Mostly Mozart 2007

Mostly Mozart 2007 is a four-weekend festival of concerts, dance, opera, free foyer events, pre-concert talks, improvisation workshops and even fireworks, at the Barbican during July and August. The annual festival has become a well-loved feature of the classical music calendar. It provides a chance for audiences to celebrate the summer in the heart of the City and to discover the popular favourites of the classical repertoire.

Supported by Classic fM, the UK’s biggest commercial radio station with over 6.2 million listeners, Mostly Mozart continues to attract new audiences with over half as new to the Barbican and attending classical music events for the very first time.

Both new and existing audiences can now enjoy the improved public spaces in the Barbican, the comfort of the air-conditioned concert hall and the festival feel on the lakeside, perfect for a glass of champagne in the evening sunshine or with the post-concert fireworks.

Mostly Mozart 2007 offers imaginative, varied programming, from the familiar such as Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto (21 July) - played by Julian Bliss, dubbed the “Wayne Rooney of the clarinet” by the Telegraph - to the unexplored, the UK premiere of a Barbican joint commission, Magnus Lindberg’s Violin Concerto (27 July). Above all, the festival is a showcase of the very finest young talent to perform alongside resident chamber orchestra The Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the “Mozart orchestra par excellence”.

This year’s programme focuses on the great violin concertos, with violinists such as Nicola Benedetti performing the Mendelssohn (14 July), Viviane Hagner playing Bruch (21 July), Chloë Hanslip with the Beethoven concerto (28 July), and Jennifer Pike with Mozart’s Concerto No 3 (3 August). Jennifer Pike was the youngest ever BBC Young Musician in 2002, aged 12 and Nicola Benedetti, now a Deutsche Grammophon recording artist, won in 2004.

Chloe Hanslip has recently been praised for her interpretation of the John Adams Violin Concerto on disc for Naxos, and Munich-born Viviane Hagner made her debut recording for EMI with her pianist sister Nicole.

Lisa Batiashvilli, who was one of the first BBC ‘New Generation’ artists and has also recorded for EMI, will give the UK premiere of Magnus Lindberg’s violin concerto (27 July) with Thomas Dausgaard and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. The concert, which culminates with Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony No 3 also includes Mozart’s Oboe Concerto played by Lisa’s husband, François Leleux.

The formidably multi-faceted Julian Rachlin plays the violin in Mozart’s Concerto No 5, viola in Brandenburg 6 and directs the Academy of St Martin in the Fields in Piazzolla’s ‘Four Seasons’ (19 July).

Charismatic conductor Douglas Boyd returns to the festival with Manchester Camerata and prize-winning young pianist Finghin Collins for the well-loved ‘Elvira Madigan’ Concerto No 21. LSO leader Gordan Nikolitch plays Mozart’s Violin Concerto No 4 and the concert culminates in the Symphony No 41 ‘Jupiter’.

The Armonico Consort present The Magic Flute in Kit Hesketh-Harvey’s witty and irreverent English translation in a production inspired by Rosseau’s jungle paintings, with Elin Manahan Thomas as Pamina, Mark Wilde as Tamino and Thomas Guthrie as Papageno.

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields, who give eight concerts are joined by Harry Christophers and The Sixteen as resident artists this year. The two join forces (2 August) for Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus, Solemn Vespers and Faure’s Requiem with soloists Roderick Williams and Elin Manahan Thomas.

Following the popularity of last year’s ‘Creating Cadenzas’ workshops with students from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, ‘Improvising Mozart’, introduced and led by David Dolan, Head of the Guildhall School’s Centre for Classical Improvisation and Creative Performance (24 July), will include complete performances of Mozart’s violin sonatas by advanced students and extend the violin theme of Mostly Mozart 2007.

Barbican Education hosts another ‘Mozart Big Sing’ on 14 & 21 July. Hugely popular last year, it gives both adults and children the chance to experience music from the Magic Flute at first hand. Both adult groups and vocal workshops for children will join forces on the Barbican stage for a final performance.

With fireworks, films and family events, Mostly Mozart is so much more than just a classical music festival. And there’s a chance for audiences to win a trip to Vienna, by voting for their all time favourite Mozart work.

For tickets and more information, visit Barbican.org.uk/mostlymozart.