concerto may have provided the centerpiece of the Mozart Camerata's program Saturday night at St. Andrew's Church, but Schubert's Symphony No. 3 emerged as the gem. Closing the final concert of the Camerata's 1990-91 season, the symphony underscored the strengths on which music director Ami Porat has built his orchestra's reputation--precision, balance, and the ability to communicate an idea.

The Mozart Camerata, led by founding music director Ami Porat, has expanded its season from four to five offerings for 1988-89. Guest artists with the 4-year-old chamber orchestra will include violinists Kathleen Lenski and Sergiu Schwartz, violist Brian Denbow, cellist Nathaniel Rosen and pianist Nickoli Popov. Dates and repertory for the concerts, to be held at Santa Ana High School Auditorium: --Oct. 8, 8 p.m.

In about two months in the Lenten season of 1784, Mozart wrote no fewer than four piano concertos, all but the last of them (No. 17) largely overshadowed today by his later achievements in this form. But pianist Nadia Nechama Weintraub wants to make a case for Concerto No. 15, K. 450. "It has a lot of charm and is really exquisite," Weintraub said Monday in a phone interview from her apartment in New York City.

Music director Ami Porat conducted the Mozart Camerata in a polished and provocative season-ending program Saturday night. The ensemble featured Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto as its centerpiece, but oddly, the orchestra, not the pianist, emerged heroic at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. Daniel Pollack had originally been scheduled to play the concerto. Instead, Robert Thies, a recent USC graduate who has studied with Pollack, replaced the more experienced artist.

The founder of the Irvine-based Mozart Camerata chamber orchestra and the woman who had charged him with physical assault settled out of court Thursday. Ami Porat and his ex-fiancee, Karen Shenker, filed a request for dismissal of the assault and battery suit Shenker had filed against Porat in Orange County Superior Court, according to Shenker's attorney, F. Thomas Eck IV of Irvine. Terms of the settlement were not made public.

The founder of the Irvine-based Mozart Camerata chamber orchestra should pay $120,000 to a woman who alleges that he physically assaulted her, according to an Orange County Superior Court arbitrator. Arbitrator Peter V. Nix further recommended that a cross complaint filed by orchestra founder Ami Porat be dismissed. Porat, according to his lawyer, has said he struck Karen Shenker in self-defense and that she is trying to defame him.

A suit by a conductor who alleged he was slandered by former members of his orchestra was dismissed Friday in Orange County Superior Court when, for the second time, the conductor and his attorney failed to appear for a hearing. Mozart Camerata Music Director Ami Porat filed the suit in June against violinists Endre Granat and Alexander Horvath and other unnamed parties, accusing them of "slander, interference with contract, interference with economic relationship and conspiracy."

A small-claims court judge has awarded three local musicians more than $1,000 each in their breach-of-contract cases against the Mozart Camerata chamber orchestra, court records show. The Camerata immediately appealed the decision, a move that prevents the musicians from collecting the money until the case is heard in Orange County Superior Court, Camerata attorney and board member Harvey Berman said Monday. Frank Amoss, president of Orange County Musicians Assn.

A small-claims court judge has awarded three local musicians more than $1,000 each in their breach-of-contract cases against the Mozart Camerata chamber orchestra, court records show. The Camerata immediately appealed the decision, a move that prevents the musicians from collecting the money until the case is heard in Orange County Superior Court, Camerata attorney and board member Harvey Berman said Monday. Frank Amoss, president of Orange County Musicians Assn.

Music director Ami Porat conducted the Mozart Camerata in a polished and provocative season-ending program Saturday night. The ensemble featured Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto as its centerpiece, but oddly, the orchestra, not the pianist, emerged heroic at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. Daniel Pollack had originally been scheduled to play the concerto. Instead, Robert Thies, a recent USC graduate who has studied with Pollack, replaced the more experienced artist.

Two Orange County musicians being sued for slander by the founding director of the Mozart Camerata denied the charges in responses filed Wednesday in Orange County Superior Court. Violinists Endre Granat and Alexander Horvath and other, unnamed parties, were charged by Camerata director Ami Porat with "slander, interference with contract, interference with economic relationship and conspiracy" in a suit Porat filed in June.

For a small chamber group operating on a financial shoestring, the Mozart Camerata continues to generate--along with some well-received music--a good deal of controversy. On Wednesday, Camerata founder Ami Porat found himself embroiled in two more motions filed in Orange County Superior Court, the latest chapter in a tangled tale of jilted lovers, litigation, debts and a musical mutiny over the conductor's artistic competence.