Stepping away from operatic repertoire, these fine players performed works by Mozart, Schubert, Tchaikovsky and Haydn.

Opening the concert with Tchaikovsky's fourth orchestral suite, the orchestra played with a tremendous depth of character and an engaging sound, drawing the audience in from the outset. Known as Mozartiana, this suite is made up of four of Tchaikovsky's own orchestrations; three piano pieces by Mozart, finishing with Tchaikovsky's interpretation of an aria from Gluck's The Pilgrims of Mecca. Performed with the precision and clarity the music of Mozart demands, mingled with Tchaikovsky's rich, warm tones, the orchestra seamlessly wove the many moods of the suite, through sonorous strings and ebullient woodwind passages.