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About this Piece

This festive solo motet was composed for a favorite singer by the already mature 17-year-old Mozart. Though designed for church—the Latin text speaks of rejoicing—Exsultate, jubilate displays many features of Mozart’s more operatic concert arias; he even infuses elements of a concerto into it, treating the voice as a virtuoso soloist. When you hear it, you marvel at what technique that singer must have had, because Mozart pulls out all the stops, jumping from very high to very low notes and back again, as well as demanding fast, florid passages. Our celebrated vocal virtuoso is Florida native Nadine Sierra, who was the youngest singer ever to win the Marilyn Horne Foundation Vocal Competition.