Michael Rickman and Daytona Solisti in ‘Mozartiana – Music of Mozart’ April 21 in Ormond Beach

Pianist Michael Rickman and the Daytona Solisti Classical Players will perform a concerto that one music historian called “one of the greatest wonders of the world” – Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat Major, KV 271 “Jeunehomme.”

Solisti will perform the concerto as part of its “Mozartiana – Music of Mozart” concert at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, April 21 at Lighthouse Christ Presbyterian Church, 1035 W. Granada Blvd., Ormond Beach. A $15 donation is requested at the door. For more information go online at daytonasolisti.com or call 386-562-5423.




The piano concerto referred to as “Jeunehomme,” which Mozart composed in 1777 when he was 21 years old, will feature pianist and Solisti Artist in Residence Dr. Michael Rickman. The all-Mozart concert also will include Divertimento in D Major, KV 136, and Grand Sestetto Concertante in E-flat Major, KV 364/320d, an 1808 arrangement for strings of his beloved Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola with symphony orchestra.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Austrian, 1756-1791) was a child prodigy who began playing harpsichord, other keyboards and violin – and composing his first pieces – by age 5. He began performing publicly throughout Europe, at royal courts and other venues, at age 6. He wrote his first symphony at age 8. At the time of his death in 1791, he had composed more than 600 symphonies, concertos, operas, choral pieces, masses, chamber music pieces and other works.

It was Alfred Brendel, the great Austrian classical pianist, poet, composer and musicologist, who declared Piano Concerto No. 9 one of the “greatest wonders,” but he wasn’t alone in his assessment. American pianist and author Charles Rosen, writing in his 1976 book “The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven,” called Mozart’s piece “perhaps the first unequivocal masterpiece” in the classical genre.




Curiously, the “Jeunehomme” nickname, which was applied to the concerto more than a century after Mozart’s death, is a misnomer. That nickname took hold in 1912 when two French biographers misconstrued a Mozart letter that referenced the work as the “Jenomy.” The two writers assumed that Mozart had crafted that name as a shortened form of the French word “Jeunehomme,” which translates as “young man.”

However, in 2004, music historian Michael Lorenz proved that the concerto’s true namesake – and inspiration – was Victoire Jenamy, an amateur pianist and friend of Mozart (whose name the composer had misspelled). Legend says that Jenamy may even have given the concerto its premiere performance, but the name “Jeunehomme” still sticks to this day.

As for the other two works on the Solisti program, musicologist John Mangum of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association called the Divertimento “a fine example of Mozart’s ambitious work in a genre traditionally designated as ‘light’ music.”

The Grande Sestetto Concertante in E-flat Major, KV 364/320d “Sinfonia Concertante,” is Mozart’s only surviving complete work in that genre. Although he wrote it in 1779, it was not published until 1802, while an arrangement for string sextet appeared in 1808. Solisti will perform the 1808 version with a nonet (nine musicians), and with the two original solo parts divided among the various instruments in the ensemble.

Daytona Solisti was founded in 2005 by violinist Susan Pitard Acree after she moved to Daytona Beach from Atlanta. She previously played violin in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for 22 years, performing in New York (Carnegie Hall), London, Chicago, Paris and other major musical centers.




Daytona Solisti presents an annual concert series featuring performances by the Daytona Solisti Classical Players and the Rickman-Acree-Corporon Piano Trio, plus occasional solo recitals by pianist Michael Rickman. The ensembles are composed of professional musicians from throughout Central Florida and Northeast Florida.

The musical collaboration between Acree and Rickman has spanned 18 years. Rickman has performed at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and at venues in London, Paris, Toronto, Chile, Latvia and across the United States.

He retired from Stetson University in April 2017 after 34 years as professor of piano at the DeLand school, where he has been named Professor Emeritus. He also is a Steinway Artist, an honor bestowed by the prestigious piano maker, and is the Daytona Solisti Artist in Residence.

“Mozartiana – Music of Mozart” concludes Solisti’s 2023-2024 concert season.