Mozart, Korngold & Bryan Cheng: with the NAC Orchestra

Three things to know:

Mozart spent most of his life composing symphonies. He completed his first symphony at the age of eight and the “Jupiter” Symphony 24 years later. Canadian cellist Bryan Cheng returns to Southam Hall to perform not one, but two mesmerizing works for solo cello and orchestra. Erich Wolfgang Korngold originally composed his Cello Concerto for a pivotal scene in the 1946 movie Deception, a film noir starring Bette Davis.

In one of his signature floods of inspiration, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his final three symphonies in six weeks, culminating in the cosmic grandeur of his “Jupiter” Symphony. Showcasing everything Mozart learned over 24 years of composing symphonies, the “Jupiter” Symphony sets the stage ablaze with triumphant brass fanfares, operatic melodies, and a thrilling finale in which five different melodies simultaneously dart across every corner of the orchestra.

Canadian cellist Bryan Cheng showcases his “passionate lyricism” (Bachtrack) in Samy Moussa’s Ring—a work of spiky, angular rhythms and breathtaking virtuosity—and Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Cello Concerto, whose heartbreakingly beautiful melodies evoke the gilded glamour of film scores from Hollywood’s Golden Age.

And Samuel Barber’s Overture to The School for Scandal captures the world of gossip, social climbing, and hilarious hijinks from Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 18th-century play satirizing the upper crust of British society.