Los Alamos Community Winds Celebrate Mozart’s 270th with Guest Soloist Marie Ross

Dr. Marie Ross, guest soloist and lecturer from the University of Auckland, will perform on clarinet with the award-winning Los Alamos Community Winds at a free gala concert at 7:00 p.m. Saturday, March 14, at Crossroads Bible Church in Los Alamos. The concert caps a weeklong Mozart 270th Birthday Celebration staged by Los Alamos Community Winds from March 9-14, 2026.

The weeklong program, listed by SALA Los Alamos and announced by Los Alamos Community Winds, includes period-music performances, public lectures and presentations, film screenings, a clarinet and woodwind master class, and a final gala concert under the direction of Artistic and Musical Director Dr. Ted Vives. SALA’s event listing specifically names Milos Forman’s Amadeus and Ingmar Bergman’s The Magic Flute among the screenings.

Dr. Ross will lead the clarinet and woodwind master class at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 12, in the UNM-Los Alamos Lecture Hall, with admission set at $50 for adults and free admission for students, according to the Los Alamos Daily Post. SALA’s event copy and the Los Alamos Reporter also list Ross as presenting a recital and other lectures during Mozart Week, and they identify her role as Guest Soloist and Lecturer.

Los Alamos Daily Post confirms the 6:00 p.m. March 12 screening at the SALA Event Center will be a 1975 production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, with admission priced at $10 and free for SALA members. SALA’s synopsis of The Magic Flute summarizes the plot this way: “The Queen of the Night enlists a handsome prince named Tamino to rescue her beautiful kidnapped daughter, Princess Pamina. Aided by the lovelorn bird hunter Papageno and a magical flute that holds the power to change the hearts of men, young Tamino embarks on a quest for true love, leading to the evil Sarastro’s temple where Pamina is held captive.”

Ted Vives, identified by the Los Alamos Daily Post as LACW’s artistic and musical director, framed the program around Mozart’s public appeal, saying, “He was very much what I would call a rock star, a popular musician of his time.” Vives added that Mozart’s broader legacy was bringing music beyond royal courts: “One of the biggest impacts he had on music was that he brought music out of the royal court and really wrote music for the people.” He concluded, “That’s his biggest legacy, as far as the impact of today, he was a musician and composer of the people much more so than of the royalty and aristocracy.”

Admission details vary by event: the master class charges $50 for adults with students free, the March 12 Magic Flute screening is $10 or free to SALA members, and the March 14 gala concert is free with donations accepted. The Los Alamos Reporter directs readers to the Los Alamos Community Winds Facebook page for a full, day-by-day schedule; a third-party AllEvents listing also shows a March 9, 6:00 p.m. start but lists an Española address that conflicts with SALA, UNM-LA and Crossroads venues and should be treated as unverified.

The series presents multiple public access points to Mozart’s music in Los Alamos venues — SALA Event Center, UNM-Los Alamos Lecture Hall and Crossroads Bible Church — and culminates with the free gala concert at Crossroads Bible Church at 7:00 p.m. on March 14.