Serving in the dual roles of piano soloist and conductor, Mr. Kahane partnered with concertmaster Margaret Batjer in the rousing and ultimately exciting Mendelsohn concerto, with the strings of the Chamber Orchestra providing a fabric of support that reflected excellent preparation and ensemble awareness. The young composer offered in this work an appreciation for the compositions of Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven, and the concerto’s slow movement is a pure homáge to the lyrical Mozart muse.

An early developing characteristic of Mendelssohn’s style is prestissimo passagework conferred on all artists, but exposing the two soloists to ultra-rapid arpeggios and scales that lesser players would not be able to handle. Mr. Kahane and Ms. Batjer were brilliantly up to the challenge. The concerto’s hair-raising finale evoked wild applause from a nearly full house of subscribers.

Mr. Bermel’s Mar de Setembro, identified by the composer as a “vocal tone poem” set in Portuguese and sung by Luciana Souza, whose role was designated as “voice,” is a short collection of five Brazilian-style songs featuring mother earth, moonlight and love. Ms. Souza could not be heard clearly above the orchestra for much of this set, no doubt due to ill health.

The concluding Mozart symphony was a revelation of clarity, shaped phrases, orchestral cohesion and a bit of over-conducting by an obviously happy maestro. The genius of Mozart was clearly on display with featured bits by the woodwind and horn sections. Mozart’s use of dissonant appoggiaturas on the Andante arses was excruciatingly wonderful. Mr. Kahane kept tempi well within the narrow Classical style, but in the Finale: Presto challenged the best of that NASCAR speed champion conductor, John Eliot Gardiner.