By Randi Bjornstad

This is not an editorial — nor a review —  but Eugene Symphony has one of my personal favorite orchestral works of all time on its Jan. 19, 2023 program — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No 41 in C major K. 551, also known as Jupiter.

Close behind in my estimation is his Symphony No. 40 in G minor K. 550, and he must really have been on a roll at the time, because he composed both in 1788 when he was only 32 years old, three years before his untimely death.

I’ve loved it since the moment I first heard it, probably in college, maybe even high school. There’s no need to explain why I love it so much, especially since the the 41st Symphony is regarded by many music experts to be one of the greatest symphonies in the classical music genre.

Suffice it to say, it was one the first long-play records — yes, vinyl — that I ever purchased. (The other was Judy Collins’ Wildflowers.)

For those not familiar with the Jupiter, there is a chance to hear it performed by the Eugene Symphony on Thursday, Jan. 19, just a few days before Mozart’s birthday on Jan. 27.

It’s a program full of 18th-century music, with guest conductor and early music expert Nicholas McGegan directing the orchestra.

In addition to Mozart’s Symphony No. 41, his Turkish Violin Concerto also will be played, featuring a young guest soloist, Julian Rhee. The playlist is rounded out with Joseph Haydn’s Overture to The Desert Island and music by Austrian composer Marianna Martines.

Her work, highly unusual because women generally were not esteemed as composers in the 18th century, also was featured in a November 2022 concert by Eugene Vocal Arts, titled Viennese Salon: https://eugenescene.org/eugene-vocal-arts-opens-its-48th-season-with-music-fit-for-a-viennese-salon/

Eugene Symphony: Mozart’s “Jupiter” 

When: 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023 (preceded at 6:30 p.m. by a Symphony Guild pre-concert talk led by symphony executive director Scott Freck in a conversation with guest conductor Nicholas McGegan and guest violinist Julian Rhee)

Where: Silva Concert Hall, Hult Center for the Performing Arts, 1 Eugene Center (7th and Willamette streets), Eugene

Tickets: $10 to $72, available at the Hult Center box office, 541-682-5000, or online at eugenesymphony.org or hultcenter.org