CHAMBER ORCHESTRA IS LEAVING THE OLD SCHOOL

Conductor Ami Porat and the Mozart Camerata are celebrating their second season by moving from Laguna Beach High School to new concert venues: Newport Harbor and Santa Ana high schools.

The four-concert season will open at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Newport Harbor with a program of works by Mozart, Haydn and Dvorak. Soloists will be pianist Jeanne Weiss and her husband, violinist Sidney Weiss. “There are pros and cons to the move,” said Porat, founder and music director of the fledgling 20-member organization founded in 1980 and re-organized in 1985.

“Obviously a 600-seat auditorium (the Laguna facility) was more reasonable to fill for a reasonably new orchestra.

“On the other hand, Santa Ana auditorium (which seats 1,578) is the finest in terms of acoustics that we have.”

Porat said the move will increase the organization’s expenses by about 10% to 15%.

“Last year, our budget was $50,000,” Porat said. “This year it will be about $60,000.

“But our organization has experienced continuous growth. We have increased corporate support, and we have recently increased the board of directors. There are now 16 members, last year there were only four.”

Despite the changes in venue and expenses, the size of the orchestra has remained “more or less the same as last year.”

“Currently, we have an average of 20 players, Porat said. “It depends on the repertory.

“Our artistic goal is to develop a full complement of a chamber orchestra that would be able to play the major staples in the classical repertory. That would mean 35 to 38 players.”

Included on Sunday’s program will be a work that Porat says “might be called a world premiere”--the Divertimento by Mozart, K. 160.

“The Divertimento has never been played in this shape,” Porat said. “It only existed as a string quartet. But recent evidence presented at a string symposium in Milan six months ago found indications that it was played as an Italian symphony during (the composer’s) visit to Milan in 1772.”

Including such a work follows Porat’s criteria for selecting repertory:

“The caliber of the writing of the piece is one criterion, of course,” he said. “And I will be able to present something better if I love it.

“But (other criteria are) if the piece is unusual or has not been performed here recently or is obscure but worthy.

“Mozart’s K. 287 (to be performed by the orchestra March 7), for instance, was only discovered after World War II in the Library of Congress, of all places. They had the original manuscripts.

“Also, I had an opportunity to hear the Donizetti Sinfonia (to be played April 18) once on a now-out-of-print record. It’s a beautiful piece. I’m hoping to get the music. So far I have written 10 possible sources, but I don’t have it yet.

“Obviously I am out on the line, but I wouldn’t be a musician if I wasn’t a risk taker.”

The season continues:

--Jan. 24: Happy Birthday Mozart program, including Leopold Mozart’s Sinfonia and two works by his son, Wolfgang Amadeus: Symphony No. 21 in A and Flute Concerto in D, with soloist Susan Fries. The concert will be at 8 p.m. at Santa Ana High School.

--March 7: Young Masters’ Masterpieces, including Mozart’s Adagio and Fugue, K. 287, Rossini’s String Sonata No. 2, Suk’s String Serenade and Bach’s Violin Concerto in E with soloist Brian Dembow. The concert will be at 8 p.m. at Newport Harbor High School.

--April 18: Opera Masters’ Chamber Music: Mozart’s Adagio, K. 247, Donizetti’s Sinfonia and Haydn’s Divertimento in D for Cello and Strings with soloist David Speltz. The concert will be at 8 p.m. at Santa Ana High School.