Mozart Camerata

Violinist Misha Lefkowitz, pianists Nadia Nechama Weintraub and Robert Thies plus pianist-violinist Corey Cerovsek will be the soloists with the Mozart Camerata for the orchestra's 1993-94 season, music director Ami Porat announced Monday. All five concerts will begin at 4 p.m., and will be held at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, 600 St. Andrews Road, in Newport Beach. Concerts have been scheduled for Sunday afternoons because St.

A few logistical snafus crept into the house when Camerata Pacifica gave the second full concert of its 18th season Sunday afternoon at Temple Beth Torah in Ventura. Seating plans were in disarray, and the season catalog had yet to arrive. But chalk that up to growing pains, symptoms of upward mobility for this ambitious chamber music organization.

The Mozart Camerata's 1996-97 concert season, which opened over the weekend with guest violinist Sidney Weiss, includes four more programs through May. All concerts will take place at 4 p.m. at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach; the January Mozart program also will be played at 8 p.m. at the Irvine Barclay Theatre. The remainder of the schedule: * Oct. 27: C.P.E.

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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 Mozart Camerata has announced its 1995-96 season, five concerts to be directed by founder Ami Porat: * Oct. 21, 22: Overture to Rossini's "La Scala di Seta"; Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5, with soloist Misha Lefkowitz, and Haydn's Symphony No 102. * Nov. 4, 5: Schubert's "Quartettsatz" (orchestrated by Porat); Mozart's Symphony No. 29; Handel's Organ Concerto, Opus 4, No. 5, and Haydn's Organ Concerto No. 5, both with Frederick Swann.

The Mozart Camerata has announced its 1992-93 season. All concerts will be given at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, 600 St. Andrews Road, Newport Beach, on Saturdays and will start at 8 p.m. * Nov. 7--"Fall Splendor": Rossini, "Tancredi" Overture; Mozart, Piano Concerto K. 491 in C minor (with Daniel Shapiro, soloist); Beethoven, Symphony No. 2. * Dec. 5--"Strings Attached": Mozart, Divertimento in F, K.

The Orange County Musicians Assn., Local No. 7 may blacklist the Mozart Camerata, having rejected a settlement proposed by the local union president involving musicians who were barred from a Camerata rehearsal last month. Camerata officials asserted that violinist Tanya Bovaird and violists Dmitri Bovaird and Miriam Meyer were barred because they had not been hired to play the group's next concerts.

There's nothing wrong with a little Mozart--everyone loves Mozart. Yet oddly enough, a full evening of his music doesn't automatically yield the pleasures one might expect. Ami Porat and his Mozart Camerata certainly had their hearts in the right place Saturday night at Santa Ana High School, honoring their namesake on his upcoming 231st birthday. But the choice of repertory--three and one third pieces, all from the composer's youth--left one satiated with fluff, and hungry for substance.

What a joy it was to hear a concert again in the airy, resonant ambiance of Santa Ana High School Auditorium when conductor Ami Porat opened the Mozart Camerata's new season at the venerable facility on Saturday. Porat seemed to respond with equal enthusiasm to the hall, offering some ebullient, vivid readings in a program that included music by Mozart, Franz Benda, Haydn and J. C. Bach. But perhaps most memorable was Mozart's Violin Concerto No.

Conductor Ami Porat thought he was sending a clear message to the world when he founded the Mozart Camerata in 1985. He soon learned that the name confused some people. "What kind of camera is that?" Porat said he and his board members have been asked "umpteen" times. "Camerata" is a word well understood in musical circles to mean chamber orchestra, the conductor said. "But it doesn't have as broad a meaning among a general public." This season, which ends Sunday at St.

The Mozart Camerata has announced it will play five concerts in Newport Beach and two in Irvine for its 1998-99 season. The Newport Beach location will be St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, 600 St. Andrews Drive. The Irvine venue will be the Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive. All concerts will be conducted by camerata founder Ami Porat. The season: * Sept. 19, 8 p.m. in Irvine; Sept. 20, 4:30 p.m. in Newport Beach: Mozart's Sinfonia in D, K. 196; Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.

The remark, in Susan Bliss' otherwise favorable review ("Mozart Remembered in Animated, Involved Concert," Jan. 5) of a performance by the Mozart Camerata, that "the audience failed to applaud until Porat finally motioned for the orchestra to bow" after the Overture to "Il Re Pastore" inaccurately implies that something was lacking in the music. On the contrary, the initial silence merely reflected the unfamiliarity of a well-behaved audience with this particular work, and enthusiastic applause was heard after we realized that the piece had ended.

Some musicians are born into musical families. Violinist Haroutune Bedelian, who plays the Beethoven Concerto with the Mozart Camerata in two performances this weekend, was born into something more like a dynasty. "The violin was the instrument, if you like, of the family," Bedelian said by phone during a recent break from violin classes he teaches at UCI.

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.

Now in its 11th season, the Mozart Camerata, a chamber-sized orchestra based in Orange County, continues to observe the birth month of its namesake with a Mozart program. This year's included the First and 36th Symphonies, and the Piano Concerto No. 15.

The Mozart Camerata's 1996-97 concert season, which opened over the weekend with guest violinist Sidney Weiss, includes four more programs through May. All concerts will take place at 4 p.m. at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach; the January Mozart program also will be played at 8 p.m. at the Irvine Barclay Theatre. The remainder of the schedule: * Oct. 27: C.P.E.