Ian Page and The Mozartists continue their acclaimed MOZART 250 series in the coming months with ‘Mozart in 1772’ at Cadogan Hall on 21 November 2022 and ‘1773 – a Retrospective’ at Wigmore Hall on 17 January 2023.
For ‘Mozart in 1772’ they are joined by Louise Alder, one of the finest Mozart sopranos of her generation, and their principal keyboard player Steven Devine for a fascinatingly varied and wideranging cross-section of works composed by Mozart in 1772, while ‘1773 – a Retrospective’ places Mozart’s music alongside symphonies by Haydn and C. P. E. Bach and arias (sung by new company Associate Artist Alexandra Lowe) by Haydn, Mysliveček and Schweitzer.
MOZART 250 is conceived to run from 2015, the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s childhood visit to London (the city where he wrote his earliest significant works) until 2041, the 250th anniversary of his death. Described by The Observer as “among the most audacious classical music scheduling ever”, it provides an unprecedented opportunity for modern audiences to follow the chronological trajectory of Mozart’s life and work in ‘real time’, not only exploring Mozart’s own music but also contextualising it alongside the works of his contemporariesIan Page and The Mozartists continue their acclaimed MOZART 250 series in the coming months with ‘Mozart in 1772’ at Cadogan Hall on 21 November 2022 and ‘1773 – a Retrospective’ at Wigmore Hall on 17 January 2023. For ‘Mozart in 1772’ they are joined by Louise Alder, one of the finest Mozart sopranos of her generation, and their principal keyboard player Steven Devine for a fascinatingly varied and wideranging cross-section of works composed by Mozart in 1772, while ‘1773 – a Retrospective’ places Mozart’s music alongside symphonies by Haydn and C. P. E. Bach and arias (sung by new company Associate Artist Alexandra Lowe) by Haydn, Mysliveček and Schweitzer.
Artistic director Ian Page writes:
“MOZART 250 is now getting to a stage where Mozart was approaching full maturity as a composer, and even creating a programme devoted exclusively to music that he composed in 1772 involved some difficult decisions. Already by the age of sixteen he was writing works which regularly reveal the unique hallmarks of his greatness, and his productivity was such that we could have filled three evenings with music that he composed during the course of the year.
Our overview of 1773 includes only two works by Mozart – more will follow later in the year – but as with similar programmes in the series it incorporates some magnificent music by a few of his contemporaries. Anton Schweitzer is a composer not previously featured within MOZART 250, but the opening aria of his Alceste is an extraordinarily intense and dramatic tour de force, and, as with the works by Mysliveček and C. P. E. Bach that are also featured in this programme, it demonstrates that some of the music being written at the time was quite unlike the music of Mozart, Haydn and Gluck.”