By D’Lynn Waldron
Special to the Daily Press

There may be nothing more relaxing than listening to the classics of Mozart, especially if it is free.

A free gala concert by the acclaimed Santa Monica Symphony under the baton of its music director and conductor, Allen Robert Gross, will celebrate Mozart’s 250th birthday, on March 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. The program will feature the new star of opera and concert stage, Jessica Rivera.

The audience is invited to dress up, remembering the era when the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium hosted the red carpet Academy Awards. For the British in the crowd, “decorations can be worn.” Members of the audience also are welcome to come in their usual California casual.

The concert will open with Mozart’s popular Symphony No. 36, the “Linz.” The prodigious Mozart wrote the symphony in four days when he unexpectedly had to give a concert in Linz. The symphony reflects his happy mood at being able to marry the woman he loved and being a new father. It is supposed that he was already working on it in his head and hurriedly wrote for the occasion.

After the intermission, Rivera, a soprano, will join the orchestra for Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. In that symphony, Mahler, who grew up in a troubled family, depicts a child’s vision of an ideal world where the physical and the spiritual are one. The symphony opens with sleigh bells and melodies reminiscent of the songs and excitement of childhood. Then in a heart-stopping crescendo, the gates of heaven open for the child and Rivera sings the boy’s poetic description the wonders within, where musicians play and the saints give the children delicious things to eat. At the end of the symphony, the listener is left to decide if Mahler says the child’s description of heaven is just the illusion of innocence.

Reviewers have praised the scope of Gross’ musical knowledge and his ability to impart his own enthusiasm to an orchestra and polish its performance. In the Mahler Fourth, Gross fully brings out the subtle complexities of the dynamics in this symphony, which is both dramatic and melodic.

Rivera’s 2005-2006 season is highlighted by her acclaimed performance as Nuria in the world premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s “Ainadamar” with the Santa Fe Opera. She recorded the role for Deutsche Grammophon with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and portrayed Nuria in the Peter Sellars’ staging of the opera at the New York Lincoln Center in January.

Rivera, who is a native of Southern California, has appeared this season with the LA Philharmonic, the BBC Orchestra, the Auckland Philharmonia, the Los Angeles Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, the New West Symphony, the Ravinia Festival, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Ojai Festival the Cerritos Center, the American Youth Symphony, the Fort Worth Symphony, and the Santa Monica Symphony.

The popular pre-concert talks are given by UCLA’s Professor Raymond Knapp in the meeting room of the Civic Auditorium at 6:30 p.m.

The highly praised Santa Monica Symphony is in its 61st year. It is able to continue giving free concerts, thanks to the generosity of its sponsors and the city of Santa Monica. The concerts attract an audience of all ages and last spring’s free performance filled the 3,000-seat auditorium to capacity, with many young people in the balcony. Seats are not reserved.

The auditorium is located at 1855 Main St. For more information, call (310) 395-6330.