There is no question that the music of Mozart and Beethoven deserves its prominence on concert stages around the world today, but many of their contemporaries were also highly respected in the cultural circles of Classical Vienna and beyond. Marking 250 years since Beethoven’s birth, the musicians of the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra reunite him with long-forgotten friend and occasional rival Anton Eberl.
Rachael Beesley | director
Directed by concertmaster Rachael Beesley, The Impresario gives Australian listeners the rare opportunity to become acquainted with Eberl’s E-flat major Symphony – a work that audiences greeted with enthusiasm right from its first performance in 1805. It is prefaced by the overture to Mozart’s short comedy about singers vying for top billing, and followed by Beethoven’s breathtaking 7th Symphony, which the composer himself regarded as one of his greatest achievements.
“With lashing strings, biting accents and punchy brass, the HIP band raised the curtain on a dynamic concert.” Limelight Magazine, 2019