Orchestra London's final Masterworks concerts of the season are touched with a personal farewell.

Principal viola player Daniel (Dan) Golden is playing his final engagements as a member of the orchestra before returning with his wife to the Chicago area, where he grew up. He joined the orchestra in the late 1970s. Golden has been active in small ensembles, as a composer and as the leader of a klezmer band, among other activities, during his time in London.

"It'll be his last official program with the orchestra," says executive director Rob Gloor. The orchestra plans to salute him at the Masterworks events. There are concerts tomorrow and Thursday at Centennial Hall in London and on Friday in Chatham. Gloor says Golden hopes to return to play with Orchestra London on occasion, as commitments in the Chicago area permit.

"He's definitely not retiring," Gloor smiles.

Golden and his wife, London psychologist Gail Golden, both have family ties to Chicago. They are expected to be active professionally after moving back to Chicago.

Daniel Golden first earned a bachelor's degree at a Chicago school before he decided to be a professional musician. He then went to Indiana University for more studies, including a masters in viola. Orchestra London was his first full-time professional job after graduation.

Music director Timothy Vernon has pointed to Golden's involvement in many aspects of the London music community in saying how much he will be missed. Recently, Encore . . . the Concert Band, conducted by Phil Murphy, played a Golden composition using seven or eight melodies associated with the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.

Golden has also led the London-based Hot Latkes Klezmer Band. That band celebrates traditional Yiddish music and other Eastern European sounds.

The Masterworks program includes Mozart's Symphony No. 38 (Prague), written in the Czech capital in 1786. It was composed between The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni and is the most "operatic" of his symphonies.

Also on the program is Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 (Romantic). After several revisions, the first printed edition came out in Vienna in 1889, more than 15 years after Bruckner started work on it. The movements of the piece suggest the mood of a medieval city.

National auditions for Golden's position with the orchestra are being held. The successful candidate will be determined later.

IF YOU GO

What: Concert in Orchestra London's Masterworks series; Timothy Vernon conducts; works by Mozart and Bruckner are on the program

When: Tomorrow, Thursday, 8 p.m.

Where: Centennial Hall

Tickets: $22 to $38; student rush tickets, $10, available one hour before performance with presentation of valid student ID; call 679-8778