Music director Scott Yoo presents vibrant mix of genres, from baroque to jazz

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY — The Festival Mozaic has announced the schedule for its 2024 San Luis Obispo Summer Music Festival, scheduled from July 18-27. 

Twenty-one events over 10 days — from free recitals to a climactic orchestral concert — encompass performances by music director and violinist Scott Yoo, as well as marquee soloists and artists from the nation’s finest orchestras.

Unlike some performing arts series, Festival Mozaic is not confined to a single genre, venue, or even the indoors. The natural beauty and architectural splendor of San Luis Obispo County shine throughout the lineup, as music lovers experience the best in Baroque works, chamber pieces, world premieres, jazz, and Americana among/in missions and vineyards.

“It is with great excitement and joy that I present to you Festival Mozaic’s 2024 San Luis Obispo Summer Music Festival,” Yoo says. “As we gather once again to celebrate the beauty and power of music, we embark on a journey of discovery, inspiration, and connection.”

This season, Yoo appears in his familiar guises as violinist, conductor, and host, adding a new role: composer. The opening night chamber concert (July 19) includes not one but two world premieres: Yoo’s “Piano Quartet, op. 1,” and Canadian piano virtuoso Stewart Goodyear’s “Octet.” The program concludes with the expansive “Piano Quintet” by Sibelius.

One of Festival Mozaic’s signature events, Baroque in the Vines, takes place the following evening, featuring works by Telemann and J.S. Bach at the hilltop Serra Chapel. The picturesque, historically styled building is just over 30 years old, but its beauty and sweeping surroundings are timeless.

The historic Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa was founded in 1772, the same year that Mozart wrote his sprightly “Divertimento in D Major, K. 131.” It will be heard at the mission July 24 on a program including Ravel’s “Introduction and Allegro” for harp and chamber ensemble.

Festival Mozaic presents a wide range of music in forms ranging from free midday mini-concerts to a family concert with dancers (“Peter and the Wolf,” July 22) to exploratory lecture-recitals called Notable Insights (July 18 and 25), in which Yoo, host of the PBS program “Now Hear This,” guides festivalgoers through what makes masterworks tick. During this year’s Notable Dinner (July 22), he will discuss Felix Mendelssohn’s youthful “Sextet” at Cass Winery in Paso Robles.

The See Canyon Fruit Ranch hosts not one, but two jazz groups July 21, the musically omnivorous “Quarteto Nuevo” and San Luis Obispo’s own Ron McCarley Jazz Quartet opens, while local singer-songwriter Melody Klemin opens for Americana artists Tim Bluhm and The Coffis Brothers appearing at the Dana Adobe Cultural Center in Nipomo on July 25.

The festival is screening two films: “Chevalier,” based on the life of Black violinist and composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George (July 22); and “Earl Kim,” about one of Yoo’s musical mentors. Kim’s “Where Grief Slumbers” for soprano and chamber ensemble is a highlight of the fourth chamber concert (July 26), including Tchaikovsky’s passionate “Souvenir de Florence” for string sextet.

When Yoo auditioned for the music directorship of Festival Mozaic in 2004, he conducted Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. His July 27 performance of the work with the Festival Orchestra to close this summer season creates a symbolic bridge to the 2025 festival, which will mark the 20th anniversary of his appointment. This concert will also feature Mozart’s “Magic Flute Overture” and Wagner’s lush “Wesendonck Lieder” with German soprano Sarah Traubel.

Single tickets are on sale now. To purchase tickets, visit festivalmozaic.org, call (877) 881-8899, or stop by the festival office at 265 South St., Suite G San Luis Obispo, open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.