‘Mozart’ Still First in Mozart Classical Orchestra

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. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Porat changed the name to the Mozart Classical Orchestra to clear up the confusion.

“Now people have a direct understanding that we are an orchestra,” Porat said. “But we haven’t changed anything else. The orchestra still plays Mozart, [because] Mozart teaches all.”

He hastened to add, “This doesn’t mean we only play Mozart. The assumption is that if we play Mozart well, that already includes the skills to play other repertory.”

But Sunday’s concert will indeed be entirely Mozart: the Overture to “Il Re Pastore,” Concertone for Two Violins, and Symphony No. 30. The soloists in the Concertone will be orchestra members Olivia Tsui and Irina Voloshina.

Mozart wrote all three pieces within about a 14-month period in 1774-75.

“But they have completely diverse ideas and diverse methods and forms,” Porat said. “So the [program] is rather interesting in that respect.”

The concert also fits one of the conductor’s cardinal programming rules.

“I must be constantly mindful of the fact that if I use the same instrumentation for every piece on a program, that’s a more efficient use of our resources,” Porat said. “Sometimes you need slightly different instrumentation for a program to make sense musically or aesthetically, but budget constraints don’t permit it.

“It’s difficult to play one piece that has clarinets when the rest don’t need them, for instance. I can’t justify it with our budget.

“Sometimes,” he added, “we wish we could hire slightly more well-known soloists, which would provide certain marketing attractions. [But] basically there are some constraints.

“I’ve tried to adhere to a simple rule: Hire the best musicians, the finest we can. There is a vast pool of soloists who wish to be heard, fortunately. We have managed to have very high-caliber soloists who are unknown, lesser known or are young people coming up that fit the bill.”

The orchestra’s budget, about $200,000, has been relatively stable “for about the last seven or eight years,” he said. Nearly 70% of it comes from ticket sales, the rest from donations.

“We have a plan in place to double it in two years,” Porat said.

To do that, the orchestra hired its first professional managing director, Catherine M. Michaels, in February, thanks to a $10,000 grant from the San Francisco-based Clarence E. Heller Foundation. Michaels had been executive director of the Children’s Museum at La Habra for 18 years.

Porat said that was necessary for the group to grow.

“My time is limited. No matter how well I do these [administrative] jobs, there are certainly only so many hours in a day,” he said. “I must stop and do the music.”

Plans include playing “every symphony by Mozart, every symphony by Haydn, [and] to find out every great piece of music written for this kind of ensemble during the 18th century.

“We’ve also slowly started introducing 20th century music to our audiences.” Porat said. “I did so because I truly believe in the musical education of the community, but the community includes the orchestra and the conductor.”

* Ami Porat will lead the Mozart Classical Orchestra in a Mozart program Sunday at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, 600 St. Andrews Road, Newport Beach. Olivia Tsui and Irina Voloshina will solo in the Concertone for Two Violins, K. 190. 4:30 p.m. $23-$29. (949) 830-2950.