Santa Barbara Symphony Presents: Reif Conducts Tchaikovsky and Mozart

Hailed as one of his generation’s most promising conducting talents, German-born Christian Reif has impressed critics with his phenomenal poise and interpretive prowess. He will lead a program that opens with a work by another musical Wunderkind, Pulitzer Prize-nominated composer Michael Gilbertson. Continuing in a youthful vein, rising cellist Thomas Mesa will perform Tchaikovsky’s stunningly brilliant Variations on a Rococo Theme. Composed at the end of his life, La Clemenza di Tito reveals the full flower of Mozart’s mature genius. There is no mistaking the program’s concluding work – the Viennese master’s timeless and captivating Symphony No. 39