Viennese Masters: Rivals and Friends

Mozart and friends: Sinfonia Viva and the Choir of Derby Cathedral come together to celebrate Amadeus at his most inspired, in the company of Joseph Haydn and Antonio Salieri.

With friends like these…we’re just saying, don’t believe everything you see on Amadeus! Legend has painted Salieri and Mozart as deadly rivals, but in fact they were friends, and Mozart was even something of a Salieri fan. Today, Sinfonia Viva puts the record straight, and lets you hear Salieri’s music for yourself: an elegant, exuberant symphony taken from a series of hit operas. It’s a delightful upbeat to Mozart’s flamboyant “Turkish” concerto, played by our leader Sophie Rosa – the sound of a teenage composer simply having the time of his young life.

Then we join forces with some musical friends of our own – Alexander Binns and the wonderful Choir of Derby Cathedral – to meet the one composer whom Mozart regarded as his equal, Joseph (or as Mozart called him, “Papa”) Haydn. This time, Mozart’s much-loved Ave Verum is the introduction to a Mass that Haydn wrote in honour of jolly old Saint Nick, and believe us, this is church music but not as you know it – playful, elegant, and bubbling with all the energy and wit of a composer who declared when he thought of God, he could only write happy music. Derby Cathedral is the perfect setting; come and hear us raise the roof tonight.