Louis Langrèe Conducts Last Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra Concert

Langrée's 25 year tenure as leader of the ensemble came to a close this past weekend

August 12, 2023, marked the last concert Louis Langrée will conduct the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, a long-held New York City summer tradition.

Lincoln Center will present an orchestra next summer, although under a different name and conductor. Conductor Jonathan Heyward will serve as the Music Director role for a three-year term beginning in the summer of 2024, as part of the “Summer for the City” festival.

Heyward’s responsibilities will include programming the repertoire for Lincoln Center’s summer orchestra, working with Chief Artistic Officer Shanta Thake to bring in guest conductors and soloists, and further integrating the orchestra series into the larger Summer for the City festival.

The launch of Summer for the City in 2022 brought all of Lincoln Center’s disparate summer festivals under one banner and incorporated a Choose-What-You-Pay ticketing model to expand its audiences.

Louis Langrée has been Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra since 2013 and Music Director of the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center since 2003. In November 2021, he was named Directeur of the Théâtre National de l’Opéra Comique by Emmanuel Macron, President of France.

A regular presence in New York since his 1998 debut, Langrée has conducted more than 250 performances and concerts at Lincoln Center, at the Metropolitan Opera, the Mostly Mozart Festival, and the New York Philharmonic.

"Since my Mostly Mozart Festival debut in 1998, and coming in as Music Director in 2003, we have shared so many beautiful, powerful, and meaningful experiences together at Lincoln Center," said Louis Langrée.

"Over the years, the orchestra musicians and I have developed a unique bond that I will treasure forever. I am honored to have served for 21 years at an extraordinary Festival that has broadened access to music for all New Yorkers for six decades," he continued.

"I wish Jonathon as many joys as those I experienced during this extraordinary journey. His leadership, musicianship, and connection with these wonderful musicians will be a thrill for New York audiences. Good luck, Jonathon!"

Jonathan Heyward made his Lincoln Center debut in August 2022, conducting the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra during the inaugural Summer for the City festival. He more recently made his New York Philharmonic debut in April 2023.

"What an honor it is to be chosen to lead Lincoln Center's summer orchestra," Heyward said. "This orchestra has an incredible legacy, and Louis Langrée's leadership is an inspiration as I embark on this new chapter of artistic growth with the ensemble."