Cambridge Resident/Native to perform Mozart and Haydn with Handel and Haydn Society at Symphony Hall in Boston

PRESS RELEASE: BOSTON, MA — Mozart called Haydn “my best friend.” Haydn called Mozart “the

greatest composer I know.”

Enjoy what each heard in the other in this musical reunion as Handel and Haydn Society begins 2017 with Mozart and Haydn, conducted by artistic director Harry Christophers and featuring featuring Mozart’s sparkling concerto with a WGBH calls “an audience favorite for her imaginative interpretations, scorching technique and a physicality onstage that Mick Jagger might admire,” Aisslinn Nosky, concertmaster.

The concerts take place on Friday, January 27 (7:30pm) and Sunday, January 29 (3pm) at Symphony Hall, located at 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston. Tickets range from $28-98 and may be purchased by calling (617) 266-3605, visiting handelandhaydn.org, and in person at 9 Harcourt Street in Boston (M-F 10am-6pm). Student and group discounts are available.

“So often Haydn is referred to as the Master of the symphony,” says H+H Artistic Director Harry Christophers, “but he is actually the master of so many forms and in this programme, you can witness first hand that development from his early symphony Lamentatione to his much later Paris Symphony No. 86. The first concert I ever gave with H+H was at the Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt in August 2006 where we performed some of Haydn’s symphonies in the Haydnsaal on the very stage Haydn performed for his new employer, Prince Paul Anton Ersterhazy. Since then, we have made a conscious decision to survey the incredible variety, drama, and intimacy of his outstanding symphonic output. Lamentatione is one of the very early Sturm und drang ("Storm and stress") symphonies and its nickname refers to snippets of plainsong which Haydn incorporates into melodies in the first two movements. The one he uses latterly is the incipit from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, hence its nickname. Haydn, like so many composers, loved the simplicity of Gregorian chant.”

“Twenty years later,” Christophers continues, “and Haydn’s fame had spread across Europe. Although he was still employed at court, Parisians in particular had taken Haydn’s music to their hearts. Symphony 86 shows just how much his symphonies had transformed from those early years, not only in orchestral size but also in individuality. Here, he is at probably his most inventive and indeed expansive; richly scored it tests the performers’ skill and technique to the limit. Having completed our cycle of Haydn’s violin concertos, we hope to present our inspirational concertmaster, Aisslinn Nosky, performing all of Mozart’s violin concertos. We begin with the G Major and I am so looking forward to Aisslinn bringing Mozart’s intentions to life.”

“Mozart himself was a fine violinist,” shares Aisslinn Nosky, Concertmaster, “and in the G Major Concerto he displays his deep understanding of the capabilities of the instrument. With beautiful melodies and a splash of playful virtuosity, this concerto never fails to make me smile.”

According to H+ H Scholar Theresa M. Neff, PhD, “These four compositions span some 16 years and, on the surface, share many general characteristics. Listening beyond those similarities reveals the details of each work, whether the melodic interdependency of the violin and orchestra in Mozart’s concerto or the rhythmic tessellations of Haydn’s orchestral music. Within these details lay the beautiful musical moments conceived by each composer.”

Mozart and Haydn Program

• Haydn: Symphony No. 26, Lamentatione
• Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major, K. 216
• Haydn: Overture in D Major
• Haydn: Symphony No. 86

Images courtesy Motor Media/Ami Bennitt