Wednesday 14 December 2022 8pm

Mozart               Serenade in C minor, K388/384a

Beethoven        Wind octet in E flat major, op 103

Mozart               Serenade for 13 winds in E flat major, K361

A finalist in the first ever BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, Michael Collins is now considered to be one of the most complete musicians of his generation. While continuing a distinguished career as a soloist of dazzling virtuosity and sensitive musicianship, he has also become highly regarded as a conductor. In 1988 he founded London Winds, bringing together some of Britain’s finest wind players. The core quintet of the ensemble is enhanced by other eminent players in order to perform the highlight of this concert, Mozart’s Serenade K361 for 13 wind instruments.

Before this we hear two of the masterpieces of the Viennese craze for Harmoniemusik, for pairs of oboes, clarinets, horns and bassoons. Mozart’s serenade is a typically witty piece with a canonic minuet and trio. The Beethoven is an early work, written 10 years later, the year after Mozart’s death.