Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed 27 piano concertos, with himself in mind as the soloist. Twelve of them were composed after moving from Salzburg to Vienna in 1782, the last of which is featured on tonight’s program. His Piano Concerto No. 25 in C Major, K. 503, is also the longest of this set of twelve, and was completed on December 4, 1786, the cap of an extraordinarily productive year that included his opera, Le nozze di Figaro. The 25th Piano Concerto shares many traits that make Figaro and all of Mozart’s operas so great: a fantastic sense of drama (first movement), beautiful lyricism (second movement), and even a direct opera quote (third movement). Throughout the entire work, Mozart proves his mastery of the standard concerto format of his time, filtered through deliberate, compositional havoc, and ultimately creates an exquisite showcase for soloist and orchestra.