Giovanni Antonini & Wrocław Baroque Orchestra

The outstanding Italian conductor Giovanni Antonini, who for years was the artistic director of the International Festival of Wratislavia Cantans named after Andrzej Markowski, still remains a frequent guest of the capital of Lower Silesia. During a concert with the Wrocław Baroque Orchestra, he will present works created in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The program will include works by Joseph Martin Kraus, Carl Maria von Weber and Franz Schubert.

The evening will open with Joseph Martin Kraus's Overture to Olympie. This now somewhat forgotten composer is sometimes referred to as the “Swedish Mozart” — because of both the scale of his talent and the coincidence of the dates of his life and death. He was born in the same year as the author of Eine kleine Nachtmusik, and died only a year after that. He was highly regarded by Joseph Haydn, who considered Kraus one of the most outstanding creators of his era. Full of expression and dramatic tension, the Overture comes from the stage music for the tragedy Olympie by the Swedish poet Johan Henric Kellgren, which is an adaptation of Voltaire's drama, and is an excellent example of the aesthetics of Sturm und Drang, one of the most interesting composers of late classicism. Then we will listen to Carl Maria von Weber's 1st Clarinet Concerto in F minor. It was created in 1811 for the outstanding instrumentalist Heinrich Baermann. It is distinguished by its dark color and drama foreshadowing the arrival of romanticism. The lyrical middle part brings to mind an opera aria, and the clarinet carries out a subtle dialogue with the three horn horns. The finale takes the form of an energetic roundabout giving the soloist the opportunity to showcase both virtuosity and sensitivity. The solo part will be performed by French clarinetist Nicolas Baldeyrou — an artist with a versatile repertoire covering music from classicism to the present. It is worth mentioning that Weber's two clarinet concertos are among the most popular works written for this instrument today.

The evening will be completed by the 4th Symphony in C minor D 417 “Tragic” composed by Franz Schubert in the spring of 1816. It first sounded only in 1849 in Leipzig - more than twenty years after the author's death. It is not known why the nineteen-year-old creator decided to give it just such a subtitle. Perhaps this was associated with the dark nature of the first part, full of violent contrasts and dramatic tension. Subsequent links, however, bring more lyricism and subtlety. Elements of conflict return in the finale, which ultimately leads to a lightening of mood and a transition to the triumphant C major.