Erin Helyard conducts a musical tribute to the myth of Mozart, from child prodigy to Classical heavyweight.

The program begins in Salzburg with the 16-year-old Mozart writing music designed for pure entertainment – a literal ‘diversion’ in the form of a sunny three-movement symphony for strings. It ends in Vienna with his final masterpiece – the Requiem.

As a story, Mozart’s Requiem is itself legendary – the dying composer striving to finish, breaking off just a few lines into the Lacrymosa, his widow handing it over to a student so it could be completed for the ‘mystery’ client. As music – heartfelt and dramatic, anguished and yet shining with hope – it reveals Mozart in full genius.

Between these bookends of a creative life, Australian composer Corinna Bonshek offers the reflective Dreams of the Earth I. The headiness of summer cicada song and the beauty of birds in flight are juxtaposed with unease in the face of a changing climate, stirring up – in the composer’s words – ‘hope, suffering and love’.

Artists
Erin Helyard Conductor
Sara Macliver Soprano
Ashlyn Tymms Mezzo-soprano
Louis Hurley Tenor
Christopher Richardson Bass-baritone
CSO Chorus
Canberra Symphony Orchestra

Program
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Divertimento in D major, K. 136 (Salzburg Symphony No. 1)
CORRINA BONSHEK Dreams of the Earth I
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Requiem in D minor, K. 626