This concert opens with Mozart’s light-hearted overture to the opera “The Impresario” which he described as a “comedy with music”.  The story is a parody of the rivalry between singers in an opera company and the Overture is full of joyful melodies.

The light-hearted vein continues with three pieces from Mendelssohn’s “Incidental music” for Shakespeare’s play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, written for a performance in Potsdam in 1843.  These pieces really show off our star wind players!

We are very excited to welcome pianist Cordelia Williams to play with the Havant Orchestras at last, after earlier attempts were foiled by bad weather and other adverse events!  Cordelia won the piano section of the BBC Young Musician competition in 2006, and since then has played concertos with several major professional orchestras, along with a busy schedule of solo recitals.  Cordelia will be playing Beethoven’s fourth piano concerto, which was hugely successful when the composer himself first performed it in 1808.

The concert concludes with Symphony No 99 by Haydn, the first one in which Haydn used clarinets, which were a relatively modern instrument at the time.  Haydn’s last twelve symphonies are known as the “London Symphonies” because they were written for concerts given during his two visits to London.  No 99 was premiered in London on 10th February 1794 – almost exactly 221 years ago!