Review: Reading Symphony wows with Mozart, Shaham

The music of Mozart, Israeli-American pianist Orli Shaham and the always entertaining music director Andrew Constantine proved to be a winning combination for the Reading Symphony Orchestra Saturday night.

As she performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20, Shaham’s fingers were light lightning on the keyboard, and with every thrusting, jerking motion, her face bore a look of agony and ecstasy that is typically reserved for paintings of martyrs. She played with such intensity that it was as if she and the piano were symbiotically linked.