THE Academy of St Olave’s second concert of their 2023-24 season will be a sublime night of late-Classical and early-Romantic music by Mozart, Schubert and Cherubini on Saturday.
The York chamber orchestra’s 8pm programme in St Olave’s Church, Marygate, York, will raise funds for the much-needed replacement of the church’s leaking St Giles Room roof.
The “main event” will be Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony No. 8 in B minor – but in a finished version! Schubert famously completed only the first two movements, and connoisseurs have long speculated over his intentions for the final two movements and his reasons for setting the symphony aside (six years before his death in 1828).
In addition to the two completed movements, the Academy will perform third and fourth movements compiled and composed by internationally renowned Schubert scholar Professor Brian Newbould, based on material left behind by the Austrian composer.
The Academy also will perform Mozart’s dramatic Symphony No. 25, sometimes known as the “Little G minor”. Composed in the Sturm und Drang style, the first movement, with its agitated syncopations, features in the opening credits of Peter Shaffer’s Oscar-winning film Amadeus.
Setting the scene will be the grand operatic overture Anacréon by Italian composer Luigi Cherubini, who was described as the greatest composer of his era by no less than Beethoven.
The orchestra will be directed by guest conductor John Bryan, who says: “I’m delighted to be working again with the excellent musicians of the Academy of St Olave’s in this wonderful programme. Brian Newbould’s completed version of Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony will be fascinating to perform, and our audience also have a delightful pairing of Classical works by Mozart and Cherubini to look forward to.”
Advance booking via academyofstolaves.org.uk is encouraged; any remaining tickets will be sold on the door.