Victoria Martino: Mozart in England
MozArt and the Grand Tour: From Rococo to Romanticism - Art and Music in the Courts of 18th-Century Europe features the Musica Pro Arte Ensemble with art historian and concert violinist Victoria Martino, presenting her annual five-week lecture-concert series on art and music through the ages. This spring's installment celebrates the 260th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, following the great composer through the courts of 18th-century Europe. Each lecture-concert will feature the art and music of a country that Mozart visited on one or more of his Grand Tours. The audience will be able to step into Mozart's shoes and experience the sights and sounds of Europe's 18th-century elite. The musical culmination of each evening will be a violin concerto by Mozart.
The English enlightenment found its truest expression in the architecture of William Kent and Horace Walpole. Portraiture and landscape painting were elevated to new heights with the work of Sir Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough. In London, the young Mozart found an unexpected connection to the sophistication and elegance of the imported northern German tradition through his acquaintance with Johann Christian Bach and Karl Friedrich Abel.