CLARKSVILLE, TN – The Gateway Chamber Orchestra (GCO) is thrilled to announce the final program of the 2023-24 season – America’s Haydn Festival. This captivating concert will explore the music of Franz Joseph Haydn alongside other composer active during his day. The program will take place on April 28 at 4 p.m. and will showcase masterworks by Haydn as well as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, CPE Bach and Joseph Bologne.
America’s Haydn Festival was initially presented by the GCO in Clarksville during the spring of 2019. While live concerts were suspended during the pandemic, a virtual festival with four programs was streamed during 2021. This event was hosted by noted conductor and commentator Bill McGlaughlin. The festival was conceived to serve as a tribute to Franz Joseph Haydn’s unparalleled contributions to classical music and his pioneering spirit. GCO has specialized in critically acclaimed performances of Haydn’s music since its first full season in 2010-11.
Of the event, Music Director Gregory Wolynec said “It is hard to believe it has been 5 years since we last staged this concert for a live audience. Haydn’s music has been important to our artistic development since the earliest days of our ensemble. I am thrilled with the collection of works we have assembled to look both at Haydn and other composers at the time that he flourished.”
The program will open with Joseph Bologne’s overture to “L’amant anonyme” (“The Anonymous Lover”). Bologne, who was awarded the title Chevalier de Saint-Georges, was the son of a French noble and an enslaved worker on his Caribbean plantation. Bologne’s life as the first composer of African descent to have his music widely performed in Europe was profiled in the 2022 film “Chevalier.”
Mozart’s Symphony No. 29 is instantly recognizable and carries all of the wonderful melodies of his mature style. CPE Bach, son of the Baroque master JS Bach, provides a captivating look at one of Haydn’s major influences. Haydn’s own Symphony 44, nicknamed ‘Trauer’ (‘Funeral’), contains a beautiful and uplifting melody that he proclaimed as one of his best. In fact, Haydn frequently remarked that it should be played at his own funeral.
Tickets for America’s Haydn Festival are available now and can be purchased on the Gateway Chamber Orchestra’s website at https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?ticketing=gco01. Don’t miss this extraordinary opportunity to experience the brilliance of Haydn’s compositions alongside groundbreaking contemporary works.