We regret to inform you that following Government advice regarding COVID-19, this event is suspended.
Miraculously uplifting music can be born of the most turbulent times.
“What a destructive, disorderly life I see and hear around me: nothing but drums, cannons, human misery of every sort,” Beethoven wrote to his publisher in 1809 as he witnessed the turmoil of Austria at war with France for the fourth time in 18 years. Amidst the carnage, the composer crafted a piano concerto of unprecedented scale which traverses an emotional spectrum of surprising brightness, optimism and humour.
Yet in terms of joviality, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro Overture pretty much trumps all. Based on a notoriously scandalous play of the same name, the opera pokes fun at the aristocracy. A perfect curtain-raiser, the overture is a brisk, witty preview of the full-scale operatic shenanigans.
The ultimate all-round composer, Mozart was just as comfortable writing church music as he was secular. His magisterial Coronation Mass is another piece which encompasses a world of emotion beyond its scale, peppered with choral and symphonic flourishes that are strikingly theatrical.
This concert will be one hour and 30 minutes long (including an interval).