Manchester Camerata & RNCM

Mozart is woven into the fabric of Manchester Camerata, and this concert celebrates his greatness alongside works by those he influenced and inspired.

Following Camerata’s ambitious (and ongoing) Mozart, Made in Manchester project -performing and recording all of his piano concertos – they continue their journey with his horn concertos alongside Martin Owen. Enjoy this taster menu of Mozart and his impact on the works of Fanny Mendelssohn and Beethoven. As Mozart’s legacy echoes these works, so too does it come to life on stage, with RNCM musicians performing side-by-side with Manchester Camerata, learning and growing alongside the very artists who inspire them.

At the age of 19, Mozart’s greatest accomplishment was his repertoire of five concertos for violin and orchestra, written in 1775. This was his most prolific year writing for this instrument, resulting in him never writing for the violin again. This evening’s performance includes one of these masterpieces – Mozart’s Violin Concerto No 3 – with Leader, Caroline Pether, as soloist.

This programme also shines a light on Fanny Mendelssohn’s only orchestra work, a piece left unpublished in her lifetime. Like her brother Felix, she was taught by a student of Mozart. Though her talent matched her brother’s, her musical aspirations were controlled by societal expectations. At 14, her father wrote to her: ‘Music will perhaps become his [Felix] profession, whilst for you it can and must only be an ornament, never the root of your being and doing’.

Drawing the evening to a close is Beethoven’s Symphony No 2. Deeply inspired by Mozart, Beethoven studied his music meticulously and even hoped to study with him. This symphony, composed in 1802 as Beethoven began to confront his hearing loss, is a powerful work that brims with energy and optimism, despite being written during one of the darkest times in his life.

Programme
Fanny Mendelssohn Overture in C major *
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Violin Concerto No 3 in G major K 216
Ludwig Van Beethoven Symphony No 2 in D major Op 36

Performers
Gábor Takács-Nagy, Student tbc * conductors
Caroline Pether violin