A Time for Mostly Moving On

Still youthful, maestro Gerard Schwarz celebrates his 54th birthday this weekend at a bittersweet moment.

Days after his birthday on Sunday, he will give his final performances as music director of Lincoln Center’s venerable Mostly Mozart summer festival, a position he has held in his home turf for 17 years.

The Juilliard-trained conductor and former New York Philharmonic trumpet player has been associated with the festival for nearly two decades. During his directorship, he built up its freelance orchestra, taking it on tours as far away as Japan, and attracted numerous national television broadcasts of its concerts.

“It’s a chapter in my life,” he said in an interview in his Avery Fisher Hall dressing room before a recent concert, his black hair hanging above his rotund, boyish face.

Two years ago, Schwarz announced his resignation, surprising center officials, who had reduced the Mostly Mozart season to four weeks to make way for the avant-garde Lincoln Center Festival.

Next month, he takes over the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in England and enters his 16th season as music director of the Seattle Symphony. He also is stepping aside as longtime head of the New York Chamber Symphony.

“How much can you do and commit yourself and fight for the institution?” he asked. “Maybe the word ‘fight’ is not the right word, but it’s the best word that I can think of--whether fighting for its not only survival, but for its artistic goals. You’re fighting for anything you believe in musically to bring to a festival. It’s a tremendous commitment, and you can’t do everything in life.”

When the festival started in 1966, it was called Midsummer Serenades. It was the brainchild of the arts complex’s then-President William Schuman, who wanted to take advantage of its newly installed air conditioning.

When Schwarz joined, the renamed festival still largely featured the light summertime fare of Mozart--like a sweet white Riesling rather than the heavy Brahmsian red Bordeaux of winter feasts. Over the years, Schwarz expanded the programming from works largely by Mozart to include composers who influenced and were influenced by him.

Earlier this month, for example, Schwarz led a stirring performance of Robert Schumann’s “Das Paradies und die Peri,” an oratorio that featured 147 musicians, including an 87-member choir, but had little obvious connections to the powdered wigs and lace of Mozart.

The last time this poetic tale about the ascension to paradise was performed at a major New York venue was 1970, according to Schwarz.

“The fact is our audience prefers all-Mozart programs or all-Mozart-Beethoven or Mozart-Haydn, and we give them a lot of that,” he said. “On the other hand, it’s good for us to experience pieces like this. It’s good for our musical growth. The audience that comes ... will be shocked at how magnificent it is and will be thrilled to have been there.”

Indeed they were, judging by the reception of the large audience.

Although specific plans are uncertain until a successor is appointed, Mostly Mozart probably will continue as a four-week-a-summer festival, said Jane Moss, Lincoln Center’s vice president for programming. She said it may be expanded to include opera productions and delve into the baroque period and the often overlooked works by Haydn. Schwarz will continue as conductor emeritus.

“I think Gerry did a remarkable job with us and for us,” Moss said. “When he started with Mostly Mozart ... we had never had a music director. In a sense, the orchestra and the festival became fully professionalized during his tenure. And even more important ... we really went from being this sort of local phenomenon ... to an internationally recognized music festival. And he was instrumental in all of that.”

Days after his birthday, on Tuesday and Wednesday, Schwarz will perform an all-Mozart concert that includes the Requiem and pianist Emanuel Ax playing the 22nd piano concerto in E-flat. Wednesday night’s concert is being televised nationally on PBS’ “Live From Lincoln Center” series.

Schwarz’s final concert is Aug. 25. Appropriately, the evening will complete the circle for Schwarz. The program includes the composer’s final symphony, “The Jupiter,” which was on Schwarz’s first Mostly Mozart program in July 1980, and the 23rd piano concerto with longtime collaborator Alicia de Larrocha as soloist. The A major concerto was the first of many they have performed together at Mostly Mozart, back in 1982.

“Let me say that it’s always been a great, great pleasure for me [to play with him],” De Larrocha said. “He has always been a devoted, devoted conductor.”

After the final bow, Schwarz will be left with his memories.

“I feel very nostalgic. I love Lincoln Center, I love New York, I love this festival,” he said. “There’s a certain sadness because I’m leaving something that’s been part of my life for 20 years.”